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My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal
- Thread starter el murdoque
- Start date
LOL! @Nashrakh I nearly posted that JHS video on here, but decided that was probably too cheeky...
I thought long and hard about getting a neglected pedal that was an easy $50 buy until some guy dropped a video where he found a bunch of settings that made that pedal sound identical to high profile expensive boutique pedals and sent the price for the ex $50 pedal to the moon. In my estimation for a couple of weeks until other people will claim that their Klon might have that one setting that sounds kinda the same as the Bad Monkey in that one setting, but once you turn the knobs, the Klon gets better and the Monkey gets worse and the prices drop to $75 again.
I seem to have misclicked when ordering my Noble preamp and ordered three instead of one. The SO was hiding in the garage yesterday while I was tearing down the house with the Mastotron, and while she was in there, she made herself useful and cleared out old cardboard boxes. In that process, she found the box Jack used to send the Noble, and she found there were two more in there.
I sold these this afternoon and used the money to order a Klon.
The last paragraph might contain some facts that are not entirely true, though.
I'd say the unit I ordered is tailored a little more towards bass and it is neither golden in appearance, nor does it sport an equine archer.
It is arguably as close to bog-standard as you can get when you're talking bass overdrive, although the name would suggest it's the third version of said pedal.
I seem to have misclicked when ordering my Noble preamp and ordered three instead of one. The SO was hiding in the garage yesterday while I was tearing down the house with the Mastotron, and while she was in there, she made herself useful and cleared out old cardboard boxes. In that process, she found the box Jack used to send the Noble, and she found there were two more in there.
I sold these this afternoon and used the money to order a Klon.
The last paragraph might contain some facts that are not entirely true, though.
I'd say the unit I ordered is tailored a little more towards bass and it is neither golden in appearance, nor does it sport an equine archer.
It is arguably as close to bog-standard as you can get when you're talking bass overdrive, although the name would suggest it's the third version of said pedal.
Mastotron can do more mild tones too- drop down the PW, Push and/or Fuzz knobs and there are some nice smooth tones to be found. In fact someone on TB once pointed out that you could turn down all three of those controls near minimum and just play with the Tone, Subs, and Volume for some interesting unexpected tones. All of this is dependent on bass output though.
When I want synthy gated tones I usually push the Push and PW controls but rarely have Fuzz above noon or so for gated tones as the tone will get too uncontrolled and compressed for my taste with both Push and Fuzz turned up. If you turn down the Push (or PW) for less gated tones you can up the Fuzz and retain some control and punch (though I still would rarely crank the Fuzz, most of the time I use it below noon).
A little side quest here.
The Meatball clone in combo with Emma's octave and the Mastotron were acquired to give me some analog synth vibes, to explore on foot, step by step, what the C4 gives me in a neat, but digital package.
The process of getting started was ... in a word, frustrating. I knew what each of the components are capable of, but making them work together was like riding a unicycle for the first time - you know it's possible because you have seen it done, but sticking that thing under your bum leads to the strong impression that this will never work. Good thing @Charlie Tuna runs a similar setup and was able to provide exact settings to go with. I copied them down to the smallest increment of each knob, plugged in and mmmmmwhrrap! This is amazing!
I still got a long way ahead and a lot to learn, and I can already see myself looking at the Moog MF-101 for a different flavor of LPF envelope, but this IS working out.
Love envelope filters with effect loops. I got an EHX Q-Tron+, stick a gated fuzz in the loop and it's synth city. I haven't been able to replicate that with the C4, but the size requirements of that combo are just too much for my small pedalboard.
BTW:
I sincerely do hope that Zvex deliver their pedals with a battery installed.
I walked by my setup yesterday in the night and saw a red LED still on. This is weird, I thought - because my big 'off' switch basically cuts the mains completely for everything, and it was in off position. Looking closer, I saw it was the Mastotron. First thought was "Man, that has to be some hefty condenser in there to keep that light burning an hour after power was cut". I checked it again when going to bed and it was still on - then I unplugged it completely and it went out.
I sincerely do hope that Zvex deliver their pedals with a battery installed.
I walked by my setup yesterday in the night and saw a red LED still on. This is weird, I thought - because my big 'off' switch basically cuts the mains completely for everything, and it was in off position. Looking closer, I saw it was the Mastotron. First thought was "Man, that has to be some hefty condenser in there to keep that light burning an hour after power was cut". I checked it again when going to bed and it was still on - then I unplugged it completely and it went out.
Your first thought is that it was Zvex? I'd have gone straight to Herr Thomann to inquire the whereabouts of his (admittedly still angry) wife. You've left carnage in your wake, and expect no repercussions? You sir, have chutzpah** in abundance.
Any chance of you recording a little sound clip or two? I'd love to hear what synth madness you have going on there. We can do trades; I'm exploring my own synthsanity currently. Using the Subterranea, Funk Machine, a Uni-vibe clone, and some dirt.
**(Yiddish: extreme self-confidence or audacity. Pronounce the "ch" at the start with Dutch levels of phlegm, and you'll nail it)
Any chance of you recording a little sound clip or two? I'd love to hear what synth madness you have going on there. We can do trades; I'm exploring my own synthsanity currently. Using the Subterranea, Funk Machine, a Uni-vibe clone, and some dirt.
**(Yiddish: extreme self-confidence or audacity. Pronounce the "ch" at the start with Dutch levels of phlegm, and you'll nail it)
deepestend
Commercial User
- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
- 8,171
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Has anyone in this thread tried the Broughton scorpion?
Deeply shaken by your words, I carefully approached the Mastotron with a screw driver (I leave it to your imagination to paint either a tool made to turn screws or a vodka based longdrink into my hand) and had a look inside. on the inside, there's basically nothing, except for a tiny pcb-strip and a battery-shaped space in the middle that was taken up by a battery shaped battery.
I took it out. Now it behaves normally.
I will not inquire any further into the private affairs of Hans Thomann ever again!
Recording anything would require me to find that little gizmo that lets my laptop speak to my mixer - this little bar that has USB-C on one end and USB-A, HDMI and ethernet on the other. I've been looking for two days now, but it seems to hide.
I did, however, shootout a little bit with the Meatball clone and fuzz pedals.
I placed the P&P (set to pickle), the SS/BS Mini, the OBNE Haunt and the Fuzz side of the Emma into the loop of the Meatball and tried them against the Mastotron.
It is a bit like I imagined. While each of those pedals has a distinct sound and its qualities, nothing comes even close to the Mastotron in this application. This pedal feels like it was made for exactly this.
There are clearly some skeletons in that closet, which you perhaps rattled a little too strongly. Glad it didn't cost you anything more precious than a few hours' sleep!
For the record, it clearly wasn't a vodka-based screwdriver; did you not say that rum is your drink of choice? Perhaps I've merely concocted that fact...
Well, all you've managed to do is make me more curious to hear what sorcery you are cooking up over there. Hoping your little gizmo thing turns itself up sooner than later!
I recently upgraded my test bench setup.
It was a PT Nano with a loosely fitted (well, not fitted at all) Cioks 4.
The new one is a PT Junior with a properly mounted Cioks DC-7, which not only has more real estate, it also looks cleaner because it hides the bird's nest of power cables.
When I was admiring my handywork, <short rant starts here>
these people at Cioks need to re-think that postcard they add where the drill holes are marked. I think I fitted Cioks PSUs to at least four boards by drilling through the top, I got at least three of them wrong on the first try.
If you're fitting your existing board with a Cioks, you will drill from the top, through the velcro. The postcards seem to only work when you drill from the bottom. In this case, I drilled three holes and ended up with the PSU in a slightly different position than I wanted. This would have required a fourth hole
</rant> I thought about rigging something that might work as a standalone to see what happens.
So I dug out the surplus pedals from the cupboard and made this:
...add a tuner and a comp, and you're good to go.
In this setup, the P&P provides a clean boost to get the signal up a few notches, then it hits the Meatball with the Emma Okto Nojs and the Mastotron in the loop, from there to the Belle for a mild overdrive into the Ictineo/HWUA/Vong block for processing. It works a lot better than it should.
It was a PT Nano with a loosely fitted (well, not fitted at all) Cioks 4.
The new one is a PT Junior with a properly mounted Cioks DC-7, which not only has more real estate, it also looks cleaner because it hides the bird's nest of power cables.
When I was admiring my handywork, <short rant starts here>
these people at Cioks need to re-think that postcard they add where the drill holes are marked. I think I fitted Cioks PSUs to at least four boards by drilling through the top, I got at least three of them wrong on the first try.
If you're fitting your existing board with a Cioks, you will drill from the top, through the velcro. The postcards seem to only work when you drill from the bottom. In this case, I drilled three holes and ended up with the PSU in a slightly different position than I wanted. This would have required a fourth hole
</rant> I thought about rigging something that might work as a standalone to see what happens.
So I dug out the surplus pedals from the cupboard and made this:
...add a tuner and a comp, and you're good to go.
In this setup, the P&P provides a clean boost to get the signal up a few notches, then it hits the Meatball with the Emma Okto Nojs and the Mastotron in the loop, from there to the Belle for a mild overdrive into the Ictineo/HWUA/Vong block for processing. It works a lot better than it should.
deepestend
Commercial User
- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
- 8,171
- Disclosures
- Website and Social Media at Sadowsky
Tell us about the Wampler Belle. What do you think of it? I've been reading some great things about it lately.
It's a surprisingly great bass overdrive! Way more low end on tap than one could realistically need (with excellent control over how much you get), it's supremely responsive to playing dynamics, and offers a really solid low>moderate gain drive sweep. Hitting a Sushi Box/tube preamp with the Belle is magic. Stacks nicely with other drive pedals, too.
Honestly, given what it's designed to do, I can't find a single fault with it! If it were my only source of drive/dirt, I'd probably be a touch disappointed, since its range is more limited than many OD pedals on the market offer. But I never wanted it as my all-in-one, so I've been totally satisfied with the Belle!
deepestend
Commercial User
- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
- 8,171
- Disclosures
- Website and Social Media at Sadowsky
Does it have an "open" sound? That's my complaint about a lot of OD's (aside from bass cut)-- just that they sound too "compressed" and not "open" enough. I know that that's the thing with OD's that they do a certain amount of compression in order to target the drive sounds so that they cut through. Still...
I suppose that's a pretty subjective one, but I tend to think so, yes. Unlike a lot of drives, which seem to focus on boosting mids and squashing hi/lows, or have so much drive that you lose EQ range, this is almost a kind of opposite circuit. None of the controls actually seem to impact your midrange at all (according to Wampler literature, my ears, and a graph @el murdoque posted in this "Dirt Bender" thread); the "Colour" knob either boosts hi/lows (above noon) or cuts them (below noon). It's not a perceived boost via cutting mids, but an actual boost. And the clipping seems rather soft, not harsh at all.
At least to my ears, that leads to a nice "open" sound. Unlike my other drive pedal, which is more of a Tubescreamer circuit and does basically the opposite of the Belle. The two work well in tandem, though!
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deepestend
Commercial User
- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
- 8,171
- Disclosures
- Website and Social Media at Sadowsky
The Belle is based on "the other green pedal", the Nobels ODR-1.
If you're looking for an "open" sound, that is it. In my hands, it's a low gain overdrive. It has great note separation and adds a very organic bloom to the notes.
There is a point where the lower and higher parts of your fretboard already trigger some hair, but the mid of the board is just ... thicc - so it's not completely even in its dirt-distribution, but it's a pleasant thing in my ears.
And here's how it gets a bit weird: This pedal compresses quite a lot, even on the brink of breakup, but that's what the meters tell you. Your ears don't agree at all.
But given that the Belle is Wampler's take on the Nobels and the Nobels was created because its engineer was fed up with how most OD pedals would push everything towards the mids and he wanted something more natural feeling and open sounding, you should check it out.
As a cheap alternative, you could just hunt down a second hand Nobels ODR-1.
The Nobels does not have true bypass and sucks a bit of tone when not in use, though - the Belle has no such bad habits.
If you're looking for an "open" sound, that is it. In my hands, it's a low gain overdrive. It has great note separation and adds a very organic bloom to the notes.
There is a point where the lower and higher parts of your fretboard already trigger some hair, but the mid of the board is just ... thicc - so it's not completely even in its dirt-distribution, but it's a pleasant thing in my ears.
And here's how it gets a bit weird: This pedal compresses quite a lot, even on the brink of breakup, but that's what the meters tell you. Your ears don't agree at all.
But given that the Belle is Wampler's take on the Nobels and the Nobels was created because its engineer was fed up with how most OD pedals would push everything towards the mids and he wanted something more natural feeling and open sounding, you should check it out.
As a cheap alternative, you could just hunt down a second hand Nobels ODR-1.
The Nobels does not have true bypass and sucks a bit of tone when not in use, though - the Belle has no such bad habits.
