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Iron Ether Appreciation Society

#1,221
Taylor Livingston said:
These days, I have 2 basses. One is a really weird 8-string bass with quartertone frets and other unusual features.

But since that's not very representative of what anybody else is playing, the bass I actually use to test pedals while designing is a passive Fender with a P pickup and a bridge J pickup, which I have strung BEAD. I figure that's a pretty middle-of-the-road instrument in terms of output level and frequency content, and lets me check how things work on a low B. I try things out with the 8-string too just to check with active electronics.

Once a design is pretty much all there, I have a small group of beta testers to test things out with their various instruments and playing styles. Everybody seems to have different setup and technique, which translates to different dynamics, so sometimes things need to be re-tuned based on that feedback.

Most IE pedal users are bassists, but I do also test them all with guitars before finalizing. It can be tricky to tune things like the envelope sensitivity to work with single coil guitar pickups on high strings while simultaneously keeping the range of the knob from being too tweaky on basses.
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Thanks for the reply, Taylor. Your 8-string bass is pretty cool! I’m sure it sounds great in your hands and completely throws off anyone trying it for the first time.

The BEAD PJ sounds like a good compromise to use for testing the pedals as well as using a few beta testers. Being a passive bass I’m guessing the output isn’t too hot. I’ve been having much better response with effects pedals with my active basses by putting the internal preamp trim volume close to the passive volume. Seems to allow for the greatest dynamic range. Anyway, thanks for sharing and creating the IE pedals. The XD is a thing of beauty and figuring out the top row relationships has been fun. Cheers!
 
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#1,231
aguacateojos said:
How do folks think the new 3Leaf octave will compare to the DubT?
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I don't know but I'll have both on my board. With the synth switch on the DubT and the Sub switch on the MkIII, that's 4 different sounds controllable by foot. Pretty great, at least in theory. My SubT and Octavbre Mini have served me well for awhile now, and I find different uses for each. These will hopefully be a big step up - chain them next to my Broughton Synth Voice and I'm good, hopefully.
 
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#1,235
dalo said:
I just made a quick comparison video between the DubT and SubT

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Hi dalo, thanks for the video. Do you have an XD to run both of these through as well?

Also, does the DubT glitch with the octave at a lower volume setting. I’ve never dimed the only octave pedal I’ve had so this is fairly new to me.

Thank you.
 
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#1,236
Charlie Tuna said:
Hi dalo, thanks for the video. Do you have an XD to run both of these through as well?

Also, does the DubT glitch with the octave at a lower volume setting. I’ve never dimed the only octave pedal I’ve had so this is fairly new to me.

Thank you.
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Janek Gwizdala's demo of the DubT will give you a good idea of how it sounds with a XD. I didn't want that to be a factor in my comparison.

The level of the octave doesn't affect the tracking. Only the volume of the octave. I found that on the DubT, the octave all the way up is about unity with my bypassed signal.
 
#1,237
dalo said:
Janek Gwizdala's demo of the DubT will give you a good idea of how it sounds with a XD. I didn't want that to be a factor in my comparison.

The level of the octave doesn't affect the tracking. Only the volume of the octave. I found that on the DubT, the octave all the way up is about unity with my bypassed signal.
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Thanks for the quick reply. I understand your testing methodology. The SubT definitely sounds more comfortable for you. I wonder how a passive bass would sound rather than the MusicMan... ;)
 
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#1,238
dalo said:
I just made a quick comparison video between the DubT and SubT

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To my ears there's no question, the SubT comes out way on top in that comparison. I hope I don't regret selling mine to buy the DubT

Charlie Tuna said:
I wonder how a passive bass would sound rather than the MusicMan... ;)
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Same here, as I'll likely be using a passive Fender P or Mustang with my DubT when it arrives. Were you using an active MM in the vid @dalo? The DubT just sounded overwhelmed by the signal going into it.
 
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#1,239
JimboP said:
To my ears there's no question, the SubT comes out way on top in that comparison. I hope I don't regret selling mine to buy the DubT


Same here, as I'll likely be using a passive Fender P or Mustang with my DubT when it arrives. Were you using an active MM in the vid @dalo? The DubT just sounded overwhelmed by the signal going into it.
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Yes I was using an active bass in the video. I have a passive P with flats and get a similar result. I can try and record a clip tomorrow.
 
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