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My preamp bender: A Journal.
- Thread starter el murdoque
- Start date
With all that sorted out, my bender will slow down to a crawl.
The Particle Accelerator has won and defended its place on my board.
I'm sure that @Sushi Box FX will be able to change that. The Underground Accelerator will be built in the October run, then shipped across the pond and make its way through customs, hopefully arriving here mid to end November.
By then I will have read raving reviews about the Sushi Box Smoke Signal which was only available in limited quantity and I was too late to order. I'm sure I'll get one as soon as the parts are back in stock, but I guess that'll be a Christmas present when it arrives.
Will all this only be a distraction to pass the time until the Noble arrives?
I don't know and at this point, I don't really care.
This is my board now and I am VERY happy with it. Should each and every preamp that arrives from now on be inferior to the setup shown in this pic, so be it. This produces all the sounds I pictured in my head and then some. I'm tired of looking for preamps that I might want to try and I feel like I poured in more time, effort and cash than strictly necessary. It was fun up until now, but now I need to play bass and enjoy the spoils of the hunt.
I got a dwindling pile of pedals to sell off and right now, money accumulates with no immediate purpose because my shopping list ran dry. This feels nice.
Playing bass feels nice.
I think I'll take some of that cash and treat the SO to a fancy dinner. I probably got on her nerves a lot when I came home with yet another of those dreadful little boxes and spent the next hour making noise.
The Particle Accelerator has won and defended its place on my board.
I'm sure that @Sushi Box FX will be able to change that. The Underground Accelerator will be built in the October run, then shipped across the pond and make its way through customs, hopefully arriving here mid to end November.
By then I will have read raving reviews about the Sushi Box Smoke Signal which was only available in limited quantity and I was too late to order. I'm sure I'll get one as soon as the parts are back in stock, but I guess that'll be a Christmas present when it arrives.
Will all this only be a distraction to pass the time until the Noble arrives?
I don't know and at this point, I don't really care.
This is my board now and I am VERY happy with it. Should each and every preamp that arrives from now on be inferior to the setup shown in this pic, so be it. This produces all the sounds I pictured in my head and then some. I'm tired of looking for preamps that I might want to try and I feel like I poured in more time, effort and cash than strictly necessary. It was fun up until now, but now I need to play bass and enjoy the spoils of the hunt.
I got a dwindling pile of pedals to sell off and right now, money accumulates with no immediate purpose because my shopping list ran dry. This feels nice.
Playing bass feels nice.
I think I'll take some of that cash and treat the SO to a fancy dinner. I probably got on her nerves a lot when I came home with yet another of those dreadful little boxes and spent the next hour making noise.
Winner PA! I am certain you will be just as pleased with the UA and will report on the SS when mine arrives.
Mister Sushi Box FX was rather quick finishing off the October builds and I already have the tracking number for the Underground Accelerator. Last time (with the Fluffy Kitten) the parcel took 8 days from USPS taking possession of it until it arrived at my place, plus another day for the parcel to arrive in my local post office for pickup, so I suspect mid to late next week will see the day that I run to the post office.
Did you ever get a Finally? That looks like a completely useful piece of gear and would solve a few issues for me! Now, I've got to watch my inbox like a hawk to get in on the next batch of orders. I hadn't paid much attention to Sushi Box Effects, but after checking out the website, he may be getting a bunch of my monies!
I've enjoyed your preamp journey, @el murdoque! We're both waiting on the Noble train, but I've been on a journey of my own. I've tried quite a few as well, and we've covered some similar ground(I've had a Q Strip, a BDDI V2, a VT Bass DI-still using-, a GK Plex-still have-, a Two Notes Le Bass-still have-, a Mesa Subway+, a Trickfish Trilobite, an MXR M81-still have-). Next up on my list is the EAE Model feT and I'm in line for the upcoming Master Effects Super 800 Pro, or whatever they're gonna call it. It's fun and frustrating! My sound guy is always shaking his head because I'm always showing up with new gear to dial in. I tell him "Until I get what I want, this is how it's gonna be!" I do feel like, with the Noble on the horizon, this adventure is almost to the finish line. Hopefully, that goes for both of us...
I have a Finally and Smoke Stack arriving later this week and have promised @el murdoque A report. The Underground Accelerator is doing very nicely adding the perfect warm punch to my live board.Did you ever get a Finally? That looks like a completely useful piece of gear and would solve a few issues for me! Now, I've got to watch my inbox like a hawk to get in on the next batch of orders. I hadn't paid much attention to Sushi Box Effects, but after checking out the website, he may be getting a bunch of my monies!
I've enjoyed your preamp journey, @el murdoque! We're both waiting on the Noble train, but I've been on a journey of my own. I've tried quite a few as well, and we've covered some similar ground(I've had a Q Strip, a BDDI V2, a VT Bass DI-still using-, a GK Plex-still have-, a Two Notes Le Bass-still have-, a Mesa Subway+, a Trickfish Trilobite, an MXR M81-still have-). Next up on my list is the EAE Model feT and I'm in line for the upcoming Master Effects Super 800 Pro, or whatever they're gonna call it. It's fun and frustrating! My sound guy is always shaking his head because I'm always showing up with new gear to dial in. I tell him "Until I get what I want, this is how it's gonna be!" I do feel like, with the Noble on the horizon, this adventure is almost to the finish line. Hopefully, that goes for both of us...
I've very nearly started another bender. After I dodged a bullet with compressors and simply ordered a Cali76 and fell in love after the Keeley was not what I expected it to be, there would only be the Empress to check out, but I feel no itch.
Dirt would have been the next leg in the journey. My board has a single dirt pedal that does not see much use.
Currently, it has been a Fuzzrocious Egg Sack - but right now, that place is taken up by a Fluffy Kitten. Both give me very usable sounds, especially in combo with the BDPG. Both could be a tiny bit better to make me happy.
Then it hit me: I have the Underground Accelerator in the mail and the Smoke Signs on order. Either pedal might be perfectly capable of being my dream preamp and either pedal might be perfectly capable of being a superb overdrive unit. I will have to put off my OD search until they arrived.
Dirt would have been the next leg in the journey. My board has a single dirt pedal that does not see much use.
Currently, it has been a Fuzzrocious Egg Sack - but right now, that place is taken up by a Fluffy Kitten. Both give me very usable sounds, especially in combo with the BDPG. Both could be a tiny bit better to make me happy.
Then it hit me: I have the Underground Accelerator in the mail and the Smoke Signs on order. Either pedal might be perfectly capable of being my dream preamp and either pedal might be perfectly capable of being a superb overdrive unit. I will have to put off my OD search until they arrived.
@el murdoque the UA has a gain stage that gets a nice full saturation and the Fender tmb tunes it nicely for a broad range of tones.
I'm really looking forward to the SS as providing a huge step beyond especially the 4 gain stage lead channel.
I'm really looking forward to the SS as providing a huge step beyond especially the 4 gain stage lead channel.
My band has finally found a new practice room in an old elementary school. Huge bonus when you're running an ampless setup with electronic drums - you don't need a sound proof room somewhere in the barn or cellar, you can just rent basically anywhere.
Yesterday we had band practice and I was able to test out my setup under real circumstances for the first time.
When I started this journey, we only had two rehearsals and a gig coming up and I did not want to tear my board apart with all the settings dialed in and set properly for our IEM rig.
It was glorious. Massive lows - I was pumping bass, but no mud. The combo of the BDPG, PA and Cali76 really killed it. BDPG off for modern tunes and on for old school vibes, PA and Cali76 set and forget always on pedals.
The cherry on top: Instead of playing with my Shure 535 IEM buds with custom molds, I used my Sennheiser HD650 with an outboard headphone amp, which was terrific. Not only was the sound more than just great, the comfort of having next to no isolation through their open design made having conversations a lot easier when practicing new material where you often stop and throw in suggestions. I like the isolation when playing live, where you can really focus on the music and are shielded off against anything else - but in a quiet room where only band members are present that is more a hindrance, since you're shielded off against - well, nothing.
As I suspected, this could very well be a setup to settle down with. For some reason I cannot fathom, I was not having issues with my B string as I did before. It usually feels a bit too floppy when playing fast and I have another set of stiffer strings lying ready, but I'm putting off swapping them for mainly three reasons:
1. Style. The strings I have on are German Optima flats. They have black ball ends and orange silks. The bass I play is a German Le Fay Karlsson 6. It is orange and has black hardware. This is such a good match, it seems that cannot be entirely by chance.
2. Flats - mine have been on for nearly a year now and I feel like they have barely settled. I'm enjoying everything about them but the floppy B and starting again with a fresh set is tedious.
3. Work - the bass is set up perfectly. It really plays absolutely effortless and has the best action I ever encountered for my playing style. I fear that putting on strings with more tension will mess that up and I honestly am not super good at doing setups.
Being able to play the faster licks on the floppy string with articulation, authority and a feeling that I could go even faster before running into problems has put off plans of restringing this bass even further
It was a good night!
Yesterday we had band practice and I was able to test out my setup under real circumstances for the first time.
When I started this journey, we only had two rehearsals and a gig coming up and I did not want to tear my board apart with all the settings dialed in and set properly for our IEM rig.
It was glorious. Massive lows - I was pumping bass, but no mud. The combo of the BDPG, PA and Cali76 really killed it. BDPG off for modern tunes and on for old school vibes, PA and Cali76 set and forget always on pedals.
The cherry on top: Instead of playing with my Shure 535 IEM buds with custom molds, I used my Sennheiser HD650 with an outboard headphone amp, which was terrific. Not only was the sound more than just great, the comfort of having next to no isolation through their open design made having conversations a lot easier when practicing new material where you often stop and throw in suggestions. I like the isolation when playing live, where you can really focus on the music and are shielded off against anything else - but in a quiet room where only band members are present that is more a hindrance, since you're shielded off against - well, nothing.
As I suspected, this could very well be a setup to settle down with. For some reason I cannot fathom, I was not having issues with my B string as I did before. It usually feels a bit too floppy when playing fast and I have another set of stiffer strings lying ready, but I'm putting off swapping them for mainly three reasons:
1. Style. The strings I have on are German Optima flats. They have black ball ends and orange silks. The bass I play is a German Le Fay Karlsson 6. It is orange and has black hardware. This is such a good match, it seems that cannot be entirely by chance.
2. Flats - mine have been on for nearly a year now and I feel like they have barely settled. I'm enjoying everything about them but the floppy B and starting again with a fresh set is tedious.
3. Work - the bass is set up perfectly. It really plays absolutely effortless and has the best action I ever encountered for my playing style. I fear that putting on strings with more tension will mess that up and I honestly am not super good at doing setups.
Being able to play the faster licks on the floppy string with articulation, authority and a feeling that I could go even faster before running into problems has put off plans of restringing this bass even further
It was a good night!
I liberated the Underground Accelerator from the post office this afternoon and just spent a bit of time with it.
My first impressions were: Improvements everywhere. This feels like a worthy follow up product.
In terms of construction:
-Standard tube that is easy to replace.
-The knobs have markers (my PA had silver knobs with hard to see markers) in an offset color, easy to spot.
-Top mounted jacks (yay)
The only issue I have is that the knobs are easier to turn, so they are prone to change their setting during transport. Not a biggie for me, since my EQ is simple: Bass 10 Mids 10 Treble 9,5.
The first sonic impressions were: A bit more mature, a bit rounder and a bit less harsh around the edges, in a warm and good way.
I think the people that told me about the UA were right in their assessment ( @bassbrad & @moon-bass ) that I will like it even more than I like the PA. I absolutely like it a lot - it's instantly among the best two pedals of this thread. Will it make #1 ? I highly suspect it. I already velcroed the underside. I'll try it on the weekend.
One option that just opened up and desperately needs exploration is what I can do if I replace the Fluffy Kitten with the PA and use the PA to add grind. Or to push the UA into saturation. Or both.
Okay, what I did not check in my first test drive was what the gain does past 12 o'clock.
First thing I realized is that the input/output level has unity with both dials at noon, which is kind of intuitive and is very different with my PA where I have the gain around 9 o'clock and the master at around 10:30 to get unity.
It was very clean with the gain at noon, only with the bass knob dimed and playing notes below the open A string all the way down to the B there was a bit of distortion audible.
With the gain knob dimed, there is a bit of saturation, texture and tube color going on, but it feels like playing a vintage tube amp with a single volume knob that is set to the loudest it goes before it distorts.
A very pleasant, singing sound that couples extremely well with the Cali76 CB compressor that's right behind in my signal chain. Feels like an always on setting for rock or blues.
I would have thought that there is more grind to be had from this pedal.
Not that I have to complain - I feared this thing might not be clean enough from the day I ordered it and now that I discover that I can't get a grinding distortion out of it, I'm delighted.
First thing I realized is that the input/output level has unity with both dials at noon, which is kind of intuitive and is very different with my PA where I have the gain around 9 o'clock and the master at around 10:30 to get unity.
It was very clean with the gain at noon, only with the bass knob dimed and playing notes below the open A string all the way down to the B there was a bit of distortion audible.
With the gain knob dimed, there is a bit of saturation, texture and tube color going on, but it feels like playing a vintage tube amp with a single volume knob that is set to the loudest it goes before it distorts.
A very pleasant, singing sound that couples extremely well with the Cali76 CB compressor that's right behind in my signal chain. Feels like an always on setting for rock or blues.
I would have thought that there is more grind to be had from this pedal.
Not that I have to complain - I feared this thing might not be clean enough from the day I ordered it and now that I discover that I can't get a grinding distortion out of it, I'm delighted.
More testing.
I experienced a very weird issue with noise from the UA. A lot of experimenting went into finding the culprit, which left me as baffled as I was when I discovered the noise.
But! While I experimented with the power supply, I flipped the comp and the UA on my board, so the UA does not sit right on top of the PSU and the noise was gone. With the board set to neutral - only the always on pedals on - the signal from my bass sees gain at three points:
1. The buffer in the tuner, which is the first pedal.
2. The preamp, in this case the UA
3. The comp, in this case the Cali76.
Somehow reversing the order of comp and preamp completely killed the noise - maybe because the UA gets driven by a stronger signal and the preamp in the Cali76 is of a higher quality?
However, reversing those two pedals was an epiphany. The UA is a bit dirtier and a bit warmer. With my current settings I hit a sweet spot that gives me a hint of drive when playing in the higher registers. Picking chords has a pearly texture while playing double stops with a harder touch makes them sing.
In the money part of the fretboard, playing hard so the comp engages gives just a hint of grit - more akin to a vintage B15 than something like a Darkglass pedal.
I need to test that in band context, but I'm confident I found gold here.
I put the 6 string passive J style bass into its stand and tried my rock axe, a 5 string with a set of fresh TI flats and humbuckers. Oh my gosh. I desperately hope the mids are strong enough to make it against a driven guitar, because that tone is glorious. I only reduced the lows a bit (my board is set to play oldschool and contemporary reggae music) and I had a rock tone that sounded like a tube amp driven to the max.
With that setting, I can basically ditch the OD pedal from my board - the place that is taken up by the Fluffy kitten for the moment, but I have no clue what I should put there.
I experienced a very weird issue with noise from the UA. A lot of experimenting went into finding the culprit, which left me as baffled as I was when I discovered the noise.
But! While I experimented with the power supply, I flipped the comp and the UA on my board, so the UA does not sit right on top of the PSU and the noise was gone. With the board set to neutral - only the always on pedals on - the signal from my bass sees gain at three points:
1. The buffer in the tuner, which is the first pedal.
2. The preamp, in this case the UA
3. The comp, in this case the Cali76.
Somehow reversing the order of comp and preamp completely killed the noise - maybe because the UA gets driven by a stronger signal and the preamp in the Cali76 is of a higher quality?
However, reversing those two pedals was an epiphany. The UA is a bit dirtier and a bit warmer. With my current settings I hit a sweet spot that gives me a hint of drive when playing in the higher registers. Picking chords has a pearly texture while playing double stops with a harder touch makes them sing.
In the money part of the fretboard, playing hard so the comp engages gives just a hint of grit - more akin to a vintage B15 than something like a Darkglass pedal.
I need to test that in band context, but I'm confident I found gold here.
I put the 6 string passive J style bass into its stand and tried my rock axe, a 5 string with a set of fresh TI flats and humbuckers. Oh my gosh. I desperately hope the mids are strong enough to make it against a driven guitar, because that tone is glorious. I only reduced the lows a bit (my board is set to play oldschool and contemporary reggae music) and I had a rock tone that sounded like a tube amp driven to the max.
With that setting, I can basically ditch the OD pedal from my board - the place that is taken up by the Fluffy kitten for the moment, but I have no clue what I should put there.
The Sushi Box FX Smoke Signal has arrived and I've had a first chance of test driving it at home.
What do we have here?
The Smoke Signal is the Sushi Box FX interpretation of the Meatsmoke preamp.
It has two tubes in the circuit and two channels.
As I understood it, and forgive my using terrible layman's terms here, the tubes in use (12AX7) have two stages. The Blue channel (clean) passes the first stage in each tube while the red channel (dirty) passes both stages in both tubes.
Both channels have the full setup of knobs, which are your typical Gain/Bass/Mids/Treble/Master configuration.
The Foot switches let you choose the channel (red/blue) or put the pedal in true bypass.
There is another 1/4" output, labeled record out and two more switches, labeled Filter and Level. If you use the record out, you get the option of a simple cabinet simulation, done by filtering (HPF and LPF, I believe). With the level switch you can choose between line and instrument level and with the filter switch you can choose the intensity of the filtering.
The current draw is mighty - around 900mA during warmup and 480mA during operation. I've connected it to a single outlet of my Cioks DC-7 that offers 660mA, which works just fine - I don't notice a longer warm up period.
Gain and Master are self explaining knobs, obviously.
The EQ section is less intuitive to people that have first contact with this particular tone stack - once more we encounter my old friend, the Alembic/Fender EQ.
What's not intuitive about this?
Well, in a nutshell: The circuit is more or less unable to cut treble & bass and unable to boost mids.
The flat setting is with treble and bass just a touch beyond 0 and with the mids wide open.
Beyond that, the knobs influence each other. There is a bit of a bump in the mids that moves around when you turn the treble knob (while at the same time you increase/decrease treble boost). It's a bit weird at first, but once you get the gist of it, it works pretty well for bass guitar. Both bass and treble are kind of shelving EQs, they influence well past the frequency range my 6 string bass is capable of.
The build quality is what I expected from Sushi Box FX - hand made with fine components. The price - for what you get, is a bargain.
I was hoping that, under ideal circumstances, I could squeeze someting very similar to the Underground Accelerators sound out of the blue channel and then have the red channel to go nuts - which could mean that I can ditch the dedicated dirt pedal from my board and use the Smoke signal for both the preamping and the overdrive job.
After a first session, I was under the impression that I could not, though.
A second session, however, kind of left me a bit confused.
Let me start on the red channel since this is easier.
The Smoke Signal with the Red LED lit up covers all my needs for overdrive without breaking a sweat. It starts with that typical tube growl that so many solid state pedals try to emulate (some with success) with minimal gain settings and is full on chainsaw with the gain maxed. You get so much nasty compression, even a feeling of sag, that you feel like you ventured past the grounds of Overdrive and stand firmly on Fuzz Territory. The in between is a rich and varied soundscape of passing a bass signal through a garden shredder. It's a joy to twiddle the knobs and see what happens because everything sounds kind of good. Makes you want to start a stoner rock trio where a ten minute guitar solo would give you the room to explore some of the settings.
When I go for my overdrive sound, I mostly want the vibe of a concert so loud you crank your tube amp to the max, with the speakers on the brink of quickly farting themselves towards the afterlife and the amp struggling hard to stay clean, but failing badly.
The Smoke signal can not only give you that sound, it asks you what flavor you want. You can go nuts on the EQ and dial back gain or you can set a higher gain with less extreme EQ settings and work your way to Overdrive Nirvana from there.
Let's get to the blue channel then.
Basically I could say it's the less dirty channel, but the blue channel alone is capable of a variety of overdrives.
If you are looking for a pedal that can give you two different versions of high class dirt, the Smoke Signal delivers - you could use it as a dual channel overdrive with the blue channel giving you lower gain tube drive and the red channel covering the higher gain demands.
With the gain set lower, you will also get clean sounds.
The feeling I have when I compare the Paricle Accelerator, the Underground Accelerator and the Smoke Signal in terms of how the gain works, is as follows:
The Particle Accelerator will distort when driven hard, but it WANTS to stay clean and will do so as long as possible.
The Smoke Signal will distort easily when driven and it WANTS to enrich your signal with overdrive, getting into the regions of dirt pretty quickly.
The Underground Accelerator will distort when driven, it sounds like it likes it, but actually it prefers to hover just on the edge. There is a big area on the gain where you can hear harmonic overtones singing when you play high notes while the lower notes are still clean. This is where the UA is strong and where its magic happens.
Hitting that sweet spot on the Smoke signal is a very precise science, because you instantly slip off into "real" overdrive.
@bassbrad described in the Sushi thread that the Particle Accelerator has a certain something that the Underground Accelerator has "mo' better", which is not present in the Smoke Signal, while the Smoke Signal has a little somthing the other pedals do not have. I can second that, but I want to put my thumb on it and see where I can get with more testing.
If I was to make a decision right now, I'd stick with the Underground Accelerator because, for want of better words, in my particular case, the UA is doing magic while the SS is doing a very good job on the clean channel and the best tube overdrive sounds I've heard in a long while.
Not shure if oyu run several tube-pres at the same time on your board,
or just one at the time ?
Nevertehelss, i´d say, try to change the tubes to finetune that setup.
not shure on the tubes you can have from the very specialisied dealers,
since thats not so much accessible for me for single tubes. ( beeing in switzerland)
But, from whats widely available, i´d suggest to try a Genalex Gold Lion (reissue).
Its a 12AX7. ( available from thomann for example)
It goes softer into saturation and OD and sounds there a bit warmer than the usual Tubes, the stomps come with. (most 12AX7 tube-pres seem to have a Electro Harmonix installed)
thats it, in short
and longer:
dealing with several tube-pres on one pedalboard, beeing able to chain the tube-pre units,
is trying out different tubes a good idea !
also is it good to understand that a tube can saturate/compress your signal bevore she breaks,
AND: this will make your next tube in the chain act differently !
i´d really not only focus on the tube-pres alone.
Seems that most (12AX7) tube-pres comes with a ElectroHarmonix tube.
even my Oracle had such one in.
The Genalex gold lion (reissue) is here a good starting point...........worth its money !
i have one in my A-Bass for example, ...and also in the Oracle, finally.
The A-Bass beeing the equivalent to your sushiBox UA.
this "more control bevore break" means also more control over the "just compress it" range of the tube, which allows for way better fine tuning of the saturation/compression effect, which adds more control of how your next tube in the chain would "come".
Dealing with tubes i found, that some slight compression makes immensly a difference how the tubes "come" (phrasing it, as i would in german language).
And i find the compression from a -previous- Tube, works better than the compression from your compressor stomp box. (in my case the Empress BC)
Dealing with tubes in a chain is really a thing.
And rolling tubes has "then" a even bigger weight, imho.
talking from what i experienced with my setup, running three tube-pres in a chain.
I´m NOT a distortion guy btw. . but my (AMP-less home-) setup sounds so good also in that regard that i sometimes just have to do it
https://www.thomannmusic.ch/genalex_gold_lion_12ax7_448203.htm
or just one at the time ?
Nevertehelss, i´d say, try to change the tubes to finetune that setup.
not shure on the tubes you can have from the very specialisied dealers,
since thats not so much accessible for me for single tubes. ( beeing in switzerland)
But, from whats widely available, i´d suggest to try a Genalex Gold Lion (reissue).
Its a 12AX7. ( available from thomann for example)
It goes softer into saturation and OD and sounds there a bit warmer than the usual Tubes, the stomps come with. (most 12AX7 tube-pres seem to have a Electro Harmonix installed)
thats it, in short
and longer:
dealing with several tube-pres on one pedalboard, beeing able to chain the tube-pre units,
is trying out different tubes a good idea !
also is it good to understand that a tube can saturate/compress your signal bevore she breaks,
AND: this will make your next tube in the chain act differently !
i´d really not only focus on the tube-pres alone.
Seems that most (12AX7) tube-pres comes with a ElectroHarmonix tube.
even my Oracle had such one in.
The Genalex gold lion (reissue) is here a good starting point...........worth its money !
i have one in my A-Bass for example, ...and also in the Oracle, finally.
The A-Bass beeing the equivalent to your sushiBox UA.
this "more control bevore break" means also more control over the "just compress it" range of the tube, which allows for way better fine tuning of the saturation/compression effect, which adds more control of how your next tube in the chain would "come".
Dealing with tubes i found, that some slight compression makes immensly a difference how the tubes "come" (phrasing it, as i would in german language).
And i find the compression from a -previous- Tube, works better than the compression from your compressor stomp box. (in my case the Empress BC)
Dealing with tubes in a chain is really a thing.
And rolling tubes has "then" a even bigger weight, imho.
talking from what i experienced with my setup, running three tube-pres in a chain.
I´m NOT a distortion guy btw. . but my (AMP-less home-) setup sounds so good also in that regard that i sometimes just have to do it
https://www.thomannmusic.ch/genalex_gold_lion_12ax7_448203.htm
@Funky40 @Sushi Box FX uses JJ Electronics tubes in keeping with his preference for quality and tone. While there may be some subtle benefits from tube rolling my own results were negligible in the single tube pedals, a dual or triple tube pedal might have better results.
https://www.jj-electronic.com/en/
https://www.jj-electronic.com/en/
ahh, you´re saying here something.
My Oracle also uses the JJ electronics tubes.*
I just mixpuzzled this.
* but not the ones mentioned and recommended in my "tube rolling" thread.
which is here:
rolling tubes on pre-amps: needs a burn in time ?
i just see @el murdoque has also posted there
and might have more experience with tubes than i.I´m new to tubes finally. But: i´m a sounddesign guy. I´m very experienced there.
i´m used to test all possible soundcombinations in quick times, and hear quickly the differences in sound, and what i like. Rolling tubes was in my case a win on all three tube pres.
It was subtle too, for my ears at first.
Especially when listening to just one tube device at once.
.......but its often some subtleties that just make the difference
Though, the warmer sound of the genalex is openly perceiveable when i begin to drive the tube.
Warmer, smoother transition into OD.
Maybe losing a smidge of clarity in the Oracle vs. the JJ tube.
edit: not meant to hijack the thread
@Funky40 no worries I'm sure @el murdoque will appreciate the input. Critical comparison is a challenge especially when tube rolling, you need to set a benchmark and measure against that to do it properly and then have standards of comparison that can be equally repeated each time, none of us have the patience for that, well almost.
I only mentioned that @Sushi Box FX uses JJ ELECTRONICS as his stock tube where other (much more expensive builders) use cheaper tubes that dang well need to be upgraded. I wouldn't tolerate EH tubes in a Crate amp much less any tube device I own.
I only mentioned that @Sushi Box FX uses JJ ELECTRONICS as his stock tube where other (much more expensive builders) use cheaper tubes that dang well need to be upgraded. I wouldn't tolerate EH tubes in a Crate amp much less any tube device I own.
@Funky40 thank you for your input!
I have a few spare tubes lying around, mostly TAD ones, but also a few salvaged from an ampeg amp (I think those are Svetlanas, but they are not labeled properly for me to tell) and I tried them with my UA, but ended up putting the JJ back in. I do not stack tube preamps in my setup as is - and when I try out a pedal, I usually start with the bare essentials - just the preamp pedal and my DI (which is a German Vong, HPF+LPF+DI). The next step is adding my comp (Cali76) and finding out if it works better in front of the preamp or behind it.
The same goes for my BDPG, which is the only other preamp in my setup.
Four pedals in my chain are fixed:
At the beginning, I have the tuner, followed by a Source Audio C4. At the end, I have reverb and the filter/DI.
Between those, I have two preamps, a compressor and some kind of dirt pedal, and those can be arranged freely to suit my needs.
Right now, the chain is Overdrive -> BDPG -> Comp -> Underground Accelerator.
The Comp and UA are always on pedals. The BDPG is set to darken the sound and gives me tones for oldschool reggae and dub. The OD is set to give me some grind on my signal - the BDPG determines if it is more of a throaty bellowing (off) or a smoother grind with more bottom (on).
The setup as is works exceptionally well and gets a lot of praise from my fellow musicians.
Reading your statement makes me want to check out the A-Bass again, this time with a luxury tube inside (I never checked what is in there, but I presumed some Russian military grade tube).
I'm looking for one on the second hand market and might snag it up if one appears.
I have a few spare tubes lying around, mostly TAD ones, but also a few salvaged from an ampeg amp (I think those are Svetlanas, but they are not labeled properly for me to tell) and I tried them with my UA, but ended up putting the JJ back in. I do not stack tube preamps in my setup as is - and when I try out a pedal, I usually start with the bare essentials - just the preamp pedal and my DI (which is a German Vong, HPF+LPF+DI). The next step is adding my comp (Cali76) and finding out if it works better in front of the preamp or behind it.
The same goes for my BDPG, which is the only other preamp in my setup.
Four pedals in my chain are fixed:
At the beginning, I have the tuner, followed by a Source Audio C4. At the end, I have reverb and the filter/DI.
Between those, I have two preamps, a compressor and some kind of dirt pedal, and those can be arranged freely to suit my needs.
Right now, the chain is Overdrive -> BDPG -> Comp -> Underground Accelerator.
The Comp and UA are always on pedals. The BDPG is set to darken the sound and gives me tones for oldschool reggae and dub. The OD is set to give me some grind on my signal - the BDPG determines if it is more of a throaty bellowing (off) or a smoother grind with more bottom (on).
The setup as is works exceptionally well and gets a lot of praise from my fellow musicians.
Reading your statement makes me want to check out the A-Bass again, this time with a luxury tube inside (I never checked what is in there, but I presumed some Russian military grade tube).
I'm looking for one on the second hand market and might snag it up if one appears.
i just saw the other day by coincidendece in the german bassic.de forum that quite some folks unload their A-Bass ( or have unloaded) and the thought strived me, could be, cause they never tryed a really good Tube.
This is both good to know for me ! I was not aware that he is using better tubes.
Yet i was also not aware that the ElectroHarmonix are the "cheap" OEM kind of thing.
But you sound as it is just that
i was lusting for some sushiBox myself ! But ordering single stomps from the US is not doable for me. (shipping and import "+ the stupid additional fees *per package* (writing fees) makes it look unreasonable to me (i have a OCD on: item vs. ship&import "balance") )
