seeing that it is the 27th of January ... @Derek Williams did you attend the mass in Broughton Church today and did St. Joshua gift you a Scorpion (in exchange for monetary compensation) ?
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My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal
- Thread starter el murdoque
- Start date
It is a bit weird that those who do will not be blessed. Instead, they shall receive the Scorpion.
But from my side, thou shalt receive congratulations!
I'm curious to hear what you think about it.
The sound clips were a bit modern to my ear.
I’m curious too. I have a Broughton Azure Drive which I don’t like at all (it’s up for sale), so will be interesting to see how that is one goes.
- Feb 16, 2008
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- John K Custom Basses
I too wasn’t inspired by the Azure Drive. It’s probably better suited for guitar.
Since we're talking about pedals that don't inspire, I tried to make the Fifth Gear work for me some more,
but I failed. Moving it more to the front of the signal chain helped some. With more dynamics hitting the pedal, the response was a bit more lively. But trying different settings and switching around between Jive, Saturn VI and Fifth Gear always ended up with me feeling inspired to try something with Jive/Saturn, while the Fifth Gear did not animate me to engage in any way. The heat and gain are interactive, but not that much. I felt like in my signal chain, there is a point where the sizzle feels artificial and too harsh, it's kind of removed from the rest and comes as a side dish on a different plate. When I dial back from there and find a sweet spot on the gain that gives me a touch sensitive drive pedal that has some dynamic range to it, I can clearly understand why many people recommend it as a dirt pedal for bass. When I play on until my ears got used to it, it feels like a solid choice and a really good overdrive. Plus, it's yellow and has a muscle car printed on top.
However, when my ears are at home playing the Fifth Gear in this low'ish gain setting where it feels best to me, I can switch it off and switch on the Saturn VI in its stead, and it feels like the sunrise after a long and cold winter night. The drive feels even more dynamic, sounds more organic and the added harmonics are so seamless, adding a natural feeling treble content that lifts the proverbial blanket from my cabs.
To sum it up with the words of another:
...I just used many words to say the exact same thing @dedpool1052 said here in a less time consuming manner.
So, dedpool1052, which one shall be next?
but I failed. Moving it more to the front of the signal chain helped some. With more dynamics hitting the pedal, the response was a bit more lively. But trying different settings and switching around between Jive, Saturn VI and Fifth Gear always ended up with me feeling inspired to try something with Jive/Saturn, while the Fifth Gear did not animate me to engage in any way. The heat and gain are interactive, but not that much. I felt like in my signal chain, there is a point where the sizzle feels artificial and too harsh, it's kind of removed from the rest and comes as a side dish on a different plate. When I dial back from there and find a sweet spot on the gain that gives me a touch sensitive drive pedal that has some dynamic range to it, I can clearly understand why many people recommend it as a dirt pedal for bass. When I play on until my ears got used to it, it feels like a solid choice and a really good overdrive. Plus, it's yellow and has a muscle car printed on top.
However, when my ears are at home playing the Fifth Gear in this low'ish gain setting where it feels best to me, I can switch it off and switch on the Saturn VI in its stead, and it feels like the sunrise after a long and cold winter night. The drive feels even more dynamic, sounds more organic and the added harmonics are so seamless, adding a natural feeling treble content that lifts the proverbial blanket from my cabs.
To sum it up with the words of another:
...I just used many words to say the exact same thing @dedpool1052 said here in a less time consuming manner.
So, dedpool1052, which one shall be next?
In a solemn ceremony,
I bestowed the Jive pedal with the highest honor that is
mine to give: The black stripe of velcro.
It moved from the test bench onto the board for now.
I bestowed the Jive pedal with the highest honor that is
mine to give: The black stripe of velcro.
It moved from the test bench onto the board for now.
Well,
You've already tried a number of pedals I own.
Since you dig the Saturn so much, I'll recommend another Spaceman to you, the Redstone.
It's a germanium based preamp/overdrive, with an FMV based tone stack.
The tone stack is pre gain, so adding more lows can get more distorted and compressed pretty quickly, but I've been plenty satisfied with it set at the low end of the spectrum.
According to Spaceman Effects, the EQ is "ruler flat" with the bass and treble at zero, and the mids sort of acts like a secondary gain control.
When you start raising the bass and treble is where that FMV interactivity comes into play.
Like the Saturn, it can really bring out harmonics it a nice way, but with a different flavor than that of the Saturn.
Plenty of highs on tap, to help add clarity to flats.
Matter of fact, I recently just got a used bass with flats.
While I'm waiting on the new rounds I like to arrive, I can try that bass with the Redstone to see how it fares, then report back.
So far, all of my experiences with pedals have been my basses with rounds,
So this will be a nice little departure.
Really interesting. The Fifth Gear replaced the most touch-sensitive drive I've owned, the Parabellum v2, which just breaks up gorgeously, in a really musical way, changing into harder clipping the further up the neck you go. Just a wonderful pedal, but huge, and a lot of the nuance got lost in my band's mix. The Fifth Gear puts an even coat of hair on -- I tend to run it with the Heat all the way off, gain at 10 o'clock, volume just past 3 o'clock -- and it sounds like my Oracle is just being run hot. When I've got my small board and don't have a fuzz to feed into a filter, I put the Heat up to 9 o'clock or so. I agree that the Heat control adds some inorganic-sounding stuff, but for me that's a plus, because it can pinch hit as a fuzz to give me close-enough fuzz into filter sounds for stuff like "Get Down on It" when I've got my small board. Which is pretty much always.
I've been very curious about the Spaceman stuff, but the form factor is just an absolute no-go for me. Every time I try to play on a bigger board than a Nano+, I end up just thinking how I rarely use some things, how I don't have access to the jacks on the bottom row (the Meatballish filter I'm married to has a wonky jack sometimes and my wife hasn't had a chance to get it on the bench yet), how I'm carrying extra stuff I don't really need, and frankly how ugly sideways pedals are. So I live with a sideways Oracle, my huge filter, and a tuner, and have just enough room for one dirt pedal. The Fifth Gear is unfussy and just works for me. I'm certainly open to trying other things, but it absolutely has to have top jacks if I'm actually going to use it.
I know what you mean. Side-Jacks are an abomination and should only be allowed for micro pedals.
That darn Spaceman, however, has been one of those pedals that I got sent to try out (because even with a recommendation from a reputable source I was not willing to buy one to try it), had sitting around for a while because I was reluctant to do the cable work necessary. When I finally dropped it in, it was instantly "moar better". It's a rare thing when that happens, and in those cases one might be forced to resort to extreme measures.
And I'd like to be clear about one thing:
The Fifth Gear is not a bad Dirt pedal. It actually is quite good.
I have spiraled my way upwards for a while now and if I'm honest, could live with the last dozen or so pedals I had.
To cover my 'need' of a drive, I could recall from the top of my head:
Fifth Gear
Sushi Box UA
Broadcast
Beta / Beta DLX
Barbershop
MBD-2
Mini
Saturn 6
Jive
Onecontrol Silver something
Crazy Tube Locomotive.
That's nearly a dozen without looking it up - they all worked well enough.
I've long since crossed into the territory of the magic bullet at the bottom of the rabbit hole.
It's not about what works. It's about what tickles my fancy in a special way.
And it's in that context that I plugged the Fifth gear in and tried to make it sound and feel so good that my worn out neural pathways start releasing dopamine (or whatever that stuff is called that makes you grin).
In that regard, the pedal feels like a hammer. It works. It does not have a polished head with fancy engravings.
When it comes to driving a nail into a piece of wood, consider the job done. When it comes to bling - not so much.
Well, not to potentially add to your spiral upwards, but I do owe you for spending my money on the Underground Accelerator. I know it's got the dreaded side jacks, but at a teensy 1.5" wide, you should consider giving the Wampler Belle a whirl. Driving the UA (or probably any Sushi Box) with one is a thing of beauty; mine just came in the door this aft, and I've only had an hour or so to go at it... but yeah. This one's already got velcro on it!
The Colour knob (I refuse American spelling) does a great job of dialling in or out anything too harsh, though it has a pretty inherently warm character already. I'm finding it hard to get proper fizz out of it, and that's with both a stainless-strung Jazz (mostly dead) and nickel-strung Rickenbacker (zingy fresh); your dead-flats situation would probably compliment this pedal very well. Warm, transparent, and thick-but-articulate is my initial impression.
The Colour knob also boosts/cuts low end, but the dedicated Bass knob means there's plenty of control over the bootylicious levels independent of the highs. And it seems to be a genuine boost/cut of lows and highs; the mids don't shift at all as I sweep the Colour, which I find important. I carefully sculpt a bit of mids out with the UA and my amp, so losing more here would be problematic.
It of course requires some more rigorous testing, but the early impressions are very, very positive. Plus it's a pretty affordable one; got mine new for $200 Canada Bucks (140 Euro). Ignore the side jacks. Repeat, ignore the side jacks!
Well, the bass is active, and actually drove the redstone much harder than I'm used to.
With my other basses,
It has a certain break-up that's pleasing.
I tend to ignore the EQ, and set my tone using the volume and gain controls.
It really brings out some great harmonic content.
Not the same as the Saturn VI, but a very nice flavor.
Thank you!
How is the low end retention? Any cutting perceivable ?
Does the EQ work for bass or is it tuned for guitar? Is the EQ before or after clipping?
I know it's got the dreaded side jacks, but at a teensy 1.5" wide, you should consider giving the Wampler Belle a whirl.
The Colour knob (I refuse American spelling) does a great job of dialling in or out anything too harsh, though it has a pretty inherently warm character already. I'm finding it hard to get proper fizz out of it, and that's with both a stainless-strung Jazz (mostly dead) and nickel-strung Rickenbacker (zingy fresh); your dead-flats situation would probably compliment this pedal very well. Warm, transparent, and thick-but-articulate is my initial impression.
Ignore the side jacks. Repeat, ignore the side jacks!
Warm and thick versus dead flats is often a tightrope ride. I love a warm and thick tone, but a pedal that makes warm and thick out of a bridge pickup with fresh rounds will create a muddy disaster with my dead flats neck pickup bass boost tone.
I'm glad you like that pedal, though. Does it have top jacks?
I'd have to try it out.
Hmm that's a fair point; you can definitely push the treble and articulation with the Colour knob, but the low end would probably require some reigning in via the Bass knob in compensation. It's not incapable of bite, but that doesn't seem to be its inherent character, unlike a lot of guitar pedals co-opted for bass (all the literature suggests only our 6-string nemeses were thought of when making this pedal).
Alas, only side jacks. Which does not bode well for me spending your money! But, like, if you can look past that unholy sin, I think there's something in there which you would enjoy mightily (if my reading of your jounal is at all accurate)
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Plenty of low end retention.
EQ is definitely pre-gain.
Raising lows gets thicker and more compressed.
Someone in the Spaceman thread asked about it, and Spaceman responded saying it was made to work well for both guitar and bass.
I'll let you in on a secret: Micro pedals are actually allowed to have side jacks.
Blasphemy, you blurt, raising a shaking finger to point at me.
No, not at all, I reply in a soothing voice.
Look at it like this: A foot switch needs a little room, for it is a little thing, yet the foot that switches the foot switch is not (unless it is, but we're assuming grown people use them). The micro pedal is a humble pedal.
It knows real estate is precious and it gives you its sound while asking very little in return. Nine volts center negative, two quarter inch jacks (TS is enough, it is that humble) and the smallest sliver of velcro'ed surface to rest on is all it asks. A pedal that small could quickly be nestled in too close to another pedal and then the small switch/large foot thing becomes a problem.
They are called stomp switches, not carefully pressed with the tip of the foot switches.
