My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal

[Stubb]

Erm, that one pedal on your board that I cannot identify. Is that the Meatball clone? Where did you get it?
Does it have an FX loop? Is it all top jacks?

Yeah, the MERBL. Wife made it for me. Loop, all top jacks, a couple expression inputs I haven't used yet. The thing smokes. I've had great filters — Wonderlove v1, Joshwah, Microtron IV, Xerograph, Chromatron — and soundwise, this is the one. I wish it had a buffer for the loop like the Chromatron does, so I could use stuff in the loop even with the pedal off, but other than that, it's killed any desire for another filter. Plus it was a gift from my sweet wife.

@Eric Cioe Is that Mini yours or is it on loan?

I sent both my Mini and my Piggy over to @Charlie Tuna so he can have a go with both and compare them.
I'm pretty sure that if he has a minute to spare, he'll let us know about the differences and similarities he could make out on his test bench.

I personally found that the Mini not only has more touch sensitivity than the 5th Gear, it also has a good bit more range in the low gain territory. The fifth gear is basically unusable as a clean boost and will get you drive sound even at minimal settings - the Mini can be played completely clean (even though it does not make much sense on a dirt pedal) - but you can get those settings that give you just the smallest hint of hair and then gets gritty when you dig in.

You're right. The Mini could do anything from be an eq to a fuzz. The Fifth Gear is breaks up right away. But as I've got an Oracle at the end of my chain, I don't need a preamp. And as I said, the faux fuzz on the Fifth Gear covers my needs for that just fine. So for my purposes, I just need a low gain drive that basically just works. And this does a sound I really like by twisting two knobs. MERBL aside, I love pedals that just work, and the Mini felt like a lot of hunting for a sound that worked for me. I see why people love it, though, and honestly if it had top jacks I would probably hang onto it, but the side jacks sort of defeat the purpose of it being a small pedal.

All this is basically moot, anyway, as I'm in line for the new MBD because I miss that sweet clean blend from my MBD2 days and am curious about having a second stage in one pedal. Guitarists get all these sweet dual overdrive pedals, and now we get something similar with the added benefit of the best clean blend in the business. I'm very, very excited for it.

 

[el murdoque]

Yeah, the MERBL. Wife made it for me. Loop, all top jacks, a couple expression inputs I haven't used yet. The thing smokes. I've had great filters — Wonderlove v1, Joshwah, Microtron IV, Xerograph, Chromatron — and soundwise, this is the one. I wish it had a buffer for the loop like the Chromatron does, so I could use stuff in the loop even with the pedal off, but other than that, it's killed any desire for another filter. Plus it was a gift from my sweet wife.

It certainly is the Meatball clone with the most attractive layout. I have an Italian copy that is so huge you could easily fit three other pedals in its place, and that alone makes me hesitant to put it on my board.

IMO The FX loop has mainly two things going for it: When you put a comp that squashes hard to kill all dynamics into an octaver that does give you a synthy sound vibe and a dirt pedal that gives the filter some sizzle to chew on, the one advantage is that the trigger for the filter sees the raw input signal with all dynamics intact, and you can control the amount of filtering with your playing dynamics - even though the comp completely disables the volume differences.
The other advantage is that you can enable the whole signal chain with the press of a single button.

You're right. The Mini could do anything from be an eq to a fuzz. The Fifth Gear is breaks up right away. But as I've got an Oracle at the end of my chain, I don't need a preamp. And as I said, the faux fuzz on the Fifth Gear covers my needs for that just fine. So for my purposes, I just need a low gain drive that basically just works. And this does a sound I really like by twisting two knobs. MERBL aside, I love pedals that just work, and the Mini felt like a lot of hunting for a sound that worked for me. I see why people love it, though, and honestly if it had top jacks I would probably hang onto it, but the side jacks sort of defeat the purpose of it being a small pedal.

All this is basically moot, anyway, as I'm in line for the new MBD because I miss that sweet clean blend from my MBD2 days and am curious about having a second stage in one pedal. Guitarists get all these sweet dual overdrive pedals, and now we get something similar with the added benefit of the best clean blend in the business. I'm very, very excited for it.

I did not realize Damnation has put out a new version of the MBD.
Interesting!

 

[Stubb]

I actually prefer feeding the MERBL a compressed signal — lightly compressed, as in 4:1 with a good bit of parallel dry from the Cali76CB. Helps to tame some of the wildness of the filter.

And yes, the new MBD features a different contoured clean blend, a boost knob instead of a 20db toggle like on the MBD2, and a footswitch for the boost. I'm jazzed for it.

 

[el murdoque]

I actually prefer feeding the MERBL a compressed signal — lightly compressed, as in 4:1 with a good bit of parallel dry from the Cali76CB. Helps to tame some of the wildness of the filter.

And yes, the new MBD features a different contoured clean blend, a boost knob instead of a 20db toggle like on the MBD2, and a footswitch for the boost. I'm jazzed for it.

I'd like to know if the boost adds more grit or if it also gets you a jump in volume. If you get to test that, please share your findings!

 

[dedpool1052]

I'd like to know if the boost adds more grit or if it also gets you a jump in volume. If you get to test that, please share your findings!

More grit.

It was shared in the Damnation thread that it's an external control for the input gain.

It was an internal trimpot on the 1 (but not all 1s)
Changed to a switch on the 2.
Now, is an external, variable, and switchable control.

 

[Charlie Tuna]

@Eric Cioe Is that Mini yours or is it on loan?


I sent both my Mini and my Piggy over to @Charlie Tuna so he can have a go with both and compare them.
I'm pretty sure that if he has a minute to spare, he'll let us know about the differences and similarities he could make out on his test bench.

I personally found that the Mini not only has more touch sensitivity than the 5th Gear, it also has a good bit more range in the low gain territory. The fifth gear is basically unusable as a clean boost and will get you drive sound even at minimal settings - the Mini can be played completely clean (even though it does not make much sense on a dirt pedal) - but you can get those settings that give you just the smallest hint of hair and then gets gritty when you dig in.

TL;DR Both of these pedals are great, the Mini may be a bit sweeter sounding in the gated area whereas the Piggy is, true to its name, a bit fatter sounding. They can't really be compared at the same settings because equal sounds aren't achieved when set the same.

@Eric Cioe How do you set you Mini’s SAG knob? I focused almost all my testing on lowish gain settings with the SAG and BIAS knobs in the gated territory.

Comparing the Mini to the Piggy is tough as I have told our favorite journalist already; I like both of them and could make either work BUT I haven't gigged them (yet). I have been using a P to either of the two->Spaceman Equinox->Genz Benz Streamliner 900->Beyerdynamics T90's primarily.

The Mini and Piggy are EQ'd a bit differently with the Piggy having more bass available. At visually equal settings the Mini seems brighter and more open and reminds me of the Southampton Ictineo in that it hits some sweet, focused midrange area and is never harsh. Setting the Mini first and then the Piggy usually ended up with me liking the Mini. The Mini's BIAS knob has more available travel in the gated zone (roughly at 9 o'clock to fully CCW). The Piggy's SAG knob is inverted but I give it about half the amount of travel for the gated zone. This is with equal settings on both.

What I paid attention to recently was bass and the Piggy has more bass on tap. That gives it a much darker sound at equal settings. When I turned the bass back and compensated with volume the Piggy opened up a bit. And some more gain and it was getting more Mini-like although it cannot gate as much as the Mini or get as sputtery. The decay on the Mini at high gated settings is pretty fast and gives it a chewy feeling. It can be too much though so perhaps the extra travel isn't as useful as it seems. The tone in this area is brighter with no residue/fuzz afterwards depending on how hard I pluck. It can almost get fretless sounding. The Piggy, again is a little less focused even if I lower bass and raise the treble. Still good but maybe not as good for that sound. It seems the Mini sits just a bit more forward in the headphones. I'm not sure how useful these would even sound in a mix but that's what sounds good to me solo'd on the Beyers.

Now, that probably sounds like I prefer the Mini but I have to say this was usually with me setting the Mini first and trying to cop the sound with the Piggy. And it is all in the gated territory. If I EQ a bit on the Equinox I can get them pretty close for a lot of the sounds. I really enjoy them both and wouldn't be upset with having either. They are both very responsive and kill with the Equinox afterwards.

The main takeaway for me is that the knob positions are not equal between the two and their underlying flavors are slightly different--in the gated arena. I think the Mini is easier to dial in right away, like it was tuned a bit better with its knob interactions. More testing to be done.

 

[Justin Keoni]

I'd like to know if the boost adds more grit or if it also gets you a jump in volume. If you get to test that, please share your findings!

Question for you: Which overdrive pedal, out of the many you’ve gone through, sounds the least compressed and pops in a mix the most? SSBS Mini? Saturn VI? Any others?

 

[el murdoque]

Question for you: Which overdrive pedal, out of the many you’ve gone through, sounds the least compressed and pops in a mix the most? SSBS Mini? Saturn VI? Any others?

IMHO, sounding compressed and popping in a mix are two different things.
One of the first pedals that comes to mind is the Broughton SV-Pre, for example. You can use those sweeping mids to emphasize the frequency that makes the bass audible. However, IIRC, this pedal felt like it compressed a lot - it would start even before the audible dirt started.

The Nobels ODR-1 as well as the Wampler Belle sound very open, yet they compress like mad.

Most of the pedals that respond well to playing dynamics will start with a pretty open feel. The Origin DCX for example, will give you a wide open soundscape, but it will not touch your mids. You can add a bit of heft in the bass register and you can add some sparkle and string noise on top, both frequency ranges very well chosen, but when you're sitting too far back in the mix, this is not really your best friend to get audible.


The CMC Audio Proto Type is what you're looking for.

This pedal can get through most mixes.
When you imagine a mix as the crowd on a concert, there are those people that move to the front using their pointy elbows. No one likes those. The Broughton SV-Pre would be that guy that's close to seven feet tall and 250 pounds. He just moves in a straight line and the crowd will have to move around them.
The CMC is that sneaky guy who was three rows behind you just a moment ago, but now stands right in front of you and you don't have the faintest idea how he got there.

 

[el murdoque]

This thread has been silent for a while.
Gigging was a focus and I swapped out a bass in my stable, keeping me occupied for a bit, playing with the stuff I have piled up instead of the mindless accumulation of more and more dirt pedals.

However, dirt pedals don't mindlessly accumulate themselves (at least not yet), so I set out to get something new. Since the Xotic BB Bass Preamp pedal is my flavor of choice for now - and I did learn that BB means Blues Breaker, I looked around what other BB based pedals are out there and I found that Wampler does the Pantheon. But not enough with that, they also do the Pantheon Deluxe, which has rudimentary MIDI functions implemented. Basically, you can use MIDI to switch both channels on and off, and you have 128 PC presets to recall any given combination of the two knobs. My math tells me that there are only 4 combinations, but hey - it's better than no MIDI at all.
I found a Pantheon Deluxe on the used market, which should be with me by the end of the week.

I also did some cooking on the weekend, where I slipped with the razor sharp kitchen knife and nearly hit the cutting board with full force - but in the last possible second, managed to wedge my left index and middle finger into the rapidly closing gap, effectively deflecting any harm to either knife or board.
The middle finger has healed up nicely, but the index finger will still take a while until I can fret a note without bleeding all over the neck.

 

[el murdoque]

And a Colour Box V2. I ordered one of these, too.

This would, in theory, fall more into preamp territory, but I've seen a few videos on the Colour box. In one of them, it sounds a bit like I use my BDPG.
The BDPG gives me a certain tone that I cannot copy with anything else.
This is not a problem in itself, but I would like to have a little more control than the BDPG offers.
A little reduction in the treble area, a little drive from the pre gain and a little fiddling with the mids and lows might yield just the sound I'm aiming for. A box that you click on and your modern bass sound instantly becomes something of a 60's tone. We shall see.

 

[sloppy_phil]

This thread has been silent for a while.
Gigging was a focus and I swapped out a bass in my stable, keeping me occupied for a bit, playing with the stuff I have piled up instead of the mindless accumulation of more and more dirt pedals.

However, dirt pedals don't mindlessly accumulate themselves (at least not yet), so I set out to get something new. Since the Xotic BB Bass Preamp pedal is my flavor of choice for now - and I did learn that BB means Blues Breaker, I looked around what other BB based pedals are out there and I found that Wampler does the Pantheon. But not enough with that, they also do the Pantheon Deluxe, which has rudimentary MIDI functions implemented. Basically, you can use MIDI to switch both channels on and off, and you have 128 PC presets to recall any given combination of the two knobs. My math tells me that there are only 4 combinations, but hey - it's better than no MIDI at all.
I found a Pantheon Deluxe on the used market, which should be with me by the end of the week.

I also did some cooking on the weekend, where I slipped with the razor sharp kitchen knife and nearly hit the cutting board with full force - but in the last possible second, managed to wedge my left index and middle finger into the rapidly closing gap, effectively deflecting any harm to either knife or board.
The middle finger has healed up nicely, but the index finger will still take a while until I can fret a note without bleeding all over the neck.

I mean, I know we've all bled for rock and roll before, but I've not met many bassists willing to bleed for a cutting board! That could have ended far worse with such a sharp knife, so I'm glad to hear your extreme German precision must have deserted you for this one slash.

I feel like, at one point or another, you'll have to grab a Wampler Tumnus as well. Assuming you like this Pantheon, that'd mean Wampler are a 2/2 success story in your home. And every good dirt bender needs a Klon(e) to pop up at some point, surely!

Sadly, I cannot contribute much to this bender these days; my only dirt acquisition has been a Xotic Bass RC Booster, which is functionally more of a clean boost than actual drive. The second gain channel can get hairy, but I have to sort out the big volume jump when engaging it. That said, even the clean side of the RC drives my Underground Accelerator *just* into lovely breakup territory, so practically speaking, it's a dirty boost on that pedalboard (ah yes, I have a second one now).

 

[el murdoque]

I'm also in the process of building a second board, on the base of a Pedaltrain Jr. I'm not really set on what to do with it, but one idea is to gear it towards using it with my newly acquired Bongo 6. The 18V Music Man preamp really pumps out some juice compared to the LeFay and that's messing with the beautifully calibrated gain stages on the main board.
I do have a second Cali76 and everything else one would need plus more sitting on the shelf, so I'll experiment a bit once that finger is back to where it was. Maybe a simple setup with a comp, two kinds of dirt, a little analog synth chain (Filter, Octave, Fuzz), one or two preamps and a HPF/LPF. Add a tuner and that's ten pedals.
Did I say simple setup? What have I become?

 

[sloppy_phil]

LOL *That* spiralled out of control pretty quickly! I suppose it all depends on what you'd want out of a second board. If the idea is to, generally, have the same sonic options at your disposal, but at a level that works for the hot Bongo, then why not just go for doing it up bigly? Especially if you've already got all the toys in-house, it seems like a pretty reasonable plan.

My second board was all about bare essentials for a tiny touring/fly rig: tuner > octave (OC-2) > boost (Xotic) > preamp (Sushi UA) > comp/limiter (Omni). While I'd love more tonal choices, I was able to starkly assess what sounds I *actually* need in the touring band, and the sad facts are "not many"! Octaver for the dubbed out bits, and a little boost for moments where the bass joins in on melodies. But otherwise the music just calls for simple, fat reggae bass tone, so the reports of my OG Nano board's demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated.

 

[el murdoque]

I still have that bare essentials board that does a lot more than would assume. It's loaded with a Pitchblack tuner, a Sansamp PBDDI and a Strymon Bluesky - that takes up 100% of the real estate a Nano has and gets me a modern sound, a vintage sound and a dirt sound, spiced up with just a touch of plate reverb and with the option of bringing in a big shimmery ambient 'verb that sounds quite good for picked chords and such. On the big board, I use chorus and a bit of drive on top of the reverb, but that's a Nano that will pack a punch.

 

[arepa_funk]

Are we talking bare essentials boards?! Count me in.

On a Nano:
Pitchblack tuner -> Cali76-CB -> Wren & Cuff Phat Phat B -> Sushi Box mini Particle Accelerator -> Barber Linden EQ

Just a few years ago, my bare essentials board was Xotic RC booster, compressor (Keeley then switched to Smoothie), preamp.

On big boards, I usually place the tuner off the board.

For a clean recording, where bass needs to be fat, warm, round, with definition, this is it for me. If I'm being truly honest, adding a synth chain, ring mod, and delay would just about complete it. And then I'm close to what @el murdoque said, just at about ten pedals. Ahhh!

 

[sloppy_phil]

Are we talking bare essentials boards?! Count me in.

On a Nano:
Pitchblack tuner -> Cali76-CB -> Wren & Cuff Phat Phat B -> Sushi Box mini Particle Accelerator -> Barber Linden EQ

Just a few years ago, my bare essentials board was Xotic RC booster, compressor (Keeley then switched to Smoothie), preamp.

On big boards, I usually place the tuner off the board.

For a clean recording, where bass needs to be fat, warm, round, with definition, this is it for me. If I'm being truly honest, adding a synth chain, ring mod, and delay would just about complete it. And then I'm close to what @el murdoque said, just at about ten pedals. Ahhh!

Nice! Sounds like our Nano boards are quite similarly constructed. They say great minds think alike. But it's also true that fools seldom differ, so....

I realize that my "big" board is still small-to-mid size for a lot of folks. It's got 10 pedals, but is also only a Metro 16. I just don't like lugging around a larger or heavier board than that; most of my travelling to gigs/practices is via public transit and/or walking. I *could* carry something larger, but it just gets a little awkward and inconvenient if the buses or subways are slammed with people (which, in this city, is basically inevitable!), especially if-and-when I bring my amp with me. Were the pedalboard always in the back of a car, I doubt I'd be so persnickety about it!

 

[arepa_funk]

Nice! Sounds like our Nano boards are quite similarly constructed. They say great minds think alike. But it's also true that fools seldom differ, so....

I realize that my "big" board is still small-to-mid size for a lot of folks. It's got 10 pedals, but is also only a Metro 16. I just don't like lugging around a larger or heavier board than that; most of my travelling to gigs/practices is via public transit and/or walking. I *could* carry something larger, but it just gets a little awkward and inconvenient if the buses or subways are slammed with people (which, in this city, is basically inevitable!), especially if-and-when I bring my amp with me. Were the pedalboard always in the back of a car, I doubt I'd be so persnickety about it!

I hear you on that. I've stayed away from larger boards by using Nano single row style boards. I'd like to try a Nano+, and maybe that with a regular Nano in an inverted V shape would do it. About ten pedals, but subtracting the utility pedals, it's really six or so.

 

[sunbeast]

This thread has been silent for a while.
Gigging was a focus and I swapped out a bass in my stable, keeping me occupied for a bit, playing with the stuff I have piled up instead of the mindless accumulation of more and more dirt pedals.

However, dirt pedals don't mindlessly accumulate themselves (at least not yet), so I set out to get something new. Since the Xotic BB Bass Preamp pedal is my flavor of choice for now - and I did learn that BB means Blues Breaker, I looked around what other BB based pedals are out there and I found that Wampler does the Pantheon. But not enough with that, they also do the Pantheon Deluxe, which has rudimentary MIDI functions implemented. Basically, you can use MIDI to switch both channels on and off, and you have 128 PC presets to recall any given combination of the two knobs. My math tells me that there are only 4 combinations, but hey - it's better than no MIDI at all.
I found a Pantheon Deluxe on the used market, which should be with me by the end of the week.

I also did some cooking on the weekend, where I slipped with the razor sharp kitchen knife and nearly hit the cutting board with full force - but in the last possible second, managed to wedge my left index and middle finger into the rapidly closing gap, effectively deflecting any harm to either knife or board.
The middle finger has healed up nicely, but the index finger will still take a while until I can fret a note without bleeding all over the neck.

My understanding of the Xotic BB based on analyzed tracings of the circuit others have done is that it is actually a modified Tubescreamer circuit with 2-band baxandall tone circuit and not a Bluesbreaker pedal clone as some might assume (supposedly the BB here is in reference to the Marshall "Bluesbreaker" amplifier vs the pedal, or I've seen it said that it means "Big British"- hard to know for sure but much of the circuit was lifted straight from the TS). Still no reason not to give some Bluesbreaker circuits a shot for a different flavor, the Bluesbreaker is flatter tonally than a Tubescreamer though the BB preamp modifies the Tubescreamer to be flatter as well so they can be comparable.

 

[el murdoque]

My understanding of the Xotic BB based on analyzed tracings of the circuit others have done is that it is actually a modified Tubescreamer circuit with 2-band baxandall tone circuit and not a Bluesbreaker pedal clone as some might assume (supposedly the BB here is in reference to the Marshall "Bluesbreaker" amplifier vs the pedal, or I've seen it said that it means "Big British"- hard to know for sure but much of the circuit was lifted straight from the TS). Still no reason not to give some Bluesbreaker circuits a shot for a different flavor, the Bluesbreaker is flatter tonally than a Tubescreamer though the BB preamp modifies the Tubescreamer to be flatter as well so they can be comparable.

Interesting! I've never really liked TS style pedals. They were too focused on the mids for my ears - You get a nice grind, even touch sensitive, but I could never make them work properly in a mix. The Xotic BB works completely different in that regard. I'll see where that pedal is at when I tried the Pantheon.

 

[sunbeast]

Interesting! I've never really liked TS style pedals. They were too focused on the mids for my ears - You get a nice grind, even touch sensitive, but I could never make them work properly in a mix. The Xotic BB works completely different in that regard. I'll see where that pedal is at when I tried the Pantheon.

Yeah the Xotic circuit basically took the clipping circuit of a Tubescreamer and revoiced it and replaced it’s original adjustable tone circuit with an active bass/treble circuit. There were some versions of the guitar BB that actually added the TS tone circuit back in (like the Deluxe BB) and called it a “mid-boost” control. The Bass BB had a bunch of component changes that totally revoiced it from the guitar version. This Aion FX project PCB is a BB clone and both this page and the build document page discuss the different circuits including the Bass BB differences: Perelandra Boost / Overdrive