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Low(er) gain, dynamic response OD pedal

#41
The barbershop is a great pedal...

But the one to rume them all is the grizzly bass. It is f***** awesome and takes my jbass to another level.

Every other pedal (including bbbod, vmt, b3k,...) is like a toy at its side.

Best buy in all time!!
 
#43
I discovered I'm not the intended audience for the Lehle Sonic Spark. While watching one of their youtube demos, I kept thinking "why would you ever want to sound like that" as the effect was demoed, and the beautiful well rounded sound that popped out when they turned the pedal off was a big relief. I'm sure that a tasteful musician will make it sound good in the right context, of course, but it's definitely not for me.

Grizzly bass, on the other hand, matched my taste very well whenever the overdrive and distortion are anywhere between 9 and 2 o'clock. I might "need" that one :). Is it touch responsive so you can sweetspot it where it will go from fairly clean to fairly driven by right hand technique? That's so hard to tell from youtube videos.
 
#44
I may not be into the Lehle, but I'll try it out. I'll have 60 days to return it, but will likely know pretty soon. I'll have to really love it to keep it, it's spendy and has some strong competition!

The Grizzly bass pedal has come up a bit, if I'm not happy with any of the pedals I'm trying out, I'll mos def look into it!
 
#45
I just remembered that I had an MXR M89 Bass Overdrive. When you turn drive completely off on that pedal (which also makes tone a "producer knob"), it does a nice tube-ish "grrrrr" sounding breakup. It also cleans up to softer playing or lowering the volume on the bass. I might just try this out in my covers band.

A significant disadvantage is that I've already turned drive all the way off to get this sound, so there's no way to further reduce the breakup besides turning volume down on the bass. My Matt Freeman P hits a good sweet spot, but people with hot pickups need not apply. This means it's probably not worth buying just for this sound.
 
#47
The Pork Loin is a great mild overdrive but not super touch sensitive.

I briefly demoed the Barbershop but to be fair it was thru a rig I really didn't like so all I could say was it seemed to have potential. Hope to get to try one thru a decent amp sometime.

Now the Blueberry I demoed blew my mind, very touch sensitive. If it hadn't had a faulty footswitch it would have come home with me. Very high on my buy list after I move some gear.
 
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#48
Lately I'm really enjoying the Aguilar Agro. It's like a more aggressive Blueberry with tighter lows... Lots more upper mids but can still do clean and subtle. At low gain you can hit a low B and it sounds clean but then it grinds nicely on the upper strings, and it really sings when doing slides and hammer-ons. A really good match for my Yamaha BB and Orange Terror, which are a bit too dark when combined with the Blueberry unless I'm using fresh strings!
 
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#49
The Blueberry Bass OD and Lehle Sonic Spark arrived yesterday. I am loving P-Bass --> Sonic Spark --> 3BOD. Sounds awesome! I'll get some clips up at some point in the next week.

What I like about the Sonic Spark:
1. Nice tight, low boost, without being rumbly (actually a tone I was trying to get from a compressor that I never fully achieved). You can dial in this low boost with the "Intensity" knob. They describe this knob in the manual as being like a blend. However, when I turned all the way down (0% effect), it's definitely not the dry bass signal. The bass signal is definitely enhanced at 0 Intensity. When turned up you do get more of the effects of the "Enhance" knob. It's interesting how it works and I really like a lot!

EDIT: Oops I had my 0% and 100% backwards. So, ummm...actually I guess I don't really know how it works, but I can tweak some knobs and it sounds good...I'll let y'all know when I figure it out...according to the manual though the enhance knob still effects the tone even when the Intensity is at 0

2. The Enhance knob increases the amount overtones, really helps the tone cut through. When all the way up, you get a little bit of an overdriven sound, but not exactly. I wouldn't use this personally as an OD pedal, but I really like being able to bring in more of the overtones.

3. The "Gain" knob seems to be more like an output gain, with noon being unity gain and then boost/cut functions as you turn it clockwise or counter clockwise, respectively. I like this, because it allows me to lower the output gain going into the OD pedal so that I get more usable range on the OD, making it easier to fine tune just how much OD I like.

The Sonic Spark was designed to act as a preamp also, so it can drive a power amp or powered speaker. Pretty cool.

Gotta run now...more to come later...
 
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#50
BaileyMan said:
The Blueberry Bass OD and Lehle Sonic Spark arrived yesterday. I am loving P-Bass --> Sonic Spark --> 3BOD. Sounds awesome! I'll get some clips up at some point in the next week.

What I like about the Sonic Spark:
1. Nice tight, low boost, without being rumbly (actually a tone I was trying to get from a compressor that I never fully achieved). You can dial in this low boost with the "Intensity" knob. They describe this knob in the manual as being like a blend. However, when I turned all the way down (0% effect), it's definitely not the dry bass signal. The bass signal is definitely enhanced at 0 Intensity. When turned up you do get more of the effects of the "Enhance" knob. It's interesting how it works and I really like a lot!

EDIT: Oops I had my 0% and 100% backwards. So, ummm...actually I guess I don't really know how it works, but I can tweak some knobs and it sounds good...I'll let y'all know when I figure it out...according to the manual though the enhance knob still effects the tone even when the Intensity is at 0

2. The Enhance knob increases the amount overtones, really helps the tone cut through. When all the way up, you get a little bit of an overdriven sound, but not exactly. I wouldn't use this personally as an OD pedal, but I really like being able to bring in more of the overtones.

3. The "Gain" knob seems to be more like an output gain, with noon being unity gain and then boost/cut functions as you turn it clockwise or counter clockwise, respectively. I like this, because it allows me to lower the output gain going into the OD pedal so that I get more usable range on the OD, making it easier to fine tune just how much OD I like.

The Sonic Spark was designed to act as a preamp also, so it can drive a power amp or powered speaker. Pretty cool.

Gotta run now...more to come later...
Click to expand...

The intensity increases/decreases the amount of contour("smiley face eq"), and deep-bright allows you to set this at a certain frequency
 
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#51
Hallic said:
The intensity increases/decreases the amount of contour("smiley face eq"), and deep-bright allows you to set this at a certain frequency
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification Hallic. I spent 3+ hours the other day tweaking knobs, and writing my observations. Turned into a 2 page review of the knobs and the changes in tone. I'm better understanding how the knobs affect the tone.

I finally had a chance to use it at practice, and it sounded great. Cut through the mix, great full lows, really made the bass stand out once I got the levels set and my touch dialed in. After playing with the full band, I think I could actually use it as an OD on it's own. I'm really liking the pedal a lot...We'll see which one ends up staying in the arsenal.
 
#52
Here's one of my favorite settings with the Basswitch and 3BOD. Really liking the fullness and presence from the Basswitch and the subtle overdrive that the 3BOD adds.


One of the things that I really like about the 3BOD is that the "Nature" knob can be dialed in to get a great low boost. Definitely no loss of lows with this pedal. It's also brighter than the Barbershop. The Barbershop sounds great on it's own, but it kinda gets buried in the mix with a full band. The bass doesn't stand out in the same way that it does with the 3BOD.

I'm thinking I'll be selling the Catalinbread SFT and the Barbershop...
 
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#53
Wow thanks for this combo. Although im using a different bass, im interested in the blueberry bass drive. I like that is has a nice mellow saturation going(as apposed to harsh distortion). Might order one together with a couple of other to see which i'll like.
 
#54
Hallic said:
Wow thanks for this combo. Although im using a different bass, im interested in the blueberry bass drive. I like that is has a nice mellow saturation going(as apposed to harsh distortion). Might order one together with a couple of other to see which i'll like.
Click to expand...
One of the things that I like about this combo in particular, add I mentioned in an earlier post, is that I can lower the gain on the Basswitch Sonic Spark so that the gain going into the 3BOD, is lower, allowing me more control of the overdrive. My P-bass seems to put out a pretty hot signal for passive pickups, and The 3BOD seems to be a higher gain pedal than the Barbershop. I couldn't get the control over the OD I wanted going straight into the 3BOD with full volume from the p-bass. I think my ideal OD, would be a mashup of these two.
 
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#55
BaileyMan said:
One of the things that I like about this combo in particular, add I mentioned in an earlier post, is that I can lower the gain on the Basswitch Sonic Spark so that the gain going into the 3BOD, is lower, allowing me more control of the overdrive. My P-bass seems to put out a pretty hot signal for passive pickups, and The 3BOD seems to be a higher gain pedal than the Barbershop. I couldn't get the control over the OD I wanted going straight into the 3BOD with full volume from the p-bass. I think my ideal OD, would be a mashup of these two.
Click to expand...

I just got a custom version of the 3BOD and noticed the same thing: it prefers lower output. I have to run my actives in passive mode, and even then the P-basses can be too hot -- the exception is a custom passive P-bass I own that has a vintage-wound P pickup. So, thanks for the idea about using the Sonic Spark in front: I was already considering it and now I will probably get one. In the meantime I can use the 3BOD exclusively with my vintage P, it sounds amazing with that bass.
 
#56
Bearfoot makes great stuff. I have an Uber Bee and a Model G and both sound excellent with bass. I use the Uber for a nice low gain drive and the G for more aggressive distortion with upper mid grind. Neither one lose low end and they're both quite "transparent" and very natural sounding.
 
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#58
the barbershop is still one of my all time favorites. the Wampler Euphoria is also great. The Grizzly is awesome too.
and here's my latest dynamic low gainer (100% tube):

AU-Drive_no3-03.jpg


AU-Drive_no3-02-2.jpg


AU-Drive_no3-05-2.jpg
 
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