My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal

[el murdoque]

Humster - “20th anniversary, limited order production model. It is a high-quality overdrive built with point-to-point coupling of parts.

Based on HUMSTER Ultimate, the circuit is designed to maximise the potential of each part configuration by narrowing down the variable range of "DRIVE" and "TONE". Both guitar and bass provide the best tone, but it especially matches single coil PU guitars and passive type bass.

A drive pedal with a rich midrange and thick tone.”

Their description…I think it’s based on a tube preamp, but as you can see they substitute an IC (of a kind I can’t identify, the numbers have been removed) in a modified tube socket. The rest is point-to-point wired with PIO vintage capacitors.

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Sounds warm and vintage, but not a huge amount of headroom, and saturates very quickly. I find the first third of the travel of the gain knob to be where most of the utility is to be found. Tone seems like a semi-tilt….turning CCW rolls off highs but also seems to add low mids to a lesser degree at the extreme. Highs are rolled off in any case, even with the tone fully CW and gain at minimum. There seems to be a gentle low-mid hump in the EQ, and it excels at “thickening” these and getting compressed, providing a vintage tubey tone, but not much beyond that. Looking at their description, that seems to be their objective, narrowing their focus on a quality build and one particular tone. Definitely doesn’t need to be used with a compressor, even a very clean VCA type.

The Wild Stomp goes for the “tubey” vibe as well…with mode footswitch off it’s supposed to give a tube flavour, although this is more subtle, cleaner, and the Bottom control fills out the lows in a far less obvious way. The mode switch adds another gain stage….Bump is the gain control but I find it can get buzzy pretty quickly. Kick-up seems to be a form of contour, determining the proportion of mids feeding into the gain stage. A nice implementation, but doesn’t feel as “organic” or touch sensitive as the Humster. There are a few YouTube demos of the Wild Stomp.

I’ve discussed the ODR-B elsewhere, and there’s a good review on YouTube by The Wetter Bass. It also has a more “vintagey” overall tone and cuts highs even with the treble control at max. It can do low gain quite well but this requires some very gentle adjustment in the first quarter of the gain knob. It’s also quite compressed. However, the strength of this pedal is the useful sweep of the gain, as even when cranked it still sounds good, unlike other low gainers which when pushed hard over-saturate and fart out. You can even get a passable fuzz tone at the extreme. Plus you can tweak the character of the distortion with the onboard EQ.

The Sex Drive has been discussed at length elsewhere. It’s VERY clean and good at providing a hint of hair. Not good for thickening…in fact, almost the opposite of the Humster as it can compress gently, and add a bit of tasteful clipping as well as top end sparkle from the tone control, which really seems more like a presence control. I tend to think of it like a “hi-fi tube” emulator, rather than a vintage tube amp pedal. Not really a dedicated drive, but a “tone polisher”.

The Bass Blaster is even more versatile than the ODR-B….not as compressed, given the internal voltage is boosted to 15V. I think from memory it’s based on a modified tube screamer circuit. It can achieve the highs the ODR-B can’t, plus the gain control sounds good throughout the full range. In particular, it’s probably one of the best at doing low-gain stuff of all the non-“specialist low gain” bass pedals, which probably accounts for its popularity. If you just wanted a single bass overdrive, it’s a pretty good pick. However, I find it still has a modern edge and I can’t completely dial out some of the highs as much as I would like.

Thank you for that. I have added them to my short list (and searches).

 

[TwototheValley]

When you think you're done exploring, you'll find more. It's like the Mini in that regard.
Welcome to the club! And a green leafed one, too! @Charlie Tuna had to make do with a red one, the poor fella!

You guys may be surprised, but the Mini is one I just couldn’t really click with

 

[el murdoque]

Yes, been meaning to try it one day….my wallet will need to recover from some recent purchases though, it’s true.

I see a glimpse of yellow there Hooch…your mention of it in another thread caused me to pull out the LBA Thunder Knob again….forgotten how nice it sounded. Haven’t tried it with a 12AU7 though. It might also be a contender for meeting the @el murdoque criteria for this thread, but unfortunately isn’t easy to track down.

Two minutes ago, I had no Idea the Lightning Boy Audio Thunder Knob existed.
I am so getting one of these!

 

[HoochfromP]

Yes, been meaning to try it one day….my wallet will need to recover from some recent purchases though, it’s true.

I see a glimpse of yellow there Hooch…your mention of it in another thread caused me to pull out the LBA Thunder Knob again….forgotten how nice it sounded. Haven’t tried it with a 12AU7 though. It might also be a contender for meeting the @el murdoque criteria for this thread, but unfortunately isn’t easy to track down.

Awe yeah it's really nice and bass-friendlier imo with a 12AU7. Felt the circuit running a 12AX7 cuts lows a bit too much but it's been years, might've been wrong. With a 12AU7, there's still a bit of deep lows missing. Using it with a DCX Bass next in line solved the 'issue' but i then took my Dirtfixer off the pedal stache and there it was, massive heft from the contoured dry side paired with the - now EQ'd -Thunder Knob. Instant favourite dirt tone. A boost pedal beforehand is like adding a gain stage to the Thunder Knob, pushes its breakup harder rather than increases its volume. That being said, might have a try with a 12AX7, could be even nicer with this setup.

 

[el murdoque]

I've played around with several combinations yesterday and while doing that, broke out the older pedals that have permanent resident visa in the casa Murdoque.

Right now, I have three favorites and there's no surprise here:
in no particular order, I really like:

-Xotic BB Bass Preamp. The treble knob really works for my setup. I can dial in freshness and life for my flats. Also the dirt is touch sensitive and has a natural feeling. On my passive bass, I need to crank the gain to get there, so I'd call it a very low gain Drive pedal. It feels more like a beautiful tool than a shiny toy. It gets the job done, gracefully, but that's it.

-Fake Plastic Trees. This thing has so much character.
You get those three knobs to adjust how much bass and treble get injected into the clipping and the gain knob, but its unique topology made me able to coax sounds out of it that I've not gotten from any other pedal. From a slight drive that sounds like an amp being driven hard and doing its very best to stay clean, but failing - - all the way to a fully blown synth bass sound (think velvet chainsaw), where a single knob (branch) precisely adjusts how well it sits in the mix.

-Obviously the Blueberry. I have a feeling that with my J-style bass, with the neck pickup full on and the bridge at about 60%, I get a mix of a J and P bass sound. It seems to spur on the mids that the P bass has, but keeps the J low end. This effect is more pronounced in a mix. It gives the bass an edge without audible breakup, but once you dig in, there is enough dirt so everyone knows you mean it.

What I found baffling and a bit disturbing was that the Mini did not deliver. I've not had it on a board for quite a while now, but usually, every time I plug it in, I instantly know why I like this pedal so much. Yesterday it was somehow lacking. The texture of the dirt felt off, artificial. I could not get it to shine in a mix. Playing it into BDPG tidied it up enough so it worked well, but not great.
Same goes for the Saturn. It felt uninspiring.

I'll have to watch this. Maybe it's down to the mood of the day and maybe I've outgrown these.

Holding on to a Mini in the latter scenario would be stupid. I should use it for a trade if it does not deliver what I'm asking.

But, given the present mood, I could easily part with all the OD pedals apart from these three and not bat an eye.

 

[TwototheValley]

What I found baffling and a bit disturbing was that the Mini did not deliver…(snip)….it was somehow lacking. The texture of the dirt felt off, artificial. I could not get it to shine in a mix.

Exactly my impressions.

 

[StayLow]

I’ve always meant to try the Xotic. Someday.

Love the way you describe things, @el murdoque , and so many others in this thread are legit pedal beasts. Truly enjoyable corner of the Internet here. My thanks to you all.

I will have to take some of that back. My passive bass does not have a lot of output. I do play with a light touch and have a comp doing peak limiting early in the chain, but usually use a touch sensitive drive pedal before the comp, and that's where I put the Blueberry. However, the sweet spot I found for me is/was that point where you have only a hint of drive. In low notes, the fundamental keeps its integrity and authority, basically overwhelming the drive. In the middle of the fretboard, you have that thing happening to your mids that sits front row in a mix, the thing I thought I needed way more of not to be swallowed by the other instruments but actually found that I needed to dial back a bit - and in the top end, your double stops start singing in that super musical way that makes you stop, turn off the backing track, play that same double stop again, then switch off the pedal and play once more, because you're not sure if you're imagining things (you are not). [???]

I do agree that it probably is as it should be, and I want to go with N is a backwards wired Nature knob.
Maybe I should try the pedal straight into DI without a ton of compression and EQ, to discover what it does raw. I have the feeling that we're tilting stuff, but not in the classical "left is bass boost and treble cut, right is treble boost and bass cut, center is flat" manner.

All agreed! Thanks.

 

[StayLow]

My something else is finally coming along….it’ll arrive while I’m away in Europe on holidays, but I’m intrigued to see how well it works with my setup.

View attachment 5276044

I requested a raw enclosure as a custom job so it would fit the aesthetic of the board it’s going on….I like raw enclosures, I feel I don’t have to treat them with kid gloves worried about scuffing a fancy enamel finish. Apparently there’s been further requests for this finish since mine…I’m such a trendsetter…

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Wow, wow… Just read the site and manual. WOW!

Any idea where Axiom Effects is located?

 

[TwototheValley]

Wow, wow… Just read the site and manual. WOW!

Any idea where Axiom Effects is located?

Somewhere in Canada……

 

[StayLow]

In ALL-CAPS, no less, and no affiliation.

Bearfoot Blueberry $150 shipped in Classifieds:
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/bearfoot-fx-blueberry-bass-od-made-in-usa.1632074/

Thought someone enjoying this thread might like to know.

 

[TwototheValley]

In ALL-CAPS, no less, and no affiliation.

Bearfoot Blueberry $150 shipped in Classifieds:
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/bearfoot-fx-blueberry-bass-od-made-in-usa.1632074/

Thought someone enjoying this thread might like to know.

 

[RestlessBoom]

I’ll throw another one into your ring- EQD White Light. It’s got some great crunch, but it pretty much has to be in a loop with a parallel clean signal or you’ll lose some significant bottom end. But tonally, it’s pretty fantastic.

 

[el murdoque]

My something else is finally coming along….it’ll arrive while I’m away in Europe on holidays, but I’m intrigued to see how well it works with my setup.

View attachment 5276044

I requested a raw enclosure as a custom job so it would fit the aesthetic of the board it’s going on….I like raw enclosures, I feel I don’t have to treat them with kid gloves worried about scuffing a fancy enamel finish. Apparently there’s been further requests for this finish since mine…I’m such a trendsetter…

View attachment 5276045

I'm pretty sure the English language has a term for what you did there. Leaving innocent people in the dark about your much darker intentions and then out of the blue *bam* dropping a bomb like this.

 

[el murdoque]

View attachment 5276369

My humble opinion:
When you're selling your Blueberry for 150 bucks, you can advertise it in all caps as much as you want.

 

[TwototheValley]

I'm pretty sure the English language has a term for what you did there. Leaving innocent people in the dark about your much darker intentions and then out of the blue *bam* dropping a bomb like this.

Such as?

 

[Charlie Tuna]

In ALL-CAPS, no less, and no affiliation.

Bearfoot Blueberry $150 shipped in Classifieds:
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/bearfoot-fx-blueberry-bass-od-made-in-usa.1632074/

Thought someone enjoying this thread might like to know.

My humble opinion:
When you're selling your Blueberry for 150 bucks, you can advertise it in all caps as much as you want.

Thank you, Staylow, for the head's up! And as Murdoque suggests, I didn't mind the ad screaming at me to BUY, BUY, BUY!!!

 

[el murdoque]

Such as?

I'll leave that to the native speakers.

 

[el murdoque]

I'm glad Mr. Tuna jumped on the hype train and liberated the hoarse person of their BEARFOOT FX BLUEBERRY.

Very curious to find out what his impressions about that particular pedal are.

Just a side question, and I think I asked it already - but how do the Bearfoot pedals compare to the originals?
I mean I am fairly confident to say it's hard as is to come up with a good approach of comparison because apparently not even two Blueberrys made by BJFe are the exact same - but is it a different kind of awesome or is it a lesser kind of awesome?

How does the whole Bearfoot thing work?
Is there some kind of co-operation and Björn supplies data,
plans and knowledge to the Bearfoot people?

 

[sunbeast]

I'm glad Mr. Tuna jumped on the hype train and liberated the hoarse person of their BEARFOOT FX BLUEBERRY.

Very curious to find out what his impressions about that particular pedal are.

Just a side question, and I think I asked it already - but how do the Bearfoot pedals compare to the originals?
I mean I am fairly confident to say it's hard as is to come up with a good approach of comparison because apparently not even two Blueberrys made by BJFe are the exact same - but is it a different kind of awesome or is it a lesser kind of awesome?

How does the whole Bearfoot thing work?
Is there some kind of co-operation and Björn supplies data,
plans and knowledge to the Bearfoot people?

Haha- there is a very sticky situation there that got aired out in public on a TB thread (starting somewhere a few pages into this thread, first Bearfoot then Bjorn start commenting: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/blueberry-bod-alternatives.1469911/ ), and naturally both sides have some contradicting claims. They no longer have any relation to each-other and if you read you will hear that there is still quite a bit of soreness on that subject several years later. The short of it as I understand is that they had a collaboration/business deal with the understanding that Bjorn would provide designs and Bearfoot would be able to provide a larger by-hand production than BJFE was able to do on their own. The relationship went south, with both sides claiming different reasons- Bjorn claims Bearfoot wasn't able to meet promised demand, weren't being transparent about number of pedals produced/sold, and stopped paying agreed-upon licensing fees. Bearfoot claims Bjorn started making One Control clones overseas that were direct competitors (including using the same name in at least one case, a name that Bearfoot guy claims to have come up with or at least been a part of) to the Bearfoot designs which was explicitly said he wasn't OK with- and that Bjorn actually owed him a bunch of promised BJFE pedals as Bearfoot was acting as the main distributor of the direct BJFE pedals as well at the time.

Bjorn claims that the BBOD scheme he sent to Bearfoot was some later re-creation and that Bearfoot never had the original (and supposedly better, presumed lost) BBOD circuit. People who have or have had both in that thread seem to have varying opinions on the differences...

 

[Charlie Tuna]

@sunbeast sums up what I read after purchasing the pedal. From what I read, the Bearfoot may be more forward in the upper mids. Bearfoot commented this on the YT video I posted previously:

I’ll see how it is in roughly two weeks or so when I get my hands on it.