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My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal
- Thread starter el murdoque
- Start date
Is the Analogman King of Tone something special?
They are frightfully expensive and they have the longest waiting period I've ever seen, putting the 40 weeks of waiting for a Noble to shame. But is is just an overhyped product, just a very good dirt pedal or does it transcend that and offer something out of the ordinary that makes it worth checking out?
They are frightfully expensive and they have the longest waiting period I've ever seen, putting the 40 weeks of waiting for a Noble to shame. But is is just an overhyped product, just a very good dirt pedal or does it transcend that and offer something out of the ordinary that makes it worth checking out?
Get a Prince of Tone, which is half the King and not made by hand, and find out.
For what it's worth, in guitar land they seem to be in the same conversation as other well respected dual overdrives like the Duelist, the Protein, etc. I think our equivalent is the Noble, which is very good but in the same conversation as half a dozen other similar devices, all of which are more affordable and available.
For what it's worth, in guitar land they seem to be in the same conversation as other well respected dual overdrives like the Duelist, the Protein, etc. I think our equivalent is the Noble, which is very good but in the same conversation as half a dozen other similar devices, all of which are more affordable and available.
I did explain that when looking for a Blueberry - that's not a real option for me. If I really liked the PoT, I'd keep wondering if the KoT is any better, and eventually get one. So I could skip that leg of the journey and get the real thing from the start.
Does not really matter - in any case I'd look for a second hand one for a good price and get it, so I can sell it on without a loss should I decide not to keep it. It's just moving more money with the KoT - but I'd like to hear if I need to bother at all.
Here's another question:
How many low gain overdrive pedals does one need?
How many low gain overdrive pedals does one need?
I need just one great one. But I'm still searching.
I will be satisfying my curiosity about how a handmade Swedish pedal done by the Man himself compares to the Bearfoot version. Is there any info on how the Bearfoot pedals are made? I've seen Chinese symbols on the box it came in.
....and of course, I crossed this from my list. I've wanted one for more than a decade.
It might sound weird to those not familiar with German proverbs, but I have a chicken to pluck with the Bearfoot pedal.
I set up for an A/B with the OG Blueberry.
Twiddling with the controls, I quickly learned that the knob that is labeled with B on my unit and 'Nature' on the Bearfoot do something similar, but are mirrored.
With the B knob on the Blueberry, I get less distorted bass frequencies when turning it back (CCW).
With the Nature knob, I get less distorted bass by turning it up (CW).
I tried for a bit to match the two as closely as possible, but could not get them to sound the same. The Bearfoot has more gain. My Blueberry has the gain set around noon, the same level of breakup happens around 9 o'clock on the Bearfoot.
Apart from that, it gets hard to describe it, but this excitement that happens in the mid range that makes the Blueberry so special in my ears is completely absent in the Bearfoot, at least after the first session of playing it.
The Blueberry lends the sound a certain depth (as in deeper in the room, not deeper in pitch) and you get the feeling there's more of it. You want to run it at a very mild gain setting as an always on pedal.
The Bearfoot feels like yet another bass overdrive. Don't get me wrong. It's good!
But it bears the likeness of the original pedal and one might think they are very similar pedals, since they have the same decor and name. But my ears only found an absence in the most crucial section. That deepening, that feeling of the same tone, but lots more of it, was just not happening.
I will try to find it somewhere in there, but from the first test drive, I came back disappointed.
I set up for an A/B with the OG Blueberry.
Twiddling with the controls, I quickly learned that the knob that is labeled with B on my unit and 'Nature' on the Bearfoot do something similar, but are mirrored.
With the B knob on the Blueberry, I get less distorted bass frequencies when turning it back (CCW).
With the Nature knob, I get less distorted bass by turning it up (CW).
I tried for a bit to match the two as closely as possible, but could not get them to sound the same. The Bearfoot has more gain. My Blueberry has the gain set around noon, the same level of breakup happens around 9 o'clock on the Bearfoot.
Apart from that, it gets hard to describe it, but this excitement that happens in the mid range that makes the Blueberry so special in my ears is completely absent in the Bearfoot, at least after the first session of playing it.
The Blueberry lends the sound a certain depth (as in deeper in the room, not deeper in pitch) and you get the feeling there's more of it. You want to run it at a very mild gain setting as an always on pedal.
The Bearfoot feels like yet another bass overdrive. Don't get me wrong. It's good!
But it bears the likeness of the original pedal and one might think they are very similar pedals, since they have the same decor and name. But my ears only found an absence in the most crucial section. That deepening, that feeling of the same tone, but lots more of it, was just not happening.
I will try to find it somewhere in there, but from the first test drive, I came back disappointed.
I've got an Xotic BB 1.5 en route! I'm a big supporter of the RC, so I'm looking forward to this one.
So, in a (probably) quiet corner of New York, Mr Jon Blackstone of Blackstone Appliances, a company that sells but a single product, has had a few ideas of his own on how a dirt pedal should work.
First of all, I want to applaud the design of the unit. Run your tweed cable from your pre CBS Fender into the Blackstone and another tweed cable from there to your vintage amp and nothing seems amiss in the picture.
It is tiny, it has two foot switches and the controls work surprisingly well when you insert your thumbnail because you're a bassist and don't have a pick handy.
Now, a word on the controls. You get two channels, red and brown - aptly named. Red is higher gain, brown lower. Each channel has a gain and a volume knob, then there's a fifth knob that can do a mid scoop (post gain). Fully CW is flat, dial back to scoop.
When you open up the unit, there is a switch that allows the pedal to adapt to its environment. In its natural state, it wants a direct, unbuffered signal directly from the passive pickups of your electric instrument. When you're feeding it a buffered signal, flip the switch and it will do its magic with a buffered signal instead.
Then, there are two electronic gizmos on the PCB. One allows the red channel to become a second brown channel by removing it, the other can be replaced with different ones to affect presence.
And there are two trim pots that balance gain and treble in some way. I merely switched the switch to the buffered setting and left the rest alone.
The red channel is a bit weird. It is made for guitar and its minimum gain setting is at noon. When you go clockwise from here, you increase gain. When you go CCW, you get a bass cut, meant to balance high gain humbuckers on guitars in some way - I guess so they don't get in our sonic spectrum ;-)
Playing that thing was kinda weird at first. I needed to read the manual twice and fiddle around a bit because not everything was like I felt it should be.
Does it cut bass? When you do that thing in the red channel, absolutely! When you don't, then no. I did not perceive any loss of low end.
At first, it had a little too much gain for my taste, so I opened it up and set it to buffered mode, which cleared things up considerably.
The sound of the brown channel is ... brown. I want to call it earthy. It's not bright, but by not really dark either. It's warm and a the harmonics you get are more on the raspy side of creamy.
Since it's not a bright pedal, this is a pleasant sound. It feels like nothing I played before, with heaps of dynamic reaction to play style and a very loose feeling. Neither pushing forward nor pushing back, just hanging there, reacting to what you feed it.
I tested it a bit against the two other drives currently on the board, the Blueberry and the FPT, and I could not really draw a conclusion. Every pedal feels like it has a strong character and is built to completely different ideas of how a dirt pedal should feel, sound and act.
I guess this is a good thing.
I'll have to play some more.
First of all, I want to applaud the design of the unit. Run your tweed cable from your pre CBS Fender into the Blackstone and another tweed cable from there to your vintage amp and nothing seems amiss in the picture.
It is tiny, it has two foot switches and the controls work surprisingly well when you insert your thumbnail because you're a bassist and don't have a pick handy.
Now, a word on the controls. You get two channels, red and brown - aptly named. Red is higher gain, brown lower. Each channel has a gain and a volume knob, then there's a fifth knob that can do a mid scoop (post gain). Fully CW is flat, dial back to scoop.
When you open up the unit, there is a switch that allows the pedal to adapt to its environment. In its natural state, it wants a direct, unbuffered signal directly from the passive pickups of your electric instrument. When you're feeding it a buffered signal, flip the switch and it will do its magic with a buffered signal instead.
Then, there are two electronic gizmos on the PCB. One allows the red channel to become a second brown channel by removing it, the other can be replaced with different ones to affect presence.
And there are two trim pots that balance gain and treble in some way. I merely switched the switch to the buffered setting and left the rest alone.
The red channel is a bit weird. It is made for guitar and its minimum gain setting is at noon. When you go clockwise from here, you increase gain. When you go CCW, you get a bass cut, meant to balance high gain humbuckers on guitars in some way - I guess so they don't get in our sonic spectrum ;-)
Playing that thing was kinda weird at first. I needed to read the manual twice and fiddle around a bit because not everything was like I felt it should be.
Does it cut bass? When you do that thing in the red channel, absolutely! When you don't, then no. I did not perceive any loss of low end.
At first, it had a little too much gain for my taste, so I opened it up and set it to buffered mode, which cleared things up considerably.
The sound of the brown channel is ... brown. I want to call it earthy. It's not bright, but by not really dark either. It's warm and a the harmonics you get are more on the raspy side of creamy.
Since it's not a bright pedal, this is a pleasant sound. It feels like nothing I played before, with heaps of dynamic reaction to play style and a very loose feeling. Neither pushing forward nor pushing back, just hanging there, reacting to what you feed it.
I tested it a bit against the two other drives currently on the board, the Blueberry and the FPT, and I could not really draw a conclusion. Every pedal feels like it has a strong character and is built to completely different ideas of how a dirt pedal should feel, sound and act.
I guess this is a good thing.
I'll have to play some more.
Just thought I’d chime in on the FPT, after having played around with it. Seems I got the last they had in stock, and to my surprise it arrived with a green leaf.
Anyways, I am loving it! I was looking for a low gain overdrive to add a touch of hair. It does that great, and kicked my MBD2 right off the board. A nice vintage vibe without imparting too much on my tone if I don’t want it to. No need for a clean blend at all. Also does higher gain really well and very touch sensitive, but I am more of a low gain OD kind of guy. This ones here to stay, expensive but worth it.
The only issue is that I am experiencing some noise. Might be a combination of a dausy chain, end of chain compression or both. Nothing too borhersome though.
Anyways, I am loving it! I was looking for a low gain overdrive to add a touch of hair. It does that great, and kicked my MBD2 right off the board. A nice vintage vibe without imparting too much on my tone if I don’t want it to. No need for a clean blend at all. Also does higher gain really well and very touch sensitive, but I am more of a low gain OD kind of guy. This ones here to stay, expensive but worth it.
The only issue is that I am experiencing some noise. Might be a combination of a dausy chain, end of chain compression or both. Nothing too borhersome though.
Yay! Congrats on getting one of the green ones instead of the boring red ones ;-)
The FPT remains the one pedal where I can't find the one sweet spot I like most. I have multiple settings I really dig. That feeling of a pushed amp, however - that not only translates to the tone, but somehow to the feeling while you play is something special.
The amount of bass it can and will do is obscene - there is no need for a clean blend, I agree.
My unit is silent at sensible settings and adds a bit of hiss when the gain is set high - much like any other gain pedal.
While we’re on the subject of the FPT, I suggest NOT running it at 18V. Not that I accidentally did such a thing an hour ago leading me to open the pedal to have thick magic smoke billow out. Ok, maybe I did such a thing. 
Fortunately, the Top Chef (Steve) at Audio Kitchen helped quickly put out the fire and informed me about a voltage protection diode inside and that I could check to see if the pedal powers on before snipping said diode. Power on? CHECK! Audio and knobs work? CHECK! The FPT may be saved aside from the protection diode. I hope this is the case and must applaud Steve for considering adding such protection for careless fools like myself.
No other pedals were harmed in the making of this story!
Fortunately, the Top Chef (Steve) at Audio Kitchen helped quickly put out the fire and informed me about a voltage protection diode inside and that I could check to see if the pedal powers on before snipping said diode. Power on? CHECK! Audio and knobs work? CHECK! The FPT may be saved aside from the protection diode. I hope this is the case and must applaud Steve for considering adding such protection for careless fools like myself.
No other pedals were harmed in the making of this story!
It took me long enough and a short illness that took over the entire family, but I finally plugged in the Xotic BB and I love it. It really blew me away. The whole Gain range is usable with many sweetspots throughout. Pairing it with the RC was ::chef's kiss::! If I'm being honest, and I rarely am when it comes to pedals and effects, I can easily see myself running a tone-only board with those two, a tuner, comp, and preamp.
The musicradar review (not affiliated) describes how you can get SVT or Portaflex tones with it. I can definitely hear it, but I think that has more to do with the Bax tonestack than any baked-in Ampeg tones. I also don't hear Tubescreamer tones from it.
Regardless, it's a brilliant pedal and already up there with the most versatile dirt boxes I've ever used, and that includes the SSBS Mini.
The musicradar review (not affiliated) describes how you can get SVT or Portaflex tones with it. I can definitely hear it, but I think that has more to do with the Bax tonestack than any baked-in Ampeg tones. I also don't hear Tubescreamer tones from it.
Regardless, it's a brilliant pedal and already up there with the most versatile dirt boxes I've ever used, and that includes the SSBS Mini.
While we’re on the subject of the FPT, I suggest NOT running it at 18V. Not that I accidentally did such a thing an hour ago leading me to open the pedal to have thick magic smoke billow out. Ok, maybe I did such a thing.
Fortunately, the Top Chef (Steve) at Audio Kitchen helped quickly put out the fire and informed me about a voltage protection diode inside and that I could check to see if the pedal powers on before snipping said diode. Power on? CHECK! Audio and knobs work? CHECK! The FPT may be saved aside from the protection diode. I hope this is the case and must applaud Steve for considering adding such protection for careless fools like myself.
No other pedals were harmed in the making of this story!
Turning over FPT, taking off the back and seeing the magic smoke escape must have been a gut wrenching experience. I'm glad you were able to reach out to the chef and that there was a solution that actually worked!
Those things are too expensive to fry for fun!
This pedal has become my first choice for an overdrive sound. The simple two band EQ and the gain range are really good, and the sound feels so organic. Both the SS/BS Mini and the Spaceman Saturn VI, who have been favorites of mine, have fallen out of favor after playing the BB for a while. When I turned back to those two, they sounded too artificial to my ear. When I bought mine those were hard to get, but now that they
are dis-discontinued, everyone should get one.
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