My preamp journey

[moon-bass]

*sigh* I originally wondered if the Hudson Broadcast was a Talkbass Flavor of the Month, but I've kept seeing the Hudson Broadcast come up here and there for long enough that it's now been added to my G.A.S. list.

I had a clone at first and I wasn't impressed at all, but I kept hearing good things about the real thing, so I am glad I ended up buying it. It sounds really, really good - if that's what you are looking for.

Hmm Hmm.... Haven't heard of this one. Will be interested in thoughts if you ever check one out.

This is on the top of my GAS list right now. @el murdoque clued me onto this one. I had heard of it before, and I'm pretty psyched to try it!

 

[moon-bass]

if you are constantly fighting boominess might i recommend switching to sealed cabs and buying an auraxlex gramma pad. i have done both and no long have to fight the bass frequencies or a hollow stage. it will render the HPF obsolete.

I have to keep my gear as light and as transportable as possible, and I find that I like to tighten up the bass even on solid slabs. I have heard good things about the pad tho!

 

[moon-bass]

The Double Jive arrived today, I'm going to put it through it's paces later this evening. It's a little bigger than what I thought, but it's very solidly built.

And thanks to @el murdoque , and I mean that, I pulled the trigger on a Fake Elastic Trees. I'm looking forward to playing through it!

 

[moon-bass]

I should be working, but I have been playing with the Double Jive, and I gotta say it's a cool f'ing pedal. It plays really well with the El Grande tube preamp/boost. Some really nice dirt, I haven't played too many like it, if at all. Let the honeymoon period commence!

 

[Maxi Funkl]

Rheingold BP2 you say? I have not heard of it until now, and now ... GAS! Looks pretty interesting! Have you tried it? This is going to the top of the list, along with the Fake Elastic Trees pedal. I really need to get rid of a few things tho.

The Caveman is on my list to try, but it just seems so. .. expensive for no EQ. There's one in the classifieds for awhile, I have been toying with picking it up.

IT's been on my list for a while just haven't pulled the trigger! It was actually out long before the BP1C.

Edit: There was one dude on Facebook you had BP2 going into BP1C and Broughton HPF/LPF into both.

 

[moon-bass]

Man ...

I really like the Double Jive pedal. It's been awhile since I've had so much fun with a dirt pedal. It's just a different beast altogether. The single Jive is cool enough, but stacking them is when the magic happens.

You see, there are these three little toggle switches on each one. I'm not 100% sure what they do, but the maker says "three clipping diode toggles that allow you to experiment with different levels of asymmetry and symmetry" - in practice, they are pretty cool, especially when stacked. I'm gathering that each one somehow changes how the diode(s) clip(s), and you can set them for one position on Jive 1 and the other position on Jive 2.

This leads to some really cool thing - in some settings, some of the diodes clip in even harmonic order and some in odd, so you get your sound clipping in both even and odd harmonics at once. It can be dissonant, or quite beautiful. You can lower the volume of one and set the odds to be very faint, which gives this kind of distorted chorus effect, or you can set it higher for a harsher effect.

Not to mention that you can run them in parallel or serial, etc. All in all, it's a pretty cool pedal.

by no means would anyone ever describe it as "smooth" or "tube like" - this ain't the pedal if that's what you are looking for. The distortion is crunchy - it's not fuzz, it's got a nice pronounced clipping, just like an over driven console should.

@el murdoque - on your dirt bender, have you ever run across anything like that?

Also, the Tacoma El Grande punches way above it's weight class. It's very smooth, nice tube compression - it's going to make a fine tube boost for me. Very cool, especially for the price!

 

[el murdoque]

Man ...

I really like the Double Jive pedal. It's been awhile since I've had so much fun with a dirt pedal. It's just a different beast altogether. The single Jive is cool enough, but stacking them is when the magic happens.

You see, there are these three little toggle switches on each one. I'm not 100% sure what they do, but the maker says "three clipping diode toggles that allow you to experiment with different levels of asymmetry and symmetry" - in practice, they are pretty cool, especially when stacked. I'm gathering that each one somehow changes how the diode(s) clip(s), and you can set them for one position on Jive 1 and the other position on Jive 2.

This leads to some really cool thing - in some settings, some of the diodes clip in even harmonic order and some in odd, so you get your sound clipping in both even and odd harmonics at once. It can be dissonant, or quite beautiful. You can lower the volume of one and set the odds to be very faint, which gives this kind of distorted chorus effect, or you can set it higher for a harsher effect.

Not to mention that you can run them in parallel or serial, etc. All in all, it's a pretty cool pedal.

by no means would anyone ever describe it as "smooth" or "tube like" - this ain't the pedal if that's what you are looking for. The distortion is crunchy - it's not fuzz, it's got a nice pronounced clipping, just like an over driven console should.

@el murdoque - on your dirt bender, have you ever run across anything like that?

I've never tried the double Jive, but of course did I try stacking drives that do different things.
This is a very dangerous rabbit-hole for people like us.

For your experimentation, here is what the switches do:

I do prefer to run the Jive late in chain, after compression, and I set it to the spot where it just adds a little sweetness to the signal. All switches in off position and gain set accordingly (turn up until there is audible distortion happening and back of one notch from there). It is a sweet sound that could easily be used as always on for many genres. And when you run a dirt pedal into that, you get additional sparks that can be very pleasant!

 

[moon-bass]

I've never tried the double Jive, but of course did I try stacking drives that do different things.
This is a very dangerous rabbit-hole for people like us.

For your experimentation, here is what the switches do:
View attachment 5326924
I do prefer to run the Jive late in chain, after compression, and I set it to the spot where it just adds a little sweetness to the signal. All switches in off position and gain set accordingly (turn up until there is audible distortion happening and back of one notch from there). It is a sweet sound that could easily be used as always on for many genres. And when you run a dirt pedal into that, you get additional sparks that can be very pleasant!

That's awesome - thanks for the pic! So it's three diodes - a germanium, silicon, and an LED, and each can set to sym/asym. Super, super cool, and i was hoping that's the way it's designed. This is definitely going to be a rabbit hole

I'm gonna look at stacking other drives - I love the concept of mixing clipping types, sounds so frickin' sweet. I've been googling dirt pedals and their clipping types ...

 

[el murdoque]

I do think that you can only switch those diodes in or out of the circuit, not toggle them sym/asym, but I could be mistaken.

You should find, in your vast collection, pedals that are loaded with different clipping diodes, pedals that just drive the bare silicone and pedals that do transformers and of course tubes.
I found it interesting to experiment with stacking different pedals that do the same (as in Germanium overdrive into Germanium overdrive) and pedals that use different means - run a very mild silicone overdrive into a very mild driven transformer into a very mild tube drive and you get boxed around the ears in pleasant new ways.

 

[el murdoque]

The two pedals that excel at having dirt pedals run into them are the Jive with all the switches to the left and the Fuzzrocious BDPG.

 

[moon-bass]

The two pedals that excel at having dirt pedals run into them are the Jive with all the switches to the left and the Fuzzrocious BDPG.

I've heard good things about the BDPG!

 

[el murdoque]

It IS a weird pedal, but I've really grown to like it.
The later four knob versions make more sense.
I have both a three knob and the last four knob ever built. The three knob is a little too dirty for my taste to run it solo. The four knob is something I use often in my reggae band. I have everything set for what I perceive as a modern reggae sound with a big bottom end, but also heaps of treble for definition, and when we play roots reggae tunes, I kick in the BDPG which knocks off a bit of the top end and gives the slightest amount of fizz, so it gets a bit fluffy around the edges.
It also makes playing staccato bass licks stick out better in a mix (think Dawn Penn - You Don't Love Me).

But as I said, it is one of the pedals that really likes being fed another dirt pedal. When you set the BDPG so there is barely audible distortion of your notes and then you set your drive pedal to just the brink, where you get amp like harmonic breakup that reacts well to playing dynamics, and then you send the dirt pedal into the BDPG, you get way more dirt than you'd expect, plus a fatter low end.

I don't understand why this pedal is not insanely popular with anyone playing stoner/sludge/doom, where that kind of sound is sought after.

 

[moon-bass]

I do think that you can only switch those diodes in or out of the circuit, not toggle them sym/asym, but I could be mistaken.

I confirmed, it's the sym/asym toggle - the two types of clipping feed off each other, and it's pretty cool.

Now I'm looking for other pedals that will allow sym/asym clipping options as well. Apparently some pedal called a "Timmy."

This is also where I prefer knobs over digital. I have an HX Stomp XL and a Source Audio Ultra Wave - looking at the UW, I can set something up, but damn, it would be nice to just tweak knobs.

 

[ImTheOnlyOne]

Great feedback. In the same category, you should also have tried the Caveman BP1, the Caveman BP1 compact, and Rheingold BP2 IMO

The BP1 stands out above the BP1-C here:


Noble ruled the roost, and the Super Pre stood apart.

 

[moon-bass]

I'm still digging the Double Jive - honeymoon period is definitely over and I'm still having a blast. I'm looking for a builder to make me a modified version, but so far no takers.

I also picked up this little guy for cheap - I wasn't thinking for just the boost, but with the VFE the thing is like a slap solo in a box!

 

[Maxi Funkl]

The BP1 stands out above the BP1-C here:


Noble ruled the roost, and the Super Pre stood apart.

BP1 killed the Oracle was really nice as well. Noble was a Noble. But for money BP1C was better than I expected. Berg while sounded good menu diving isn't my thing.

 

[ImTheOnlyOne]

BP1 killed the Oracle was really nice as well. Noble was a Noble. But for money BP1C was better than I expected. Berg while sounded good menu diving isn't my thing.

I've used devices having menus like wormholes to alternate dimensions, but the Super Pre has more of a cycling, pre-touch screen vehicle infotainment vibe I struggle to appreciate better.
>click<>click< >click< >click< twiddle Home
>click< >click< >click< twiddle Home

Curious how the Khan compares.

 

[moon-bass]

I've used devices having menus like wormholes to alternate dimensions, but the Super Pre has more of a cycling, pre-touch screen vehicle infotainment vibe I struggle to appreciate better.
>click<>click< >click< >click< twiddle Home
>click< >click< >click< twiddle Home

Curious how the Khan compares.

I had a Khan briefly - it's like "SVT-izing" your sound. In other words, it's like adding an SVT to your sound. It slams, especially if you dig an SVT!

 

[moon-bass]

This came today, thanks for the recommendation @el murdoque !! Super cool so far, and I'm digging the grind!

 

[el murdoque]

I viewed it as a dirt pedal when it came in. Then I played around with it and suddenly was not so sure any more. It does that lovely impression of a strained tube amp when you set root a bit past noon and have the gain on the edge of breakup.
However, the higher you go, the more you feel like playing something else. Almost like a synth, but not a synth.
If synths grew on trees and you'd pick one from an organic, non GMO synth tree orchard, it could sound like this.
Dime it all and even then it stays pleasant.
When you run it at higher gain, the way it clears up on note decay, at least on my flatwound setup, reminds me of an envelope filter going shut.