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My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal
- Thread starter el murdoque
- Start date
That is one less thing to be explored then. Instead, I shall verify your thesis.
The vibes I get from the Li'l Fella are quite angry.
And I don't mean the kind of anger you get from a majestic lion when you touch his testicles with a glowing, white hot poker.
I mean the feeling you might get when you drive to work, park in the last corner of the car park, walk over to your office, sit down and realize your login does not work, and while you're checking if you have caps lock on, your phone rings and you're informed that HR wants to talk to you NOW. You go over there and are informed that they will let you go now because of some bogus accusations you cannot disprove. You go back to your office, escorted by security, to get your personal stuff and from there you're escorted back to the car park to get your stuff from the company car that's not yours any more. You ride the bus home and break the news to the Wife, who proclaims that this is the last straw. She only suffered your presence because of the financial stability you provided and hastily packs some stuff, leaving to stay with her mom, of course taking the kids. Two weeks into your new reality, you wake up with a thoroughly installed hangover, order three cheesburgers for brunch and have to find some cash to pay the uber eats driver because your credit card won't work. You check the unopened envelope sent from your bank, in which they explain to you that with your job situation they don't see a way forward and they deleted your account.
While you're at it, you open the next envelope and learn that you'll have to leave your home by the end of the month.
You decide to go for a walk because it's nice outside and there might be some calming down to be found in the park. The sun hits your eyes with fierce intensity, driving painful spikes through your optical nerves into your brain and it seems that you fell down on the way home last night, because the shades in your inside pocked are broken. You walk at as brisk a pace your current situation allows for, keeping your vision limited to the few feet in front of your feet and someone bumps into you. One of these hormone filled 17 year olds that desperately try to cultivate a 'stache - a few little hairs on the upper lip that you could shave with a butter knife. He's with some friends so he feels especially strong, so he starts to insult you. You gather the very last shreds of patience to explain that you're not in the mood, when that pimply faced youth tries to spit in your face.
You're a wreck and in no shape for quick movements, and the little brat is part of a pack, so violence is not an option, but you can't think of anything else.
This seething hot-and-cold rage that balls up in your upper chest and sends pulsing waves through the back of your neck towards your face. That's what I'm getting here.
It's not the rage of the heat of the moment. This has been cultivated through an immaculate and deeply seated frustration that sets your nerves on edge and leaves your fuse so short, it's invisible to the naked eye.
It's not exactly a beauty in the bedroom, but works very well in a mix.
And I don't mean the kind of anger you get from a majestic lion when you touch his testicles with a glowing, white hot poker.
I mean the feeling you might get when you drive to work, park in the last corner of the car park, walk over to your office, sit down and realize your login does not work, and while you're checking if you have caps lock on, your phone rings and you're informed that HR wants to talk to you NOW. You go over there and are informed that they will let you go now because of some bogus accusations you cannot disprove. You go back to your office, escorted by security, to get your personal stuff and from there you're escorted back to the car park to get your stuff from the company car that's not yours any more. You ride the bus home and break the news to the Wife, who proclaims that this is the last straw. She only suffered your presence because of the financial stability you provided and hastily packs some stuff, leaving to stay with her mom, of course taking the kids. Two weeks into your new reality, you wake up with a thoroughly installed hangover, order three cheesburgers for brunch and have to find some cash to pay the uber eats driver because your credit card won't work. You check the unopened envelope sent from your bank, in which they explain to you that with your job situation they don't see a way forward and they deleted your account.
While you're at it, you open the next envelope and learn that you'll have to leave your home by the end of the month.
You decide to go for a walk because it's nice outside and there might be some calming down to be found in the park. The sun hits your eyes with fierce intensity, driving painful spikes through your optical nerves into your brain and it seems that you fell down on the way home last night, because the shades in your inside pocked are broken. You walk at as brisk a pace your current situation allows for, keeping your vision limited to the few feet in front of your feet and someone bumps into you. One of these hormone filled 17 year olds that desperately try to cultivate a 'stache - a few little hairs on the upper lip that you could shave with a butter knife. He's with some friends so he feels especially strong, so he starts to insult you. You gather the very last shreds of patience to explain that you're not in the mood, when that pimply faced youth tries to spit in your face.
You're a wreck and in no shape for quick movements, and the little brat is part of a pack, so violence is not an option, but you can't think of anything else.
This seething hot-and-cold rage that balls up in your upper chest and sends pulsing waves through the back of your neck towards your face. That's what I'm getting here.
It's not the rage of the heat of the moment. This has been cultivated through an immaculate and deeply seated frustration that sets your nerves on edge and leaves your fuse so short, it's invisible to the naked eye.
It's not exactly a beauty in the bedroom, but works very well in a mix.
I've never had or used a Li'l Fella, but a pedal that gates by way of a pair of bias knobs that I really like is the Oats and Molasses VB-2 (that I know you've reviewed somewhat indifferently). I use it a slightly to moderately dirty boost most of the time (in a way similar to the Dual Bad Bob), but occasionally enjoy the spitty, gated fuzz sound that it produces when the bias is dialed up. What I especially like about it is that its frequency response seems to be even flatter than that of the Analog Man pedal, although I have not gone to the lengths you have to establish this. I've gone back to using it at 9V, FWIW.
Swapping basses made a world of difference for me. The Li'l Fella really likes my Fakenbacker.
The pickup switch does wonders here. With the bridge solo'ed, I get full grind, with both on I get grindy, with the neck solo'ed, I'm close to clean.
It's also less of that frustrated anger mentioned above and more of the regular one.
Here's a small clip:
I do think that on the decay of the last note, you can hear the sizzle that is done by the drive knob fades first while the gain knob sizzle last a fair bit longer.
The pickup switch does wonders here. With the bridge solo'ed, I get full grind, with both on I get grindy, with the neck solo'ed, I'm close to clean.
It's also less of that frustrated anger mentioned above and more of the regular one.
Here's a small clip:
I do think that on the decay of the last note, you can hear the sizzle that is done by the drive knob fades first while the gain knob sizzle last a fair bit longer.
Has anyone tried the Strymon Deco?
I need a drive pedal for my cover band, so I brought home the Barbershop, Morning Glory Clean and Strymon Deco.
The Barbershop barely had enough headroom when using a 5-string active bass with a Cali76. Kick on the octave, and it's over.
The MGS had potential, but it only sounded good with the tone all the way down and the clean at 3 o'clock when playing in my studio.
The Deco sounded absolutely glorious, albeit not without issues -- more on that later.
I wanted to test both pedals with the band, but my rehearsal was cancelled. I put in a track without bass in Logic and played over it.
The MGS still sounded thin, and the Deco glorious. I returned the MGS because the return window was closing.
I still have the Deco, and I will get to test with the band tomorrow.
I think it sounds great, but it is boomy with my two short scale basses. It does have a HPF that works great, but it's noticeable when engaging the octave pedal before it. I caved in and bought a Broughton HPF -- I was long overdue anyway.
It also compresses a lot.
I guess I'll see tomorrow if it sounds good with the band, but I'm wondering if anyone had any experience with it!
Thanks!
I need a drive pedal for my cover band, so I brought home the Barbershop, Morning Glory Clean and Strymon Deco.
The Barbershop barely had enough headroom when using a 5-string active bass with a Cali76. Kick on the octave, and it's over.
The MGS had potential, but it only sounded good with the tone all the way down and the clean at 3 o'clock when playing in my studio.
The Deco sounded absolutely glorious, albeit not without issues -- more on that later.
I wanted to test both pedals with the band, but my rehearsal was cancelled. I put in a track without bass in Logic and played over it.
The MGS still sounded thin, and the Deco glorious. I returned the MGS because the return window was closing.
I still have the Deco, and I will get to test with the band tomorrow.
I think it sounds great, but it is boomy with my two short scale basses. It does have a HPF that works great, but it's noticeable when engaging the octave pedal before it. I caved in and bought a Broughton HPF -- I was long overdue anyway.
It also compresses a lot.
I guess I'll see tomorrow if it sounds good with the band, but I'm wondering if anyone had any experience with it!
Thanks!
Apparently the Barbershop can be run at higher voltages for more headroom? I am pretty sure I was told that on TB when I mentioned similar experiences with it- though for me the tone and feel were surprisingly “meh” even with a relatively low-output Rickenbacker bass (it seemed either too subtle or too kazoo-like for me with little middle-ground), though that was ages ago and I flipped it pretty quick.
Yes, the Barbershop can take up to 18V. The newer units also have internal trim pots. IIRC, Fairfield does not want you to touch them at all, but one is setting gain and while they are absolutely disappointed with you if you touch the non-gain one (I guess it's some kind of bias), they will sleep easy when you toy around with the gain one.
I’m no expert, but I’ll share my thoughts tonight after band practice!
I also read it can take up to 18v, but since there’s no official mention of it, I didn’t want to try it. I did prefer its tone to the MGS, though.
I don't think I ever ran it in 18V because I could not see where I wanted it to stay clean longer - it's a dirt pedal, not a compressor
When I had one I found the response kinda farty with most of my basses regardless of bias settings and with little to no range below the kazoo sounds. Not sure if increasing the voltage would have helped smooth it out. My Rickenbackers were the few basses I had that had low-enough output to get something somewhat useful for me, though it wasn’t really my taste compared to stuff I already had. Not at all what I expected from it given the tons of great reviews on TB. I did quite like it with guitar though!I don't think I ever ran it in 18V because I could not see where I wanted it to stay clean longer - it's a dirt pedal, not a compressor
Sorry some of you have been disappointed by the Barbershop. What you describe with limited headroom and fartiness is exactly what my Blumes does.
My Barbershop was our esteemed jounalists suggestion to me and it ended my low gain search (for flats). So maybe fiddle with that interval gain pot or try 18v.
My Barbershop was our esteemed jounalists suggestion to me and it ended my low gain search (for flats). So maybe fiddle with that interval gain pot or try 18v.
I had the Strymon Deco for quite a while and really loved the saturation/dirt on it. Ended up selling it to a friend as I didn't use the delay part of it. It seemed quite silly for me to not use both halves of the pedal, but damn I miss that saturation.
So, rehearsal didn’t go as planned. The backline was an old, severely underpowered Markbass amplifier. Actually, it kinda sounded like a worse version of the Barbershop 
Anyway.
Context, because I think gear reviews should always include context
I dislike dirty tones like the SVT. I’m into warm clean, i.e. not sterile transparent, tones. I love the Aguilar AG.
I play in a band that covers popular music from the 70s to today, which is mostly soft rock (Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi”) and modern pop (Dua Lipa’s “Break My Heart”).
However, we’re not exactly trying to replicate the tones on the albums. Personally, I’m into neo soul (Robert Glasper, Maxwell, Lauryn Hill, D’Angelo, etc.), which influences my tone a lot. Although of course I dial down the low mids and crank some high mids and treble when playing with the band.
I play a 6-string short-scale active bass with rounds (please, please let me know if you know where I can find a 6-string set of mid-scale tapes).
Review
The Deco is probably the first drive pedal on bass I didn’t immediately think “This isn’t going to work for me.” Unlike other drives that sound like the voice of a pubescent boy that doesn’t know whether it wants to be a boy or a man, the Deco sounds warm and thick. It sounds like alpaca – not as harsh as wool, but not as smooth as cashmere.
I’ve never stepped into a recording studio. I don’t know anything about recording processes, and I’m no tone expert. I’m not one of those people who claim can hear the difference between a Boss Octaver and Octave in a 200-track mix. Hell, I probably have a hard time differentiating between a Jazz and a Precision in a trio. But I’m now convinced the saturation on the bass on Erykah Badu’s “Appletree” comes from tape.
When I wrote my first post in this thread, I was playing my bass through the Aguilar AG with the Aguilar SL210 cab sim and a pair of Sennheiser HD650.
The Deco produced way too much “boom.” It does have a high-pass filter with adjustable frequency. The range isn’t very large, but it works great. However, I’ve been using the Deco with my octave pedal and found applying the HPF on the octave pedal only when the Deco was engaged annoying. So, I bought a Broughton Resonant Filter Eq. I was long overdue for a HPF, anyway.
Except, I didn’t have to use the HPF with the Deco through an actual cab; it didn’t sound boomy at all. Back home, I realized the SL210 cab sim was the culprit. All boom, no definition. I dialled in something with the REQ, and the Deco sounded ever more glorious.
My only complaint is that I wish the tone knob had more range, but it’s a very, very minor complaint.
But here’s the thing: I don’t know if I’m going to keep it.
For one, it’s expensive, and I don’t know that I have much use for the doubletracker side. I’m looking for a drive to play those aforementioned soft rock songs, and I could clearly tell during rehearsal that the Deco wasn’t in the same ballpark. Maybe it’s some sort of confirmation bias. I know the Deco emulates tape, and I know the saturation on the recordings probably comes from the tubes of SVTs. After all, none of my bandmates mentioned my drive being “off.” Then again, they didn’t even notice I was using drive for the first time, or at least they didn’t mention it. Maybe they were just too busy trying to get a good sound out of their Crate amps.
That said, in writing this review, I recalled an eye-opening conversation with my partner a few years back when I couldn’t decide between a Jazz and a Precision. I hated the Precision’s bedroom tone, but it sounded perfect with the band. The opposite was true for the Jazz. My partner said, “You spend about 6 hours a month rehearsing with the band and gigs haven’t really picked up since the pandemic. At the very least, you spend 30 hours a month playing at home. Who cares that the Jazz doesn’t sound optimal with the band?”
It’s been a few years now. Gigs have picked up, although nowhere near pre-pandemic levels, and I still only rehearse about 6 hours a month with the band. The Deco is probably a much better investment than a drive I would never use at home. Who cares if it doesn’t sound optimal with the band?
Doubletracker
I haven’t spent much time with the Doubletracker. I’m mostly interested in saturation. It sounds great, but it loses more low end than ideal – but what modulation pedal doesn’t? The “Blend” knob blends between two different tape deck emulations, not between your clean tone and the tape deck emulation, unfortunately for us bass players.
The other thing I find weird is the range on the Lag Time control.
I understand that it makes sense technically, but I wish they’d prioritized UI over accuracy – ¼ flanger, ¼ chorus, ¼ slapback and ¼ tape echo. It’s fine in the studio or if you just use the one sound, but I can’t imagine having to switch between flange and chorus live without MIDI or, you know, actual words on the pedal.
Meta Conclusion
I’m surprised. I’m actually not as bad at writing reviews as I thought I’d be. I thought I’d have nothing to say, but the “review” portion of this post is 700 words. I need to be more confident or work on imposter syndrome.
Anyway.
Context, because I think gear reviews should always include context
I dislike dirty tones like the SVT. I’m into warm clean, i.e. not sterile transparent, tones. I love the Aguilar AG.
I play in a band that covers popular music from the 70s to today, which is mostly soft rock (Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi”) and modern pop (Dua Lipa’s “Break My Heart”).
However, we’re not exactly trying to replicate the tones on the albums. Personally, I’m into neo soul (Robert Glasper, Maxwell, Lauryn Hill, D’Angelo, etc.), which influences my tone a lot. Although of course I dial down the low mids and crank some high mids and treble when playing with the band.
I play a 6-string short-scale active bass with rounds (please, please let me know if you know where I can find a 6-string set of mid-scale tapes).
Review
The Deco is probably the first drive pedal on bass I didn’t immediately think “This isn’t going to work for me.” Unlike other drives that sound like the voice of a pubescent boy that doesn’t know whether it wants to be a boy or a man, the Deco sounds warm and thick. It sounds like alpaca – not as harsh as wool, but not as smooth as cashmere.
I’ve never stepped into a recording studio. I don’t know anything about recording processes, and I’m no tone expert. I’m not one of those people who claim can hear the difference between a Boss Octaver and Octave in a 200-track mix. Hell, I probably have a hard time differentiating between a Jazz and a Precision in a trio. But I’m now convinced the saturation on the bass on Erykah Badu’s “Appletree” comes from tape.
When I wrote my first post in this thread, I was playing my bass through the Aguilar AG with the Aguilar SL210 cab sim and a pair of Sennheiser HD650.
The Deco produced way too much “boom.” It does have a high-pass filter with adjustable frequency. The range isn’t very large, but it works great. However, I’ve been using the Deco with my octave pedal and found applying the HPF on the octave pedal only when the Deco was engaged annoying. So, I bought a Broughton Resonant Filter Eq. I was long overdue for a HPF, anyway.
Except, I didn’t have to use the HPF with the Deco through an actual cab; it didn’t sound boomy at all. Back home, I realized the SL210 cab sim was the culprit. All boom, no definition. I dialled in something with the REQ, and the Deco sounded ever more glorious.
My only complaint is that I wish the tone knob had more range, but it’s a very, very minor complaint.
But here’s the thing: I don’t know if I’m going to keep it.
For one, it’s expensive, and I don’t know that I have much use for the doubletracker side. I’m looking for a drive to play those aforementioned soft rock songs, and I could clearly tell during rehearsal that the Deco wasn’t in the same ballpark. Maybe it’s some sort of confirmation bias. I know the Deco emulates tape, and I know the saturation on the recordings probably comes from the tubes of SVTs. After all, none of my bandmates mentioned my drive being “off.” Then again, they didn’t even notice I was using drive for the first time, or at least they didn’t mention it. Maybe they were just too busy trying to get a good sound out of their Crate amps.
That said, in writing this review, I recalled an eye-opening conversation with my partner a few years back when I couldn’t decide between a Jazz and a Precision. I hated the Precision’s bedroom tone, but it sounded perfect with the band. The opposite was true for the Jazz. My partner said, “You spend about 6 hours a month rehearsing with the band and gigs haven’t really picked up since the pandemic. At the very least, you spend 30 hours a month playing at home. Who cares that the Jazz doesn’t sound optimal with the band?”
It’s been a few years now. Gigs have picked up, although nowhere near pre-pandemic levels, and I still only rehearse about 6 hours a month with the band. The Deco is probably a much better investment than a drive I would never use at home. Who cares if it doesn’t sound optimal with the band?
Doubletracker
I haven’t spent much time with the Doubletracker. I’m mostly interested in saturation. It sounds great, but it loses more low end than ideal – but what modulation pedal doesn’t? The “Blend” knob blends between two different tape deck emulations, not between your clean tone and the tape deck emulation, unfortunately for us bass players.
The other thing I find weird is the range on the Lag Time control.
I understand that it makes sense technically, but I wish they’d prioritized UI over accuracy – ¼ flanger, ¼ chorus, ¼ slapback and ¼ tape echo. It’s fine in the studio or if you just use the one sound, but I can’t imagine having to switch between flange and chorus live without MIDI or, you know, actual words on the pedal.
Meta Conclusion
I’m surprised. I’m actually not as bad at writing reviews as I thought I’d be. I thought I’d have nothing to say, but the “review” portion of this post is 700 words. I need to be more confident or work on imposter syndrome.
I got something else incoming, result of a trade.
Something very obscure, and I guess you're only familiar with it if you're into Stoner/Doom/Sludge.
A dirt device with three knobs, two switches and glow-in-the-dark-paint.
Something very obscure, and I guess you're only familiar with it if you're into Stoner/Doom/Sludge.
A dirt device with three knobs, two switches and glow-in-the-dark-paint.
