Diamond is BACK baby!!

[Deleted member 368008]

The tilt is full range (I don’t know the limit, if any) and is separate from the mid EQ.

yes, that's my findings too. I haven't gone too thoroughly with that particular part as of yet. I e I haven't tried it with any other things than my Dingwall bass. Hmmm...is there something particular with Canadian gear together that just gel?

 

[Deleted member 368008]

That’s the PieIX bridge (named after Pope Pius IX), 15km north of downtown. This was farmland until the 1950s. The island of Laval adjacent to the island of Montreal used to be called Ile Jesus, it belonged to the Jesuits since colonial times, and remained an undeveloped religious institutional/pastoral territory the size of Montreal. Now it’s a modern city booming since WW2.

I bought a Klon Centaur there in Montreal 2007, when the economics where "down" and currency favorable to us. It was located in a tall building downtown, at 3-4th floor or something, where they just kept boutique gear. You had to make appointment beforehand. Boutique Tone I think they were called. I am not sure though. They wondered why I came all the way from Sweden to just buy that thing, but it wasn't, I had old friends living in Ottawa, so we took a day trip to Montreal, so I bought that one like "I might as well...while I am at it" sort of thing. Forgot the name of the shop. I remember those pesky squirrels and bright and shiny copper roofs that glowed in sunset. Only remember the line to a lunch joint that had bagels that was Gods gift to the bagel industry, or so my friends told me. We didn't have time to wait though, so we missed that.

Now we digress a lot, back to Diamond, and maybe other pedals of theirs.

 

[foal30]

I assumed the tilt EQ concerned the middle frequencies only, and the Mid knob adjusted the volume of the tilted mid spectrum. But now I wonder if the tilt extends to the full range (bass to treble, like 40Hz-5KHz), and the Mid knob is just an unconnected regular mid EQ. Does anyone know?

Tilt knob is neutral at 12 o’clock

Turn to the left CCW increase Bass Cut Treble
Turn to the right CW cut Bass increase Treble

 

[foal30]

Some people think the Tilt knob at 12 o’clock (neutral) still imparts something to the sound. If it does I cannot hear it.

On the BCP-1 there’s an internal switch to turn off the tilt

The Tilt switch (2 options on the BCP-1, 3 options on the BCP/EQ) sets where 12 o’clock on the Tilt knob starts
250hz or 900hz plus 500hz on the BCP/EQ

The new Mids knob is also neutral at 12 o’clock.

 

[butterfingers1]

I tried the Truetone voltage doubler on both the Diamond bass comp and the SolidGoldFX BetaV preamp pedal. Hard to tell if it does anything, doesn’t seem to hurt either.

 

[foal30]

I tried the Truetone voltage doubler on both the Diamond bass comp and the SolidGoldFX BetaV preamp pedal. Hard to tell if it does anything, doesn’t seem to hurt either.

Can you try it to see if the Compression “trigger” changes?

As has been said earlier in this thread it seems to need to be cranked to get it engaged.

 

[Deleted member 368008]

I tried the Truetone voltage doubler on both the Diamond bass comp and the SolidGoldFX BetaV preamp pedal. Hard to tell if it does anything, doesn’t seem to hurt either.

Only on low b basses (5 string) and if they in turn are active basses with active pickups like EMG. At 9 v there's a grit heard when leaning in, and when watching meter levels on subsequent input mixers and sound cards interfaces they hasn't reached red yet. But "in the pedal" it sounds like something has hit "red". At 18v that doesn't occur. Now as Dingwall basses* has 2 9v batteries onboard go figure. In lack of better description it sounds like the compressor struggles just a tiny bit to cope with the low and strong (loud) note, with the 2 9v batteries power from this particular bass, when operating, but if run at 18v it can take the 18v input from the Dingwall just a tad better. This is heard or detected only by the player in a studio environment. Practically, in live use through a bass combo or amp which produces its own artifacts/idiosyncrasies the difference is so subtle that it is neglible.

IMHO. Most active basses runs good enough at 9v, so this is a very niche circumstance.

*EDIT: not all of them of course.

 

[Deleted member 368008]

But by and large, the EBS Microbass III I had with preamp/EQ/One knob 3:1 compressor, wasn't as good at compressing. But the price of that one alone, was about the same as this one, and this, for one compressor only. So this one plays circles around that one, for sure, compression wise. The rest of the EQ preamp things exists in the bass anyway, so I thought the EBS was superfluous. It had a built in tuner though... I sold that one. The EBS couldn't cope with my use of "Funk Fingers" on top of all that. EBS ran at 9v only. But now we're talking niched niched, and then some. Very few out there uses 18v active basses, plus low B, plus - occasionally - Funk Fingers. Would even go out on a limb and suggest that I am the only one, and to demand that pedal makers comply to that particular request is a tall order, I might as well go and build one myself, and learn how to make it fly.

- - - - - - - - - - -

What I do have discovered when playing through the Diamond Comp/EQ is that when switching pickups from just bridge to neck, I tend to switch the tilt button, from 900 to 250. It sounds better there. You shift that bass range and peak resonances with the pickup change anyway. I have the MID knob on one o'clock, and tilt button at 11:00 o'clock. Level slightly above unity gain, and compressor anything between 12:00 or 2:00 o'clock. Anything cranked (knobs at full settings) turns it into an unusuable squash. But so does every pedal...

 

[Deleted member 368008]

Christ, this thread should be moved over to "nit picking and hairsplitting with the Diamond Bass Comp/EQ pedal" instead.

 

[butterfingers1]

I get no LED compression signalling (flashing, changing colour or intensity) no matter the Comp dial (or any other) setting (despite obvious sound changes). Anything I can do to see the LED indicate the compression working?

 

[Deleted member 368008]

I get no LED compression signalling (flashing, changing colour or intensity) no matter the Comp dial (or any other) setting (despite obvious sound changes). Anything I can do to see the LED indicate the compression working?

!?!? Mine flashes all of the time, as fast as it sense any input. When engaged. Hit it harder at the input stage is the only thing I can suggest. It changes colors on my passive basses immediately even if I am not diggging in. But hey, since they are actually made in Montreal, your 'hood, I would call/mail them. Maybe a warranty issue. Take a bicycle ride again, and swap it out for a unit that works...

 

[Deleted member 368008]

Now folks, for the esoteric OCD hairsplitting/nit picking over subtle sound differences between 9v or 18v on this pedal.I 've made 5 different souncloud mp3s with additional waveform print screens over at:

Deleted member 368008

With explanation of them all. Listen to them in good hearphones where its possible to hear low B in full. And please, read description. 18v into the pedal WITHOUT active (18v) pickups. 9v into the pedal WITH active 18v pickups. And everything in between. With and without Funk Fingers. Deliberate clipping on soundcard maintained, all settings the same, so one can spot what actually happens at 9v and 18v. Low B only. Will give you a field day, sweating the small stuff.

 

[foal30]

!?!? Mine flashes all of the time, as fast as it sense any input. When engaged. Hit it harder at the input stage is the only thing I can suggest. It changes colors on my passive basses immediately even if I am not diggging in. But hey, since they are actually made in Montreal, your 'hood, I would call/mail them. Maybe a warranty issue. Take a bicycle ride again, and swap it out for a unit that works...

I pretty much have to turn up the Compression knob to 2 o’clock when using my ‘76 Precision to get a visual indication via the LED.

no question in my mind that the BCP/EQ kicks in later than the BCP-1

putting a light overdrive in between then brings back up the BCP/EQ’s response

Thanks for doing the sound clips I will check them out

 

[foal30]

Christ, this thread should be moved over to "nit picking and hairsplitting with the Diamond Bass Comp/EQ pedal" instead.

I think that’s really positive for SGFX that people are invested in the Diamond Bass Compressor.

 

[butterfingers1]

!?!? Mine flashes all of the time, as fast as it sense any input. When engaged. Hit it harder at the input stage is the only thing I can suggest. It changes colors on my passive basses immediately even if I am not diggging in. But hey, since they are actually made in Montreal, your 'hood, I would call/mail them. Maybe a warranty issue. Take a bicycle ride again, and swap it out for a unit that works...

I pretty much have to turn up the Compression knob to 2 o’clock when using my ‘76 Precision to get a visual indication via the LED.

no question in my mind that the BCP/EQ kicks in later than the BCP-1

putting a light overdrive in between then brings back up the BCP/EQ’s response

Thanks for doing the sound clips I will check them out

I just noticed the LED does change colour and intensity, but very very slightly, I have to stare at it and look for it. The signalling is stronger if I hit all four strings hard with a pick. And yes it gets bright and multi-coloured if I connect the SVpre preamp with dimed Gain and Master into the Diamond.

But even when the LED isn’t signalling anything the Comp dial does produce a very audible effect, comparable to my Broughton and Empress compressors.

 

[KB5]

Ok. I've read 12 pages of nit picking. I have one question following a brief statement. I love by BCP-1 and run it at 18v but I love the new form factor as it will allow shrink my already diminutive board. The single question is will this actually be comparable to my BCP-1 when run at 18v or will I be missing something?

 

[butterfingers1]

I’m liking mine more and more by the hour. Tinkering with settings and dials isn’t usually my thing but this one is different, like a three-dimensional spectrum of warm and cozy.

 

[foal30]

Ok. I've read 12 pages of nit picking. I have one question following a brief statement. I love by BCP-1 and run it at 18v but I love the new form factor as it will allow shrink my already diminutive board. The single question is will this actually be comparable to my BCP-1 when run at 18v or will I be missing something?

I can’t answer that yet. Yes the new pedal is very good. Replaces my BCP-1?? Not sure...Sorry

 

[Deleted member 368008]

tip: don't get too hung up on the 18v or 9v. What basically happened was that I could hit the "red mark" i e clip the digital input on my soundcard interface, and input level, every knob set the same as with at 9v. So if you back off the knob so it doesn't hit red, you only get a larger headroom, and the noise floor gets a little less. but nothing actually happened to the dynamics, since that is what the compressor does, to tame or "pop" the dynamics. It works OK alright on 9v. I will not mind doing that at all if running into any amp live, maybe distorting the input a tad... this clipping ONLY occured when running an active bass at 18v battery too and on top of that only when BANGING THE LOW B, furiously. I could not make it clip at 18v with my fingers only.

So the differences with 18v vs 9v on the pedal, are so subtle that it is neglible. In studio you might benefit from it, a little, a tiny bit, but that's all.

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What I discovered is that if you change between the 9v and 18v, there's few seconds of havoc in the actual sound the first time you engage it. Almost like it chokes and then cleans it up having getting the circuitry accustomed to the new voltage. I tried to stay silent when switching it on, so it had some relay time to adapt, but no, it had to have a signal first. All subsequent on-offs were clean. Maybe some kind of buffer thing going on. This signal is quite ugly and loud for a second or two so take care and be vigilant.

 

[lomo]

...remember the line to a lunch joint that had bagels that was Gods gift to the bagel industry, or so my friends told me. We didn't have time to wait though, so we missed that.

Now we digress a lot, back to Diamond, and maybe other pedals of theirs.

....sounds like you have convincing reasons to return. This town is a foodie's paradise . On a pedal-related note, my new Diamond sounds great with all my basses, finger style, 4s and 5s, including 1 at 18V. Nothing to nit-pick as far as my ears tell me.