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Finally, I won't put it off any longer...

#21
40Hz said:
I'm currently exploring and enjoying a [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]. Very subtle bass-friendly pedal with plenty of knobs to tweak. Some very good sounds to be found among the various settings. Reasonably priced too. My current favorite. There's a thread if you're interested reading more about it. Find it here.

Although I'm not super big on dirt or grit most times, I've gradually come around to appreciate and start using some with certain styles of music.

Two other sonic thickeners I liked were the Way Huge Saucy Box, and its slightly more edgy cousin, the Saucy Box HC. Similar yet different enough you may greatly prefer one over the other. I couldn't decide which I liked more, so I took the easy way out and got both.
Click to expand...

I'd really like to try the VHT V drive as well. Looks way cool.
 
#25
gregmon79 said:
Oh, and don't be sacred to not have a blend. There are many pedals out there now that can handle full frequency w/o a blend. A blend can be used for more than just low end retention too. But most times most want one for that. And it's not always needed. I'm saying this because you could possibly pass up on a great find just because it doesn't have a blend on it.
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Noted
 
#26
It's not 2 channel but I highly recommend a CAL Grizzly Bass. I went through Dozens of pedals and it's one of two that I really loved.
Keep on mind that it can be used as simply a clean boost.

My other favorite Pedal is The Basswitch Sonic Spark. That's all I use now and it fattens up my tone so well.


 
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#28
gregmon79 said:
Oh, and don't be sacred to not have a blend. There are many pedals out there now that can handle full frequency w/o a blend. A blend can be used for more than just low end retention too. But most times most want one for that. And it's not always needed. I'm saying this because you could possibly pass up on a great find just because it doesn't have a blend on it.
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Yeah I'll echo @gregmon79 I wouldn't go into your search assuming you have to have a blend.

I've had some fantastic low gain dirt pedals that didn't have one (butler blue tube, Fairfield barbershop, fuzzro demon) and I don't think needed one.

I've also never had a dirt pedal with a blend that I particularly liked, and I've had some that people around here say have real well designed blend ciruits (most recently the wren and cuff pickle pie b)

There's a school, albeit a smaller one, that doesn't really believe in blended dirt at all.
 
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#29
gregmon79 said:
Oh, and don't be sacred to not have a blend. There are many pedals out there now that can handle full frequency w/o a blend. A blend can be used for more than just low end retention too. But most times most want one for that. And it's not always needed. I'm saying this because you could possibly pass up on a great find just because it doesn't have a blend on it.
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Fairfield Barbershop comes to mind. Warm, tube-y goodness. Doesn't do heavy distortion (you can always run a clean boost before it), but it does the vintage-warm thing wonderfully, in a subtle yet enriching kind of way. No blend, but not really necessary for what this pedal does. I suppose if you want the option of full blown saturated sounds, there are better choices too, but worth checking out.
 
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#30
two fingers said:
OK ladies and gents of the effects world, let's do this. I have put it off for too long. In fact, I must admit that for the longest time I was one of those ignorant "I don't need no dang pedals cuz I can actually play" grumpy bastards.

I have gotten close, and probably started a thread about it before. But now I am ready to pull the trigger.

(Get to the point, dude.)

I need some grit. Some dirt. Some overdrive. Just a bit, nothing insane.

Requirements.....as in deal breakers.
1) "Vintage" tone capability. Fat and warm, not rip your face off.
2) Blend. Gotta be able to blend clean and dirt.
3) Readily available here in the states. I'm sure there are amazing pedals all over the world, but I would rather not have to order from Lower Slombovia and wait for six months.

Wants.....not deal breakers but it would be neat.
1) Two channels? Like maybe two drives in one I could set differently? One just a little grit, the other with a bit more, and maybe the capability to stack them for as close to balls out distorted as I intend to get.
2) An actual valve or two? I'm not sure why but that seems like it would be cool.....and also allow some options for tunes that break up at different gains. If there are 400 good reasons not to go this route I can certainly be talked out of it.

Price is not a huge factor. Power supply (battery or power supply) is not a huge factor. Size isn't a factor at all as it will likely be my only pedal for the foreseeable future.

Help me dip my toe in the effects pool!
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My go-to light to medium OD is the Way Huge Pork Loin. It as a pretty good blend circuit, great control, and will do anything from a clean gain boost to a pushed tube amp. They are fairly common, affordable enough, and built very well. I'm not a fan of the color of the pedal, but I can live with it.
 
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#31
socialleper said:
My go-to light to medium OD is the Way Huge Pork Loin. It as a pretty good blend circuit, great control, and will do anything from a clean gain boost to a pushed tube amp. They are fairly common, affordable enough, and built very well. I'm not a fan of the color of the pedal, but I can live with it.
Click to expand...

Have you seen the simple cap swap mod to this pedal?? It removes that color you're talking about yet keeps the great fundamentals of this pedal that makes it something special. For the most part. I did it to mine and I can't get it off my board now! It's so awesome. Just a thought.
 
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#32
FunkHead said:
It's not 2 channel but I highly recommend a CAL Grizzly Bass. I went through Dozens of pedals and it's one of two that I really loved.
Keep on mind that it can be used as simply a clean boost.

My other favorite Pedal is The Basswitch Sonic Spark. That's all I use now and it fattens up my tone so well.


Click to expand...


Just watched the video. That Sonic Spark is a strong little box!
 
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#33
gregmon79 said:
Have you seen the simple cap swap mod to this pedal?? It removes that color you're talking about yet keeps the great fundamentals of this pedal that makes it something special. For the most part. I did it to mine and I can't get it off my board now! It's so awesome. Just a thought.
Click to expand...
Not tonal color, physical color.
 
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#34
FWIW, my experience in the long run has been that I have become somewhat reluctant to any pedal with an actual real tube in it. Not because some of them put it in there just for cosmetics and it doesn't really work at all, but even if they're bona fide working, I have some problem with the actual - perceived - benefits of them, and I think pedal companies such as Darkglass and others have worked their way past having to use a real tube that you MAY have to change out after sometime.

I don't know, but I am reluctant and wary of all things marketed as microtube, nanotube, or minitube. I have forgotten, what it is really called, and tried to google it, but I am not sure what to google about. It was sometime ago someone in the 70s took patent on some kind of solution on a microchip that worked like a real tube with anode, and cathode and whatever, but I've forgotten what it's called. However, that technique has refined to this day, and it's sure the solution to most of these things, i e a real tube I consider very unneccesary really.

I agree about the Basswitch production, that Sonic Spark, in collaboration with Lehle. Good stuff, but you have to pay a little...maybe too much?
 
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#37
Honch said:
FWIW, my experience in the long run has been that I have become somewhat reluctant to any pedal with an actual real tube in it. Not because some of them put it in there just for cosmetics and it doesn't really work at all, but even if they're bona fide working, I have some problem with the actual - perceived - benefits of them, and I think pedal companies such as Darkglass and others have worked their way past having to use a real tube that you MAY have to change out after sometime.

I don't know, but I am reluctant and wary of all things marketed as microtube, nanotube, or minitube. I have forgotten, what it is really called, and tried to google it, but I am not sure what to google about. It was sometime ago someone in the 70s took patent on some kind of solution on a microchip that worked like a real tube with anode, and cathode and whatever, but I've forgotten what it's called. However, that technique has refined to this day, and it's sure the solution to most of these things, i e a real tube I consider very unneccesary really.

I agree about the Basswitch production, that Sonic Spark, in collaboration with Lehle. Good stuff, but you have to pay a little...maybe too much?
Click to expand...

I dunno that butler blue tube is pretty darn fantastic, and having it be tube driven is kinda awesome 'cause you can swap the tube for a different one in the same class and get a different sound.
 
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