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You keep giving me ideas but that would mean a 3rd board maybe 2025. Hudson Broadcast vs Broadcast AP?OKay, so last, but certainly not least - the big board.
I need to update the pic, I removed the Sine Effect uPara. Great pedal, best of the mid range controls out there IMO, just don't need it on this board.
Plus it had the added effect that I can tidy up my board a little more to reduce potentially harmful OCD.
Okay, from first in the signal chain to last
Cali76 Bass Compact - The finest pedal compressor out there, IMO (except for maybe the Cali TX ... GAS). It adds punch and sustain and is also a tone sweetener. The sidechain features are very cool as well - I love this compressor because rather than "squashing" the signal. as many think a compressor does, I set this to expand it - really brings dynamics and harmonics out. I'm tempted to pick up the new one tho!
Wren and Cuff Phat Phuk B with Bias - I went through a lot of boosts as well (I know that you know, and I want you to know that I know that you know that I know that I went thru a lot of pretty much everything), and this one came out on top. It gets loud, it can get slightly dirty, but what I LOVE is the BIAS adjust option on the side. It's just super frikkin cool. It distorts the tone in weird and unpredictable ways - which is why I love it. There's a big caveat though - it's also a space issue. My favorite tone wise was the Spaceman Mercury IV - it's an all around great boost, but it's a bit big for this board and the OD capabilities are less chaotic than the PPB.
3Leaf Audio GR2 - fantastic envelope filter. Just fantastic. I don't think I can get a bad sound out of it - it just drips with stank. Of note are the Attack and Decay knobs - I find these to be extremely helpful on an envelope filter for my playing style. IMO the GR-2 can't be beat.
Audio Kitchens Fake Plastic Trees - I gotta thank @el murdoque for this one. Damn, this sounds good. It's designed to emulate a tube amp, and it does it in spades. Very touch sensitive, and it ads a heft and punch that needs to be heard and felt to be believed. I use it as a slight dirt and to get that tubey-goodness. top notch!
OneControl Mosquito effects loop blender - no frills, easy to use, reliable, and has a big knob for blending. I have this wired to the bottom of the board for easy access. Anything can go in here, but I've been using it for my dirt board and messing with the Helix. Solid piece of gear.
Hudson Broadcast - It's funny; I wanted to try this for a long time, and ended up buying a clone. I hated it. It just sucked the tone out of my bass. I need to look, but someone on this thread was touting it, and I decided to give it another try, and I'm glad that I did. It's a great dirt pedal, the added boost is a great touch - side note: you'll notice that I have a boost second in the chain (pre envelope filter and pre distortion) as well as a boost after all the dirt. The PPB really drives the GR-2, and front loads that distortion, while the boost on the Hudson acts as a clean boost. I love the sparkle that this gives me on the high end, especially harmonics - and this coming from a guy that hates tweeters and thinks that presence should be used sparingly, if at all
Broughton RFE - my favorite Broughton pedal. It's got so many applications - at its core, an analog speaker sim, a tone enhancer, gets the best out of fretless and can help enhance mwah, really accentuates any envelope filter. This is tone shaping at it's finest. In fact, between this and my Alembic, I had Rick from Beardly Customs put a filter based preamp in one of my basses. It's just that good.
SIB Fatdrive - I don't know how many times I've said this, but certainly a lot - I love a Fender tone stack. I think it goes back to the beginning - the very first time I ever picked up a bass and played it through an amp was this Fender Bassman 20 Combo amp - all tube, Fender tone stack - glorious. This is my favorite incarnation - it sounds so sweet, fat, juicy, just drips with tone. Like the Noble, it adds something extra - a sweet touch of harmonic depth, a richness that needs to be felt - it's been my number one for a long time. I've never been much of a beleiver in magic tubes, but this one also has some fancy vintage NOS tube in it. My only gripe is that even though it's called a "drive," it won't OD by itself. Minor quibble. I have been thinking about finding another as a backup, just in case.
BTW, I'd be remiss if I didn't say that the Sushibox UA gets pretty close to the Fatdrive tone-wise. It's thick and juicey, but it will also OD. The other Fender TMB pedal - the Master Effects Thespian - is creamier, smoother, and a little fuller with the mid-range option, but it lacks the ability to OD as well. I've been thinking about asking ME to add a gain control.
A question that I get - what's my favorite Fender Tone stack pedal preamp out of the four that I own? The Fatdrive is the winner, and I'm gonna cop out and say it's a three-way tie between the Bassrig, Thespian, and UA. Different flavors of awesome.
Noble preamp and DI. I don't know what else I can say that hasn't been said. Like the Fatdrive, it adds something extra, a 3-D quality about it, but more so. It makes everything sound better. Worth every penny.
That's it! The Noble goes to FOH and/or my amp.
View attachment 6982914
I like to think we are a community of enablers
Indeed I need a new amp and cab 1st. 3 pedals top of list New Cali 76 Bass compressor, Sushibox UA, ZEROFIVE Audio Lowrider or another RFE. For me that's a short list for a change.I like to think we are a community of enablers
This is one of maybe three boards I've seen on TB that I could pick it up and head straight to the gig, with a grin on my face.OKay, so last, but certainly not least - the big board.
I need to update the pic, I removed the Sine Effect uPara. Great pedal, best of the mid range controls out there IMO, just don't need it on this board.
Plus it had the added effect that I can tidy up my board a little more to reduce potentially harmful OCD.
Okay, from first in the signal chain to last
Cali76 Bass Compact - The finest pedal compressor out there, IMO (except for maybe the Cali TX ... GAS). It adds punch and sustain and is also a tone sweetener. The sidechain features are very cool as well - I love this compressor because rather than "squashing" the signal. as many think a compressor does, I set this to expand it - really brings dynamics and harmonics out. I'm tempted to pick up the new one tho!
Wren and Cuff Phat Phuk B with Bias - I went through a lot of boosts as well (I know that you know, and I want you to know that I know that you know that I know that I went thru a lot of pretty much everything), and this one came out on top. It gets loud, it can get slightly dirty, but what I LOVE is the BIAS adjust option on the side. It's just super frikkin cool. It distorts the tone in weird and unpredictable ways - which is why I love it. There's a big caveat though - it's also a space issue. My favorite tone wise was the Spaceman Mercury IV - it's an all around great boost, but it's a bit big for this board and the OD capabilities are less chaotic than the PPB.
3Leaf Audio GR2 - fantastic envelope filter. Just fantastic. I don't think I can get a bad sound out of it - it just drips with stank. Of note are the Attack and Decay knobs - I find these to be extremely helpful on an envelope filter for my playing style. IMO the GR-2 can't be beat.
Audio Kitchens Fake Plastic Trees - I gotta thank @el murdoque for this one. Damn, this sounds good. It's designed to emulate a tube amp, and it does it in spades. Very touch sensitive, and it ads a heft and punch that needs to be heard and felt to be believed. I use it as a slight dirt and to get that tubey-goodness. top notch!
OneControl Mosquito effects loop blender - no frills, easy to use, reliable, and has a big knob for blending. I have this wired to the bottom of the board for easy access. Anything can go in here, but I've been using it for my dirt board and messing with the Helix. Solid piece of gear.
Hudson Broadcast - It's funny; I wanted to try this for a long time, and ended up buying a clone. I hated it. It just sucked the tone out of my bass. I need to look, but someone on this thread was touting it, and I decided to give it another try, and I'm glad that I did. It's a great dirt pedal, the added boost is a great touch - side note: you'll notice that I have a boost second in the chain (pre envelope filter and pre distortion) as well as a boost after all the dirt. The PPB really drives the GR-2, and front loads that distortion, while the boost on the Hudson acts as a clean boost. I love the sparkle that this gives me on the high end, especially harmonics - and this coming from a guy that hates tweeters and thinks that presence should be used sparingly, if at all
Broughton RFE - my favorite Broughton pedal. It's got so many applications - at its core, an analog speaker sim, a tone enhancer, gets the best out of fretless and can help enhance mwah, really accentuates any envelope filter. This is tone shaping at it's finest. In fact, between this and my Alembic, I had Rick from Beardly Customs put a filter based preamp in one of my basses. It's just that good.
SIB Fatdrive - I don't know how many times I've said this, but certainly a lot - I love a Fender tone stack. I think it goes back to the beginning - the very first time I ever picked up a bass and played it through an amp was this Fender Bassman 20 Combo amp - all tube, Fender tone stack - glorious. This is my favorite incarnation - it sounds so sweet, fat, juicy, just drips with tone. Like the Noble, it adds something extra - a sweet touch of harmonic depth, a richness that needs to be felt - it's been my number one for a long time. I've never been much of a beleiver in magic tubes, but this one also has some fancy vintage NOS tube in it. My only gripe is that even though it's called a "drive," it won't OD by itself. Minor quibble. I have been thinking about finding another as a backup, just in case.
BTW, I'd be remiss if I didn't say that the Sushibox UA gets pretty close to the Fatdrive tone-wise. It's thick and juicey, but it will also OD. The other Fender TMB pedal - the Master Effects Thespian - is creamier, smoother, and a little fuller with the mid-range option, but it lacks the ability to OD as well. I've been thinking about asking ME to add a gain control.
A question that I get - what's my favorite Fender Tone stack pedal preamp out of the four that I own? The Fatdrive is the winner, and I'm gonna cop out and say it's a three-way tie between the Bassrig, Thespian, and UA. Different flavors of awesome.
Noble preamp and DI. I don't know what else I can say that hasn't been said. Like the Fatdrive, it adds something extra, a 3-D quality about it, but more so. It makes everything sound better. Worth every penny.
That's it! The Noble goes to FOH and/or my amp.
View attachment 6982914
Did you compare it to the Ampeg SGT DI and the Broughton SV-Pre?
Wow, thanks for mentioning this: my single coils are practically unusable in my house and while my “studio” is in a less than ideal setup (basement of a 140 year old house; wires running everywhere overhead; next to the furnace), in our backyard is a pumping station (one of the few things an under sea level swamp city and mountain town have in common, I guess) that is nearly as old as our house and runs constantly.
Wren and Cuff says that it's a not a clean boost, but to my ears it's clean if the bias is set correctly. I don't know if you know of the Small Sound/Big Sound Mini, but it reminds me of that - a germanium fuzz almost, when the bias is cranked in the extreme setting. I think if you are just looking for a clean boost it's great, but if you don't like germanium then you won't like the bias options.
okay, so this is probably bass-player blasphemy, but I never cared for the SVT sound. It's great for rock, but IMO that's all I would use it for, and a good Fender tone stack sounds better to my ears for rock anyways. My favorite iteration of the SVT tone is the SVT II Pro and the SVT-Pre (rackmount). - and It's because those have graphic EQs that can tame that SVT base tone and give something more usable to me.
I tried the Broughton, and it was good, great even, but it still had that SVT tone. Punchy as all get out tho, and I didn't miss a tube. The lunchbox SVT from Broughton was very punchy and full, and IMO got closest to a real SVT (other than an SVT itself).
It was a fuzzy OD IMO - the bias control just does a "thing" for lack of better term. It gets spitty and kind of random, it's pretty cool IMO - I do love me some chaos!
No, and I keep hearing about it tho - I'll be interested in your opinions
Yeah, it's honestly a little miracle box. I'm planning on doing some demos at some point ... I just had some minor hand surgery and I'll be travelling over the next few weeks, but when I get back I'll start putting some stuff up.
I actually don't miss mine. I bought it when they were uncommon but not hyped and sold it with a profit - while I owned it, I played it a lot and it was my go-to drive pedal for quite a while, but my tastes changed for a bit and the Mini could not fully keep up.
