Diamond is BACK baby!!

[bdplaid]

I‘ll tell you, I don’t know who’s Holmes and who’s Watson here, but I feel like we just solved a mystery! Thank you for taking the time to try out the BCEQ with 18 volts!

It's true. I couldn't get my head around it, either. Hence, why I don't write reviews for a living.

Out of curiosity, did you ever try it with 9V?

Also, I'd like to ask the mods to put a link from my original comments, post #94, to post #119. I'd hate for anyone to get the wrong impression from just reading that one post. Thanks.

 

[Fuzzbass]

My previous comments should be applied only to running under 9V. 18V seems to straighten it all out. So, to me, this is an 18V pedal. Which causes me problems given my ghetto pedalboard. I'll ponder it...

My apologies to SGFX for the bad review.

Maybe your review was incomplete without the 18V test, but it certainly was fair to point out the issues when running at 9V. Not everyone has 18V capability (including yourself, it seems) and for those who do it's often limited to one output on the power supply which might be used by another pedal.

All that said, I'm glad that there seems to be plenty of headroom at 18V.

 

[wavemaker]

Out of curiosity, did you ever try it with 9V?

I did, be it shortly:

I was surprised to find my JMJ Mustang to have more output than my D-Roc (both in the latter‘s "MM"- and its "all pickups"-setting). I was almost exclusively powering the Diamond with 18 V DC, because otherwise the signal of the JMJ would distort (unpleasantly, that is).

[…]

1. On the pedal itself, there is no indication that it can actually be powered by more than 9 volts. Come on, SolidGold - you’re screenprinting yourself, you could have put "9-18 V" on the back (especially considering you put this info into the little leaflet which comes with the pedal).

Over the last days, I’ve actually gotten a little curious to put the BCEQ through its paces with 12 and 15 volts, as well.

One more thing: Did you experience those first distorting notes (see below) when using the pedal at 18 volts, too?

2. Holy heck, are the first few notes you play through 18 volts unproportionally loud and distorted. This was very unpleasant using headphones, not reassuring at all and happened every single time, no matter if I plugged in and started playing straightaway or if I gave the Diamond a couple of minutes to "warm up".

 

[MarkM13]

I bought one of the previous versions just to see what all the fuss was about. As a compressor it was Meh.
As a tone enhancer....Meh. Sold it for what I paid for it a few month later. As a compressor it was lightyears behind my RMI Basswitch.
As a tone enhancer it didn't do much more than the front panel on my amp. After seeing the excitement here I feel like I missed something. BTW, I def. had the bass version.
As always YMMV.

 

[mmbongo]

I bought one of the previous versions just to see what all the fuss was about. As a compressor it was Meh.
As a tone enhancer....Meh. Sold it for what I paid for it a few month later. As a compressor it was lightyears behind my RMI Basswitch.
As a tone enhancer it didn't do much more than the front panel on my amp. After seeing the excitement here I feel like I missed something. BTW, I def. had the bass version.
As always YMMV.

You may have missed something, but then again maybe optical compression is not your thing. If you don't need some fat snappy funk added to your tone you could probably dismiss the Diamond. Going direct and for recording the Diamond is my favorite comp, but I felt it kind of limited my live rig. That was a few years an a few amps ago, I need to give it another try live!

 

[bdplaid]

One more thing: Did you experience those first distorting notes (see below) when using the pedal at 18 volts, too?

I never had any distortion at any time. That made me think that 9V was OK. That, and the markings on the pedal itself.

EDIT: actually I did. see below.

 

[OllieDox]

Did you experience those first distorting notes (see below) when using the pedal at 18 volts, too?

I’m also experiencing this. It’s not a huge deal now that I know it’s there, but the first few times were concerning. I was switching between 9 & 18v (using 18 exclusively now) and getting it from both my passive AmPro Jazz and Stingray Special 5, so it def is the pedal and not due to high output from the active bass.

Besides that I absolutely love it with both basses. Greatly enhances both and does just enough to keep the Stingray in check so it doesn’t distort my Tonehammer 500.

 

[bdplaid]

I feel like I'm in the twilight zone. This morning I tried it again with both 9V and 18V. It worked fine in both circumstances, nothing like the original post I wrote.

And the distortion you describe, yes I did experience that, I thought it was going to blow my speaker, but then it settled down. Originally, I said "no," because I didn't label that as distortion.

 

[wavemaker]

It‘s really not much of a technical problem if you know what to expect, but to me this is a matter of good or bad communication. Z.VEX put a "crackle okay"-disclaimer front and center on their pedal, right next to the relevant knob. I don’t exactly expect SGFX to do that.

But how nobody had the idea to put a simple one-liner into that little leaflet going
"By the way, we do recommend you try the pedal at 18 volts, just be prepared for an absolute racket at first. This is totally normal and completely subsides after three to four notes have hit the threshold."
is absolutely beyond me.

I’m really scratching my head over here. I can only imagine a lot of people will try this pedal without access to the information in this thread, simply shrug, and move on. Which really is a pity.

Edit: I‘ve written to Diamond / SGFX and raised their attention to this thread. I’m eager to read their commentary on the matter.

 

[scubaduba]

I have sent a couple of inquiries to Diamond / SGFX and no response. Been over a week now. I reached out via email and social media. Nothing.

 

[RJ]

Maybe they’re bombarded since the launch? I’m sure them being on a JHS episode further increased the interest in the relaunch.

 

[DennyOnBass]

There was a point last night where I suddenly realized that I started appreciating this pedal more when I started thinking of it more as a preamp than a compressor. That may have already been obvious to a lot of you, but I bought this with the firm thought that my Sushi Box Slampegg would be the preamp and the Diamond would be the compressor.

Both of those pedals really cover quite a bit of the same ground. The Slampegg is new to me too, and I'm realizing there's a lot of compression coming from the tube as well as some grit that I really like that I can't get out of the Diamond. It's perfect for my PBass with flats - OK with my other basses as well but not as cool as with the P.

The Diamond obviously has more utility as a compressor, plus the EQ section is really geared well towards mid definition. No grit, obviously, it wasn't designed for that. It sounds about equally as good with all of my basses once I get it set properly.

I found some tones I liked with both of these combined, but in the mix I preferred either pedal soloed over any combination I came up with.

So the Slampegg will go on this little utility board I created along with my Strobostomp HD and the Sushi Box Finally DI. I realized I don't need a standalone compressor with the Slampegg - this board will basically get used when I'm bringing my P to a gig where I'm playing through someone else's backline and want to make sure that I'm getting something at least close to my own sound.

I'm keeping the Diamond - it's going first on my effects board along with my Eventide H9 and Source Audio C4 and Morningstar MIDI controller. It has an isolated power supply, so I can run it at 18v instead of the daisy chained 9V of the other board. I think it'll end up being a nice tone shaper for ANY of my basses I might use with this board.

 

[OllieDox]

There’s something interesting I noticed - when you connect power at 18v the led briefly flashes green. I wonder why they didn’t have the green as the status light and have the red when it is compressing.

 

[GrooveTheory]

With all this talk, I had to check the new Diamond Bass Comp/Eq for myself. Ordered one, it arrived, and I've checked it out over the past few day with various gear configurations. A/B'd (directly side by side) against two other highly regarded compressors. So here's my review: its easy to use, does what it's supposed to do really well, and sounds very very good. Having never owned an older version of a Diamond bass comp, my review is based on this pedal's own merits. I still really like the other two compressors and I'm keeping them both, but what the Diamond did, in pretty much every configuration, I was happy with.

 

[foal30]

I feel like I'm in the twilight zone. This morning I tried it again with both 9V and 18V. It worked fine in both circumstances, nothing like the original post I wrote.

And the distortion you describe, yes I did experience that, I thought it was going to blow my speaker, but then it settled down. Originally, I said "no," because I didn't label that as distortion.

To go from 9V to 18v do you use a True Tone One Spot voltage doubler cable?

 

[foal30]

I have sent a couple of inquiries to Diamond / SGFX and no response. Been over a week now. I reached out via email and social media. Nothing.

Any luck ?
I heard from Greg@solidgoldfx yesterday
FWIW he’s a real helpful guy in my experience

 

[bdplaid]

To go from 9V to 18v do you use a True Tone One Spot voltage doubler cable?

I did.

 

[foal30]

I thought I’d get a couple (they are actually in stock in NZ) as want to try solidgoldfx Beta v at 18v and will order a new Diamond

Early reviews all seem to say 18v is the go and it’s got the Diamond Tone beauty

 

[wavemaker]

Any luck ?
I heard from Greg@solidgoldfx yesterday
FWIW he’s a real helpful guy in my experience

I did as well. Regarding the distorted first notes at 18V, Greg replied

"It is normal to have some noise or rumble when initially powering the pedal or switching from 9 to 18v. This is the charging of the capacitors and goes away after the first note is plucked. It can vary in intensity depending on how high the compression knob is set. It is a byproduct of the circuit design and is also present in my original BCP-1."

I‘ve highlighted in bold what was new to me, here. I‘m surprised this hasn’t been mentioned before in any reviews of the original Diamond or in this thread.

In the meantime, I’ve been enjoying both the comp and EQ sections of the BCEQ immensely.
I have also bought a used JPTR FX Jive (still due to arrive, though) to get a little bit of saturation into my minimal setup - because more and more, I‘m feeling like I get everything else I need in my dry signal from the BCEQ. Right there with you, @DennyOnBass. This also kind of blows my mind every time I‘m taking into account the dimensions of this pedal: "Pedalboard-friendly“ might be an understatement for what you get on the real estate to impact on your signal-ratio.

 

[foal30]

I’ve had the BCP-1 for a long time
Never noticed a “first note capacitor rumble”

***Ive always run it at 18v and pretty much always low Compression setting***