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need help please!! guyatone bb-x driver flip

F

FrancesKFarmer

Jun 5, 2007
2
0
Spain
www.myspace.com
#1
hi! i just signed up here but i ve been reading a couple of months. this site is the greatest place for bass advice!
anyway, i ve crossed the line between reader and writer because i just found a guyatone bass driver flip bb-x, the price is perfect and can be shipped to me in a week. but im not sure if its the right pedal for me. i use a boss b overdrive and well, couple of cheap pedals with delay, flanger and tremolo. i ve been looking for another distortion and i dont really know what i want. my band wants me to get an eh english muffn, and it sounds good, but im not sure. anyone got a word of advice? should i get the guyatone? my only doubt is that the seller told me that its a really heavy distortion (and then he told me to look for dna analogic bass driver) im too confused!
thanx anyway guys
 
#2
You should try one to see if it what you want before you buy it. That is a mistake I have made before now: other people like it, and say it is good, the price is right, and you buy it. Then when it arrives you plug it in and play, and don't like it. Just because someone else tells you to buy it, you shouldn't. Get down to a music shop and try stuff.
 
#4
FrancesKFarmer said:
my only doubt is that the seller told me that its a really heavy distortion
Click to expand...
This is true. This pedal is 12DC powered, with a 12AX7 tube inside. This means there is a lot of gain from the tube and lots of saturation and compression from the power supply (starving plate). PLus there's the specific way an AX7 distorts. I personaly dislike that type of distortion, I sometimes call it 'high-pitched farting'. The overall sounds remind me of a guitar pluged into a high-gain pedal, maybe like a Metalzone or something. In fact, I bought it from a guitarist!!

On the other hand there is lots of tweaking possibilities! You can control the level of distorted and clean signals independently, high gain range (although it won't do anything subtle), a semi-parametric mid EQ and a knob to control the bass content in the distorted signal. AND you can swap tubes.

I believe this pedal would benefit from some high-fidelity mods, like many modders mod Boss pedals. The EQ would work better, there would be less hiss. I also hope changing the tube to something as low-gain as an 12AU7 will improve the touch-sensitivety a bit. And I don't need that much gain, the stock version can give you ridiculously high gains!

Funnily enough, another TB's asks in another thread, how to get a John Entwistle solo tone from a youtube video. I think if you can setup your bass to have a trebly, bitting tone and then take the BBX and set: clean & gain fairly high and distorted level low, you could get a quite similar sound.

The other way round, you can use that video to roughly aproximate a sound the BBX is probably capable of. But have in mind that John probably had gear costing many times more to give him this sound.

I'll be able to describe it better, when I swap the tube and finally recieve a new bass.

Bottom line: Unless you are sure you can sell it for the same price afterwards, try before you buy. I didn't and regret is haunting me little :). And if even the seller recommends you not to, the you'll probably should save the money for something else, like the mentioned English Muff'n - that's what I want to get some day for it's highly regarded touch-sensitivety! :bassist:

Sorry my descriptions can't be more helpfull, I hope they'll help anyway!

Cheers,
John

EDIT: forgot the obligatory YMMV.
 
#5
whoa zeemno, your descriptions are perfect. now knowing the kind of sound i could get out of the guyatone, i just want to have it more and more. but living where i live (really really small town in spain) it's just impossible to try it before i buy it. so i think i'll wait some more time before getting something like this. I think it's possible to try the Eng Muffn here, so I'll go for that one.
anyway, who knows which one will end up in my hands! I'll let you know... thanx everyone for the advice
xxx
Marina
 

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