My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal

[el murdoque]

Yep, very hard to press, indeed.

I found mine feeling a bit weird, but working.
When you press it, the activation point and tactile feedback happen just before it bottoms out.
That requires some force when switching it by hand, but when the booted shoe of my muscular legs (which in turn support my impressive frame) stomps onto the poor thing, there is no difference to others.

 

[el murdoque]

I did play the Modèle B against the Wessex for a bit. While both of these pedals seem to fill the same gap at first glance, there are not so subtle differences, but boy, are these hard to describe. All I can come up with is that the Bogner sounds a lot more creamy than the Fairfield, plus it is a bit more aggressive in the lower registers - but only if you want that. The Modèle B on the other hand sounds more transparent, raw and less processed. Both are absolutely capable of giving you that smooth "tube amp warmth" thing, that kind of gentle drive that makes your rig actually sound more expensive, but they do it in a completely different flavor.

 

[GrowlerBox]

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.

Well, I have been judged by the fuzz gods and found wanting. Mea culpa .

The HPF is clearly directed at guitar; from my correspondence with Michael Hudson, I am informed that it has a shelf at 100 Hz and a knee at around 600 Hz, and interacts with the gain knob such that at lower gain it will cut between 0 and 6 dB, and at full gain up to 20 dB cut. Depending on the bass, having the cut between 9 and 10 o’clock seems to wipe enough mud off the windshield that you can make out the outline of your note. Anything more, and outline is all you’re left with.

I should note that I include this information purely as a point of interest, and do not claim that it in any way excuses either my weakness or my pathetic attempts to compensate. Nevertheless, I can’t help but enjoy the rather unique character of the breakup from the Broadcast.

I am now going in search of a birch rod to take to my back while I think about what I’ve done.

 

[el murdoque]

Well, I have been judged by the fuzz gods and found wanting. Mea culpa .

The HPF is clearly directed at guitar; from my correspondence with Michael Hudson, I am informed that it has a shelf at 100 Hz and a knee at around 600 Hz, and interacts with the gain knob such that at lower gain it will cut between 0 and 6 dB, and at full gain up to 20 dB cut. Depending on the bass, having the cut between 9 and 10 o’clock seems to wipe enough mud off the windshield that you can make out the outline of your note. Anything more, and outline is all you’re left with.

I should note that I include this information purely as a point of interest, and do not claim that it in any way excuses either my weakness or my pathetic attempts to compensate. Nevertheless, I can’t help but enjoy the rather unique character of the breakup from the Broadcast.

I am now going in search of a birch rod to take to my back while I think about what I’ve done.

Don't lick any windows on the way!


I think that my general dislike against the breakup of germanium diodes plays a role with the Broadcast.

 

[Mr. voodoobass]

Ok, all this talk about transformers and the broadcast made me finally intrigued enough to buy one.
I have to say that at 9-12-18V, I did not like it that much. Lo-gain was fine but the more gain, the more farty, wooly and over compressed it was.
But at 24V it turns into a whole different pedal, and I must say I like it alot!
Both lo/hi-gain channels are now totally useful.
Will see how it goes with the band, but it’s looking good together with the dcx bass for 3 stages of dirt.

 

[GrowlerBox]

Ok, all this talk about transformers and the broadcast made me finally intrigued enough to buy one.
I have to say that at 9-12-18V, I did not like it that much. Lo-gain was fine but the more gain, the more farty, wooly and over compressed it was.
But at 24V it turns into a whole different pedal, and I must say I like it alot!
Both lo/hi-gain channels are now totally useful.
Will see how it goes with the band, but it’s looking good together with the dcx bass for 3 stages of dirt.

I’ve never used one of the variable input voltage models, but I’ve never regretted getting the internally-pumped 24V (9V-only input) model.

 

[el murdoque]

I’ve never used one of the variable input voltage models, but I’ve never regretted getting the internally-pumped 24V (9V-only input) model.

That's the one I had, too - I believe.

 

[el murdoque]

Fun fact:
I already listed the Modèle B for resale.
It IS a great drive. I would want to say it's a gold standard drive pedal.

This is a bit like the P bass of low gain drive. You get a single range of sounds and the rest has to come from the fingers.
Just like the P bass, this thing fits a lot of styles. It's not bad being a one trick pony if that one trick works every single time.

I really wanted to re-visit that pedal because I remembered it being so good, and only selling it because I got a SS/BS Mini, and I would have suspected that I'd keep it this time around.
But to be honest, I liked both the Xotic BB Preamp and the Bogner Wessex a bit more for their respective natures. The BB for being able to actively push treble and the Wessex for that cream it delivers.
It's just shy of making the cut from the pile of pedals that gets a firm nod of affirmation to the pile of pedals that I keep around for when I want to use them.
Barbershops and Modèle B pedals are not exactly hard to come by - even in the second hand market, so I don't see any need for myself to keep it.

 

[el murdoque]

The not-so-secret secret pedal is scheduled to arrive today. I am excited.

 

[mouthmw]

Barbershop was a neat pedal, and it did neat low drive tones but I much prefer both DCX Bass and JPTR Jive tonally, especially in the band mix.

 

[el murdoque]

Barbershop was a neat pedal, and it did neat low drive tones but I much prefer both DCX Bass and JPTR Jive tonally, especially in the band mix.

Word.

It's the one pedal you can easily recommend when someone asks for a low to mid gain drive pedal that works for bass. It'll work and it'll do the job well.
Yes, there are niche pedals that will suit your needs better, but if you don't want to spend your time obsessing over drive pedals (I'm looking at most of you!),
get a Barbershop and call it a day.

 

[el murdoque]

Next item in the Jounal:

Look at the glory of this behemoth and tremble (In fear, in anticipation of what I might say about it, because of envy ... your choice really)!

 

[sloppy_phil]

Next item in the Jounal:
View attachment 7178852

Look at the glory of this behemoth and tremble (In fear, in anticipation of what I might say about it, because of envy ... your choice really)!

Hope you have purchased a lovely trip to the day spa for Mrs. Murdoque; don't think there's any other way to test one of those beasts except for unnecessarily loud. And I can't imagine that's a recipe for happy marital life!

 

[el murdoque]

My "personal history" with the Verellen Meatsmoke dates back about a dozen years. I had started playing in a hard rock band and needed something to add a little dirt.
Not having much experience with dirt pedals up to that point, I envisioned a pedal that has two foot switches, two gain stages and two level controls. And I was a bit surprised to find that there are not many of those around.
One pedal I found that precisely matched what I was looking for was the Blackstone Mosfet Overdrive. Back then, I did not buy it because I could find no info on its use as a bass drive pedal, but it lingered in the back of my mind, so I did get one eventually and wrote about it here.
Another pedal that I discovered back then was the Verellen Meatsmoke. It was kinda pricey and hard to get on top, so I kind of put the idea on a pedestal and stuffed it into a little used hallway in the back of my mind. It re-surfaced some years later when I went on my first bender, this time hunting for a preamp. By then, I think Verellen still had a website but did not accept any orders - so I started looking for a used one.
Hunting Verellen Meatsmokes in the wild comes with a little problem, though:
The unit runs off mains voltage and does not sport a switch mode power supply. It's outfitted with a proper old school transformer.
I live in a world that runs off 230V. Most Meatsmokes were made for the US market and run off 110-120V, though.
So of the few units that were made in the first place, only a fraction works for me.

I never really stopped searching for one, but at at some point, I stopped keeping my hopes up, it seemed that finding one seemed so improbable, it was so close to impossible that it made little difference.
All those ads that I could find online usually had sold long before I stumbled upon them.

Imagine my surprise when an ad popped up in my local classifieds. I shot the seller a mail as fast as I could, blood rushing in my ears by my quickened pulse. I was so close now, I could smell the smoke. But .... I received a reply some hours later telling me I made place two in the queue of buyers.

This was the closest I ever made it to a Meatsmoke, but in this case, the silver medal is worth nothing.
My pulse went from a frenzy back to a slow blues shuffle and the excitement about getting this close dissolved into disappointment.
But here's another but:
But! If there is a saint of pedal boarding, that saint smiled upon me that very day. The #1 spot holder and the seller did not reach an agreement.
The deal fell apart - and into my lap.

I did my part by sending money, and the seller did his part by sending a pedal. Fast forward to now, and I'm holding said pedal in my hands.

 

[el murdoque]

Hope you have purchased a lovely trip to the day spa for Mrs. Murdoque; don't think there's any other way to test one of those beasts except for unnecessarily loud. And I can't imagine that's a recipe for happy marital life!

It's a nice idea, but I fear the SO will have to suffer a bit tonight.
I'm not gonna wait five days to be in a remote and isolated room full of amps to give this beast a first run.

 

[bassbrad]

I had the @Sushi Box FX Brisket aka Smoke Signal for quite a while and did a lot of tube rolling and tweaking but never quite got it to tame down for my needs but it was certainly a beast with massive crunchy tones. It's one of the few pedals I wound up selling for a fair price.

 

[el murdoque]

I had the @Sushi Box FX Brisket aka Smoke Signal for quite a while and did a lot of tube rolling and tweaking but never quite got it to tame down for my needs but it was certainly a beast with massive crunchy tones. It's one of the few pedals I wound up selling for a fair price.

Same. I had the first issue of the Smoke Signal. And yet again, same. I wound up selling it because it was impossible to tame. I would have liked if there was a tamer channel instead of an even hotter one - but that was a while ago and my memory is a bit hazy on the topic. I do know that I got a fair price for it.

 

[el murdoque]

But now, Meatsmoke. Let's get to the all important question: How does it sound?


I hooked it up to my pedalboard in place of a dirt pedal and used the regular output, set to low.
Since at some point along this journey I turned into the analytical type, my first intention was to figure out how the EQ works. It took me less than a minute to find out this is a Fender tone stack. My first emotion upon finding that was, I admit, a slight disappointment.
I would have loved active mids capable of boosting.

It's been a while since I used a device with that tone stack, but I quickly found my go-to settings have not changed. A healthy boost on both bass and treble, with the mids maxed, creating a slight scoop. The normal channel is dead silent when the device is idling. With my P bass, I get a slight growl from the back of the throat on louder notes starting with the gain around 10 o'clock. That growl gets more pronounced with increasing gain, but the Meatsmoke fights to stay mostly clean. While playing in that area, I get the vibe of an amp that runs out of juice, but in a very positive way. I always associate that particular sound and feeling with power tube compression, so it is a bit weird to find that in a device that does not have a tube driven power section, but I'm not complaining. In the initial attack off the note, there is a certain hollow feeling where the ear expects a peak, like the amp tries its best to deliver that, but simply cannot. This makes it somehow a bit more aggressive. The treble it spits out makes sure there is ample definition to the notes. Overcoming my initial feeling of disappointment, I find myself immensely enjoying the sounds I'm getting, because not only do they sound right, they also feel right. The harder I push, the harder the Meatsmoke pushes back.

 

[el murdoque]

It might be some funny prank, sneaking into the camp of some wildlife people and swapping their tranquilizer blow darts for ones that contain a home brewed concoction of amphetamine, cocaine, noradrenaline, adrenaline, cortisol, a few drops of LSD and a sprinkle of magic shrooms for good measure.
Imagine the look on the guys face when he lowers the blowpipe, having hit the silverback gorilla right in the neck and expecting him do go all drowsy in a second. Try to imagine how the gorilla might feel at this moment. I doubt being hit by a lightning could get him more amped. I doubt he'd even feel being hit by a lightning. However, what happens next in the wildlife expedition is a bit what it feels like when you step on the foot switch labeled 'boost'.
Where the normal channel fights back to stay clean,
the boost channel could have very well been labeled "F**k it, we ball!".

 

[el murdoque]

Really, I'm a bit at a loss for words at the moment.