My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal

[dedpool1052]

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

There's a newer, 4-knob mini with the bass cut as a sweepable control.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ODR-Mini2--nobels-odr-mini-2-overdrive-pedal

 

[gillento]

Is it really really really good?

The look of that pedal is about as appealing as the smell of my feet.

Thread 'Genzler 4 On The Floor and Crash Box 4!!!'

Jul 26, 2025

My preferences for overdrive and distortion tend to lean towards the classic end of the spectrum rather than the clanky, modern sounds - I always use the first Audioslave record as a reference. I have been through a lot of pedals, and finding ones that don't get fatiguing, can do lower gain always-on tones, and sound integrated with the tone rather than tacked on top of it is an ongoing challenge. I have to say the two new Genzler pedals that @agedhorse designed are game changers for me. They integrate so well like a great compressor where you forget that they are on until you...

• JGR
• Replies: 18
• Forum: Effects [BG]

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You are absolutely right on the looks of those pedals.

By coincidence I got their Re/Q pedal and it sounds great as an EQ/Filter pedal, so Iooking at this thread and looking at those videos, I have a hunch they are sounding great.

 

[el murdoque]

I really really hope that Agedhorse only designed the technical aspects and was not involved in how they look ;-)

 

[darev]

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?

My guitar player has A BK Butler and it sounds good on his little tiny guitar. It is the 120V N American plug-in variety so it is older.

Oh, look. His is down here at my feet in my studio. Guess I'll have to plug it into my Jazz V Plus.

After cleaning the cat barf off of it (he really loves animals) I see now that it is BK Butler's Real Tube and not a Tube Driver. I know that the Real Tube has the mid knob that the Tube Driver does not. Annnd that's as far as my knowledge goes.

However, it uses mains power so they are probably not starving the tube. It may spit out a nice warm distortion or maybe it will spit out mush.

It's not a Tube Driver but hopefully, I can find the time this week to plug it and see what's doing.

 

[GrowlerBox]

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

If I do go with the Nobels, it will likely be the ODR-1x version, which has the bass cut on a mini dial as well as a gain boost switch. The internal battery-compartment switch now offers buffered vs. true-bypass.

Just because, I'm also now looking at the T-Rex Twin Boost, with 2 channels of low-gain boost with independent 3-band EQs (battery or 9V DC).

 

[GrowlerBox]

I really really hope that Agedhorse only designed the technical aspects and was not involved in how they look ;-)

I don't have either dirt box, but I do have the Magellan Pre-DI, and it is very nice (in Borat voice).

 

[just-1-more]

Thanks, I look forward to reading your findings

Ok, I gave this a quick go today. Let me preface this by saying I'm not a big fan of hugely distorted bass tones. For context, if I'm adding overdrive it's fairly subtle saturation from a Fairfield Barbershop.

While I like the TD-Y for guitar, I can't say I'm a fan for bass. Despite the added drive everything sounded smaller with less weight when the pedal engaged. No amount of tweaking the EQ would bring back the oomph that was there before. It seems to shave off some lows at all settings. The high EQ didn't seem to have much effect at all. I presume it's voiced more for guitar.

Gain increases quickly on the TD-Y. 9:00 or a little less on the gain knob will get you somewhere in the ballpark of the maximum gain available on the Barbershop. It has some nice lower gain tones (more so for guitar) but small adjustments of the gain knob can make a big difference in overdrive levels. Even on guitar I rarely run the gain up past about 11:00. It quickly gets into fuzz-like territory on bass. It sounded best to me with the clipping diodes removed (via mini-toggle switch on the TD-Y v2), followed by v1, and v2 was my least preferred setting. Removing the clipping diodes gives a little more adjustability for lower gain settings. Backing the volume off on the bass makes it easier to find a sweet spot but it still sounds less weighty than with the pedal disengaged.

Not my cup of tea.

 

[darev]

It may spit out a nice warm distortion or maybe it will spit out mush.

Kept to around 4 I liked the gain but it got awful awful quick when turned up past 6. It worked as long as the bass was turned up all the way.

 

[GrowlerBox]

Ok, I gave this a quick go today. Let me preface this by saying I'm not a big fan of hugely distorted bass tones. For context, if I'm adding overdrive it's fairly subtle saturation from a Fairfield Barbershop.

While I like the TD-Y for guitar, I can't say I'm a fan for bass. Despite the added drive everything sounded smaller with less weight when the pedal engaged. No amount of tweaking the EQ would bring back the oomph that was there before. It seems to shave off some lows at all settings. The high EQ didn't seem to have much effect at all. I presume it's voiced more for guitar.

Gain increases quickly on the TD-Y. 9:00 or a little less on the gain knob will get you somewhere in the ballpark of the maximum gain available on the Barbershop. It has some nice lower gain tones (more so for guitar) but small adjustments of the gain knob can make a big difference in overdrive levels. Even on guitar I rarely run the gain up past about 11:00. It quickly gets into fuzz-like territory on bass. It sounded best to me with the clipping diodes removed (via mini-toggle switch on the TD-Y v2), followed by v1, and v2 was my least preferred setting. Removing the clipping diodes gives a little more adjustability for lower gain settings. Backing the volume off on the bass makes it easier to find a sweet spot but it still sounds less weighty than with the pedal disengaged.

Not my cup of tea.

Thanks for the detailed report; as a fellow fan of the Barbershop (in its Modele B guise), I think I would also share your opinion of the TD-Y (or TD-X in my case), so I will return my attentions to the Nobels (maybe the T-Rex) as the possible next addition to the dirt circus.

 

[el murdoque]

Here's a question that bogged me for a few minutes now.

The Two Notes Le Bass preamp. I never had one, neither on my Preamp Journey, nor on my Dirt Bender.
I think I did rule it out back in the day when I was not yet running a DC-7 and 12V DC with 500mA meant to past el_murdoque that he'd need a wall wart to run it, so he put it on the naughty list and ignored it.

However, the possibilities of that pedal are kind of interesting. I've had a long hard look at the Orange Bass Butler, but the Orange holds two problems for me - namely the split XLR outputs that cannot be combined and the fact that the clean channel is always on, so the pedal has no bypass mode.

The Two notes however, does certain things in a similar manner (in the hot fusion setting) where you can shape the dirt channel and then mix it with the clean channel, and it all goes out through a single XLR output plus it can be switched off completely.

Now all that has nothing to do with my question, this is just rambling.


My question is this: How does the Two Notes Le Bass utilize its single tube?
The internet tells me that it runs a 12AX7, so it's a double triode. Does the clean channel get one half and the dirt channel the other half?
Does the tube act as input or output buffer, in one of the early or late stages and all the real magic happens within solid state components?
Does only one channel get tube magic and the other does not? If so, which is which?
Is the Tube just in there to emit a nice glow?

 

[OldShark]

Is the original BK Tube Driver suitable for bass? Will I have to get one?

The TC Tube Pilot is a BK Tube Driver clone, AFAIK. (And waaay beneath your preferred level, I know... ) It certainly does lack low end on bass, and it's rather harsh anyway. I tried to change to a 12ay7 tube to enhance the break-up/low gain range but that doesn't work as expected...
Just my 0.0002 ct.

 

[sloppy_phil]

Here's a question that bogged me for a few minutes now.

The Two Notes Le Bass preamp. I never had one, neither on my Preamp Journey, nor on my Dirt Bender.
I think I did rule it out back in the day when I was not yet running a DC-7 and 12V DC with 500mA meant to past el_murdoque that he'd need a wall wart to run it, so he put it on the naughty list and ignored it.

However, the possibilities of that pedal are kind of interesting. I've had a long hard look at the Orange Bass Butler, but the Orange holds two problems for me - namely the split XLR outputs that cannot be combined and the fact that the clean channel is always on, so the pedal has no bypass mode.

The Two notes however, does certain things in a similar manner (in the hot fusion setting) where you can shape the dirt channel and then mix it with the clean channel, and it all goes out through a single XLR output plus it can be switched off completely.

Now all that has nothing to do with my question, this is just rambling.


My question is this: How does the Two Notes Le Bass utilize its single tube?
The internet tells me that it runs a 12AX7, so it's a double triode. Does the clean channel get one half and the dirt channel the other half?
Does the tube act as input or output buffer, in one of the early or late stages and all the real magic happens within solid state components?
Does only one channel get tube magic and the other does not? If so, which is which?
Is the Tube just in there to emit a nice glow?

Cannot speak to the Le Bass, but I will say that I've had pretty glowingly positive experiences with Two Notes as a company (they are SUPER active here on TB, and very responsive/helpful), and 2.5 years in, I am still very satisfied with the Torpedo CAB M+ I've been using for live and studio applications. I don't wanna speak too much on it, since it's basically the "second half" of the amp/cab equation, and the Le Bass is very much the "first half", so there may not be too much in the way of overlap between how the units perform.

I know the gain channels on the Le Bass are meant to emulate a vintage-y Marshall (channel 2), and then something more like the Darkglass sound (channel 3), so I wouldn't have necessarily put it down as One To Try for this here Jounal, but I'd be curious how our resident digital-skeptic would feel about the response from a TN product!

Would be surprising if the tube was only there for window dressing, but I know that's how it used to be on these sorts of units...

 

[el murdoque]

Cannot speak to the Le Bass, but I will say that I've had pretty glowingly positive experiences with Two Notes as a company (they are SUPER active here on TB, and very responsive/helpful), and 2.5 years in, I am still very satisfied with the Torpedo CAB M+ I've been using for live and studio applications. I don't wanna speak too much on it, since it's basically the "second half" of the amp/cab equation, and the Le Bass is very much the "first half", so there may not be too much in the way of overlap between how the units perform.

I know the gain channels on the Le Bass are meant to emulate a vintage-y Marshall (channel 2), and then something more like the Darkglass sound (channel 3), so I wouldn't have necessarily put it down as One To Try for this here Jounal, but I'd be curious how our resident digital-skeptic would feel about the response from a TN product!

I think you confuse the Le Bass with the ReVolt ?

My CAB M+ left my possession about two weeks after I purchased it. In my humble opinion, a LPF+HPF did a much better job and was less restricting. And analog

Would be surprising if the tube was only there for window dressing, but I know that's how it used to be on these sorts of units...

I did ask the same question in the Le Bass thread, and Ross already answered this:

Thanks for reaching out and a great question! In our schematics, one tube can drive both channels — in the Le Series, the tube creates the gain stage and is placed after the A (clean) tone stack, before the B (drive) tone stack and before the FX loop. Let me know if this helps to clarify things!

Which left me with the additional question of how the unit achieves clipping and what precisely is clipped when it clips.

 

[sloppy_phil]

I think you confuse the Le Bass with the ReVolt ?

My CAB M+ left my possession about two weeks after I purchased it. In my humble opinion, a LPF+HPF did a much better job and was less restricting. And analog

Ah. Quite right. Palm, meet face... Face, meet palm!

Despite my inherent distrust of digital/modelling equipment, I found myself preferring the CAB to any analog solution (most notably a Broughton RFE), for two reasons; the make-up EQ and fine-tuning of mic placement allowed me to get really precise and dial in a sound I wasn't able to with the RFE. The other, bigger, reason is that I wanted complete separation between my amp signal and my "treated" FOH signal. I was not able to do that with the RFE, or any analog filter; whatever I tried removed either too much top end, or bottom end, from my stage sound.

OTOH, I run the XLR out from the back of the amp head, and then *that* line gets fed to the CAB (via a short XLR > TRS male cable), before then running to FOH from its own XLR out. This complete separation has been really effective for me, and the FOH techs all seem to enjoy the signal that's getting fed to their board(s).

 

[Ross Davies]

Ah. Quite right. Palm, meet face... Face, meet palm!

Despite my inherent distrust of digital/modelling equipment, I found myself preferring the CAB to any analog solution (most notably a Broughton RFE), for two reasons; the make-up EQ and fine-tuning of mic placement allowed me to get really precise and dial in a sound I wasn't able to with the RFE. The other, bigger, reason is that I wanted complete separation between my amp signal and my "treated" FOH signal. I was not able to do that with the RFE, or any analog filter; whatever I tried removed either too much top end, or bottom end, from my stage sound.

OTOH, I run the XLR out from the back of the amp head, and then *that* line gets fed to the CAB (via a short XLR > TRS male cable), before then running to FOH from its own XLR out. This complete separation has been really effective for me, and the FOH techs all seem to enjoy the signal that's getting fed to their board(s).

Awesome! Ross from Two notes here and I'm pleased to hear our C.A.B is working out well for you — which model do you have out of interest?

 

[sloppy_phil]

Awesome! Ross from Two notes here and I'm pleased to hear our C.A.B is working out well for you — which model do you have out of interest?

It's the Torpedo CAB M+

If I had any need for preamp sounds, the Opus would be something I'd look into, but my pedalboard provides all the tone sculpting, shaping, and saturation I need, so the CAB M+ is perfect for my needs.

 

[Ross Davies]

It's the Torpedo CAB M+

If I had any need for preamp sounds, the Opus would be something I'd look into, but my pedalboard provides all the tone sculpting, shaping, and saturation I need, so the CAB M+ is perfect for my needs.

Noted and understood! Sounds like it is exactly what you need and I am super stoked to hear it is working out well for you!

 

[sunbeast]

Here's a question that bogged me for a few minutes now.

The Two Notes Le Bass preamp. I never had one, neither on my Preamp Journey, nor on my Dirt Bender.
I think I did rule it out back in the day when I was not yet running a DC-7 and 12V DC with 500mA meant to past el_murdoque that he'd need a wall wart to run it, so he put it on the naughty list and ignored it.

However, the possibilities of that pedal are kind of interesting. I've had a long hard look at the Orange Bass Butler, but the Orange holds two problems for me - namely the split XLR outputs that cannot be combined and the fact that the clean channel is always on, so the pedal has no bypass mode.

The Two notes however, does certain things in a similar manner (in the hot fusion setting) where you can shape the dirt channel and then mix it with the clean channel, and it all goes out through a single XLR output plus it can be switched off completely.

Now all that has nothing to do with my question, this is just rambling.


My question is this: How does the Two Notes Le Bass utilize its single tube?
The internet tells me that it runs a 12AX7, so it's a double triode. Does the clean channel get one half and the dirt channel the other half?
Does the tube act as input or output buffer, in one of the early or late stages and all the real magic happens within solid state components?
Does only one channel get tube magic and the other does not? If so, which is which?
Is the Tube just in there to emit a nice glow?

An interesting thing about the Le Bass to me is the way the Fusion options work- they put the Clean channel before the Dirt channel in series and tap the blend in the middle for the clean side. I’d love to try one!

 

[GrowlerBox]

To continue slightly my earlier derailment in favour of the Analog.man delay: I received today a TRS to TR/TS cable which allows me to use the delay’s single plug effects loop to effect the repeats. I plugged all sorts of things into it, from an octaver to a ring mod to a lo-fi modulator to a few dirt pedals. One stand out in the last category is the Prunes & Custard, which, while I really enjoy its direct sound (beautifully demonstrated in the Jounal), it’s not really usable in the current contexts in which I play out. However, when used with the delay, it can provide anything from some subtle distortion to a washed-out oscillating pad under the clean bass that does not interfere with the clean tone out in front. Similar effects can be had with other categories; the lo-fi and the ring mod were standouts here. It’s been a bit of a revelation and has rescued some of these pedals from obscurity. A fun and interesting obscurity, but an obscurity nonetheless. Good times .

 

[Ross Davies]

An interesting thing about the Le Bass to me is the way the Fusion options work- they put the Clean channel before the Dirt channel in series and tap the blend in the middle for the clean side. I’d love to try one!

Glad to hear you like the idea behind this — It really does offer a lot of tonal flexibility - from time to time we have these available on our Reverb stores so it is certainly worth keeping posted if you want to grab yourself a bargain!

EU Store: Reverb France

US Store: Two notes Audio Engineering | North America

If you have any questions, I'm here to help!