In Which We Are Dissapoint

[Jeffrey Wash]

All part of a long and expensive process I guess.

You can say that again.

 

[IncX]

*MXR Bass Octave Deluxe - first and foremost, i dont like octave down sounds, so it was my mistake in getting this pedal without doing my research. objectively, i am disappointed with its tracking. i like the Digitech Whammy's tracking a lot better, and i like the octave sounds of the Markbass Supersynth a lot better.

*Markbass Supersynth - i was really excited with this pedal and i tried to make it work. But it's one of those pedals you either turn on all the time, or not use at all. turning it on midsong would completely change one's low end. it could have been salvageable if it was tweakable onstage. it also sucks that this pedal is hell wide!

*3Leaf Audio Groove Regulator - i guess thats why the version 2 has a blend knob because the original one, just like the supersynth would completely change the bass dynamics if you turn the pedal on in mid song.

*MXR Ph 90 - it just spikes up your volume too much, it distracts the band.

*Snarling Dogs Bootzilla - awesome wah sound, crappy fuzz sound, but still... awesome wah sound! it's just not meant to last. this pedal is what happens when you put the "Behringer Building Philosophy" inside a 7 lb-armoured pedal; it will be solid, heavy, and still unreliable.

 

[mcglyph]

TC Electronics Polytune! Wack. I'd sell it if I could find someone who has heard of it and wants it..

 

[FaithNoMan]

I sorta enjoyed searching for the next better aggressive/gritty bass overdrive..

Therefore, in the Darkglass B3K I am...Disappoint.

 

[behndy]

 

[jmattbassplaya]

I've owned quite a good number of pedals over the few years I've been playing (nearly 60 different models - which is child's play for some guys here), and I've disliked many more pedals than I've liked. There's really only one pedal I have ever liked right off the bat, and that's my Boss CE-5. I have a soft spot for my MXR M82 Filter and my Boss BF-3 Flanger as well, but past that I'm just unable to find any effects that 'just work' with minimal tweaking.

 

[FaithNoMan]

Haha

 

[Laurent]

Catalinbreat SVT
Tech 21 VT
Tech 21 Sansamp (the distortion - the DI is OK)
EH Bass Blogger and many other strange EH products (that being said the Bass Micro Synth and Germanium OD are BRILLIANT and the Bass Muff is a good value).

 

[BassBrass]

This.

I have a Ruiner in an Xotic blender, about 40-60 Ruiner to clean. It's simply Great that way. Other DE pedals (except Dark Boost on occasion) have fallen away but Ruiner remains. (Also have a Watson FY6 and that rules blended too)

In which I were dissapoint by Subdecay Noise Box (envelope too high) Chuck Brown Dog (fuzz tuned too high, Blowtorch with it's eq's did it better) Mastrotron (blah) Boss FS-2's bypass (why I have Xotic and Wounded Paw blenders), Jacques Fat Burner (would Not do subtle) and, sorry, Way Huge Porkloin. Fuzz has no color and is so smooth it sounds like it isn't part of the sound, just fzzz on top, and blended clean sound is too dark. I do love the Green Rhino though. Mids that cut.

One cool synth sound: Bass Blogger drive into Blowtorch, full mid eq, torch, 50-50 mix. Believe it.

 

[jwr]

Everything. I have been disappointed by all effects.

There I said it.



Seriously though. The Chunk Systems 00Funk Mark II was probably one of the biggest disappointments I've had in the pedal world. The sound was ok when you could get the damn thing to work right. Too much knob turning to find a usable tone.

The Pitchfactor was a huge letdown to me too. I like idea of the pedal, but everything sounded too digital. Almost fake.

Let's see...what else. MXR pedals. All of them so far. Subdecay Noisebox. I couldn't really play this pedal without my ears feeling like they were going to bleed. Same deal with the Civilian Geiger Counter. Iron Ether Frantabit. Yea, yea...I know. I just did not like the way it sounds. Great concept and design, but the only thing I liked were the fuzz settings. Not a big 8 bit sound fan I suppose.

I'm sure there is more, but I can't think of them. Almost all the pedals I've had, I've flipped for good reasons.

 

[Altitude]

I'll say that on the occasional gig where I decide to leave the effects behind and go dry - at the end of the night I always feel like the earth continued to turn despite my lack of effects, the band sounded fine, and I've got that much less to carry out to the car before I can go home and go to bed!

 

[G.Bisson]

*Snarling Dogs Bootzilla - awesome wah sound, crappy fuzz sound, but still... awesome wah sound! it's just not meant to last. this pedal is what happens when you put the "Behringer Building Philosophy" inside a 7 lb-armoured pedal; it will be solid, heavy, and still unreliable.

This made me laugh. It was a ridiculously heavy pedal, when I resold it the shipping cost for that block of iron was a jaw dropper .

Other DE pedals (except Dark Boost on occasion) have fallen away but Ruiner remains.

same here, only the Ruiner remains. Unless she has designed her fuzz specifically for bass, Devi pedals are typically disappoint.

All part of a long and expensive process I guess.

very expensive, but very fun, it's been a helluva ride. ride on

 

[DiabolicLow B]

MXR El Grande Bass Fuzz, horrible noisy pedal.

SA Multiwave Bass Distortion, I really like the BEF but the MWBD was too sterile and synthy sounding for me.

EHX Bass Big Muff, should be a crime to sell that pedal, gets completely lost in the mix no matter what setting.

 

[DonKartofflo]

EHX Bass Big Muff. Got it as my first Pedal, plugged it in, turned it on, played with it for the next couple days, loved EVERY sound on it from the angry high freq fuzz to the dark stoner fuzz, loved the dry setting, loved the bass boost, loved the normal setting, DAMN I LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS PEDAL! thought these were the best 90 euro ever spent in my life. Next day: Band jam, mid song i turned on my pedal and my sound was simply... gone. this damn thing gets lost in the mix like hänsel und gretel in the forest and for the ones of you who don't know hänsel und gretel, they were DAMN lost.
/hate

But really, i can't understand the hate on EHX going on on this thread : / got the EHX BMS a year later and after some tweaking, some experimenting, some reading through the effects sheet and some talking with fellow talkbass members i must say I LOVE this pedal it has a ton of awesome sounds, you could almost say its a multieffect with envelope, octave, attack control and square wave/dry mixer. this must be the best synthfuzz on earth

 

[Bassmike62]

Me too! I've owned several EHX pedals and loved them but to each their own...I use:

POG2
BMS XO
Russian BM

Love em

Same here, I sorta like the off-the-wallish thing EHX has. I did let go of the BBM, but I still have a few EHXs lying around: Neo Clone, LPB1, Bassballs and Memory Toy.

In my previous post, forgot to mention the Bad Monkey. Really loved it in the shop, but was really noisy in my then set-up. On retro, that was probably the Boss CS-3 that what just ahead of it. The Monkey didn't last 24 hours on my board. The CS-3 is also toast.

 

[avvie]

Since then I've tried and loved the first version of the 3leaf Groove Regulator...seriously better than the Q-Tron.

That one looks nice!

3Leaf Audio GR2 Groove Regulator Pedal Demo (On Bass) - YouTube

 

[scubaduba]

I sent back a Foxrox Octron. It didn't do $200 worth or work for me, and I had false hopes about the octave-up effect.

+1 to that. Didn't even come close to impressing me and living up to the hype. I'd take an octamizer or BOD before an Octron. I do want to try an Ampeg Sub Blaster though.

 

[rapturebass]

Tech 21 Bass Driver DI - I've been planning on buying a VT Bass cause I want some of that SVT/warm, slightly Overdriven tone, but I saw this in the store and I thought, why not? It gets rave reviews and sounded decent in Youtube videos I'd seen, so. Plugged it in; couldn't find a sound I liked. Way too much gain for me, the EQ was ineffective, and it just seemed way too grindy and "nu-metally." Maybe I needed to play with it a little more but it sounded nothing liked I hoped. Is the VT Bass any better in that regard, or will that pedal be a letdown as well? I want some SVT-CL character as well as the some stronger OD tones.

 

[IncX]

Tech 21 Bass Driver DI - I've been planning on buying a VT Bass cause I want some of that SVT/warm, slightly Overdriven tone, but I saw this in the store and I thought, why not? It gets rave reviews and sounded decent in Youtube videos I'd seen, so. Plugged it in; couldn't find a sound I liked. Way too much gain for me, the EQ was ineffective, and it just seemed way too grindy and "nu-metally." Maybe I needed to play with it a little more but it sounded nothing liked I hoped. Is the VT Bass any better in that regard, or will that pedal be a letdown as well? I want some SVT-CL character as well as the some stronger OD tones.

i do agree that the Sansamp BDI sounds like nu-metal bass.

the thing is, i dont hate that sound lol ... i dont think youd have much luck with the sansamp VT Bass

 

[Vlad5]

About EHX, they have some great ideas, but the execution is painfully sub-par most times. I've tried several EHX effects and they all sound 'characterless' to me. Very generic, almost canned sounds (like poor digital quality). And their uber-cheapo unfinished aluminum boxes don't leave me with any build confidence either. I'm super happy there are booteek effects builders remaking some of the EHX stuff (Wren & Cuff Tall Font Russian, Analogman Mini Chorus), because they take great ideas and actually produce great products from them.

Every Boss pedal I've ever tried. Seems like the robots they have banging out their 200,000 effects quota each year don't really care if it sounds good or not, so long as production is met. Like EHX, they have some nice ideas, but the quality/execution on most (not all) of their pedals leave much to be be desired or musically useful. (my opinion only, of course) And the out of date 80's style mushy foot switches on them have got to go. Clunky, oversized, dirt magnets.

Specific disappoint...
Fulltone Fat Boost - More like half-tone flab boost. I just sounded flabby, like loose strings through a broken speaker. I understand it would sound best through an all tube amp, but if I had one of those, I wouldn't need a boost pedal that emulated one, would I? Again, booteek is the way to go (W&C Phat Phuk anyone?)

/rant ;p