My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal

[el murdoque]

I couldn’t find any demos of either version on bass (or synth), but comparing it on guitar with the Hudson Broadcast, I think I still prefer the Hudson (specifically the 24V, 3-channel model). What am I missing?

Maybe nothing - the Hudson is a fine pedal. However, it couples its transformer with a germanium diode, so the dirt is not as 'pure transformer magic' as it is in the Wessex, maybe? Also, the broadcast has that knob that kills the low end which is kinda useless for bassists, while the Wessex gives you a treble control plus that bass thing that lets you balance the low end response.

 

[el murdoque]

Here’s what someone posted of their “scratched off labeling” V2 on TGP:
Post in thread 'Bogner Wessex, Harlow, Burnley updated to version 2?'
Bogner Wessex, Harlow, Burnley updated to version 2?

View attachment 7173598View attachment 7173599

Your Google-Fu is stronger than mine, it seems. The transformer does look the same. The PCBs are near identical, too. I suppose the interesting bits are hidden by the black plastic cover, so it's up to those daring to break the seal to judge whether they are identical circuits in different housings or if there have been changes. Ah, and maybe to those who buy both and let their ears decide.

 

[HoochfromP]

Why am I so excited, you ask? (well I'm gonna pretend you did!).

That's why:
View attachment 7172098
This thing should arrive within the week!

Meatsmokin' smoke ?

 

[el murdoque]

Meatsmokin' smoke ?

 

[el murdoque]

...We keep moving!

 

[CuiFoo]

...We keep moving!
View attachment 7173701

Can't wait to hear more about this! I was on the fence between the Bass Jive (always on) and this guy, and after getting the Jive I'll be returning it.
If the Modele can add some saturation/end-of-breakup warmth, it would be perfect - including the compact size!

 

[el murdoque]

Fairfield Circuitry Modèle B.
First of all, this pedal is basically a Barbershop, minus the foot switch and LED, in a tiny housing.
The Barbershop has a switch on the top where you can dial in a treble cut. I think the switch is a three position one, but I don't know if I recall that correctly. I never used it. The little pedal has that option on the inside, where you can set a jumper - like on a 90's PC motherboard - here you only get two choices. No cut or gentle cut.

Apart from that, it rocks that Fairfield outfit. You know those ladies that spend hours in front of a mirror to thoroughly apply a makeup that makes them look like they are not wearing makeup? It feels like the raw finish of the Fairfield pedals are like that. They look expensive and high quality despite their raw enclosures. I don't think pictures transport that. If you ever held one in your hands, you know.

However, not much else to say about what it is or how it looks. Let's dive in for a second time.
I looked it up. I bought the Barbershop in February 2022, so three full years and scores of pedals separate us from the me that played a Barbershop for the first time.

I realize my approach to a pedal has become more analytical, since I spend the first few minutes not trying to dial in a great sound, but I try to find out if I can tell by ear what the knobs do exactly. In case of this one, it's quite easy. One knob controls the output volume. The next knob controls the drive. It passes signal fully CCW. The last name is called sag, and that one is there to starve the preamp. With Sag fully CW, there is no effect. So with Drive fully CCW and Sag fully CW, we're as clean as we get, and I hear little difference between my clean signal and the pedal in this setting, but I'll have to rig an A/B setup with a looper to confirm that - unless one of the Barbershop veterans can confirm that here.

Sagging the Sag knob makes the drive a little hoarse. You loose some top end definition and clean-ness, the voice gets a husk of too much whiskey and cigarettes in the past. With the Sag fully un-sagged, traveling through the range of the drive knob shows what this pedal is intended for. There is no thin line between clean and driven sound. Clean and driven live on the opposite ends of the knobs' travel, with a wide thicket of not-entirely-clean-but-also-not-yet-overdrive-happening between the two. Smooshy and also a bit itchy. Like a ball of asbestos wool.
With drive happening, the Sag knob comes in. It is an interesting tool of shaping the voice and the texture of the drive. Imagine a pair of identical twins. Separated at the age of 16, one got private school education followed by an ivory league college degree. Healthy food, regular workouts.
The other mostly lived in the streets and managed to stay off the drugs. For nearly three years, until he discovered meth. This addiction led to a chain of increasingly stupid crimes, until the police had to rescue him from a used car dealership where he climbed the fence to steal a '72 Mustang, but never checked for dogs. The Rottweiler got him good before he could climb on top of a van and cry for help. His face needed 62 stitches, but in jail, he sobered up and even began learning a trade. Take a mugshot of him now. Now take a mugshot from his brother - who just bought a '72 Mustang from a used car dealer, smiling from ear to ear.
With the Sag knob, you can travel between those two mugshots. The gleaming teeth in a well maintained and well fed mouth reflect the light from their pearly texture and perfect whiteness is what you hear with the gain just past noon and the sag fully up - and as you roll it back, you have that manic grin with those ghost white meth teeth that don't really gleam at all. Being upper management in a fortune 500 company certainly has its merits, being able to easily afford vintage cars among them, but that's not very much rock 'n roll. Not much at all. Basically no rock 'n roll at all. None.
The meth addicted life is a bit too much rock 'n roll. A bit? Maybe a lot. So being able to seamlessly blend over is something great, since it is highly interactive with the gain knob. As you take off the polish by dialing back, you get more distortion in the signal, but the texture is less even and about as pearly as fresh tarmac. I mean it does gleam in the sun. You feel like you've gone too far? Dial back a little and then try to readjust the Drive to suit your tastes. There's a lot of interplay with those two knobs.

 

[GrowlerBox]

Fairfield Circuitry Modèle B.
First of all, this pedal is basically a Barbershop, minus the foot switch and LED, in a tiny housing.
The Barbershop has a switch on the top where you can dial in a treble cut. I think the switch is a three position one, but I don't know if I recall that correctly. I never used it. The little pedal has that option on the inside, where you can set a jumper - like on a 90's PC motherboard - here you only get two choices. No cut or gentle cut.

Apart from that, it rocks that Fairfield outfit. You know those ladies that spend hours in front of a mirror to thoroughly apply a makeup that makes them look like they are not wearing makeup? It feels like the raw finish of the Fairfield pedals are like that. They look expensive and high quality despite their raw enclosures. I don't think pictures transport that. If you ever held one in your hands, you know.

However, not much else to say about what it is or how it looks. Let's dive in for a second time.
I looked it up. I bought the Barbershop in February 2022, so three full years and scores of pedals separate us from the me that played a Barbershop for the first time.

I realize my approach to a pedal has become more analytical, since I spend the first few minutes not trying to dial in a great sound, but I try to find out if I can tell by ear what the knobs do exactly. In case of this one, it's quite easy. One knob controls the output volume. The next knob controls the drive. It passes signal fully CCW. The last name is called sag, and that one is there to starve the preamp. With Sag fully CW, there is no effect. So with Drive fully CCW and Sag fully CW, we're as clean as we get, and I hear little difference between my clean signal and the pedal in this setting, but I'll have to rig an A/B setup with a looper to confirm that - unless one of the Barbershop veterans can confirm that here.

Sagging the Sag knob makes the drive a little hoarse. You loose some top end definition and clean-ness, the voice gets a husk of too much whiskey and cigarettes in the past. With the Sag fully un-sagged, traveling through the range of the drive knob shows what this pedal is intended for. There is no thin line between clean and driven sound. Clean and driven live on the opposite ends of the knobs' travel, with a wide thicket of not-entirely-clean-but-also-not-yet-overdrive-happening between the two. Smooshy and also a bit itchy. Like a ball of asbestos wool.
With drive happening, the Sag knob comes in. It is an interesting tool of shaping the voice and the texture of the drive. Imagine a pair of identical twins. Separated at the age of 16, one got private school education followed by an ivory league college degree. Healthy food, regular workouts.
The other mostly lived in the streets and managed to stay off the drugs. For nearly three years, until he discovered meth. This addiction led to a chain of increasingly stupid crimes, until the police had to rescue him from a used car dealership where he climbed the fence to steal a '72 Mustang, but never checked for dogs. The Rottweiler got him good before he could climb on top of a van and cry for help. His face needed 62 stitches, but in jail, he sobered up and even began learning a trade. Take a mugshot of him now. Now take a mugshot from his brother - who just bought a '72 Mustang from a used car dealer, smiling from ear to ear.
With the Sag knob, you can travel between those two mugshots. The gleaming teeth in a well maintained and well fed mouth reflect the light from their pearly texture and perfect whiteness is what you hear with the gain just past noon and the sag fully up - and as you roll it back, you have that manic grin with those ghost white meth teeth that don't really gleam at all. Being upper management in a fortune 500 company certainly has its merits, being able to easily afford vintage cars among them, but that's not very much rock 'n roll. Not much at all. Basically no rock 'n roll at all. None.
The meth addicted life is a bit too much rock 'n roll. A bit? Maybe a lot. So being able to seamlessly blend over is something great, since it is highly interactive with the gain knob. As you take off the polish by dialing back, you get more distortion in the signal, but the texture is less even and about as pearly as fresh tarmac. I mean it does gleam in the sun. You feel like you've gone too far? Dial back a little and then try to readjust the Drive to suit your tastes. There's a lot of interplay with those two knobs.

Nice. It’s not so different from your earlier review of the bigger brother. Except for the meth. Appropriate, I guess, for a pedal with no off-switch.

I currently have this running into a Darkglass Harmonic Booster then into a Hudson Broadcast for my gain/EQ needs. The only downside is slightly more occupied territory on my small board than is ideal, as I’ve had to sacrifice my beloved Echo Fix chorus-vibrato or equally beloved Randy’s Revenge, which will now have to take turns. If there were a single box that could do everything that trio accomplishes (perhaps a two-channel preamp-OD with flexible mid-control?), that might help, but then I’d lose the modularity and swappability. Tough times .

 

[CuiFoo]

Fairfield Circuitry Modèle B.
First of all, this pedal is basically a Barbershop, minus the foot switch and LED, in a tiny housing.
The Barbershop has a switch on the top where you can dial in a treble cut. I think the switch is a three position one, but I don't know if I recall that correctly. I never used it. The little pedal has that option on the inside, where you can set a jumper - like on a 90's PC motherboard - here you only get two choices. No cut or gentle cut.

Apart from that, it rocks that Fairfield outfit. You know those ladies that spend hours in front of a mirror to thoroughly apply a makeup that makes them look like they are not wearing makeup? It feels like the raw finish of the Fairfield pedals are like that. They look expensive and high quality despite their raw enclosures. I don't think pictures transport that. If you ever held one in your hands, you know.

However, not much else to say about what it is or how it looks. Let's dive in for a second time.
I looked it up. I bought the Barbershop in February 2022, so three full years and scores of pedals separate us from the me that played a Barbershop for the first time.

I realize my approach to a pedal has become more analytical, since I spend the first few minutes not trying to dial in a great sound, but I try to find out if I can tell by ear what the knobs do exactly. In case of this one, it's quite easy. One knob controls the output volume. The next knob controls the drive. It passes signal fully CCW. The last name is called sag, and that one is there to starve the preamp. With Sag fully CW, there is no effect. So with Drive fully CCW and Sag fully CW, we're as clean as we get, and I hear little difference between my clean signal and the pedal in this setting, but I'll have to rig an A/B setup with a looper to confirm that - unless one of the Barbershop veterans can confirm that here.

Sagging the Sag knob makes the drive a little hoarse. You loose some top end definition and clean-ness, the voice gets a husk of too much whiskey and cigarettes in the past. With the Sag fully un-sagged, traveling through the range of the drive knob shows what this pedal is intended for. There is no thin line between clean and driven sound. Clean and driven live on the opposite ends of the knobs' travel, with a wide thicket of not-entirely-clean-but-also-not-yet-overdrive-happening between the two. Smooshy and also a bit itchy. Like a ball of asbestos wool.
With drive happening, the Sag knob comes in. It is an interesting tool of shaping the voice and the texture of the drive. Imagine a pair of identical twins. Separated at the age of 16, one got private school education followed by an ivory league college degree. Healthy food, regular workouts.
The other mostly lived in the streets and managed to stay off the drugs. For nearly three years, until he discovered meth. This addiction led to a chain of increasingly stupid crimes, until the police had to rescue him from a used car dealership where he climbed the fence to steal a '72 Mustang, but never checked for dogs. The Rottweiler got him good before he could climb on top of a van and cry for help. His face needed 62 stitches, but in jail, he sobered up and even began learning a trade. Take a mugshot of him now. Now take a mugshot from his brother - who just bought a '72 Mustang from a used car dealer, smiling from ear to ear.
With the Sag knob, you can travel between those two mugshots. The gleaming teeth in a well maintained and well fed mouth reflect the light from their pearly texture and perfect whiteness is what you hear with the gain just past noon and the sag fully up - and as you roll it back, you have that manic grin with those ghost white meth teeth that don't really gleam at all. Being upper management in a fortune 500 company certainly has its merits, being able to easily afford vintage cars among them, but that's not very much rock 'n roll. Not much at all. Basically no rock 'n roll at all. None.
The meth addicted life is a bit too much rock 'n roll. A bit? Maybe a lot. So being able to seamlessly blend over is something great, since it is highly interactive with the gain knob. As you take off the polish by dialing back, you get more distortion in the signal, but the texture is less even and about as pearly as fresh tarmac. I mean it does gleam in the sun. You feel like you've gone too far? Dial back a little and then try to readjust the Drive to suit your tastes. There's a lot of interplay with those two knobs.

You're a poet, and I'm ordering one of these always-on-meth little guys - thanks!

 

[GrowlerBox]

Maybe nothing - the Hudson is a fine pedal. However, it couples its transformer with a germanium diode, so the dirt is not as 'pure transformer magic' as it is in the Wessex, maybe? Also, the broadcast has that knob that kills the low end which is kinda useless for bassists, while the Wessex gives you a treble control plus that bass thing that lets you balance the low end response.

Had another think about this, especially the note regarding the HPF filter dial. At low to moderate gain, this doesn’t do much that is helpful for us, but at higher gain, especially beyond ~10 o’clock when in the “fuzz” channel, cutting a bit of low-end is very helpful for maintaining definition. With the HPF dialled out, the Broadcast lets everything through, which is partly what makes it such a good low-gain drive for bass, but when it’s really cranked, the bottom end fuzz is too much, for me at least. I don’t like the Big Muff sound at all, so that may be just me. If the Broadcast had a mid-control too, it would be just about perfect.

 

[el murdoque]

Modèle B, part two:

There’s a lot of interplay with those two knobs, especially when you hone in on your personal sweet spot. Give it a little more drive and turn up the sag, or turn down on the drive and starve some more – you’ll stay in the same range of dirt, but change the texture by doing so.
This pedal obviously wants to be ridden somewhere on the edge, because said edge is so wide you don’t need to balance, you can walk. You can even increase the headroom of the pedal by upping the voltage – up to 18V is fine. In my case, I don’t do that because 9V has more than enough headroom for my worn flats and passive bass with not too hot of an output. Getting a range that is mostly clean but effortlessly crosses over to a dirty growl by altering playing dynamics is what this pedal excels at and that’s why it often gets recommended when a bassist asks for a low gain drive. Having this tone as your default setting is, in more styles than one would imagine, quite the asset. That’s why Fairfield Circuitry went
one step further and created the Modèle B from the Barbershop. When you use your Barbershop as an always on, you might as well save up some real estate on the board and opt for the Modèle B.
The sound you’re getting from either is that smooth, organic and raspy breakup that feels absolutely natural. There is no loss of low end, and the high end depends on how you use the Hi Cut and the Sag knob. There is no EQ in the pedal and not really a baked in tone, either – but when you’re riding the Drive knob high enough, you get more treble from the added harmonics. In my case, it works to add a gentle squeeze of drive in order to get a little bit more articulation for my tone. Blending chords or double stops together with a blooming sort of overdrive is effortless and feels natural, the pedal is easily controlled by the playing dynamics to accentuate notes. I recommend using a compressor downstream to even out the spikes. When doing so, you can really play around with your tone and drive without upsetting the mix. Feeding the pedal a higher input and maxing out the drive, the tone gets a little bit more artificial and it kinda feels like the pedal is forced going places it does not really enjoy being. If you’re looking for a massive grind, there are better choices – but note that the Barbershop/Modèle B stack up with others really well. Feeding it into another pedal set to an equally gentle drive gets you the kind of gravel a high powered offroad car spits at you when dropping the clutch while standing on the shoulder of a road. It can get mean, but stays in the realms of overdrive at all times. The tone of your bass guitar stays largely unaltered by all that, so if you haven’t spotted it between the lines already I’m gonna spell it out: It’s a transparent pedal that adds a bit of what is widely referred to as “Tube Amp Warmth” to the signal. If you’re looking for something like that particular thing, give one of the Fairfield pedals a spin!


I did enjoy the Barbershop three years ago and I do enjoy the Modèle B right now. Back then I wrote that had I, instead of deciding to go on a Dirt Bender, simply bought a Barbershop this whole endeavor might never have occurred. I do stand by that. If you want a gentle drive and you don’t want to tinker much, just drop in something that works, this is it.

 

[el murdoque]

Had another think about this, especially the note regarding the HPF filter dial. At low to moderate gain, this doesn’t do much that is helpful for us, but at higher gain, especially beyond ~10 o’clock when in the “fuzz” channel, cutting a bit of low-end is very helpful for maintaining definition. With the HPF dialled out, the Broadcast lets everything through, which is partly what makes it such a good low-gain drive for bass, but when it’s really cranked, the bottom end fuzz is too much, for me at least. I don’t like the Big Muff sound at all, so that may be just me. If the Broadcast had a mid-control too, it would be just about perfect.

Yeah, well. It seems like you're too weak to handle full bodied fuzz signals then. I'm so sorry for you. Were you born with that disability or is there a tragic event in the past that caused it? I am glad that you have found a crutch to clutch with the Broadcasts HPF. Maybe this could be the first step on your rehab, and one day, you'll be able to bathe in the glory of a mighty boomy fuzz sound without the training wheels of a high pass filter to aid you, but who can tell? The Almighty made every single one of us a little bit different, so we like different things and aspire to climb different heights. To summit the top is mandatory for some while others happily stay put when they reach base camp.



<serious>: I never tried the broadcast in a band setting with fuzz dialed in.
It might be helpful when you go all out face melter to reign in the bottom before it overwhelms everything else in a mudslide, so that knob might make a lot more sense than I gave it credit for. However, the Broadcast and me did not click. I remember playing it and feeling a little bit put off because I expected ... moar toan, I believe.

 

[OldShark]

Have you ever been invited by pedal makers to provide them with your highly illustrative sound descriptions?

 

[el murdoque]

Have you ever been invited by pedal makers to provide them with your highly illustrative sound descriptions?

I would love to, but unfortunately, no one has tried up until now.


EDIT:
Of course, the very very very small company called "Spicerack Electronics" founded and fronted by the local maple juice philosopher @sloppy_phil
stepped forward and entered a pedal into the gauntlet, as you all know. Let's hope that is the one pebble that triggers the avalanche.


PEDAL COMPANIES: Contact me either here or through the website ( The Dirt Jounal – A deep dive into one man's obsession with bass overdrive ) I will gladly take your incoming pedals and do the only thing I'm capable of: Writing a highly subjective jounal entry about them, rambling about side jacks and finding analogies off the trodden paths to create vivid pictures in the readers minds, sometimes ones that make them wake up screaming at 4 am.

 

[gillento]

I have a V2 coming in later today. I’ll try to shoot the insides properly.

The Wessex just turned up on my porch. My plan was to send it to el Murdoque to compare it with his V1.

Although it had been advertised as V2, in fact it is a V1 with the "Rupert Neve Transformer" sign on the front.
Did I get lucky or should I return it?

 

[el murdoque]

The Wessex just turned up on my porch. My plan was to send it to el Murdoque to compare it with his V1.

Although it had been advertised as V2, in fact it is a V1 with the "Rupert Neve Transformer" sign on the front.
Did I get lucky or should I return it?

What did you pay? Did you buy it brand new?

 

[gillento]

It was on Reverb : 139€ + 16,50€ shipping.

 

[el murdoque]

It was on Reverb : 139€ + 16,50€ shipping.

Looking at the Reverb history for the Wessex V1:

I'd say the price is a bit steep - but maybe you could push towards a discount.

I think I paid €120 incl. shipping for mine, mint condition in original box.

 

[Charlie Tuna]

The Wessex just turned up on my porch. My plan was to send it to el Murdoque to compare it with his V1.

Although it had been advertised as V2, in fact it is a V1 with the "Rupert Neve Transformer" sign on the front.
Did I get lucky or should I return it?

From what I've read, there were footswitch issues on the V1 line which were corrected on V2. Some people commented on the switches being super hard to press and others having issues with the foot switches not always turning on when pressed. The TGP link I provided earlier (with the transformer pic) may have some mentions about the footswitches but I'm not sure.

 

[gillento]

From what I've read, there were footswitch issues on the V1 line which were corrected on V2. Some people commented on the switches being super hard to press and others having issues with the foot switches not always turning on when pressed. The TGP link I provided earlier (with the transformer pic) may have some mentions about the footswitches but I'm not sure.

Yep, very hard to press, indeed.