Darkglass Super Symmetry

[bongomania]

Any of the usuals will work. PP2, 1Spot, etc.

 

[IngloriousOz]

Got mine a couple days ago, was waiting on @Darkglass to send over a couple clips with the Wal so I could see how the SS reacted with the hot pups and preamp...but I saw Rogue Guitar Shop had a couple in so I jumped on it and so far it's blowing my mind. So subtle and clean, it doesn't sound "squishy" as much as it sounds like it's polishing/buffing the notes in the best way. My favorite part is how my dirt and overdrive is reacting to the signal coming out of the SS. Another killer offering from Darkglass!

@bongomania Even though I sprung on it before your review came out, your glowing praise on TB the last few weeks really made me feel comfortable picking this up, really appreciate your willingness to help us all out+the invaluable resource that is Ovnilab!

Long live compression!

 

[makatamusika]

anyone compared SS to Cali76?
if so , what are your inputs?

 

[Darkglass]

Got mine a couple days ago, was waiting on @Darkglass to send over a couple clips with the Wal so I could see how the SS reacted with the hot pups and preamp...but I saw Rogue Guitar Shop had a couple in so I jumped on it and so far it's blowing my mind. So subtle and clean, it doesn't sound "squishy" as much as it sounds like it's polishing/buffing the notes in the best way. My favorite part is how my dirt and overdrive is reacting to the signal coming out of the SS. Another killer offering from Darkglass!

@bongomania Even though I sprung on it before your review came out, your glowing praise on TB the last few weeks really made me feel comfortable picking this up, really appreciate your willingness to help us all out+the invaluable resource that is Ovnilab!

Long live compression!

Hey man, yeah sorry for that, we have people editing a ton of videos and that one's on the way! It's very short and straight forward so we'll probabyl just put on on Instagram.

Regards,
Doug.

 

[MoonQuake]

Hey guys, just a little non-important curiosity here...

Got mine today and was expecting the led color to be light purple like in the pics and reviews but they are bright blue on my unit.

Is the light purple an effect of color treatment in the pics or do I have the "wrong" color on mine ? Lol

 

[Adamixoye]

Hey guys, just a little non-important curiosity here...

Got mine today and was expecting the led color to be light purple like in the pics and reviews but they are bright blue on my unit.

Is the light purple an effect of color treatment in the pics or do I have the "wrong" color on mine ? Lol

I've never thought they looked purple in pics/videos. Always assumed they were similar to the LED on the B7K.

 

[spz8]

Hey guys, just a little non-important curiosity here...

Got mine today and was expecting the led color to be light purple like in the pics and reviews but they are bright blue on my unit.

Is the light purple an effect of color treatment in the pics or do I have the "wrong" color on mine ? Lol

I think your monitor color is a bit off. All videos/images have looked bright blue to me.

 

[Darkglass]

I think your monitor color is a bit off. All videos/images have looked bright blue to me.

Haha yeah. It's always been blue .

 

[MoonQuake]

Ha ha ha ok then.

Now, a little other precision about the gain reduction leds...

After playing around with it for a while, I noticed that on the first notes, the leds will light up to, let's say, halfway but as I play, without changing the strength of my attack, after maybe 10 seconds or so, they will only go up one or two dots on some notes and they don't light up at all on some other notes. Then if a pause for a second or so and start playing again, they will light up to halfway again and die out again.

I don't seem to hear a difference in compression or reduction and they do that no matter if I set the input or compression higher. Then they will light up to like 3/4 of the way and then slowly die out the same way.

Also, if I stop playing and leave the pedal on, it shuts off after a while...

Is that normal ?

 

[Darkglass]

Ha ha ha ok then.

Now, a little other precision about the gain reduction leds...

After playing around with it for a while, I noticed that on the first notes, the leds will light up to, let's say, halfway but as I play, without changing the strength of my attack, after maybe 10 seconds or so, they will only go up one or two dots on some notes and they don't light up at all on some other notes. Then if a pause for a second or so and start playing again, they will light up to halfway again and die out again.

I don't seem to hear a difference in compression or reduction and they do that no matter if I set the input or compression higher. Then they will light up to like 3/4 of the way and then slowly die out the same way.

Also, if I stop playing and leave the pedal on, it shuts off after a while...

Is that normal ?

What do you mean the pedal will turn itself of after a while of not playing? If so by all means drop me a line: [email protected]

Now if you're solely talking about the meter, it's behavior will depend on a couple of things... If your attack/release settings are very low the LEDs can easily switch off after you're done playing, they just display whatever it is you've set on the pedal.

For most basses setting the release a bit below noon and attack slightly above should be a good starting point.
Setting attack fairly high as long as you don't saturate the pedal is advisable to keep noise performance optimal as well, so that's a good starting point as well unless you're trying to use the Symmetry as a limiter, in which case a higher Compression setting paired with a lower Input should get you going.
Any more questions keep 'em coming!

 

[MoonQuake]

What do you mean the pedal will turn itself of after a while of not playing? If so by all means drop me a line: [email protected]

Now if you're solely talking about the meter, it's behavior will depend on a couple of things... If your attack/release settings are very low the LEDs can easily switch off after you're done playing, they just display whatever it is you've set on the pedal.

For most basses setting the release a bit below noon and attack slightly above should be a good starting point.
Setting attack fairly high as long as you don't saturate the pedal is advisable to keep noise performance optimal as well, so that's a good starting point as well unless you're trying to use the Symmetry as a limiter, in which case a higher Compression setting paired with a lower Input should get you going.
Any more questions keep 'em coming!

Hey Doug,

No, I'm not talking about the release time. But it's kind of a similar effect. The leds go up less and less as I play notes.

I'm gonna go and buy a DC adaptor and see if it changes anything. It's plugged in my DC brick but it's an ols one so maybe it's not up to snuff.

If the situation persists, I'll drop you an email.

Thanks.

 

[Darkglass]

Hey Doug,

No, I'm not talking about the release time. But it's kind of a similar effect. The leds go up less and less as I play notes.

I'm gonna go and buy a DC adaptor and see if it changes anything. It's plugged in my DC brick but it's an ols one so maybe it's not up to snuff.

If the situation persists, I'll drop you an email.

Thanks.

Awesome! Anything you need just drop me a line (I check email a lot more often than forums so that's best).

 

[pa010]

Hey, i just pulled the trigger on the Super Symmetry. The pedal is awesome but i'm quite disappointed that the "output" control only affects the compressed signal, so it's a bit difficult for me to manage the levels of compressed and dry signal, expecially with my hot output G&L bass.
While i can appreciate such design choice on the B3K overdrive i really don't understand why it is also on the compressor, since i see it more likely as a main volume manager...
Actually the site and the manual say that "OUTPUT Sets the output volume level of the unit." So i tought it would affect the whole signal (dry+compressed) ..maybe you shoud review this sentence.

 

[Darkglass]

Hey, i just pulled the trigger on the Super Symmetry. The pedal is awesome but i'm quite disappointed that the "output" control only affects the compressed signal, so it's a bit difficult for me to manage the levels of compressed and dry signal, expecially with my hot output G&L bass.
While i can appreciate such design choice on the B3K overdrive i really don't understand why it is also on the compressor, since i see it more likely as a main volume manager...
Actually the site and the manual say that "OUTPUT Sets the output volume level of the unit." So i tought it would affect the whole signal (dry+compressed) ..maybe you shoud review this sentence.

While I am happy with the clean signal being always at unity and having the Output control the compressed signal only (matching levels on both iis crucial to get parallel compression with the blend knob at noon) I agree that the phrasing on the description of the control could make emphasis on that.

Now there's plenty you can still do with the output given that you can still mix the clean signal st unity with the compressed at whatever volume you want.
If you want boost you can set the output rather high and dial back the blend.

Thank you for the feedback! We'll correct the description on our upcoming new site and future manuals.

Regards, Doug.

 

[crguti]

Any guts picture of this pedal?

 

[pa010]

@Darkglass it's ok, usually i used the compressor to compress signal (of course) and feed the overdrives with a certain output in order to achieve a certain clipping level. I just had to "fix" the gain on the overdrives after the Super Symmertry and everything was ok. I just said that the explanation of output is not 100% correct but this doesn't mean that i don't like the pedal, the parallel compression thing is very cool.

 

[smo]

anyone compared SS to Cali76?
if so , what are your inputs?

Bongomania mentioned a comparison between the two in the review of the Super Symmetry.
But I'm bumping this;
I'd like to know if anyone has compared the DG to the Cali Compact Bass? Thoughts?

 

[bongomania]

I'm going to be working on the Cali compact reviews next, so I'll directly A/B with the DG.

 

[smo]

I'm going to be working on the Cali compact reviews next, so I'll directly A/B with the DG.

Thank you!

 

[Dan Knowlton]

I've been messing with my new Super Symmetry and have two issues with it:

1. Dogonne thing was WAY too easy to learn to use! I was ready for some pain - I feel disappointed! NOT!!! Talk about a transparent compressor.
2. Now I have to sell my Keeley Bassist I bought a week ago - the boss is gonna kill me!

Seriously, it looks and sounds beautiful, is easy to dial in for me and is just a fantastic piece of gear.

I now have the VMTD and the Super Symmetry and will have to look for some stuff to sell to bet a B3K! Any chance we are going to see a bass-centric chorus???

Dan