My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal

[OldShark]

The new Queen of England and the Commonwealth is her first born son, a guy named Charles.

And that's the effect of what control setting on the Royal Jelly? Has someone accidentally favored the King channel? Inquiring minds want to know...

 

[GrowlerBox]

Here's a first impression thing after a mere five minutes of playing.
The Hooker's Green Bass Machine is a great pedal!
It's strictly overdrive, even with the gain full on.
I've not yet explored the EQ functions enough for an exhausting description, but let me say this:
It works. If you're looking for something that can go from a hint of a sizzle to full-on overdrive and every shade between those two, this is something to consider.
My current favorite mini pedal is (or was?) the Wampler Belle. The Hooker's Green Bassmachine might very well topple that throne.
Mr. Björn Juhl really knows what a bass needs, especially in a mix, so I'm very curious to try it out there.

Right now, I'm quite stoked, but with a second hand price of less than a hundred bucks, this is really is a no-brainer so far.


It passes signal with gain at zero.

I have this same version, the old 3 knob one. I agree it’s a great pedal, but a couple of caveats for me. I have to have the bass control turned all the way down (with the screwdriver) for my favoured basses (a G&L L1000 usually in OMG mode and an Ibanez piezo-only fretless), or everything turns to wool. Even then, it adds bass (and sheds treble to compensate), so I have to have my HPF dialled up, especially for the fretless, because those piezos transmit a lot of “thump.” The screw head is plastic and easily stripped, so be careful.

I also found that for me, at least, it doesn’t stack well with the other dirt pedals I favour. Right now, though, that’s not such an issue, as mon pédalier quotidien (for my co-Commonwealthian Canadiens) has room for just one mini dirt pedal (I have large reverb, delay and modulation pedals). That small space has been occupied by my Modèle B, but you’ve inspired me to try the Hooker’s Green again in its place. It has significantly more gain available than the Fairfield pedal, which is good for the G&L, and at lower gain, maintains the thick saturation, which also works for the fretless. It can even (gasp) be turned off. It does lack that certain ineffable je ne sais quoi of the Modèle B, though, so I can see the steel-grey box re-supplanting the bass machine at some point, but who knows? I’ll give the green meanie a week or so to make its case and see how good an advocate it is.

A question … has anyone tried the mini Pigtronix Gamma Drive? It’s pretty inexpensive, and the EQ seems well-voiced for bass on paper, but I haven’t seen any bass or keys demos.

 

[el murdoque]

I have this same version, the old 3 knob one. I agree it’s a great pedal, but a couple of caveats for me. I have to have the bass control turned all the way down (with the screwdriver) for my favoured basses (a G&L L1000 usually in OMG mode and an Ibanez piezo-only fretless), or everything turns to wool. Even then, it adds bass (and sheds treble to compensate), so I have to have my HPF dialled up, especially for the fretless, because those piezos transmit a lot of “thump.” The screw head is plastic and easily stripped, so be careful.

I also found that for me, at least, it doesn’t stack well with the other dirt pedals I favour. Right now, though, that’s not such an issue, as mon pédalier quotidien (for my co-Commonwealthian Canadiens) has room for just one mini dirt pedal (I have large reverb, delay and modulation pedals). That small space has been occupied by my Modèle B, but you’ve inspired me to try the Hooker’s Green again in its place. It has significantly more gain available than the Fairfield pedal, which is good for the G&L, and at lower gain, maintains the thick saturation, which also works for the fretless. It can even (gasp) be turned off. It does lack that certain ineffable je ne sais quoi of the Modèle B, though, so I can see the steel-grey box re-supplanting the bass machine at some point, but who knows? I’ll give the green meanie a week or so to make its case and see how good an advocate it is.

A question … has anyone tried the mini Pigtronix Gamma Drive? It’s pretty inexpensive, and the EQ seems well-voiced for bass on paper, but I haven’t seen any bass or keys demos.

Well, somewhere in the last 2000 posts of this thread, I might have mentioned that I really like a big and fat low end, so our opinions on how to make use of the bass knob may differ.
But I have to admit that while playing around with several combinations and sounds, I want to say the Hooker's Green does one thing really bad, and that is a sparkly, top heavy pearly sound. Something you can achieve best with a tube driven pedal that has an active treble boost engaged.
Even in direct comparison to the Xotic BB Bass Preamp and the Origin DCX, both pedals deliver that sound flawlessly while the Hooker's Green sounds a bit dark in that regard.
What it can do is the breakup with the same flavor the Sansamps have - something that reminds of an amp driven to the very limit, where half the drive comes from the dimed amp and the other half from the speakers running past their limit. In low gain settings, you get a nice vintage vibe, akin to a 2x15 driven cab without tweeter, so not too much top end - it really starts to shine when you turn the gain at noon or past. When you sweep it through that area, there is that point where it seems to really wake up. You'll get a solid grind by that point. It's Overdrive with a very good texture. Not the mushy pulp a distortion device blends your sound into, but something primal and raw. The treble knob actually starts working in this setting. When you sat around with a keen ear pressed into the headphones, like I did, and trying to figure out what the treble knob actually does with the gain at zero, having trouble putting in words or even coherent thoughts what happens when you twist that knob ... then please turn up the gain to two o'clock. You'll directly influence the taste of the dirt. With the knob dimed, it hovers on the edge between an organic and a metallic sound. It has a solid bite to it. Half the teeth made of regular enamel, but at least two of the canines are polished stainless steel.
Turning back the treble knob will dull that somewhat. With the treble all the way down it's not like being bitten by a horse, all mandibles, but maybe like being bitten by an old wolf. Dulled canines, one missing.

I actually like the pedal best with those higher gain settings and a solid grind to it. I don't detect any particular push or pull, it just hangs in there, reacting to playing dynamics. It's not the most awesome pedal in that category, but it's far from dull, either. You can expect a good feeling and a good reaction to the strength you hit the strings with.
What sticks out as somewhat special is how the pedal reacts to the initial attack, which feels very transparent. The grind sets in just behind that first impulse, letting it through the way you played it.
With my newly found compulsion with picks, I detect a clear difference between playing finger style and pick, no matter how much drive I set it to.

 

[el murdoque]

The screw head is plastic and easily stripped, so be careful.

I found that a flathead screwdriver works best - a tiny one - so you can see what you're doing.

A question … has anyone tried the mini Pigtronix Gamma Drive? It’s pretty inexpensive, and the EQ seems well-voiced for bass on paper, but I haven’t seen any bass or keys demos.

When I google the gamma drive, all the links are purple. I think I ran across an offer for one, googled it and then decided not to.
That's all I have on that one.

 

[Charlie Tuna]

The color "Hooker's Green" is not a certain shade of green that is favored by certain ladies of questionable reputation.
It was created by and is named after William Hooker, who used it to paint plants.

And this is the Hooker's Green Bassmachine, which is created by Björn Juhl and made by OneControl.
View attachment 7254166

I think you should try this one with the Hooker:

Spoiler

 

[GrowlerBox]

Before I saw the Royal Jelly pic, my head was thinking "Prunes and Custard" as something for the queen. It is definitely named for an English palate, if nothing else!

Feel like that's also gotta be given a go in this Bender at some point or another (unless it has, and I've just forgotten, because this thing has rumbled on for that bloody long!).

I rebuilt my bigger, much more dirt-oriented board yesterday. I hadn’t had the P&C on there for a while, and your post put me back in mind of this delicacy and the other Kiwi staple from the same house, the Hot Cake. They’re both pretty extraordinary pedals, venerable designs by now, and I’m not aware of anything quite like either of them. I have them both back on now, and had a great day with them. I don’t change that board often (unlike the other one), so they’ll be there for a while.

They’ve been mentioned a couple of times in this thread (at least by me), but not reviewed by our intrepid jounaliste, and I’d love that situation to be remedied.

 

[el murdoque]

I’d love that situation to be remedied.

So does the Jounalist. However, these little buggers are not exactly the first thing you spot through the scope when you bring the rifle to the local waterhole to hunt some new game.

They are shortlisted, though!

 

[GrowlerBox]

So does the Jounalist. However, these little buggers are not exactly the first thing you spot through the scope when you bring the rifle to the local waterhole to hunt some new game.

They are shortlisted, though!

I guess that's the price you pay for living in the wrong hemisphere . You could buy the pair 'round these parts for about 320 euro, but I imagine shipping would be a bear.

 

[GrowlerBox]

I'm playing the Hot Cake as I type this, and one of the things I really like about it is the evenness of the distortion throughout the range of the bass; so many ODs fuzz out at the bottom end and essentially do nothing anywhere on the G string or above the 12th fret on any string. The Broadcast is pretty good for this, but the Hot Cake really shines here, and is a great low-gain drive as a result, although it can get pretty nasty, too.

 

[OnlyFlats]

Just sharing my appreciation for the acknowledgement of the Hookers performance finger Vs pick.

I categorise all my drive pedals as either good with pick, or fingers.

I have different attack and highs demands from a pedal between playing styles. Yep I'm on flats too.

Ps I picked up a Rombo pack, and enjoyed your bands demo

 

[jcburn]

Re; Hotcake - these were popular years ago on TB and I always wanted to try one out.

Other shiny things came along and I never did but might have to refocus on this one.

I've recently been on my own random dirt bender.

1. DG VMT - I've had a few now and just not my thing. I don't like the texture of the drive.
2. Flattley Bass Chief - smooth, compressed drive. Sounds good but reminds me of the MXR M89 the drive and compression come in very early and squash dynamics but I like it.
3. Maxon BD10 - interesting. Remains fairly open and not too compressed. The drive texture is bright and grindy (based on TS808).
4. Ibanez TS9B - bit of a one trick pony, and tricky to get unity volume (unity gain on the level knob occurs at about 8 o'clock on mine). But I like it's one trick - smooth low mid growly drive. In my mind this is what the original Beta drives are supposed to achieve but I like the tone of the TS9B better. I do seem to be in the minority though, this pedal seems to be disliked.
5. Mozztronics BOD1 - only just received this one and not tried it out yet. I'm hoping this one will do the low gain transparent thing.

My favourite bass drive ever is still my EBS Billy Sheehan Deluxe for its versatility. You've gotta really like the Pearce overdrive that it emulates, but if you do this is a wonderful creation.

Ok - now that I have that out of my system back to the Jounal......

 

[el murdoque]

Re; Hotcake - these were popular years ago on TB and I always wanted to try one out.

Other shiny things came along and I never did but might have to refocus on this one.

I've recently been on my own random dirt bender.

1. DG VMT - I've had a few now and just not my thing. I don't like the texture of the drive.
2. Flattley Bass Chief - smooth, compressed drive. Sounds good but reminds me of the MXR M89 the drive and compression come in very early and squash dynamics but I like it.
3. Maxon BD10 - interesting. Remains fairly open and not too compressed. The drive texture is bright and grindy (based on TS808).
4. Ibanez TS9B - bit of a one trick pony, and tricky to get unity volume (unity gain on the level knob occurs at about 8 o'clock on mine). But I like it's one trick - smooth low mid growly drive. In my mind this is what the original Beta drives are supposed to achieve but I like the tone of the TS9B better. I do seem to be in the minority though, this pedal seems to be disliked.
5. Mozztronics BOD1 - only just received this one and not tried it out yet. I'm hoping this one will do the low gain transparent thing.

My favourite bass drive ever is still my EBS Billy Sheehan Deluxe for its versatility. You've gotta really like the Pearce overdrive that it emulates, but if you do this is a wonderful creation.

Ok - now that I have that out of my system back to the Jounal......

My gut feeling wants me to recommend the Nobels ODR-1 and/or the Wampler Belle to you.

 

[el murdoque]

Just sharing my appreciation for the acknowledgement of the Hookers performance finger Vs pick.

I categorise all my drive pedals as either good with pick, or fingers.

Since I'm new to the pick game, I might need to start doing that. However, the sensitivity of the Hookers to how hard your touch is (please don't quote this sentence out of context!) is something that I did notice even before I tried it with a pick.

However, I did write that my favorite green mini pedal thus far was the Belle and the Hookers might topple that throne - but that's simply not possible. Those two feel like entirely different animals. The Belle is open sounding, with better top end and naturally lends itself to light OD duties where it really shines due to the feeling of transparency that you get when playing it. The Hookers, in my hands, wants to be played at higher gain settings. It feels a bit dull at lower gain and might work well to emulate more of an old school tone - to those poor souls who do not call a Fuzzrocious BDPG their own.
There is that point on the drive knob in the general area of noon, where it really wakes up and is fun to play, but when you cross that threshold, you're getting serious OD.

I have different attack and highs demands from a pedal between playing styles. Yep I'm on flats too.

I hope we all do, hence reading and contributing to the Jounal. We're among fellow snobs here ;-)

Ps I picked up a Rombo pack, and enjoyed your bands demo

I thank you on behalf of the band. I have no affiliation with ROMBO other than liking the Crisp a lot.
Apart from that, the bass strap I use in the reggae band is a Mono Betty and that has a little pouch for a pick. I put the Dunes pick in there, because it's also nice to play. In my hands it works best with a light touch and yields a bassy response, so if I somehow messed up my fingertips on a reggae gig, this could be a last resort thing.

 

[el murdoque]

I guess that's the price you pay for living in the wrong hemisphere . You could buy the pair 'round these parts for about 320 euro, but I imagine shipping would be a bear.

There's a shop in Brunnswick, called Found Sound.
These good people have a nice collection of pedals among them.

However, as of now, they do lack one Hot Cake and one Prunes & Custard.

If getting my sweaty paws on these delicacies means shipping them around the globe (or across the disc for those of you that follow Mark Sargent or Terry Pratchett), then so be it.

I am pretty sure that even with shipping cost and tax, I can flip those and turn a profit, should they not become revered all time favourites.

 

[el murdoque]

Bzzzz Bzzzz.
Don your veiled hats. We're looking at bees now.

Actually, to see bees, you'll need to open it up. When you unscrew the bottom - which is not fastened by your standard Phillips head screws, but mounted with bolts that need an allen key, you can look at the PCB and that alone is somewhat spectacular.
There are different versions of said PCB, here are two:



I did already complain that you're forced to compromise to actually use the pedal as a two stage rocket with optional top boost, because both the overdrive and the fuzz are controlled by the same gain knob.
I actually have no idea on how this things inner workings look, maybe that is something that has to be accepted as is, because there really are not two different circuits for OD and fuzz and the blend works somewhat differently - and I only imagine the OD and fuzz as separate entities because it's easier to understand then.
However, how do these sound?

The OD section literally sounds like a can of bees. A can with a good, solid wall strength. The fuzz side sounds like you've taken off most of the wall strength on a belt sander. You know what happens to a bunch of bees, a bunch that really is not that happy to begin with because they somehow found themselves stuck in a can, when you take said can and grind it on a belt sander? These bees get MAD. It's a bit spluttery, but still mostly organic sounding. The two band EQ works well to make it bring some thunder. You can of course use the dry blend to tame it down some, but then you're also loosing some of your dirt in the mix - I enjoyed the pedal best with the dry nearly all the way off.

 

[darev]

There's a shop in Brunnswick, called Found Sound.
These good people have a nice collection of pedals among them.

However, as of now, they do lack one Hot Cake and one Prunes & Custard.

If getting my sweaty paws on these delicacies means shipping them around the globe (or across the disc for those of you that follow Mark Sargent or Terry Pratchett), then so be it.

I am pretty sure that even with shipping cost and tax, I can flip those and turn a profit, should they not become revered all time favourites.

I bought a clone of the 2008 version of the Hot Cake from RCO Pedals a few months ago. The Anomaly is an AionFX build/trace of the Crowther Audio Hot Cake that is beautifully built by Ryan at RCO (he can also make a Prunes & Custard clone heh heh).

The XLF & Cream switches were just too subtle for my tastes on bass. That was my memory of the original Hot Cake as well. With his help, Ryan at RCO helpfully swapped out larger capacitors for the XLF switch & the input to accommodate bass guitar. I should get the modded Anomaly back from Ryan this week. I am looking forward to hearing & reporting back on it.

Musikding has the kit and RCO Pedals is on Reverb. They might not be in stock but Ryan is great to work with & fast.

 

[Nekomata]

Friendly question to the esteemed topic starter and all following filth afficionado's:

Is your Dirt Quest about pedals only?

What I'm trying to get at, I guess, is that amps can grow 'hair' on your overall tone. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, plenty pedals have been designed to emulate how (a) certain amp(s) go(es) about this. Nothing new there, right?

I recently got hold of a Mesa M-Pulse 600 amp and driving that one into 'tube saturation' territory made me question the 'employability' all of my drive/distortion/fuzz pedals. Coming from a Class D situation that was quite the pleasant suprise for me. I am nowhere as poetic as @el murdoque when it comes to tone descriptions and such, but I'd swear I heard angels sq*rting.

 

[Nekomata]

Also, should we decide to keep this to pedals, here's one of my top contenders:

 

[Nekomata]

Followed (or sometimes getting overtaken) by this BJF box of magic:

 

[sunbeast]

Friendly question to the esteemed topic starter and all following filth afficionado's:

Is your Dirt Quest about pedals only?

What I'm trying to get at, I guess, is that amps can grow 'hair' on your overall tone. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, plenty pedals have been designed to emulate how (a) certain amp(s) go(es) about this. Nothing new there, right?

I recently got hold of a Mesa M-Pulse 600 amp and driving that one into 'tube saturation' territory made me question the 'employability' all of my drive/distortion/fuzz pedals. Coming from a Class D situation that was quite the pleasant suprise for me. I am nowhere as poetic as @el murdoque when it comes to tone descriptions and such, but I'd swear I heard angels sq*rting.

If you ever see a reasonably-priced Mesa Walkabout you should jump on it! Similar basic tonestack and front-end of the 600, but as many in the very long Mesa Walkabout Club thread will tell you the little guy has a lot of tubey mojo that the larger M-Pulse amps lack. I’ve had my Walkabout since 2009 as a backup to different full-tube rigs but these days it gets 90% of my gigs. I don’t really need drive pedals with the Walkabout, but my ideal tone uses a bit of preamp saturation mixed with a bit of pedal saturation (the pedals can add brighter edge that the Walkabout can sometimes lack).