Needing attack delay pedal opinions

[Kazoo_Legend]

So I've done a search and can't find anything relevant that's under a year and a half old, so I figured I call in for an update and see what all my fella TB'ers are doing. The pedals in question are:

-VFE Bumblebee
-BYOC Lazy Sprocket
-Guyatone SVm5
-Malekko Omicron AD

I'm looking for a basic standalone unit that does this function to the standards of us tone junkies. I obviously don't want to spend $400 on a Boss Slow Gear, I have a Micro POG and am not really interested in dropping it push for a POG2. I already have a versatile setup for volume swells with my volume pedal, 2 delays, and 2 reverbs. I'm not looking to use an ebow for ridding the sound of an attack, but I do plan on stacking FX to get a cello and/or bass sound when I so desire.

There's not an extremely wide array of information on pedals like these as they are very specific and the effect they do is often emulated with volume pedals/knobs, reverse delays, compression tricks and playing techniques. After researching on HOW people get delayed attack and bow sounds, I've narrowed my search to a few pedals that I think might do the trick. I play a lot of ambient/experimental music, and sometimes the sweep of volume pedal is not quick enough and the reverse delay on my RV-3 comes with a pre-determined reverb sound that isn't always needed. So I'm looking for something a little more at the 'quicker' end of the attack spectrum.

So far, I like the pedals above for different reasons. But as bassists, there's always a slight crutch when using guitar FX and it often takes one of us to take a leap of faith to experiment with FX that won't possibly work for bass. So I need your opinions. I like the VFE Bumblebee for it's seemingly versatile approach with adding compression for sustain, which would really come in handy when pursuing a more orchestrated sound, plus VFE has a great reputation as quality company(Made in the US). I like the price tag of the BYOC and it's supposed emulation of the original Boss circuit, also building my first pedal sounds kinda fun. I like the Guyatone and Malekko for their extremely small footprint and great reputation as well. The Guyatone has been mentioned just as much as the Behringer when being compared to the Slow Gear. Any and all opinions are greatly appreciated, even if there's some pedals I'm not aware of that might fit my needs.

Cheers

EDIT: I'm also anxious to hear what people didn't like about certain pedals as well.

 

[Gabeja15]

Behringer makes a direct clone of the Boss Slow Gear for $25. Ive been very pleased with the other vintage boss clones ive bought from behringer, namely the DM-2 copy.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Behringer-SM200-Slow-Motion-Classic-Attack-Guitar-Effects-Pedal-104508825-i2544733.gc?source=4WWRWXGP&kwid=productads-plaid^32411920121-sku^104508825@ADL4gc-adType^PLA-device^c-adid^13625724281

Its also worth noting that the EHX Bass Micro Synth has an attack delay option.

 

[icecycle66]

My Slow Motion sounds just like a Lazy Sprocket I once had.

 

[johnk_10]

I built my own slow gear clone as well as an ADA gator, both do the volume sweel thing perfect. that said, I also own the cheapo berringer slow motion and surprisingly, it works and sounds great too. so I can recommend the berringer.

 

[sillyfabe]

I use to own a Slow Motion,Lazy Sprocket and VFE Echo Ohce (custom pedal with half blueprint delay and the other half being the bumbebee).

All worked very well for what it appears you are seeking.

I got rid of them and since use my EHX H.O.G. as well as technique and volume knob.

 

[Kazoo_Legend]

Its also worth noting that the EHX Bass Micro Synth has an attack delay option.

The large footprint is a factor here. I need as small of a footprint as possible. I'm pretty humbled by how much love the Behringer is getting here......

 

[johnk_10]

my slow gear clone required a 125B (larger than the MXR sized enclosure), but my gator managed to fit in a 1590B.

 

[Kazoo_Legend]

my slow gear clone required a 125B (larger than the MXR sized enclosure), but my gator managed to fit in a 1590B.

Wow, that's amazing man. You have any criticism between the two?

 

[johnk_10]

Wow, that's amazing man. You have any criticism between the two?

the slow gear and the gator are completely different circuits to achieve the same result. the boss uses 6 transistors and a single opamp, and the gator uses all opamps. IMO the gator is a bit better and more controllable than the slow gear.

slow gear schematic:

gator schematic:

Link Removed

 

[spufman]

I have the Guyatone SV2 and it works fine on bass. I use it occasionally when I want to do that cello sorta thing. Double-stops bloom nicely, especially with a little added modulation.

 

[Explorer]

For what it's worth, the Slow Gear and its ilk work by opening a gate in response to a signal passing a threshold. Unless the signal crops to zero, the gate doesn't close and retrigger for the next note.

That's why I prefer the POG/HOG/POG2 for this. It will slow down the attack polyphonicly. If you have one string sounding, and you play a string while letting the first one ring, the second string also gets the attack slowed.

 

[Kazoo_Legend]

For what it's worth, the Slow Gear and its ilk work by opening a gate in response to a signal passing a threshold. Unless the signal crops to zero, the gate doesn't close and retrigger for the next note.

That's why I prefer the POG/HOG/POG2 for this. It will slow down the attack polyphonicly. If you have one string sounding, and you play a string while letting the first one ring, the second string also gets the attack slowed.

Yeah I noticed that with the VFE Bumblebee (I ended up with it based on the additional sustaining options) which is a Slow Gear Circuit. Autoswell setting on my Mobius can be set to do it polyphonically as well, though I didn't have the Moby when I started this thread. I expected the gate on the VFE to work like a envelope follower, which was a huge let down as I had never really messed with many attack delay pedals before.