Flatwound player looking for natural, low gain grit/bloom.... Blackberry?

[thedovewarlord]

Hi All --

Ive been searching for an "always on" overdrive pedal with that natural sounding break-up (grit).

My gear: various Fender Precisions usually strung with Chromes (50-105) amplified by either a Gallien-Krueger 700RBII or an Aguilar DB751 into a DB410 or DB412 cabinets. I run thru variety of effects, but I have my Tech 21 VT Bass sansamp character pedal usually on-- the drive is artificial or too harsh IMO so I mainly keep the drive low (between 9-10 o'clock), the EQ set and use the character knob to sweep my desired tone going from full counter clockwise (7) to approx noon (12) depending on what type of cut/mids, e.g, for deeper tone I'll roll it counter clock, if looking for Police, Janes Addiction I move it towards noon. My style: I mainly play with a pick but also play finger-style and play a wide range of music, but my band is a pretty heavy/loud.

I recently stumbled on the Blueberry (Im still not fully versed in all the iterations) Mark Herman's demo and it seems perfect. Since they are no longer produced I found the One Control Blackberry is produced by the original designer (I think).

Does anyone have any experience with this pedal who uses flats -- in any band context, or a better alternative please send your thoughts. Thank you!!

 

[el murdoque]

I've tried a few to see what works with flats. Here is, in no particular order, what I liked a lot:

-Xotic BB Bass Preamp. Very organic, natural breakup. Active treble control to get some high frequency content back.

-Audio Kitchen Fake Plastic Trees: Expensive but well worth it. Think "Tube amp in a box".

-Origin Effects Bassrigs: The blue one has a good cab sim and a very nice breakup, especially for rock tones. The black one has a terrible cab sim (so the XLR output is kinda worthless to me), and a very nice, gentle breakup that would work well in oldschool jazz and blues sounds.

BJFe Blueberry Bass Overdrive: I insist on the original, none of the copies worked for me. It kinda excites the midrange in a way that I've never experienced in any other piece of gear.

Lehle RMI Sonic Spark: Very mild drive pedal that stacks well with other mild drives and works very well with flats.

Fairfield Barbershop: Very dynamic drive, set it just on the brink of breakup and use it as always on. It's tasteful.

 

[FenrirofOld]

Maybe give the Origin Effects DCX Bass a look? I got to mess around with one a bit and really liked it, and it is now on my short list. I know of a few folks who use it with flats as well.

If you skip to around 16 minutes in on this video Ivan gives a great sampling of it.

 

[OnlyFlats]

I'm a similar player, using flats on basses without bridge pickups. I'm still on my low grit journey, I've been through a few! A Barbershop is in transit. (El murdoche suggested it in another thread so I'm onto it)

My suggestion: seperate the grit roles across different pedals, 1x pedal for pick style 1x finger style. It's much easier finding something that works for pick style on flats, much harder finding your favourite for finger style. Easier finding moderate gain stuff than low gain.

A variable with finger style that I'm sensitive to is dynamics. I find some gain pedals feel sluggish, like a compressor set with the wrong settings.

My latest insight from last rehearsal: sometimes low gain (on finger) is too low! It sounded great on my headphones test but in the room with the band it didn't make a difference.

All the best with your journey

 

[2saddleslab]

TI Flat user here and finally found my perfect grit from the Ampeg SGT-DI pre. Sometimes I use the SVT, sometimes the B15, depending on the room.

 

[mellobud]

…

My latest insight from last rehearsal: sometimes low gain (on finger) is too low! It sounded great on my headphones test but in the room with the band it didn't make a difference.

All the best with your journey

I’ve found this too. The grit gets lost in the guitar frequencies if it’s too low in gain. I’ve had to dial mine much more aggressive and almost get into a low fuzz-like territory for it to come through in a mix.

 

[johnk_10]

the Origin DCX does it for me.

 

[duruk]

I'm a very new owner of a Laney Digbeth preamp. I mostly use it with my PJ bass with Rottosound flats. The tube simulation is pretty convincing.

 

[Rev_Slinky]

I haven't been able to fully dial it in across different amps and instruments, but I've gotten some good tone out of the Mesa Boogie Flux Drive pedal. It helps to give it a strong signal. I like that you can adjust the bass level to make up for a little loss in the low end when it's engaged. It gets even sweeter when I send that signal straight from there into a Sushibox Particle Accelerator!

 

[mrperkolator]

Sushiboxfx has a bunch of options that should fit. Pretty active thread here too

 

[_Tay_]

I'm a very new owner of a Laney Digbeth preamp. I mostly use it with my PJ bass with Rottosound flats. The tube simulation is pretty convincing.

Me too and agree it does. Very impressed with my Digbeth.

 

[el murdoque]

IMHO, the Origin DCX has this party trick where it cuts high end with more dirt. That does not really fly with flats, when you actually want to boost the high end a bit through the grit.

 

[ics1974]

the Origin DCX does it for me.

+1

 

[bassboysam]

I know its not the typical choice for a low gain sound, but the Mountainking Electronics Behemoth II sounds fantastic and it sounds just as good with flats. I've tried many OD pedals and lots of all tube amps, and imho, the Behemoth is the tubiest of them all.

I found a lot of the low gain "grit" pedals just get lost in the mix. they are too subtle if you play in louder bands/settings.

 

[Bag of Lazers]

The SGT-DI would probably do it if you're GASing. That VT should be able to do it though. I'd recommend trying pulling your character knob back and gain up. Tweak everything else as needed.

I've also gotten great results with the dUg, which was a surprise. It's this absolute metal monster but I found that with flats on a P and J it's got a rich, warm sound. Geddy's DI-2112 is great too because you can saturate the low end.

 

[Thumpin6string]

Man, I'm sure happy that I use rounds. Saves me from having to go through all this pedal searching.

 

[Killing Floor]

A gritty boost like Sex Drive or Secret Chord would do the low gain trick very well. I use Sex Drive on bass for that.

 

[Laurent]

Sans Amp Para Amp is a great pedal for this. It gives you lots of EQ options and a DI.

The Donner Dumbal Overdrive is an inexpensive option but it works incredibly well with flats.

I went thru a mountain of distortion and overdrive pedals before finding these gems.

I use Thomastik flats on two of my basses.

 

[REV]

I have used a Bearfoot Blueberry for many years and I occasionally try other pedals to see if I like them better but so far I am still using the Blueberry. I will say that the distortion section of my Genzer Magellan is pretty sweet so the Genzler pre amp pedal might be an option.

 

[jdwinva]

I've owned the original Blueberry and then the OneControl Blackberry. For my money I went with the Abyss Bass Overdrive Pedal by KHDK for always on grit. The "KH" is Kirk Hammet. Abyss