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Mr Black pedals for bass?

M

MGR

Inactive
Jan 18, 2015
1,797
1,325
Bronx, NY
#1
I'm an effects junkie. I've been collecting them since 1993, and over the years have had a lot of great pedals. I did sell off the lot a few years ago when I thought I was done with music. Alas, I'm back into the bass, and I am really hankering for some new pedals.

I am mainly a modulation guy....delay, phase, chorus, flange. I find that anything else gets in the way of musicality on the bass. Just my opinion, right or wrong..

So I'm looking for new pedals and run across Mr. Black. I'm really intrigued by the Tunnelworm flanger and the Supermoon reverb, as well as the phaser and chorus.

Questions:
1) Are they worth the price? 179 won't break the bank, but an EH flanger is $70 and it sounds pretty good. I'm wondering if I'm just paying for a pretty box and a "handmade" vibe. To me, those two things are not worth it if the tone isn't there.
2) How is the tone of the bass thru these pedals? Very little on youtube with bass.
3) How is the build quality? Any problems encountered?
4) Any other bass-centered insights about these pedals?

Thanks in advance, and I hope this doesn't get taken wrong, but I'm really only interested in a discussion of Mr. Black pedals only. I don't really need the "Hey try Strymon instead" answers at this point in the decision making process.
 
#2
hey - I have the eterna reverb, which is a really solid pedal. Built well, and works nicely with bass. Can't recall if true or buffered bypass, but not noticed any problems. Everything costs more here (in the UK), but I think they're pretty decent value for money, more than EHX yes, but certainly not as expensive as some companies. Not tried any other of their other pedals, but I can't say a bad thing about them from my experiences.
 
#3
Love Mr. Black pedals! I own the GilaMondo and Tunnelworm and I highly recommend them. Build quality is excellent and Jack is very easy to get in touch with if you need him.

The GilaMondo is my favorite phaser of all that I've owned and tried (which is a lot). Check this link for some bass & GilaMondo action: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] The song "Desert Grave" starts with bass + GilaMondo immediately (there are no effects on the guitars during the intro, just bass).

The Tunnelworm is excellent with bass too. Can go from a very subtle, metallic chorus-like effect all the way to a very seasick, detuned disappearing-into-nothing craziness...all with 3 knobs.

Always wanted to try a SuperMoon as well as his other offerings. Hope this helps. Cheers!
 
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#6
chaosmic said:
Love Mr. Black pedals! I own the GilaMondo and Tunnelworm and I highly recommend them. Build quality is excellent and Jack is very easy to get in touch with if you need him.

The GilaMondo is my favorite phaser of all that I've owned and tried (which is a lot). Check this link for some bass & GilaMondo action: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] The song "Desert Grave" starts with bass + GilaMondo immediately (there are no effects on the guitars during the intro, just bass).

The Tunnelworm is excellent with bass too. Can go from a very subtle, metallic chorus-like effect all the way to a very seasick, detuned disappearing-into-nothing craziness...all with 3 knobs.

Always wanted to try a SuperMoon as well as his other offerings. Hope this helps. Cheers!
Click to expand...
Very helpful response. Thanks. On my crappy laptop I couldn't really hear the gilamondo on the bass, but the info was very helpful. So far sounds like it may be worth the extra cash to spring for a pedal or two. i'll probably take the chance first on the Tunnelworm since my Small Stone can handle phase for now. If I like the Mr. Black, I'll pick up another one or two.
 
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#9
I do not own any Mr. Black pedals, but the supermoon sounds fantastic in mr excane's video on youtube. I ended up going for the EQD dispatch master only becasue I didn't want to pay for both a delay and a reverb, so I just got both in one. If I had the means, I would've definitely gone with the supermoon (and the dimension x delay, but that's besides the point.)

Anyway, here's the video.
 
#10
The Supermoon fits what I'm doing in a psychedelic band. It will do haunting reverbs for sure. It might not be what your about though. The EHX Cathedral looks like a very versatile pedal. I'm into weird and abstract things; the only other reverb pedal I would probably purchase now would be ED's Afterneath.
 
#12
This wasn't one of the specific pedals you asked about, but I'll throw out there that I really dig my Dark Echo. You can get crazy amounts of modulation if you want from it, and the decays stay clear despite it's dark analog tone. You can definitely tell it's still my bass coming through and the build quality is great. Very sturdy pedals
 
#15
chaosmic said:
Love Mr. Black pedals! I own the GilaMondo and Tunnelworm and I highly recommend them. Build quality is excellent and Jack is very easy to get in touch with if you need him.

The GilaMondo is my favorite phaser of all that I've owned and tried (which is a lot). Check this link for some bass & GilaMondo action: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] The song "Desert Grave" starts with bass + GilaMondo immediately (there are no effects on the guitars during the intro, just bass).

The Tunnelworm is excellent with bass too. Can go from a very subtle, metallic chorus-like effect all the way to a very seasick, detuned disappearing-into-nothing craziness...all with 3 knobs.

Always wanted to try a SuperMoon as well as his other offerings. Hope this helps. Cheers!
Click to expand...


I can't really discern the effect, but I can definitely tell your band is excellent. Thanks for the link.
 
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#16
OP here. Thanks for the responses. I'll definitely take a chance on a Mr. Black. I wish they made a simple digital delay with no modulation because for the life of me, I never found an actual musical application for modulated delay, and I don't like analog delay on bass. Just makes the instrument sound too washy as opposed to surgically precise, which is how I like my delays.
 
#18
I've tried the Doublechorus in a store from where I live and I really liked that pedal. I didn't bought it just because I didn't had the money at the time.
By the way... has anyone tried the new Mr Black Doomstick on bass?
 
#19
crvBass said:
I've tried the Doublechorus in a store from where I live and I really liked that pedal. I didn't bought it just because I didn't had the money at the time.
By the way... has anyone tried the new Mr Black Doomstick on bass?
Click to expand...

I have! Here's a super short demo of a bass through the Doomstick pedal. It's pretty angry!


Here's the signal chain I had:
-Rickenbacker 4003 Bass
-Mr.Black Doomstick
-MXR Bass Octave Deluxe
-Morley Power Fuzz Wah 20/20
-Ampeg Octo Comp
-Darkglass B7K Ultra V2

Hope that helps! I had zero luck finding bass demos before I got it.
 
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