My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal

[GrowlerBox]

View attachment 7260599

I can’t tell if they’re hiding behind the level and drive knobs, but does this have the XLF and “Cream” switches at the top left and right corners? If not, it looks like a recent enough version for those controls to be on internal dipswitches. Even if it has the external switches, it’s worth opening the pedal up for a view of the quaintly gooped circuit (predates the Klon goop) and the little card signed by Mr Crowther.

 

[darev]

I never could get the Hot Cake XLF switch to impart any kind of lows that would be heard using a bass guitar. Same on my clone. Cream gave a smidge of mid on a bass but no one else in the practice room noticed.

I do like the quality of the distortion that the Hot Cake/Anomaly puts out. I feel it is a different type and quality of distortion than all of the others I try.

 

[GrowlerBox]

I never could get the Hot Cake XLF switch to impart any kind of lows that would be heard using a bass guitar. Same on my clone. Cream gave a smidge of mid on a bass but no one else in the practice room noticed.

I do like the quality of the distortion that the Hot Cake/Anomaly puts out. I feel it is a different type and quality of distortion than all of the others I try.

I agree it’s subtle, but enough that I leave the XLF switch on. To me, it seems that the cream setting somewhat smooths the “grain” of the dirt, off being a little coarser. This one I do move around.

 

[el murdoque]

I can’t tell if they’re hiding behind the level and drive knobs, but does this have the XLF and “Cream” switches at the top left and right corners? If not, it looks like a recent enough version for those controls to be on internal dipswitches. Even if it has the external switches, it’s worth opening the pedal up for a view of the quaintly gooped circuit (predates the Klon goop) and the little card signed by Mr Crowther.

It has the switches up top and the circuit gooped, carded and signed.

 

[el murdoque]

I agree it’s subtle, but enough that I leave the XLF switch on. To me, it seems that the cream setting somewhat smooths the “grain” of the dirt, off being a little coarser. This one I do move around.

My first impression is that the cream switch, first and foremost, takes off top end. When you run it fairly low gain so that soft playing stays clean, and you run the presence high because your flats are old enough for elementary school by now, you lose that finger noise and definition you have with the cream switch off.

I agree that the bass switch is subtle. I needed headphones to really tell the difference.

Apart from that, I did not have much time with it yet. The clipping is quite harsh to my ear, but there's a lot of magic happening in the area before you get solid overdrive. The bass gets a kind of boxy, slightly hollow thump with just a bit of fizz around the edges - I enjoyed that a lot.

 

[el murdoque]

After playing it for a bit, I feel like I got something of a grip on the Hotcake.

The switches up top, for me personally, are not really necessary - I run the XCF always on and the Cream always off. The Cream switch seems to make sense when you want to run higher gain but take the sting off, or blunt it somewhat.

The volume and gain are self explanatory, but it's one of those pedals that passes signal with gain at zero - but it gets louder when you raise the gain.
With my low output J style bass, the real dirt starts a fair bit past noon.

The presence knob is something of a treble boost. I would estimate that it boosts somewhere around 1,5k
The internet says different things about that knob. Some claim it's a passive treble filter, others say that it cuts around 300Hz on the left and boosts treble with a cap of 700Hz (How is that treble?) on the right.
I have not really tried to listen for a cut in the low mids, but my ears tell me that the uppermost mids and some treble get pushed when you run the knob past noon.

The knobs feel super solid and have high friction, so it's a set and forget pedal, nothing you bump on accident - I like that a lot and wish more pedals had this much friction on their knobs. My Meatsmoke always has at least one knob out of place when I transport it and set it up in the new location.


Does anyone here have a reliable source on what the presence knob does exactly?

 

[garfoid]

New release from Lusithand that might be worth checking out: Rosa Overdrive - Lusithand Devices

Their other pedals are well regarded so hopefully this one is good too.

Here's a video:

 

[el murdoque]

The Rosa is shortlisted,
but I will have to make some sales in the nearest future, since I completely burned the 'fun fund' with the last purchases.

The rad piece of vintage furniture from Japan has not arrived yet, but the careful reader will already have noticed that I did split yesterday's NPD.

I said I ordered both, but posted only one. I did leave the other in the office to focus on the Hotcake first.
...and tonight, I'll come home, pack my gear and head straight to band practice, from where I'll return so late that Mrs. Murdoque will most likely be asleep - so I won't really have time to check it out at all, but without further ado, here it is:

 

[sloppy_phil]

The Rosa is shortlisted,
but I will have to make some sales in the nearest future, since I completely burned the 'fun fund' with the last purchases.

The rad piece of vintage furniture from Japan has not arrived yet, but the careful reader will already have noticed that I did split yesterday's NPD.

I said I ordered both, but posted only one. I did leave the other in the office to focus on the Hotcake first.
...and tonight, I'll come home, pack my gear and head straight to band practice, from where I'll return so late that Mrs. Murdoque will most likely be asleep - so I won't really have time to check it out at all, but without further ado, here it is:

View attachment 7261348

A pedal equally fit for a Queen/King/Incest Monarch as well as a Hobbit; I'm excited!

 

[el murdoque]

A pedal equally fit for a Queen/King/Incest Monarch as well as a Hobbit; I'm excited!

I am disturbed now. Should I throw it on the pedalboard and play it in band practice without hearing what it does beforehand?

 

[GrowlerBox]

After playing it for a bit, I feel like I got something of a grip on the Hotcake.

The switches up top, for me personally, are not really necessary - I run the XCF always on and the Cream always off. The Cream switch seems to make sense when you want to run higher gain but take the sting off, or blunt it somewhat.

The volume and gain are self explanatory, but it's one of those pedals that passes signal with gain at zero - but it gets louder when you raise the gain.
With my low output J style bass, the real dirt starts a fair bit past noon.

The presence knob is something of a treble boost. I would estimate that it boosts somewhere around 1,5k
The internet says different things about that knob. Some claim it's a passive treble filter, others say that it cuts around 300Hz on the left and boosts treble with a cap of 700Hz (How is that treble?) on the right.
I have not really tried to listen for a cut in the low mids, but my ears tell me that the uppermost mids and some treble get pushed when you run the knob past noon.

The knobs feel super solid and have high friction, so it's a set and forget pedal, nothing you bump on accident - I like that a lot and wish more pedals had this much friction on their knobs. My Meatsmoke always has at least one knob out of place when I transport it and set it up in the new location.


Does anyone here have a reliable source on what the presence knob does exactly?

My understanding (and I think my experience bears this out, confirmation bias notwithstanding) is that the presence knob boosts (there is no cut, fully CCW is 0 dB) the high-mids at around 800 kHz, which frequency can otherwise be a bit drowned out as the gain is increased.

 

[GrowlerBox]

I am disturbed now. Should I throw it on the pedalboard and play it in band practice without hearing what it does beforehand?

Looking forward to your take on this one (as I do all of them, but especially this). It’s … different. The Hot Cake has its own thing, to be sure, but there’s nothing really surprising about it, and will happily function as an always-on pedal. I wouldn’t be inclined to recommend trying the P&C sound unheard in a rehearsal unless you have particularly tolerant and interested bandmates. The mix and drive controls are quite interactive and can take a little getting used to. It also does some interesting things in conjunction with octaves and envelope filters. I think you’ll enjoy it .

 

[darev]

This guy on TGP also says it's "an additive EQ band centered at around 800Hz.".

Along with what @GrowlerBox also said they have some notes on dialing in the pedal (e.g. "SUPER IMPORTANT, the resonant peak of the Presence boost will affect your overall volume/the volume hitting the front end of your amp" et al).

 

[davelowell2]

It also does some interesting things in conjunction with octaves and envelope filters.

Also phaser!

 

[sloppy_phil]

I am disturbed now. Should I throw it on the pedalboard and play it in band practice without hearing what it does beforehand?

Depends on whether the risk of you getting fired for things done in rehearsal is non-zero possibility!

Don't wanna spoil your fun, so all I will say is this ain't yer Oma's dirt pedal....

 

[el murdoque]

Depends on whether the risk of you getting fired for things done in rehearsal is non-zero possibility!

Don't wanna spoil your fun, so all I will say is this ain't yer Oma's dirt pedal....

At first I thought "Sloppy Phil is making assumptions from his Bubbe to my Oma."
Then I realized that my Oma would probably play a Univox Superfuzz, because she was badass.

The P&C however, is quite funky.

 

[el murdoque]

Ooooooh kay.

Since I came home late yesterday, Mrs. Murdoque was already preparing for bed and I was spent anyway, so I did not play it then.
This morn, I had but three minutes spare - so I ran to the test bench and plugged it in.

No real analysis possible with such short a time, but only an impression.
My first question was: Who TF recommended this pedal? This is the Dirt Bender Jounal and that pedal is a funky quack machine.

@moon-bass , who is currently hunting for oddities for synth setups absolutely must get himself a Prunes & Custard.

I've only clicked through the knobs a quick minute, but every setting was fun - but actually sounded like I was firing a fuzz into an envelope - and those two seemed well matched. I'll play it more tonight, and then I'm gonna look at info about it to figure out what the knobs do.

 

[el murdoque]

Before I do anything else, let me ramble a little more about this here pedal.

The fact that you have two 12AX7 tubes in the drive circuit and therefore four cascading gain stages really is something special.
Or maybe it's just the pedal that is something special and the four cascading gain stages have nothing to do with it.
I'm a dirt pedal gourmand, not a graduate from the School of Electroacoustic Witchcraft and Wizardry. All I have is a keen set of ears, a pair of good headphones and the stubborn singleminded drive to continue this Bender for as long as humanly possible.

Nonetheless, this pedal has a super simple layout and I must admit that I still can't really figure out what the tone knob does exactly.
I mean, it's kind of flat at noon and gets less bright to the left and more bright to the right, but I like to think that I am able to discern between a shelving filter that starts at 1k and a bell with a medium Q that's centered at 1k - and this tone control's exact workings elude my sense of detection. Call it a magic treble knob that also does some upper mids, maybe?

It's a great thing that I've bought this pedal. Phil from Effectrode more or less told me that while it does work for bass, he'd rather not recommend it.
I've found zero reviews or videos of this pedal being used on bass and there were no local opportunities to borrow and play one - so buying it was the only option. And now that I have it, and since it was quite expensive, I spent more time with it than I'd have in any other situation - and this pedal manages to grow on me, because it's complex and intricate in tone and that takes a while to discover.
I would like to call it some sort of low gain distortion - in that particular way that I personally feel that overdrives are more chunky and distortions are rough, but smooth. When you overdo Overdrive, you get fuzz. When you overdo distortion, you get ... a sine wave? pink noise?
However, I've told you already that it's kinda smooth for the amount of gain it injects in the signal stream, but it totally works on the lower gain settings, in such a natural way that it feels like the dirt belongs there. I don't know if it makes sense - but some circuits feel like they would prefer to chill at low voltage if you asked them, but those mean pedal smiths put a much too small resistor between the power source and the OPamp, so the circuit gets hit with way too much all the time and screams in dismay. The Tube Drive likes to do what it does. There is no forcing it with electricity. It happily drinks up the electron juice and sends the signal on, having applied its touch.

 

[warptheory]

View attachment 7262180

Before I do anything else, let me ramble a little more about this here pedal.

The fact that you have two 12AX7 tubes in the drive circuit and therefore four cascading gain stages really is something special.
Or maybe it's just the pedal that is something special and the four cascading gain stages have nothing to do with it.
I'm a dirt pedal gourmand, not a graduate from the School of Electroacoustic Witchcraft and Wizardry. All I have is a keen set of ears, a pair of good headphones and the stubborn singleminded drive to continue this Bender for as long as humanly possible.

Nonetheless, this pedal has a super simple layout and I must admit that I still can't really figure out what the tone knob does exactly.
I mean, it's kind of flat at noon and gets less bright to the left and more bright to the right, but I like to think that I am able to discern between a shelving filter that starts at 1k and a bell with a medium Q that's centered at 1k - and this tone control's exact workings elude my sense of detection. Call it a magic treble knob that also does some upper mids, maybe?

It's a great thing that I've bought this pedal. Phil from Effectrode more or less told me that while it does work for bass, he'd rather not recommend it.
I've found zero reviews or videos of this pedal being used on bass and there were no local opportunities to borrow and play one - so buying it was the only option. And now that I have it, and since it was quite expensive, I spent more time with it than I'd have in any other situation - and this pedal manages to grow on me, because it's complex and intricate in tone and that takes a while to discover.
I would like to call it some sort of low gain distortion - in that particular way that I personally feel that overdrives are more chunky and distortions are rough, but smooth. When you overdo Overdrive, you get fuzz. When you overdo distortion, you get ... a sine wave? pink noise?
However, I've told you already that it's kinda smooth for the amount of gain it injects in the signal stream, but it totally works on the lower gain settings, in such a natural way that it feels like the dirt belongs there. I don't know if it makes sense - but some circuits feel like they would prefer to chill at low voltage if you asked them, but those mean pedal smiths put a much too small resistor between the power source and the OPamp, so the circuit gets hit with way too much all the time and screams in dismay. The Tube Drive likes to do what it does. There is no forcing it with electricity. It happily drinks up the electron juice and sends the signal on, having applied its touch.

Curious if you could record a demo with this since like you said, there are no bass demo's.

 

[el murdoque]

Curious if you could record a demo with this since like you said, there are no bass demo's.

Maybe I should do just that, you're right.