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DSMnoisemaker & Humboldt Electronics Simplifier Bass Station
- Thread starter amper
- Start date
The Bass Station is also in this one:
Guitar Simplifier sounds fantastic too, especially in the section at 23:30 when Danish Pete's playing through the Walrus Reverb into the DSM/Humboldt:
Zsounds demo:
Guitar Simplifier sounds fantastic too, especially in the section at 23:30 when Danish Pete's playing through the Walrus Reverb into the DSM/Humboldt:
Zsounds demo:
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I just got a Simplifier and am very happy with it. My first impressions:
Early days but this is the 4th DI pedal I've owned and overall I think it's the best (also owned Sansamp, EBS, DHA...I'll probably keep the DHA as a tube overdrive pedal though).
- It's small. I knew it would be- but seeing all the features on pictures I was expecting it to be about the size of a Sansamp BDDI but it's not much bigger than a standard Boss type pedal. This is a good thing, I wouldn't chose for it to be bigger for the sake of it but the downside is it can make it a bit fiddly if you're doing a lot of tweaking.
- It's solid and well built. I suppose something like the plastic headphone volume knob seems a bit more delicate than some more bulletproof pedals though.
- It sounds great and there is loads going on. You can do things like set EQ (with switchable mid freq) and some gain for distortion on the preamp and run through pedals in the preamp FX loop and then blend that with the un-affected parallel LPF and parallel FX loop...and blend all that with cab sim (with adjustable resonance, mic position, and different speaker colour and cab size options). That gives a huge amount of on-hand adjustability and you can visually tell where everything is - avoiding the annoying alternative of digital pedals that need hooking up to Laptops/phones or scrolling through menus on small screens on pedals. Pretty much all settings sound good on it.
- One thing I don't find intuitive is the fact that both the blend of parallel/preamp has parallel on the left (CCW), and parallel LPF toggle is also to the left of the preamp section- so I would intuitively expect the parallel FX loop send/return cables to also be on the left directly under the Parallel LPF toggle, and the Preamp FX send/return to be on the right directly under the preamp controls- they are not though. No big deal but it's not intuitively where they would be in relation to their controls.
- There is also the XLR DI, XLR DI parallel, and the TRS out....I haven't used anything other than the TRS out so far, but having all these options is useful and is more than most DI pedals.
Early days but this is the 4th DI pedal I've owned and overall I think it's the best (also owned Sansamp, EBS, DHA...I'll probably keep the DHA as a tube overdrive pedal though).
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How are people using the Preamp/Preamp FX loop and Parallel/Parallel FX loop?
My first step is putting things like distortion and chorus pedals (that don't have a clean blend) in the preamp loop and blending them with the clean parallel loop (or LPF parallel) to blend back some of the original Bass. Also with a preamp pedal in the parallel loop to click to blend in that pedal's tube type sound with the preamp/preamp loop.
I guess having things like envelope filter running parallel to an octaver gives something quite different to the usual thing of having them in series (and then also adding the different options of what comes before/after each of these signal chains before they blend). I think a fair bit of my weekend will be spent mucking around with different combinations....also combinations of pedals that feed into the Simpilifier input (and after?), and to really complicate things I've also ordered a dual reverse looper to reverse the order of two loops, the possibilities of different combinations are pretty huge - I haven't simplified my signal chain!
My first step is putting things like distortion and chorus pedals (that don't have a clean blend) in the preamp loop and blending them with the clean parallel loop (or LPF parallel) to blend back some of the original Bass. Also with a preamp pedal in the parallel loop to click to blend in that pedal's tube type sound with the preamp/preamp loop.
I guess having things like envelope filter running parallel to an octaver gives something quite different to the usual thing of having them in series (and then also adding the different options of what comes before/after each of these signal chains before they blend). I think a fair bit of my weekend will be spent mucking around with different combinations....also combinations of pedals that feed into the Simpilifier input (and after?), and to really complicate things I've also ordered a dual reverse looper to reverse the order of two loops, the possibilities of different combinations are pretty huge - I haven't simplified my signal chain!
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Good luck in this epic endeavor!
I haven't used any of the routing features, just as a pre-amp and DI to console.
Surprised these haven't got more traction here. It's fantastic. LOVE the way it sounds.
A ... umm ... simpler Simplifier could be a big hit as a pedal. Maybe it looks too sweet, or it's the lack of foot switches, but to me it feels a bit weird putting it on the floor.
I LOVE the Simplifier. It's so versatile when you figure out how to use it. I don't use any of the blends or loops, I go: bass > pedals > straight into Simplifier's (active) input > all "wet" on preamp and cabsim blend.
The EQ is very usable. I especially like to bump mid at 900Hz, and surprisingly to bump treble, which I never used to do before. My previous preamps all had treble at 5kHz, which I never touched, but the Simplifier's 3,5kHz works so well to bring up some subtle presence from my bass with flatwounds.
On the cabsim side, I put it on 4x10 and bump up "resonance". It's a great HPF plus bass boost without sounding boomy. The "mic position" is a LPF that works great in conjunction with that 3,5kHz treble boost to shape overdrive sounds.
Another interesting option is to put "speaker color" on bright, which brings out high mids but cuts bass, and then to compensate go 8x10 on "cab size" and put "resonance" all the way up.
The most useful pedal purchase ever.
The EQ is very usable. I especially like to bump mid at 900Hz, and surprisingly to bump treble, which I never used to do before. My previous preamps all had treble at 5kHz, which I never touched, but the Simplifier's 3,5kHz works so well to bring up some subtle presence from my bass with flatwounds.
On the cabsim side, I put it on 4x10 and bump up "resonance". It's a great HPF plus bass boost without sounding boomy. The "mic position" is a LPF that works great in conjunction with that 3,5kHz treble boost to shape overdrive sounds.
Another interesting option is to put "speaker color" on bright, which brings out high mids but cuts bass, and then to compensate go 8x10 on "cab size" and put "resonance" all the way up.
The most useful pedal purchase ever.
Early days for me with it but I'd say it's really good, can get it to sound great with all sorts of settings. Very versatile with all the outputs and fx loops and good preamp eq and distortion, and the cab sim.
My picky issue is that settings need changing to get the best for different pedals e.g. a clean signal into the simplifier might sound good with mic off axis, but click on a fuzz pedal and it muffles it too much so the mic dial needs moving (and other settings) . This has been my issue with other Preamp pedals too though (e.g. Sansamp with dialed in preamp colour dulls envelope filters). I think it means my simplifier might sit up at desk height for tweaking rather on the pedalboard, or perhaps putting certain pedals after it or mucking about with the fx loops will work.
My picky issue is that settings need changing to get the best for different pedals e.g. a clean signal into the simplifier might sound good with mic off axis, but click on a fuzz pedal and it muffles it too much so the mic dial needs moving (and other settings) . This has been my issue with other Preamp pedals too though (e.g. Sansamp with dialed in preamp colour dulls envelope filters). I think it means my simplifier might sit up at desk height for tweaking rather on the pedalboard, or perhaps putting certain pedals after it or mucking about with the fx loops will work.
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I use a tuner in front of the Simplifier (so I can tune quietly). I put all my other pedals in the preamp loop - OD, C4 Synth, comp etc etc.
One thing I’ve found I really like is to use the Parallell LPF at 100 Hz and mix in about 30-40% of that into the preamp signal.
Since I started using the Simplifier I’ve stopped using my amp. My band has a really good PA and we all use in ear. I LOVE my sound.
One thing I’ve found I really like is to use the Parallell LPF at 100 Hz and mix in about 30-40% of that into the preamp signal.
Since I started using the Simplifier I’ve stopped using my amp. My band has a really good PA and we all use in ear. I LOVE my sound.
This routing is by far the most flexible.
Main flow:
- Bass -> [Optional Bass Whammy Wah] -> Pitch Black Tuner -> Dunlop Volume Pedal -> MXR Bass Compressor -> Mr. Black FwonkBeta Envelope Filter -> Into Simplifier Bass Station
- Rosenberg Low Down Pressure
- Clean boost
- Distortion
- Clean boost + Distortion
- EHX Oceans 11 Reverb
- EXH Canyon Delay
Boost adds a clean boost.
Pairing the 2 together gives a nice boosted distortion.
Man... I made one last change to my pedal board. I removed the volume pedal and added the Line6 Relay 10GS.
The beauty of the Temple Audio is the ease in which to reconfigure the pedal board.
The beauty of the Temple Audio is the ease in which to reconfigure the pedal board.
I haven't. Seems a great idea though, given wide range of tweakability including credible cab simulations onboard. FRFR would make a great "blank canvas" for it.
Stellar piece of unique, useful kit deserving of multitudes more interest than it has here.
I stopped using an amp after I got the Simplifier. Went full DI into PA and in ear. I LOVE my tone. The cabsim on this pedal is really good.
Hi gang,
Can somebody confirm that the "thru/out output" is a simple parallel out, without cab sim NOR preamp.
I want to send a fully unaffected signal to my amp on stage and only use the DSM for the FOH.
Can somebody confirm that the "thru/out output" is a simple parallel out, without cab sim NOR preamp.
I want to send a fully unaffected signal to my amp on stage and only use the DSM for the FOH.
Yes. There's a switch there to select "Thru", which is your input signal, or "Out" which outputs your settings.
Here's what the manual reads: "TRS Out: Carries the main output (preamp + parallel blend) or the input signal (bypass), if selected. "
BASS STATION MANUAL - DSM & HUMBOLDT SIMPLIFIER
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I had the OmniCabSim a while ago - it was a good bit of kit but had to get rid of it as the headphone amp was just far too noisy to use for IEMs. What's the noise like on the Simplifier?
Less, but still noticeable on my unit. I had actually taken it off my board entirely, but just recently got a USB rechargeable headphone amp, and run the DI out of the Simplifier into it. It is another piece of kit, but it only cost about $30, and the DI out on the Simplifier is dead silent. I think the other features of it are worth the price tag even without the headphone amp involved.
