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MSU's Epic OD Battle: B3K, B-PEG, The Elements, Grombass
- Thread starter MSUsousaphone
- Start date
Im thinking that Mike is doing a batch of the B-pegs and then sending them out all at once. Im about 7 weeks into the 6-8 week wait time. So, hopefully thats the case.
He contacted me and told me he didn't like some of the feedback he was getting from his testers so he wanted to tweak it a bit before sending them out. Yeah, I got the impression that it's not getting behind on work, more that these pedals are still being tweaked and revised. Had we ordered the pedal already on the market (Pro, Drive, or BTOD) we'd have them, by now. Ah well. He made it sound like the tweaking was done and they were about to hit the market, though.
He probably wasn't very specific about what he was tweaking, right? I was expecting big things out of this pedal and the two samples the premier guitar posted really didn't excite me. Hmmm Probably should have just got a b-drive and flipped it if it didn't suit me.
I think it had something to do with the Fat switch and that kind of extra stuff. Which I can totally understand.....being as how there is really no way the B-TOD needed to be fatter. It was such thicky goodness. I'll get a good quality demo out once I get it in. And I'll use the Amp Simulator for a 3rd clip since there seems to be a lot of interest in that.
OK....Elements demo should be up in an hour or two.
OK....Elements demo should be up in an hour or two.
You found the B3k dark? I find it adds just as much brightness as the Rusty Box did to my Ric's tone.
Particularly on the "thin" setting - don't be afraid of that setting in a rock mix. It sits perfect in front of my Oxford going direct.
Particularly on the "thin" setting - don't be afraid of that setting in a rock mix. It sits perfect in front of my Oxford going direct.
Dr. Scientist The Elements
Truly one of the most versatile pedals I've ever come across (that didn't cost an arm and a leg, a la the Timeline)....but usually when someone says "versatile" they mean "good at many things but not great at any"....but this pedal is pretty much great at everything.
What I like the most about this pedal? It doesn't color your sound. When you have the gain turned all the way down, it's YOU CLEAN SOUND that is coming out of the amp. When you turn the gain up, it's YOUR CLEAN SOUND coming out of the amp with some dirt/OD on top of it. I've spent years finding my perfect bass, my perfect amp, and my perfect cabs, so this is just pure awesome for me. Other people who prefer the color the B3K adds might not like this and other people who aren't totally happy with their rigs (like a person with a solid state amp wanting to get a more tubey sound (Swell products) shouldn't pick up this pedal thinking it will magically make their sound better.
And. The hidden gems. When the gain is turned completely down there is NO gain....so this pedal can moonlight as a clean boost. It also has pretty extensive EQ controls and, again, with the gain turned down, can moonlight as an EQ pedal. So it's like three pedals in one. A little sad there's only one footswitch, so you can't exactly switch between these functions mid song, but still a BARGAIN for the price this is listed at and how good it is at what it does.
The gain on this pedal is the widest range I have witnessed. It goes from totally clean to blistering destruction with a WIDE array of variations in the middle of those. So it is extremely easy to find the exact amount of dirt you're trying to dial in. I noticed no lags what-so-ever when wailing on my Low B. Being able to switch between no clipping diodes, silicon, and LED just adds to the versatility. And I love the footprint of the pedal. It's about the size of an Iron Ether pedal and runs on 9v.
So many good things and Ryan, the maker/owner, is another one. You can catch him in his very own subforum on ilovefuzz.com. He's extremely approachable and communicates quickly. There really is no doubt in my mind that if something ever happened to this well built pedal, he would take the time to troubleshoot with me on it and that it would be very easy to send back to him for quick repairs if it's beyond the troubleshoot stage.
Anyways, here's the demo.
Status S2-Classic
Mesa Bass 400+
fEARful 15/6/1
Dr. Scientist The Elements
Status S2-Classic
The Elements
Roland R-05 MP3 Recorder
(I kinda get a bit lengthy on this guy...sorry....I was having fun...think I forgot I was recording for a second. But it follows the same basic pattern: Clean sound, LED clipping (finger, then pick), asymmetrical clipping (finger, then pick), no clipping diodes (finger, then pick))
Truly one of the most versatile pedals I've ever come across (that didn't cost an arm and a leg, a la the Timeline)....but usually when someone says "versatile" they mean "good at many things but not great at any"....but this pedal is pretty much great at everything.
What I like the most about this pedal? It doesn't color your sound. When you have the gain turned all the way down, it's YOU CLEAN SOUND that is coming out of the amp. When you turn the gain up, it's YOUR CLEAN SOUND coming out of the amp with some dirt/OD on top of it. I've spent years finding my perfect bass, my perfect amp, and my perfect cabs, so this is just pure awesome for me. Other people who prefer the color the B3K adds might not like this and other people who aren't totally happy with their rigs (like a person with a solid state amp wanting to get a more tubey sound (Swell products) shouldn't pick up this pedal thinking it will magically make their sound better.
And. The hidden gems. When the gain is turned completely down there is NO gain....so this pedal can moonlight as a clean boost. It also has pretty extensive EQ controls and, again, with the gain turned down, can moonlight as an EQ pedal. So it's like three pedals in one. A little sad there's only one footswitch, so you can't exactly switch between these functions mid song, but still a BARGAIN for the price this is listed at and how good it is at what it does.
The gain on this pedal is the widest range I have witnessed. It goes from totally clean to blistering destruction with a WIDE array of variations in the middle of those. So it is extremely easy to find the exact amount of dirt you're trying to dial in. I noticed no lags what-so-ever when wailing on my Low B. Being able to switch between no clipping diodes, silicon, and LED just adds to the versatility. And I love the footprint of the pedal. It's about the size of an Iron Ether pedal and runs on 9v.
So many good things and Ryan, the maker/owner, is another one. You can catch him in his very own subforum on ilovefuzz.com. He's extremely approachable and communicates quickly. There really is no doubt in my mind that if something ever happened to this well built pedal, he would take the time to troubleshoot with me on it and that it would be very easy to send back to him for quick repairs if it's beyond the troubleshoot stage.
Anyways, here's the demo.
Status S2-Classic
Mesa Bass 400+
fEARful 15/6/1
Dr. Scientist The Elements
Status S2-Classic
The Elements
Roland R-05 MP3 Recorder
(I kinda get a bit lengthy on this guy...sorry....I was having fun...think I forgot I was recording for a second. But it follows the same basic pattern: Clean sound, LED clipping (finger, then pick), asymmetrical clipping (finger, then pick), no clipping diodes (finger, then pick))
Last edited by a moderator:
The thing about the B3K is that it has a sound. Its very much own sound.....so I would imagine it would depend on where "your sound" is before the B3K is on that matters.....like if the B3K were lukewarm water, you might have hot water and say the B3K is cold....I might have ice water and say the B3K is warm....it's all relative....I dunno...I get weird philosophical when I'm tired....I'm heading to bed....
I know that Im coming off as really negative about this swell pedal but, I just listened to the b-peg clips again and really think that the bass club clips of the b-drive sounded much better. I really hope the premier guitar clips are not representative of the actual pedal. And, I'll say it again, the explanation of how each pedal sounds is so vague, you really can't make a good decision on which one is for you. It's not like someone is going to reverse engineer your product from an acurate description of the sound or what the controls do. Some may but, not unitil after they have bought one anyway. Swell obviously makes great products and they are well liked by many, just update the website and give better/more information to your customers. It's not like your buying an $80 boss pedal that you can have in 3-days and then return it if it's not your thing. These are a $350 investment and at least an 8 week wait or longer. Thats my point. Sorry to get the thread off track. Good clips. C
The crowd seems to want you to do alittle somethin' somethin' with Rusty.
We don't live that far apart I'd be willing to give you a shot at my box. Send me a PM.
Cool, the Rusty Box would fit in nicely in this thread I imagine.
Nice clips Sousa, I drank my coffee to them.
Nice clips Sousa, I drank my coffee to them.
I've never heard a hughes & kettner BATT but, I would love to hear some clips to compare it with some swell slips. The batt actually has a built in tube amp section that can effect the tone. They rarely come up for sale anymore.
Nice! I know everyone isn't going to like what I like but man... I really do like The Elements. Great clips!
Love the Rusy Box.
Love the Rusy Box.
I'm hitting you up mbelue! I've never heard of the BATT, but if anyone wants to send it to me, I'm down.
Again, though....I have no interest (and not enough knowledge) to be the Bongo of ODs. I have mad respect for those people who demo regularly...and once the kidos come, I'll probably have no free time for it. I just noticed one day that I had four awesome ODs heading my way and felt a duty to document them.
Heading to Radio Shack, today, to get that converter thing. Hopefully The Elements DI demo will be up tonight and I'll focus on the F*** OD and Grombass.
And I agree, Waterpilot. It's not just personal taste, too, it's a lot of application. I would LOVE to do a punk/ska (less than jake) or punk (bouncing souls) type band. Man....there's just non of that happening down here....but if I did, the B3K would hand down be my guy. With the alt/indie thing I've got kicking, it's so The Elements. I could see the F*** or Grombass if we were more grunge or sludge. The Swell is so for alt stuff and also for anyone looking to get a more tubey sound.....they're all great pedals. Different voices for different things.
I haven't even begun to review the others, yet, though. I'm sure I'll flip flop a lot.
Again, though....I have no interest (and not enough knowledge) to be the Bongo of ODs. I have mad respect for those people who demo regularly...and once the kidos come, I'll probably have no free time for it. I just noticed one day that I had four awesome ODs heading my way and felt a duty to document them.
Heading to Radio Shack, today, to get that converter thing. Hopefully The Elements DI demo will be up tonight and I'll focus on the F*** OD and Grombass.
And I agree, Waterpilot. It's not just personal taste, too, it's a lot of application. I would LOVE to do a punk/ska (less than jake) or punk (bouncing souls) type band. Man....there's just non of that happening down here....but if I did, the B3K would hand down be my guy. With the alt/indie thing I've got kicking, it's so The Elements. I could see the F*** or Grombass if we were more grunge or sludge. The Swell is so for alt stuff and also for anyone looking to get a more tubey sound.....they're all great pedals. Different voices for different things.
I haven't even begun to review the others, yet, though. I'm sure I'll flip flop a lot.
bongomania
Commercial User
kringle77 said:
I have some Blues Master (close cousin of the BATT) clips I can post. I haven't got a Swell, and I'm not sending my Blues Master off to anyone--apologies, no offense to Msousa.
That would be awsome Bongo! I've come so close to buying a BATT in the past but never did. I've been looking for a couple of years now that Im ready to pull the trigger. I used to have an old H&K tubeman guitar pedal that sounded pretty good on bass, I figure that the BATT must sound better. Make sure we know where you post the clips. Thanks man!
