Earthquaker Devices Blumes

[Evan J]

you may not be able to get any of the modes into low gain

I have found this to be true. My passive J is my only bass that can do low gain in all three modes of the Blumes.

The rawness of Blumes might sound cool with the band though, even at higher gain levels.

I have also found this to be true. If you own the higher gain with the band you may be glad you did. The Blumes is perfect for some cut through the mix presence, even for softer sides of rock / pop.

 

[heavyfunkmachin]

I got myself one, and I'm really liking it!

A short review:
Build is very good, top jacks and power, knobs feel good, switch is a bliss (I hope it became industry standard) pedal is beautiful. Sound is really really good, and VERY versatile.

About the sound....

This is the freq. response of the 3 modes (plus bypass for reference) with gain and tone at 12 oclock:

As you can see it's pretty much flat across 100hz-5k, with a gentle roll off lows and highs mode 2 has slighly less bass.

If you max the gain, the response across the modes changes slighly:

Mode 2 remains unchanged (makes sense as is the less gainy mode), mode 1 gets a a bit more mids and mode 3 goes almost flat!

The tone works very widely and smoothly:

You can use it to bump the bass (with some volume increase) or bump the highs. Very musical sounding.

How diferent are the modes regarding distortion?
Mode 1: Very focused on odd harmonics being added, and very much centered in the mids

Mode 2: clean, some small coloration but mostly clean



Mode 3: odd and even harmonics being added, very evenly!


As always, truts your ears more than your eyes, but this might be helpful to someone!

my only issue with this pedal is the ABSURD selection of gain pot. My usefull range is tiny: from 8 oclock to 10 oclock dependeing on the mode and gain settings, but beyond 10 or 11 is crazy volume. The selected sweep for this pot (linear instead of log I guess) makes NO SENSE, I hope they fix it in the future... as I'm to coward to try fixing it myself (looks soldered to the board) and my soldering iron work is messy.

the only downside of this pedal is that it makes too many good sounds: I love its overdrive, the distortion and fuzzy sounds, yet I have dedicated pedals for each sound, so I dont know what it will replace... Perhaps the Mojo Mojo in high gain? Option paralisys!

 

[heavyfunkmachin]

Attachment failed above, Mode 2 screenshot

mode 3 screenshot

 

[scottfeldstein]

I picked up one of these a few weeks ago, but haven't even plugged it in until this evening. The comparison is with my YYZ. And wow, does the Blumes drop low end compared to it. Granted, I'm leaning pretty heavily on the fat-sounding Deep channel of the YYZ and distorting only the mids, but dang. I need "unity bump" with a drive pedal. I gotta have the same impact in the 200hz range otherwise...

Then I A/B it against the Pork & Pickle, which I already found a bit lacking. I think the P&P has a better fuzz sound, but I don't know how anyone uses these things. They make a glorious sound, no question. They have really interesting dirt character voicings. But the minute you step on them your fundamental bump goes soft. Couldn't they have included a blend knob or something?

 

[kazuhank]

Attachment failed above, Mode 2 screenshot

View attachment 5364836Thanks for doing this!


mode 3 screenshot
View attachment 5364838

Thanks for doing this! This was cool to see represented graphically.

 

[jpaulo]

How does the Blumes compare to the TC Spark Booster?
More overdriven?
What about using them together, any experiences?
I like my spark drive but could use more drive/distortion..
Tks

 

[deepestend]

I picked up one of these a few weeks ago, but haven't even plugged it in until this evening. The comparison is with my YYZ. And wow, does the Blumes drop low end compared to it. Granted, I'm leaning pretty heavily on the fat-sounding Deep channel of the YYZ and distorting only the mids, but dang. I need "unity bump" with a drive pedal. I gotta have the same impact in the 200hz range otherwise...

Then I A/B it against the Pork & Pickle, which I already found a bit lacking. I think the P&P has a better fuzz sound, but I don't know how anyone uses these things. They make a glorious sound, no question. They have really interesting dirt character voicings. But the minute you step on them your fundamental bump goes soft. Couldn't they have included a blend knob or something?

This is a good point on most Muff circuits like the Pork and Pickle... the fuzz is great on its own, but when you get into a group setting, the lack of fundamental makes you disappear. I really love the muff and have done all kinds of things to make it work for me, but ultimately this lack of fundamental makes it hard in a band. Blumes loses some low end at home, but really does sit nicely in the mix with a band.

 

[Zbysek]

That's why I am using Muff fuzz with crossover blender/looper (Byte Heaven Sugar Britches).

 

[heavyfunkmachin]

How does the Blumes compare to the TC Spark Booster?
More overdriven?
What about using them together, any experiences?
I like my spark drive but could use more drive/distortion..
Tks

Odd to compare… this can do clean and cleanish boost, but so much more!!!
If you’re ok with twisting knobs song to song it can cover a WIDE range

by the way, I found out it reverses phase (polarity) when engaged… I hate that. I never understood why they don’t flip it back, a pain to blend

 

[Evan J]

But the minute you step on them your fundamental bump goes soft.

I totally agree with you when talking about more 2. That’s too much low end loss for me.

But for the other two modes… there is just enough low end to create a nice mid/high end bump while keeping the low end at unity.

From FOH’s perceptive your fundamental stays the same volume but your dirt is able to cut through when needed.

Also, I have noticed that the high end boost tends to be more drastic in headphones and less drastic in a live as long as the fundamental stays at unity.

In my experience, when drive pedals have a lot of low end, the dirt doesn’t cut through very much because you mostly just hear the fundamental in the mix. This was certainly the case with my Lucydreamer.

 

[johnk_10]

i don't find the Blumes to lose low end (maybe a teeny tiny bit). the Plumes definitely does though. i also just tested it and it's also IN PHASE (it doesn't reverse it).

 

[xJasonSmithx]

i don't find the Blumes to lose low end (maybe a teeny tiny bit).

Same here. The low end on this pedal sounds great to me.

 

[scottfeldstein]

Same here. The low end on this pedal sounds great to me.

I think I just have to spend more time with it. I'm going to spend a few evenings to A/B/C the Blumes, Pork & Pickle, the YYZ and the Aftershock (which I have only ever used in B3K mode).

 

[Zbysek]

I found a video comparing Plumes and Blumes on bass (end of the video).

I prefer the sound of the Plumes quite a bit...



I wonder whether anybody tried both (Plumes and Blumes) and chose Plumes over Blumes...

The alleged low-end loss of Plumes is not an issue for me as I will be using it in crossover blender/looper.

Thanks.

 

[kazuhank]

I wonder whether anybody tried both (Plumes and Blumes) and chose Plumes over Blumes...

I did and greatly preferred the Blumes. I sold the plumes immediately, and now have Blumes on each of my boards for my low gain dirt.

 

[Zbysek]

I did and greatly preferred the Blumes. I sold the plumes immediately, and now have Blumes on each of my boards for my low gain dirt.

Are you using the Blumes for low gain dirt? From the videos, I thought it had too much gain...

 

[kazuhank]

Are you using the Blumes for low gain dirt? From the videos, I thought it had too much gain...

I don't know about the videos, but in band and live settings, mode two does a killer low gain. In a trio I play in, the Blumes is my always on, light breakup. I am using a Fender Telecaster bass with the CuNiFe mudbucker into a tube head, and Mode Two hits the tubes in a way that is perfect as an always on setting.

After the initial honeymoon excitement I had over this pedal, Mode Two is all that I use the Blumes for and I use other pedals for higher gain.

 

[OnlyFlats]

I'm struggling with my Blumes. My passive basses are too hot to get any mild gain but I can accept that. Mode 2 has my favourite tone as I'm getting a noteworthy perceived loss of low end on the other settings.

I admit that low end is a big deal for me. In the 3 piece I'm in, my role is to maintain it so the guitarist can use fx for solos/parts. I can add as much grind as I want as long as the fundamentals are solid.

Tested through 2 headphone rigs, my half stack at home, and full rig in nice large rehearsal space.

Any suggestions on how else I should try it? On my board I have an always on very mild drive, B3k for non clean parts, and Orange Getaway driver for blasting during solos. The later could easily be bumped off. I have plenty of other pedals too (muffs, rats, +, eqs) if anyone game to suggest stacking/ combos. Maybe attenuate on the way in?

 

[Frank_Raider]

I don't find the Blumes loses any low end; but maybe with the tone dimed it can sound thinner. Consider that my amp is a TH700 and I play with the Drive at noon, so low frequencies are tighter and not boomy. Maybe that plays its role in this, but I don't think it lacks lows in a significant way.

Also, polarity is not inverted.

I really, really love this pedal. Pushing my Grizzly (at low gain settings) is a charm. Solid TS. In fact, it replaced (at least by now) my BB Preamp and Cusack Screamer.

 

[heavyfunkmachin]

Also, polarity is not inverted.

You’re the 2nd person stating that… I’ll check again as mine did!