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My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal

#2,581
I was at my webdesigner's the other day for my business website, and while we were at it, I showed him the jounal since he plays guitar.
He very nearly yelled at me for not having ssl encryption on the site. I told him that it's just a tiny little website with no means of interaction at all, and that encryption is not necessary, and he laughed at me for that, and said that he doubts that google will even list the jounal if it's not accessible via https.

So I spend a day in the backend and the Jounal Website is encrypted now. I hope your browsers are happy ;-)
 
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#2,583
Just for dot dot dot and giggles, I tried to match the Riverside with the Meatsmoke. I mean, both have two channels, both have a three band EQ and the Meatsmoke has four tube gain stages, so it might be interesting, I thought. What I did not expect was that the Riverside sounded a bit muffled in direct comparison, even with all treble options dimed, it was darker than the Meatsmoke with the treble knob at noon.
The nature of the breakup is, however, hard to bring to something even approaching equal grounds.
The Riverside cannot match the sheer brutalitiy of the Verellen. There's an edge to it, and a serrated one at that, that the Riverside does not offer. Don't get me wrong. You get some nasty distortion out of both. But the Measmoke sounds more hoarse when you drive it, while the Riverside sounds eager.

Nothing surprising there. That went as expected. I just could not have imagined that the Riverside sounded so much darker.
 
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#2,584
Here's a small rant about the SFT:

The way I understand it, the SFT is more or less an amp in a box.
Furthermore, it is an ampeg amp in a box. But not a specific one. It's just that they used a two way Baxandall EQ and the gain staging works the same way ampeg did it back then.
Equipped with this kind of information, I did expect to get something really beefy. A solid low mid growl. Something large and heavy.
However, the SFT is voiced for guitar (and bass), and the low register heft and thump is not as massive as I would have suspected.
The EQ sits between the second and third gain stage, so it does affect the breakup somewhat, but not as much as an EQ that sits completely pre-clipping. When you turn the bass knob clockwise from noon, you have a short bit, maybe until 1:30, where the bass increases, but past that point, it feels like you're only increasing how much the low frequencies distort.
I con't really think that the SFT steals any low frequencies, but it's capabilities to make the bass sound more massive, larger and with more heft - something I often associate with gear that is based on ampeg stuff - are somewhat limited.
 
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#2,585
el murdoque said:
Curious to hear whether or not the Beta's days are numbered now.
Click to expand...

I liked the Beta V, sometimes. However, these newer (electronic?) switches that SGFX uses really annoy me because they cut off the sound when you press them. Only for a fraction of a second, but I can hear the signal cutting out, especially with sustaining notes. Not a problem if you keep it always on as a preamp.

gillento said:
I am looking forward to the comparison.
Click to expand...

I've been using the Fake Plastic Trees for a few days now. In short, what a great pedal! It sounds so natural that it immediately earned a place on my pedalboard. (Although the band was on vacation for a week, so I haven't been able to band-test it yet).

The DCX sounds very.. clear? I like what the DCX does to make the bass sound just better. My problem is that the DCX is heavy - I want a commuter friendly board- and the FPT is already an expensive pedal.

I’m keeping the FPT.

After some tests and combinations this is the purge the Fake Plastic Trees has caused:

Invalid Link Removed
 
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#2,587
It’s uploaded into my media, not sure how to post it. Here’s another link.

All of these are pretty great dirt pedals, I just cannot justify a collection.

(Boxes with no lettering are Jive, Dumbal Drive and Power Distorter).

Invalid Link Removed
 
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#2,590
1754817820826.jpg
 
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#2,591
el murdoque said:
View attachment 7295875
Click to expand...
Testify.

On the little peace front, has anyone tried one of the non-tube "clones" of the BK Butler Tube Drive? I have a lead on the Buffalo FX version. I suspect it will be at least OK on bass. There's a Past fx version of this, but I really want something that will take a battery. A Nobels may be the next thing I try, which I'm very confident will be great, based on jounal reports and other specific threads.
 
#2,593
GrowlerBox said:
Testify.

On the little peace front, has anyone tried one of the non-tube "clones" of the BK Butler Tube Drive? I have a lead on the Buffalo FX version. I suspect it will be at least OK on bass. There's a Past fx version of this, but I really want something that will take a battery. A Nobels may be the next thing I try, which I'm very confident will be great, based on jounal reports and other specific threads.
Click to expand...
The PastFx TD-Y is excellent on guitar but I haven't tried it with bass. I suspect it will work fairly well since i have to dial the bass control quite low with guitar. I'll give it a spin when I get some time.
 
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#2,595
Could someone educate me on why it is that it took 130 pages of this thread before the BK Tube Driver becomes a topic?

There's a US made Tube Works 9V version in my market for a good price. I suppose a "real" one with 4 knobs is better, especially for bass?

Is the original BK Tube Driver suitable for bass? Will I have to get one?
 
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#2,596
GrowlerBox said:
Testify.

On the little peace front, has anyone tried one of the non-tube "clones" of the BK Butler Tube Drive? I have a lead on the Buffalo FX version. I suspect it will be at least OK on bass. There's a Past fx version of this, but I really want something that will take a battery. A Nobels may be the next thing I try, which I'm very confident will be great, based on jounal reports and other specific threads.
Click to expand...

The Nobels is the opposite of the Tube Screamer. When you play one into the other, you get a flat response ;-)

Just make sure you get the big box version. The older ones are fine, the newer ones come with a low cut switch hidden in the battery compartment (also fine), but the Mini version has the low cut permanently engaged, IIRC
 
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#2,597
el murdoque said:
Could someone educate me on why it is that it took 130 pages of this thread before the BK Tube Driver becomes a topic?

There's a US made Tube Works 9V version in my market for a good price. I suppose a "real" one with 4 knobs is better, especially for bass?

Is the original BK Tube Driver suitable for bass? Will I have to get one?
Click to expand...
I imagine because that pedal design has been around so relatively long (since the late-70s) that it sorta pre-dated the "boutique" pedal moniker. I remember long before my intro to Talkbass when I used to see those Tubeworks versions around in stores on a regular basis alongside all the Boss and Ibanez, etc pedals, but I was often playing through tube or hybrid amps already at the time so the investment seemed unnecessary. I know I tried them in stores a few times but can't recall my impressions.
 
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#2,598
sunbeast said:
I imagine because that pedal design has been around so relatively long (since the late-70s) that it sorta pre-dated the "boutique" pedal moniker. I remember long before my intro to Talkbass when I used to see those Tubeworks versions around in stores on a regular basis alongside all the Boss and Ibanez, etc pedals, but I was often playing through tube or hybrid amps already at the time so the investment seemed unnecessary. I know I tried them in stores a few times but can't recall my impressions.
Click to expand...
Did we not pass the 'boutique' moniker a while back?
 
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