Analog octave pedals get a lot of debate around here, re: tracking, tone, synthy-ness, sub dubness, etc. OC-2 vs Octamizer vs BOD vs Mooer vs Octaplex vs whatever else is out there
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Most Divisive Pedal on TB
- Thread starter birminghambass
- Start date
-
- Tags
- bass pedal most tb
Anything DarkGlass. Many love their stuff. Others think it's fizzy garbage.
Anything EHX. Suffers from being the known name, with their offerings now often surpassed by modifications and clones of their circuits.
Sansamp.
Anything EHX. Suffers from being the known name, with their offerings now often surpassed by modifications and clones of their circuits.
Sansamp.
Compressors. As stated, you have to start with the 'you don't need one if you have good technique!', then move on to the 'I can't hear anything... what's it do?', before you even get to 'which one?'
I think the most divisive are compressors. Other might be like 50-50 or love/hate, but compressors... man, you have variety of opinions out there. If have learn one thing about comps from TB is there is hardly a more personal pedal than a comp.
As helpful as people can be here (and 99% of the folks are super cool and helpful), you can go nuts trying to get a basic botom line about if you should or shouldn't use a comp and wich one to choose.
So, if the world is "divisive" I think Compressor is the asnwer
As helpful as people can be here (and 99% of the folks are super cool and helpful), you can go nuts trying to get a basic botom line about if you should or shouldn't use a comp and wich one to choose.
So, if the world is "divisive" I think Compressor is the asnwer
Although I already voted I’d be remiss if I didn’t throw the BBE Sonic Maximizer/Stomp into the fray. Opinion is usually strongly divided over whether this pedal adds something truly magic to the sound -or- does absolutely nothing and is one of the most successful scams ever foisted on the music market.
Opinions run very high regarding this thing sometimes. I actually have seen a fist fight break out over this pedal.
@line6man - this is one of those confusingly named sonic “enhancer” or “exciter” devices. Rather than try to recap what this thing does and how it does it, the explanation in this video tells it better than I ever will:
Opinions run very high regarding this thing sometimes. I actually have seen a fist fight break out over this pedal.
@line6man - this is one of those confusingly named sonic “enhancer” or “exciter” devices. Rather than try to recap what this thing does and how it does it, the explanation in this video tells it better than I ever will:
Last edited:
Adamixoye
A PT Pro is cool for worship, right?
- Apr 9, 2012
- 18,158
- 69,338
- Disclosures
- Occasional Beta Tester for Confusion Studios, Singular Sound, and Source Audio
LOL, some pretty good lines in here.
Re: JHS they have had their business ethics called into question. How they clone/take credit/allegedly strongarmed other builders/etc. I don’t know all the details and I don’t have a strong opinion, but that is the source of divisiveness over them.
Compressors.
I have switched camps on compressors.
The old me was like many: "It kills dynamics and covers bad technique, does the job your playing should be doing..."
Now it's always on for me, even on upright, because it enriches the tone and sits my bass better in the mix. I have good technique, and I practice without it, but I have learned to "play" the compressor as part of my instrument. And my compressors of choice (currently the Smoothie, and the Diamond for upright) were sold from ads that said they were for sale in favor of other compressors I owned previously and didn't like.
A close second would probably be the Sansamp. It is majority scooped, and I owned the newer version with the mid control for a hot second. Same flavor. To some it's the constant in their rig, and to some it sucks the tone. I do have a VTDI that gets engaged regularly, but it's not even close to the same flavor.
I have switched camps on compressors.
The old me was like many: "It kills dynamics and covers bad technique, does the job your playing should be doing..."
Now it's always on for me, even on upright, because it enriches the tone and sits my bass better in the mix. I have good technique, and I practice without it, but I have learned to "play" the compressor as part of my instrument. And my compressors of choice (currently the Smoothie, and the Diamond for upright) were sold from ads that said they were for sale in favor of other compressors I owned previously and didn't like.
A close second would probably be the Sansamp. It is majority scooped, and I owned the newer version with the mid control for a hot second. Same flavor. To some it's the constant in their rig, and to some it sucks the tone. I do have a VTDI that gets engaged regularly, but it's not even close to the same flavor.
Last edited:
Darkglass for me, and I’m in both camps! I LOVE my B3K. Couldn’t stand the B7KU. It always added annoying amounts of high end fizz, and by the time I reduced the treble enough to stop the fizz, it was all mud.
I’ve heard of most of these opinions, but what I think is at the root of all of them is the different choices in gear many of us have. My GK rig won’t sound the same as your Aguilar/Ampeg/Quilter/etc., and so identical Pedals won’t sound the same. I know it’s an obvious point, but one worth remembering. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard a bass tone and thought “I need x pedal”, then get it only to be sorely disappointed. Case in point - RATs and OCDs. I hear them and think they sound fantastic, but in my rig, they just do nothing for me.
I’ve heard of most of these opinions, but what I think is at the root of all of them is the different choices in gear many of us have. My GK rig won’t sound the same as your Aguilar/Ampeg/Quilter/etc., and so identical Pedals won’t sound the same. I know it’s an obvious point, but one worth remembering. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard a bass tone and thought “I need x pedal”, then get it only to be sorely disappointed. Case in point - RATs and OCDs. I hear them and think they sound fantastic, but in my rig, they just do nothing for me.
The whole JHS thing has less to do with quality, and more to do with shady business.
Stealing circuits. Cloning circuits but claiming them to be original. Etc.
not to be divisive, but Not Really. The great Randy Brecker on trumpet through a mutron III, later Coryell too, just released new mutrons...
Last edited:
Well, Barbershop is on the list, that's good. But "divisive?" I'll show you "divisive"! I think this thing is a riot. One of the guitarists I work with--and this is a guy with a pedalboard that has its own zipcode--ran screaming into the other room when I showed him this:
Love my DG pedals and my tc nova repeater delay.
I think sans amps are pretty standard but most pros I’ve seen use the rack versions not the pedals. Some of the venues I’ve played take DI from the stage and run the bass through a sans amp back at the board. It seemed to help soundguys deal with bands that don’t have great amps.
I would say the area I disagree with people more are muffs. Just never found one that didn’t disappear with the band. Maybe if you’re in a one Guitar band with a guitar player that plays lead or uses a clean tone all the time. Or if you have three amps and three big muffs like Chris from Muse. Every version I tried disappeared with the band for me.
I think sans amps are pretty standard but most pros I’ve seen use the rack versions not the pedals. Some of the venues I’ve played take DI from the stage and run the bass through a sans amp back at the board. It seemed to help soundguys deal with bands that don’t have great amps.
I would say the area I disagree with people more are muffs. Just never found one that didn’t disappear with the band. Maybe if you’re in a one Guitar band with a guitar player that plays lead or uses a clean tone all the time. Or if you have three amps and three big muffs like Chris from Muse. Every version I tried disappeared with the band for me.
Last edited:
