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.
Mr. Black Bass OD
- Thread starter PotsdamBass8
- Start date
I just ordered one Saturday as well. It sounds like he did another run for Black Friday, I can’t imagine he would’ve just had a bunch sitting there for so long. Does he take a long time to ship? I haven’t seen a notification yet.
I’m used to amazon Prime where I would’ve had it two days ago haha
I’m used to amazon Prime where I would’ve had it two days ago haha
deepestend
Commercial User
- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
- 8,171
- Disclosures
- Website and Social Media at Sadowsky
I just hope that the lack of pedals out there in the wild isn’t giving the OD an inflated rep. That said, i researched jack deville a little bit on madbean (pedal builder site) and madbean himself said that jack’s layouts are unreal. It was in reference to one of his Reverb/delay thingies, but still.
I’ll be happy if this preamp/OD allows me to keep my tone, has a useable eq that keeps the bass and doesn’t cut the mids too much, and allows me to dial in some dirt. From what i have read, it’s good as a pre and has bonus od.
Seems very much like the catlainbread sft (jack has done work for catlainbread as well) but maybe less ampeg voiced. Anyway, that’s what I’m guessing based on what I’ve read.
I’ll be happy if this preamp/OD allows me to keep my tone, has a useable eq that keeps the bass and doesn’t cut the mids too much, and allows me to dial in some dirt. From what i have read, it’s good as a pre and has bonus od.
Seems very much like the catlainbread sft (jack has done work for catlainbread as well) but maybe less ampeg voiced. Anyway, that’s what I’m guessing based on what I’ve read.
deepestend
Commercial User
- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
- 8,171
- Disclosures
- Website and Social Media at Sadowsky
Mine just shipped. Also picked up a mr black darling fuzz for cheap off of Reverb to give that a shot. 3 silicon transistor warm fuzz.
deepestend
Commercial User
- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
- 8,171
- Disclosures
- Website and Social Media at Sadowsky
Initial thoughts after playing it a little bit at bedroom volumes:
The controls seem to interact with each other a lot. Whereas boosting or cutting treble or bass on my Darkglass Vintage Deluxe only really effects that frequency, those controls on the Mr. Black seem to change the character of the whole sound. i.e. boosting treble seems to thin out the low end a bit, and cutting treble seems to fatten the low end a bit. I've also noticed that yes, with everything flat and the gain anywhere above the lowest 10%, the low end is noticeably thinner. Boosting the bass control definitely brings it back and can boost a little past "flat". However the knob doesn't seem to be linear, in that it doesn't have much effect until the last 10% of the turn, and then it's very powerful.
I don't have experience with a lot of dirt or preamp pedals, only the sansamp, vt bass, tonehammer, B3K and Vintage deluxe. This to me sounds more like the VT bass/tonehammer overdrive in that it is more like an overdriven amp. The notes below low E seems to lose some clarity when the sound is really broken up (above 9 oclock on drive). We'll see how it sounds at full volume though, it might sound good. The Darkglass offerings do a really good job of keeping that clarity at all ranges and at all points on the drive knob so they are definitely different there. I do like the sounds that it makes though, so I'd like to make it work with my Drop C band.
Something I wasn't expecting, was that this pedal does a pretty nice job of smoothing and fattening my PB5. In passive mode, those pickups are very treble and high mid present. I'm always turning the tone knob down a bunch and trying to EQ to the sound I want fingerstyle. With the gain on the Mr. Black down almost to the bottom, the bass boosted to 3:30 and the treble cut to 10:00, it has a nice fat sound that still has a tiny bit of treble but is more bass and low mid forward without being muffled. I A/Bed it with the tone wide open and the pedal on, and then the pedal off but the tone cut to about 2/10 (where I usually leave it), and it sounded muffled in comparison with the pedal off. It also still adds that hard to describe 3 dimensional quality that you get with faint overdrive, but I honestly couldn't hear the tone breaking up. Pretty cool.
So first impression summary is that I wouldn't use it as a "preamp with the bonus of having OD", but as an OD that can give you some very nice and unique sounds with tweaking.
The controls seem to interact with each other a lot. Whereas boosting or cutting treble or bass on my Darkglass Vintage Deluxe only really effects that frequency, those controls on the Mr. Black seem to change the character of the whole sound. i.e. boosting treble seems to thin out the low end a bit, and cutting treble seems to fatten the low end a bit. I've also noticed that yes, with everything flat and the gain anywhere above the lowest 10%, the low end is noticeably thinner. Boosting the bass control definitely brings it back and can boost a little past "flat". However the knob doesn't seem to be linear, in that it doesn't have much effect until the last 10% of the turn, and then it's very powerful.
I don't have experience with a lot of dirt or preamp pedals, only the sansamp, vt bass, tonehammer, B3K and Vintage deluxe. This to me sounds more like the VT bass/tonehammer overdrive in that it is more like an overdriven amp. The notes below low E seems to lose some clarity when the sound is really broken up (above 9 oclock on drive). We'll see how it sounds at full volume though, it might sound good. The Darkglass offerings do a really good job of keeping that clarity at all ranges and at all points on the drive knob so they are definitely different there. I do like the sounds that it makes though, so I'd like to make it work with my Drop C band.
Something I wasn't expecting, was that this pedal does a pretty nice job of smoothing and fattening my PB5. In passive mode, those pickups are very treble and high mid present. I'm always turning the tone knob down a bunch and trying to EQ to the sound I want fingerstyle. With the gain on the Mr. Black down almost to the bottom, the bass boosted to 3:30 and the treble cut to 10:00, it has a nice fat sound that still has a tiny bit of treble but is more bass and low mid forward without being muffled. I A/Bed it with the tone wide open and the pedal on, and then the pedal off but the tone cut to about 2/10 (where I usually leave it), and it sounded muffled in comparison with the pedal off. It also still adds that hard to describe 3 dimensional quality that you get with faint overdrive, but I honestly couldn't hear the tone breaking up. Pretty cool.
So first impression summary is that I wouldn't use it as a "preamp with the bonus of having OD", but as an OD that can give you some very nice and unique sounds with tweaking.
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,636
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
deepestend
Commercial User
- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
- 8,171
- Disclosures
- Website and Social Media at Sadowsky
I had the chance to play mine a little bit with a band on Wednesday night. I’m not ready for a full review but I can echo a lot of what potsdambass said above.
First, this is not really a preamp. It does give a very nice boosted 3 dimensional quality but it’s hard to get a good clean boost out of it that “sounds like your bass.” If you are expecting it to be a versatile preamp, you’ll be disappointed.
That said, it is a very nice and smooth overdrive and you can dial in a fattish sound with some nice breakup. As a dedicated od that isn’t always on you could turn up the gain and have light distortion.
I do wish that there was more volume on tap for a cleaner boost and that there was more travel to the pots. There is lots of bass on tap but i agree that it’s all bunched up in the last 10%.
First, this is not really a preamp. It does give a very nice boosted 3 dimensional quality but it’s hard to get a good clean boost out of it that “sounds like your bass.” If you are expecting it to be a versatile preamp, you’ll be disappointed.
That said, it is a very nice and smooth overdrive and you can dial in a fattish sound with some nice breakup. As a dedicated od that isn’t always on you could turn up the gain and have light distortion.
I do wish that there was more volume on tap for a cleaner boost and that there was more travel to the pots. There is lots of bass on tap but i agree that it’s all bunched up in the last 10%.
deepestend
Commercial User
- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
- 8,171
- Disclosures
- Website and Social Media at Sadowsky
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,636
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
got mine today and i think that it sounds very nice. i took a peek inside and it has two 4558 dual opamp chips and an LT1054 charge pump (either to run it on 18V internally or it's a bipolar 9 volt supply).
IMO, it would've been nice if he would've used a reverse log pot for the bass and gain controls so it had a better sweep throughout the pot's rotation but that said, i do dig the sound of it.
IMO, it would've been nice if he would've used a reverse log pot for the bass and gain controls so it had a better sweep throughout the pot's rotation but that said, i do dig the sound of it.
deepestend
Commercial User
- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
- 8,171
- Disclosures
- Website and Social Media at Sadowsky
I should've taken pictures of the settings, that would've been smart. Pretty much gain low, the highest gain was probably 10oclock or so. Bass was boosted a fair amount, probably around 4-5oclock and treble was either flat or cut a little I think for the last clip.
Reviving an old thread as I got myself the V2 Bass OD for Christmas.
Really liking it in the mix, I have the bass pretty much on full to achieve no low end loss when activated and use it as a light to mid gain OD.
Really like the treble impact, roll it back and you have old school, crank it up and cut right through.
Nice to be able to roll back the bass for the odd bass tone that is more mid focused.
Nice range of gain as well.
Knocked off my Grizzly for now as I find it easier to dial in and adjust while gigging.
Nice touch sensitivity as well….
Time will tell though…
Worth giving a go if you want a flexible, easy to use bass OD.
Really liking it in the mix, I have the bass pretty much on full to achieve no low end loss when activated and use it as a light to mid gain OD.
Really like the treble impact, roll it back and you have old school, crank it up and cut right through.
Nice to be able to roll back the bass for the odd bass tone that is more mid focused.
Nice range of gain as well.
Knocked off my Grizzly for now as I find it easier to dial in and adjust while gigging.
Nice touch sensitivity as well….
Time will tell though…
Worth giving a go if you want a flexible, easy to use bass OD.
