As I said "all things being equal" - as in, you get tone shaping from your amp and/or tone shaping from your preamp
Neither should stand in the way of getting "your tone."
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Master Effects survey
- Thread starter Miles_ONeal
- Start date
Neither should stand in the way of getting "your tone."
Add the Golden Ratio?
1. Transmission: The tone is very good. Of course it is great for taking a BB2000 and making it sound like a BB1200s, but I've found it to be useful on all kinds of basses. Mine had a bad part so I sent it back and Tim fixed it no charge. However it is still a bit flaky; with the "Boost" engaged it distorts, even when the output is turned down lower than when the Boost is off (this is kind of what it did before so maybe the same part is failing again?). I find it odd and frustrating that I need to use the Boost in the first place to get a volume control (I'd like to be able to use it as a neutral-gain EQ, eg change the tone without boosting the volume; since the original circuit is boost-only I believe, it does make sense that the overall output would be higher. But a master volume wouldn't be hard to include)
2. Golden Ratio: It does what it advertises, which is to recreate the Clone Theory. It's maybe less noisy than an OG (and old) Clone Theory, however it's still very noisy. I ultimately swapped it out for another pedal which sounds *almost* the same and has no noise. Especially since there was an odd interaction between the GR and my Super 100 where the noise would be hugely accentuated with both on.
3. Super 100: very good, especially with cab sim pedal after it.
1. Transmission: The tone is very good. Of course it is great for taking a BB2000 and making it sound like a BB1200s, but I've found it to be useful on all kinds of basses. Mine had a bad part so I sent it back and Tim fixed it no charge. However it is still a bit flaky; with the "Boost" engaged it distorts, even when the output is turned down lower than when the Boost is off (this is kind of what it did before so maybe the same part is failing again?). I find it odd and frustrating that I need to use the Boost in the first place to get a volume control (I'd like to be able to use it as a neutral-gain EQ, eg change the tone without boosting the volume; since the original circuit is boost-only I believe, it does make sense that the overall output would be higher. But a master volume wouldn't be hard to include)
2. Golden Ratio: It does what it advertises, which is to recreate the Clone Theory. It's maybe less noisy than an OG (and old) Clone Theory, however it's still very noisy. I ultimately swapped it out for another pedal which sounds *almost* the same and has no noise. Especially since there was an odd interaction between the GR and my Super 100 where the noise would be hugely accentuated with both on.
3. Super 100: very good, especially with cab sim pedal after it.
There are a few pedals from ME that I'm possibly interested in, but I will never buy from them as long as they force me to do the transaction in US dollars, Having to pay foreign currency conversion fees to pay a company located in my own country is bs. I broke that rule once for a Broughton pedal but I won't be doing it again.
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,634
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
The poll specifically listed ME's bass products. The Golden Ratio, like the Cross, is a guitar product. Feel free to discuss those as well (as you did)!
Briefly owned a Monorail but didn’t keep it. Really nice preamp (I’ll confess I’m a bit of a preamp junkie) that did get the Traynor vibe - which is a sound I also really like. But it wasn’t a sound I would have much occasion to use so I sent it off to a better home.
I’d argue the most famous Clone Theory user by far is a bassist (Peter Hook), and I’d suspect the vast majority of Golden Ratio pedals are being sold to bassists as a result!
What did you replace the Golden Ratio with that sounded similar? I’ve had a few EHX chorus pedals (including the reissue Clone Theory) that I loved for their relatively edgy/bright character, but that always comes with added noise that I’ve not been able to put up with in the long run. Sad to hear the Golden Ratio isn’t much improvement in that regard, but not surprising either as it is just the trade off for a bright analog delay-based pedal.
Tubes for sure. What I think of as late 60s early 70s rock style bottom end. Something like this, although it’s capable of lighter and more nuanced tones too:
FWIW I always thought Traynor amps made excellent and affordable pedal platforms. If you dropped a preamp or ‘character’ type pedal in front you could get a lot of different signature amp tones out of them.
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I got my 200 and 800 today and got to try a couple hours.
First, dialling in dirt is not straightforward. There is an interplay between Gain Volume Master (200) and Volume Master Boost (800).
The 200 is darkish, mushy but lots of punchy low end, fits nicely in any music. Compared to the SolidGoldFX BetaV it’s a bit muffled, and the overdrive isn’t as straightforward or as nice, but it works, and very well at what it does.
The 800, for me, needs the Contour switch on to get low end and body. The lows are sharper, less blunt than the 200, more cutting less punchy. The BetaV is sort of in between. When I can figure out how to get some consistent distortion the Bright switch might be more useful.
So overall pretty happy, just wish the distortion was simpler to dial in predictably. Just a week between ordering and receiving in Montreal.
First, dialling in dirt is not straightforward. There is an interplay between Gain Volume Master (200) and Volume Master Boost (800).
The 200 is darkish, mushy but lots of punchy low end, fits nicely in any music. Compared to the SolidGoldFX BetaV it’s a bit muffled, and the overdrive isn’t as straightforward or as nice, but it works, and very well at what it does.
The 800, for me, needs the Contour switch on to get low end and body. The lows are sharper, less blunt than the 200, more cutting less punchy. The BetaV is sort of in between. When I can figure out how to get some consistent distortion the Bright switch might be more useful.
So overall pretty happy, just wish the distortion was simpler to dial in predictably. Just a week between ordering and receiving in Montreal.
I think the key to gritty tone with the 800 is to set the Volume (gain) on max and use the Master to set volume level. And then there's the boost switch/knob. Sorry if you already know this.
Y'all don't forget the main thread - Master Effects Owners Society . If you didn't know about it, check it out!
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,634
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
