My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal

[el murdoque]

Hmmmm, It's my birthday tomorrow, so no band practice, but we scheduled tracking the drums for the demo on Sunday and if that goes smoothly, we'll play afterwards.
I cannot annoy the guys with more than one pedal at a time, so I have to choose between bringing the Meatsmoke because .... Meatsmoke! ... or bringing the Wessex because that's actually the first pedal in the queue. Will I let the Meatsmoke skip ahead?

 

[el murdoque]

Aluminum Falcon.
This is hopefully a reference to the Robot Chicken Star Wars parody - because when you look up Aluminum Falcon on urbandictionary.com, Aluminum Falcon refers to the impromptu creation of a prophylactic sheath, using kitchen materials (tin foil).



Researching this pedal yields a few interesting reads about the business practices of Piedmont Custom Electronics and David Danielson, the creator of this pedal. I can't really tell if PCE-FX is still in business, as their website is not up any more.

This particular Aluminum Falcon is the anniversary edition, a limited run of 30 pedals where every step was done by hand, including the etching and drilling of the PCB.
For the creation of this pedal, several NOS components were sourced, including "a certain mythical germanium clipping diode that contains the tears of neutered Unicorns"





Quick refresh about what a Klon is and what it does:
Designed in 1994 by Bill Finnegan, this is a bit of a weird circuit, since it is mainly used by guitar players to push their amp into a creamy sound - but what it does is hard clipping a germanium diode, which is not usually associated with the word 'creamy'.



Let's have another look at the frequency response of the Klon's Tone control:

The tone knob is not a passive treble cut as one might assume - but an active filter, capable of boosting a lot and cutting a little. It is shelving, but starts as low as 250Hz. While this might be the wet dream of a lead guitarist, as a bassist one looks at this graph and realizes that the tone knob has to be handled with caution. Even if the pedal does not cut any lows - when it boosts everything else, it will sound like the lows are cut. This is made somewhat worse by the impact the gain knob has on the frequency response:

There's a solid bump in the 1kHz range when you ride the gain too high, which will further emphasize a perceived loss of low end.

However, both graphs indicate that it's a bad idea to dime everything, but it also indicates that there absolutely are some knob positions where a Klon pedal can absolutely work for bass.

 

[el murdoque]

...and there totally is some range to the pedal with somewhat of a neutral sound. As long as you keep the gain below 2 o'clock and don't go nuts on the treble knob, you can have a sound that is considerably brighter than your clean sound, but it does not feel like you're thinning out down low.

Indeed, having played two K-Types not too long ago (the Wampler Tumnus and the Mosky Golden Horse), I feel more reminded of the Wampler than the Mosky. I liked the Wampler a lot more because it left more of the low end intact and the Aluminum Falcon feels like it does the same.

Just for reference, though: When I A/B the AF and the Meatsmoke, swapping from the MS to the AF, the AF suddenly sounds and feels like a tin can on a string, being dragged by a car. That is not happening when playing that pedal alone. That beast of Verellen's making is just sounding so fat it reminds me of internet pictures of those Americans in Wal Mart who drive around in a small but very sturdy electric vehicle. Compared to that, everything sounds skinny.

However, once again, we get a hard clipping germanium diode (once again, two things I don't really enjoy) that is somehow executed so smooth that I mind neither germanium nor hard clipping. It leaves the timbre and natural tone of the connected instrument vastly intact and adds just a bit of stubble to the chin.

 

[el murdoque]

I admit I can be dense at times.
With the Aluminum Falcon, a device entered my household that was designed to push a tube amp to milk out a sweet lead sound.
Said household was recently blessed with the arrival of the Meatsmoke. A device that runs on tubes and is not far off from the preamp section of a tube amp. If I'm not mistaken, the Meatsmoke pedal is the front end of the Meatsmoke tube head.

So how far fetched would the idea to play the AF into the MS be?

I kid you not, when someone gave my skull sponge a nudge, I realized that this might be a great idea and went over to the test bench.
Looking at the setup, I needed to laugh. The wiring was, indeed thus that my bass signal hit the AF first and was routed into the MS next, then a chain of utility pedals (comp, filter, DI). All I had to do was sit down, plug in and have at it.

 

[el murdoque]

And at it I had!

It's impressive to listen to that. What I realized is how organic the Meatsmoke sounds on its own.
I set the normal channel to where you'd probably set your amp. Normal playing is still clean, but digging in hard gets some hair.
Then I sent the Aluminum Falcon into the fray, with the settings I used before, a light drive with a bit more treble than the clean signal has. All I did was slightly raise the level, so it acts as a dirty boost.

The result was that the Meatsmoke took on a completely different form. There was some metallic clank and bristling roar to it, like the attack of ... of all things, an Aluminum Falcon.
This is a searing tone that cuts deeper than I personally care for, but I think if you enjoy a Darkglass pedal, this could very well be tonal heaven for you.

 

[el murdoque]

Dearest readers,
can you take a little more chaos?

Here we go.

 

[tidbits]

Dearest readers,
can you take a little more chaos?

Here we go.

Interested to see how this one goes - I'd been intrigued by this pedal (as well as the KoT) when I first started my search for pedals outside of the SansAmp BDDI, but there's not a lot out there about this one on bass. I almost bought the KoT clone kit from StewMac over the holidays just to try my hand at assembling a pedal and to see how it went.

 

[Charlie Tuna]

Dearest readers,
can you take a little more chaos?

Here we go.
View attachment 7184474

Two words: Broughton FFXL

 

[el murdoque]

Interested to see how this one goes - I'd been intrigued by this pedal (as well as the KoT) when I first started my search for pedals outside of the SansAmp BDDI, but there's not a lot out there about this one on bass. I almost bought the KoT clone kit from StewMac over the holidays just to try my hand at assembling a pedal and to see how it went.

I almost bought a KoT multiple times, figuring that if I found a good deal on one I could flip it without loss.
But it never worked out and I put off the idea. Having a PoT to check out is, hopefully, a good alternative.
Charlie Tuna does not think too highly of it, it seems. The suggestion of using a looper hints at lost low end. . .

 

[el murdoque]

Only a very short session later, I don't really know where the KoT hype is coming from.
Must be a guitar thing.
Sounds like a modded Tubescreamer. Steals lows, emphasizes the same frequencies.
I will give this some more attention asap, there are dip switches and a treble knob on the inside, it seems.
But just from a few minutes of playing, I'd say don't bother with it. Get a Green Rhino instead.

 

[sloppy_phil]

Only a very short session later, I don't really know where the KoT hype is coming from.
Must be a guitar thing.

It most certainly is. Probably a good reason there are no bass-centric sound samples for any of the _oT pedals.

Hopefully one of those internal switches yields something better, but I will not hold my breath...

 

[darev]

Only a very short session later, I don't really know where the KoT hype is coming from.
Must be a guitar thing.
Sounds like a modded Tubescreamer. Steals lows, emphasizes the same frequencies.
I will give this some more attention asap, there are dip switches and a treble knob on the inside, it seems.
But just from a few minutes of playing, I'd say don't bother with it. Get a Green Rhino instead.

I have a King of Tone (don't ask). I might as well have stuck a Tube Screamer on my bass and left the doors & windows open for the sad remaining bass frequencies to fly out of the room. I didn't think the internal switches helped diddly in my cases of basses.

I do hope you or anyone else can get something useable from it for bass but like Sloppy Phillip just said: " I will not hold my breath".

 

[Charlie Tuna]

on Bass.

 

[el murdoque]

Well, the innards looked like this:
Dip Switch 1 ON
Dip Switch 2 OFF
Treble knob about 3/4 up.

I left the dip switches alone since that seems to be the best option, but I turned the treble down.

 

[Ritter667]

Yeah, I tried an original Blues Breaker on bass once, sounded like crap.

Thin an anemic.

I don't like it for guitar either.

 

[el murdoque]

Yeah, I tried an original Blues Breaker on bass once, sounded like crap.

Thin an anemic.

I don't like it for guitar either.

You seem educated on the topic!

The PoT is based on the KoT.
The KoT is based on a modded Bluesbreaker pedal.
The Bluesbreaker pedal is based on the Bluesbreaker amp, the Marshall 1962 2x12" combo, to be precise.
The Marshall 1962 is based on --- *drumroll* --- the Fender Bassman.
The Fender Bassman is the first of its kind, so the chain ends here.

A pedal that is based on a pedal that is based on a pedal that is based on an amp that is based on the first ever bass amp.
And it cuts lows like a mother.

I severely and thoroughly don't get it.

 

[GrowlerBox]

Well, hopefully to lift the mood after the POT/KOT fiasco, I have just received today a nice little pedal from the city of my birth (gazes wisfully into middle distance at imaginary flag, tear welling in mind’s eye), a Mozztronics BF-1 bass fuzz.

I’m not sure what the circuit is based on; it’s not a fuzzface or a muff-type, but closer to a silicon version of the former than anything else I’m directly familiar with. The separate wet-dry volume controls are a nice touch, and allow considerable precision in achieving just the right amount of schmutz. The dry signal is just that; there’s no discernible difference between off and on when the wet is dialled off and the dry is volume-matched. The wet signal is high-passed before entering the clipping parts of the circuit and is then subject to the tone control. The phase switch does what you might expect, flipping the relative phases of the wet and dry signals. Putting them out of phase chokes the volume, of course, and adds a choppy, buzzy layer to the underlying fuzz tone. The effect is something like a gate or bias control (except that it’s just on or off), but not exactly. Quite unique, I think. I need to play some more with various wet-dry combination in and out of phase across the full spectrum of available fuzz (from almost clean to very high, but still usable, gain), but I’m looking forward to having this on the small, everyday board for a while, at least.

 

[jcburn]

Ive really wanted to try a Mozztronics BOD1 or BOD2. TheWetterBass and Paul Del Bello on Youtube both give positive reviews on the Mozztronics pedals.

And I'm an Aussie - you'd think that meant I would have tried them already but they aren't available to demo in my neck of the woods so to this point Ive been reluctant. I really dislike the aesthetic of the pedal, but they do sound cool in demos!!!

See if I can find a BOD2 2nd hand somewhere.....

 

[GrowlerBox]

Ive really wanted to try a Mozztronics BOD1 or BOD2. TheWetterBass and Paul Del Bello on Youtube both give positive reviews on the Mozztronics pedals.

And I'm an Aussie - you'd think that meant I would have tried them already but they aren't available to demo in my neck of the woods so to this point Ive been reluctant. I really dislike the aesthetic of the pedal, but they do sound cool in demos!!!

See if I can find a BOD2 2nd hand somewhere.....

None over here, either. As far as I can tell, most of the dealers are in or around Melbourne. The tube DI and the compressor have had some love in @scubaduba’s two megathreads, but I don’t think I’ve seen much mention of the other Mozztronics offerings on TB. The Wetter Bass has done most of the bass pedals, and his is the review that convinced me to try the BF-1. So far, I’m pleased he did.

 

[el murdoque]

Well, hopefully to lift the mood after the POT/KOT fiasco, I have just received today a nice little pedal from the city of my birth (gazes wisfully into middle distance at imaginary flag, tear welling in mind's eye), a Mozztronics BF-1 bass fuzz.

View attachment 7185712
I'm not sure what the circuit is based on; it's not a fuzzface or a muff-type, but closer to a silicon version of the former than anything else I'm directly familiar with. The separate wet-dry volume controls are a nice touch, and allow considerable precision in achieving just the right amount of schmutz. The dry signal is just that; there's no discernible difference between off and on when the wet is dialled off and the dry is volume-matched. The wet signal is high-passed before entering the clipping parts of the circuit and is then subject to the tone control. The phase switch does what you might expect, flipping the relative phases of the wet and dry signals. Putting them out of phase chokes the volume, of course, and adds a choppy, buzzy layer to the underlying fuzz tone. The effect is something like a gate or bias control (except that it's just on or off), but not exactly. Quite unique, I think. I need to play some more with various wet-dry combination in and out of phase across the full spectrum of available fuzz (from almost clean to very high, but still usable, gain), but I'm looking forward to having this on the small, everyday board for a while, at least.

Lettuce know how it fares in a mix!
My main gripe with fuzz type pedals that run a clean blend is that when playing with distorted guitars, the sizzle often gets lost between the cymbals and the guitar harmonics.
I fondly remember the bedroom tone I could get with the OBNE Haunt Fuzz. You could dial in a super mean steampowered hacksaw, but then dial back on the blend to get a lot of clean signal in. The result was a terrific sound when solo playing but with a band, there was zero difference between the pedal on or off in the room mix.