Got a Microtubes B3K v2. Don't like it. What do I want instead?

[EpicSoundtracks]

i don't think i can respond to everyone who's offered suggestions ITT, but i really do appreciate all the insight and suggestions!

I'm still DG curious so I might try out the AO.

thanks again, TB!

 

[NeonVomit]

I have a B3K V1. It's a great little pedal but definitely not enough for really brutal and nasty stuff on its own, it needs help for that. If you want to add a little dirt/drive to your sound, a bit of edge, it's great. For stuff I really want to blow the doors down though, I combine it with a EBS Billy Sheehan, running in the Drive loop. Crazy unhinged sound that needs a noise gate.

I want to try an X Ultra, I think that will be the DG pedal that really gives me what I want. I have the HyperLuminal though and it's the best compressor I've ever used.

 

[orichtvuna]

Welp, I just picked up a b7k and I'm running a vt v.2 into it. I can switch on the vt as a cleanish mid boost to push the b7k into thick yet modern territory. The yyz sounds like another flavour but nothing I can't reach with the vt and the b7k. I don't really need or want anything else, I guess.... My suggestion? Try pushing the b7k with a hot pedal before it, especially something mid heavy. It just might change the world.

 

[micguy]

Vintage microtubes has more mids. The b3k is a more modern scooped tone.

This agrees with my experience. I bought the Vintage Microtubes because it wasn't as scooped, but in living with it for a while, realized it was too far in the other direction - it's focused on low mids, and I needed less of that, and more high mids. There is (or at least was) a hole in Darkglass's product line between those two products. The pedal that did it for me was...(pauses, looks both ways)...the Pike Vulcan.

Yes, I know, Pike and Darkglass had a very public divorce, and everyone had to (just like with any divorce) choose up sides. If you ignore the politics (admittedly, it took me a while to do that) and just listen to the products, the Pike Vulcan is (to my ears) a nice middle ground between the B3K and the Vintage Microtubes. I have one Vintage Microtubes. It sits on a shelf. I have 2 pedalboards. Each one has a Pike Vulcan on it.

 

[Ellery]

I get rad buzzsaw distortion out of my B3k version 1. So either:
1) They don't make em like they used to.
-OR-
2) Tone is in the fingers.

 

[cardinal]

I get rad buzzsaw distortion out of my B3k version 1. So either:
1) They don't make em like they used to.
-OR-
2) Tone is in the fingers.

Some of it might be amp/cab dependent. It seems reasonably polite with my SVT-II but I swear it's a raging monster when plugged into my B15, oddly. Not sure why that would be.

 

[Nephilymbass]

In short, the B3K is too... something. Too well-behaved? Scooped? No matter how I tweaked it I couldn't dial out what I experienced as a "scoopiness" although I'm not convinced that's what I'm objecting to. Ultimately it just wasn't as gnarly as I wanted it to be. I ran it before and after my Rustybox and on its own, and it got thoroughly trounced by my modded Rat.

This is my first Darkglass pedal; are any of the other offerings ... less polite? Are there non-Darkglass things I should be looking at that are burlier?

thanks in advance!

As a big fan of darkglass pedals for the last few years I’d have recommended you try the alpha omega if you wanted something more crazy sounding. The difference isn’t made obvious in comparison videos because most of the comparison videos I’ve seen it’s like they try to dial the different pedals in to sound somewhat similar instead of dialing in sounds that point out how different they can be.

For me I sold my b7k ultra without any hesitation after I got the alpha/omega.

 

[Ellery]

Some of it might be amp/cab dependent. It seems reasonably polite with my SVT-II but I swear it's a raging monster when plugged into my B15, oddly. Not sure why that would be.

If it helps I'm using a Spector w/ active jazz pickups and a darkglass preamp --> B3k --> Sansamp Bass Driver --> Gallien Krueger 1001RB, pumping into an Ampeg 1x15 or a Mesa 6x10. EQ-wise I boost the mids. The Spector is growly enough on it's own and the GK doesn't soften anything.

 

[NeonVomit]

The difference isn’t made obvious in comparison videos because most of the comparison videos I’ve seen it’s like they try to dial the different pedals in to sound somewhat similar instead of dialing in sounds that point out how different they can be.

Basically 90% of the videos with decent sound is someone playing a grinding riff on a Dingwall with a pick, or slapping. I mean it sounds great and all but that's not what I'm after and almost no one does really comprehensive video demos that show everything the pedals can do.

 

[Nephilymbass]

Basically 90% of the videos with decent sound is someone playing a grinding riff on a Dingwall with a pick, or slapping. I mean it sounds great and all but that's not what I'm after and almost no one does really comprehensive video demos that show everything the pedals can do.

Know what you mean. I have a dingwall and No one sells them around here, I had to find a video of a country bass player in order to find a good clip of it played clean.

As for darkglass pedals. Patrick Hunter does a pretty good job demonstrating them with a good variety of basses.

 

[NeonVomit]

Know what you mean. I have a dingwall and No one sells them around here, I had to find a video of a country bass player in order to find a good clip of it played clean.

As for darkglass pedals. Patrick Hunter does a pretty good job demonstrating them with a good variety of basses.

Thanks! will check it out!