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- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,633
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
The best tube screamer circuit I've tried is the Clay / Llandgraff variant but the Son of variant which looses the input and output buffers. It's certainly very clear and articulate, has good low end retention. But I just don't like the sound of a Tube screamer on Bass. I find that my bass always sound like a Tube Screamer regardless of which bass or EQ I'm using. It has a certain sound to it. I have a Blueberry too, the Barefoot variant and to be honest, there are other bass overdrives which sound better. Yes it's dynamic, yes I really like the tone control but it can sound a bit buzzy or farty and again, my bass sounds like it's been put through a Blueberry. At the moment I'm enjoying my Barbershop and Dam Ezekiel (dialed back a lot). I tried a Klon and a Zen circuit and I liked their clarity a lot, but both of those circuits have seem to have a bass cut which is intrinsic to the circuit design and can't easily be dialed out. I think on a guitar they sound great. But on bass...not so cool. I'm stil very partial to a Wampler Euphoria / Ecstasy on bass. It's got a three way clipping selector, active bass and treble tone controls. it can be used as a clean boost, transparent or heavy OD. But I particularly like how it sounds. I really like it's grit.
I only have the F2B. It's so great, makes me want to try more! I hear about the Gammas huge low end, can that be dialed back?
I have a FET-F2B preamp pedal. I have it plugged straight into a power amp. It gives a dark and vintage-style sound.
That's a showman circuit.. if I remember right.. do you run it on a higher voltage to feed the power amp?
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,633
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
yep. it's a fender showman circuit, so if the knobs were numbered from 0- 100%, flat is: bass 2% , mid 100%, treble 0%
thanks! Glad to join
all Cabling is custom stuff from BTPA. So the cables running from the board to the amp are their HD cables with Neutrik jacks, also have two of their patch panels on either side for the connections. And on board, their midi cables, and their solderless patch cables. The ones with the tiny jacks, same as the ones from Disaster Area Designs.i have heard good stuff about bestronics.. I am using lava cable ultramafic myself..
thanks! Glad to join
As John mentioned the Blueberry isn't a Tubescreamer variant. Which makes sense as I love the Blueberry and haven't ever really gotten on with a TS based OD, even the ones modded for bass.
I'm almost positive the Blueberry is an original design. And my understanding is that Bjorn took that circuit, tuned it for guitar and that's how the Honey Bee came to be.
Hi John, just a quick shout out about the FET-F2B. It is my must have tool for clean vintage tones from now on. I have always tended towards a Bassman tone anyway but the note clarity is so much better with the FET-F2B, no wonder so many players back in the day used a Showman head and that the circuit was chosen by Alembic for it's flagship tone.
I have just returned from a mixiing session where i used 3 of my basses into the FET-F2B into a Countryman Type 85 and all we did was add a touch of room reverb and the bass tracks were simply perfect in the mix. Basses used were my main Carvin LB50Koa, another Carvin LB50 Koa with EMG HB pickups and my old Gibson G-3. All of these basses always record well but the G-3 was the absolute surprise, never has that bass sounded better. The blend with the guitar amps was superb, the punch against the bass drum was sublime and the note clarity among it all was sheer perfection. I will be trying to replicate that tone with other gear but why other.
I have just returned from a mixiing session where i used 3 of my basses into the FET-F2B into a Countryman Type 85 and all we did was add a touch of room reverb and the bass tracks were simply perfect in the mix. Basses used were my main Carvin LB50Koa, another Carvin LB50 Koa with EMG HB pickups and my old Gibson G-3. All of these basses always record well but the G-3 was the absolute surprise, never has that bass sounded better. The blend with the guitar amps was superb, the punch against the bass drum was sublime and the note clarity among it all was sheer perfection. I will be trying to replicate that tone with other gear but why other.
If you want to try a real tube Alembic style F2B circuit get in on the small batch Broughton Super Stack run that @Azure Skies is about to launch.
Also - is there a time limit on editing or deleting posts? I would very much like to delete my earlier posts from this thread. @Ryan L. ?
I am sure the Broughton will be extrta special, sadly I have reached the point in life of gettin' rid instead of gettin' more music toys is on the agenda. Space in the Lifeboat will be limited.
