Darkglass b3k v2 - not playing nicely with new amp?

[BenA91]

First time posting here, hello! first off apologies if this is in an FAQ somewhere, it seemed like a pretty gear-specific issue so I thought I'd make a post

Basically after playing a little fender rumble combo for about 3 years (I'm a mostly self taught home player, looking to start getting out and jamming) I've saved up and taken the plunge on a used Mesa d800 and a new Orange 1x12.

I love them both but I've found my fave OD pedal the B3K doesnt seem to get on well with the new setup. Before I could get a nice amount of subtle-ish grind with everything on the pedal at 1 or two o'clock, now I need to crank the drive and engage the "grunt" to get even close to that.

I've fiddled with the voicing, input gain and eq on the amp but they dont seem to help, have tried it with other fx and no issues at all, its almost like the pedal has become just a clean boost haha. The d800 has a high pass filter so I'm wondering if thats doing something?

Other gear details if they help: bass is passive, strings nearly new, couple of other pedals in the chain but I've tried just bass>b3k>amp and no change.

TL;DR - B3K not overdriving with Mesa D800, ***?

 

[FunkHead]

I would try cranking your mids. That always gets me more distortion. Or in my case backing off mids reduces distortion as I only like a mild amount.

 

[BenA91]

I would try cranking your mids. That always gets me more distortion. Or in my case backing off mids reduces distortion as I only like a mild amount.

Oh ok, yeah I tend to scoop my mids by default haha, I'll give that a go thanks!

 

[BenA91]

Having tried that, not much difference from the pedal honestly, the amp seems to be almost ignoring it.

I'll keep playing around, it's not the end of the world cause I can still approximate it by cranking the pedal, maybe time to go overdrive shopping again soon though...

 

[FunkHead]

Having tried that, not much difference from the pedal honestly, the amp seems to be almost ignoring it.

I'll keep playing around, it's not the end of the world cause I can still approximate it by cranking the pedal, maybe time to go overdrive shopping again soon though...

Very surprising. The B3k is a pretty strong pedal. I could understand if you had a Vintage Microtubes. It sounds like the Rumble was adding it's own overdrive. I am by no means an expert but this doesn't make sense to me.

 

[sunbeast]

First time posting here, hello! first off apologies if this is in an FAQ somewhere, it seemed like a pretty gear-specific issue so I thought I'd make a post

Basically after playing a little fender rumble combo for about 3 years (I'm a mostly self taught home player, looking to start getting out and jamming) I've saved up and taken the plunge on a used Mesa d800 and a new Orange 1x12.

I love them both but I've found my fave OD pedal the B3K doesnt seem to get on well with the new setup. Before I could get a nice amount of subtle-ish grind with everything on the pedal at 1 or two o'clock, now I need to crank the drive and engage the "grunt" to get even close to that.

I've fiddled with the voicing, input gain and eq on the amp but they dont seem to help, have tried it with other fx and no issues at all, its almost like the pedal has become just a clean boost haha. The d800 has a high pass filter so I'm wondering if thats doing something?

Other gear details if they help: bass is passive, strings nearly new, couple of other pedals in the chain but I've tried just bass>b3k>amp and no change.

TL;DR - B3K not overdriving with Mesa D800, ***?

Did the rumble have a tweeter? I assume the Orange cab doesn’t? I’ve also heard that the original D800 head can already be a bit on the dark side in the high-end. If it is the difference between a cab with no tweeter and a cab with one it will be tough to replicate, but boosting the treble and extreme high-mids could help.

 

[Lammchop93]

Do you have a different bass to try? I had a darkglass X7 that sounded incredible with 5 of my basses, but when I played my MM style bass, it just sounded muffled and horrible No matter what I did with the EQ. Never understood why.

 

[Ulf Buck]

So many distortion pedals sound like this one to me. Maybe it's the bass. If you turn down the guitar volume does it help?

 

[Beheroth]

strings nearly new

define nearly

 

[BenA91]

Do you have a different bass to try?

One other set up in c standard, same net result of having to crank the pedal

Did the rumble have a tweeter? I assume the Orange cab doesn’t? I’ve also heard that the original D800 head can already be a bit on the dark side in the high-end.

Both are single speaker, the rumble was an 8" as opposed to 12" if that changes anything. I had heard that about the head before I bought it too, wasn't too bothered because I don't go in for super sparkly tone, but this is bizarre. I think i remember reading something about the B3K working mostly on the high end and leaving the lows alone, but would the HPF on the amp be that drastic as to cut them out completely?

define nearly

Factory strings on a bass bought at the start of this month?

 

[Beheroth]

Factory strings on a bass bought at the start of this month?

yeah, i'd start with fresh strings

 

[FunkHead]

Is switch set to passive on amp? Also, try lowering Master and raising input.

 

[BaltBass5]

May be a stupid question, but you aren’t using a compressor anywhere after the Darkglass are you?

 

[BenA91]

yeah, i'd start with fresh strings

I can try that at some point but it just seems weird that it's so night and day between the amp i was playing two days ago and this one.

Is switch set to passive on amp? Also, try lowering Master and raising input.

Yeah switch is on passive, raising input/lowering master does make a difference but not a massive one

May be a stupid question, but you aren’t using a compressor anywhere after the Darkglass are you?

Haha, nope

 

[bolophonic]

Is it possible that you have just been hearing the little 8” speaker breaking up the whole time?

 

[darkwasthenight]

Were you running into the drive channel on the Rumble? I know the larger models have an overdrive setting.

 

[BenA91]

I never really touched the onboard OD on the rumble, maybe it was the smaller speaker but it never sounded farty or anything

thanks for your input so far guys, I'll keep mucking about, see what changes what

 

[FunkHead]

I never really touched the onboard OD on the rumble, maybe it was the smaller speaker but it never sounded farty or anything

thanks for your input so far guys, I'll keep mucking about, see what changes what

It sounds like the Rumble had a built in overdrive? If so, then you were basically stacking overdrives.
I recommend looking for a DOD Boneshaker and stack it with the B3K. Boneshaker's are the best bang for the buck pedal in recent history.
Even still though, The B3k should be pretty stout. The one I had was too high output for me as I am a low gain Bassist.

 

[Rogerisaatio]

You can see if the problem is in the amp or the cab by recording your amp via DI out. I'd imagine that your new cab is just a lot more bass heavy than your previous, I've had similar experiences when using MB 212 cab. It makes distortion "disappear" because high mids (where the signature b3k sound is) are much less present in the new cab.

 

[BenA91]

Oh I do have the boneshaker funnily enough, it's been in a box for a while, i think mostly because the b3k was doing the job. Good shout though I'll dig it out again and see what it can do - have been meaning to try it with the c standard bass anyway