Neptunium? When? How’d I miss this???

[Ralph Manak]

I've been afraid to make something called the Bento Box because I know it would have to be the "everything" pedal.

Just a little bit of everything.

 

[John Stephen]

I've been afraid to make something called the Bento Box because I know it would have to be the "everything" pedal.

I'll take a Bento with compression and sashimi, please.

 

[HoHumbucker]

I'll take a Bento with compression and sashimi, please.

Ah, there you go. The first "pick your own adventure pedal"

You have 3 (or maybe 4) slots in you pedal bento box you can choose from a list of possible features
(distortion, overdrive, compression, preamp, DI, MORE, fuzz, whatever)
Pick your favorites and mix/match your personal bento box.

Yeah, ridiculous I know. But fun to visualize. The Sushi Box Lego-esque multi-pedal of good taste.

 

[FronTowardEnemy]

I grabbed one and I love it.

I run an UA in my chain as well. I own a finally. V1 and a Particle Accelerator X also.

I won’t ever sell any Sushi Box pedal. They are just to cool, reliable, and killer sounding.

I’ve probly gigged around 150 shows with Nathan’s pedals, and they have definitely helped me get “my sound” for sure.

This is all my opinion so you have to go try some Sushi for yourself.

 

[kesslari]

Thank you, @Sushi Box FX for explaining. You have my deep respect. You also make awesome pedals.
Dude, you rock.

 

[Drucocu]

Neptunium? More like Unobtanium.

I get all the reasons of the builder, but heck: why not keep building, what the public wants?

 

[WRM]

This doesn't help, but when I heard "last batch of Neptunium", I placed my order (same with the SB HW "Lab Rat", MB Subway DI+, and 1 of 100 GL USA LE JB). I just can't see ever parting with them.

SW DI+ isn't "discontinued", just not presently in production. I'm not a fan of resuming "Limited Edition" type production - if that's the last batch, it's the last batch....

Good luck,

 

[mikeswals]

I ordered a More while the last 4-5 Neptuniums were still available, and I sat there for several hours looking back at the product page thinking I should have grabbed one on that same order. Dummy me for not doing it.

I do have a Finally v1 as well and it's a killer DI, love it.

 

[John Stephen]

I ordered a More while the last 4-5 Neptuniums were still available, and I sat there for several hours looking back at the product page thinking I should have grabbed one on that same order. Dummy me for not doing it.

I do have a Finally v1 as well and it's a killer DI, love it.

glad you like the Finally. I'm curious, what is a killer DI? I don't have much experience with this, what does the DI do that well?

 

[Parzival]

I've been afraid to make something called the Bento Box because I know it would have to be the "everything" pedal.

Want

 

[Snibborwocky]

I have been fascinated by the Noble for quite some time and when I saw Sushi Box making a compact clone version of it, I had to jump on one as quick as possible. I had a really difficult time choosing between the Neptunium and the Finally v2 but I think I scooped up one of the remaining 25 or so that were left just days after it was announced they were being discontinued. I justified the purchase as a 50th birthday present to myself as I really have never splurged on anything like this for a special occasion. I'm very happy that I got the chance to get one and it will remain on my pedalboard permanently.

 

[mikeswals]

glad you like the Finally. I'm curious, what is a killer DI? I don't have much experience with this, what does the DI do that well?

It does several things: adds that glassy bite from a tube preamp which can get hairy if you crank it, or you can put a higher gain tube in it if you want grind all the time.
Tubes have a bit of compression in their nature, and upper end notes tend to sing with noticeably more fullness to them.
I play tube amps alot for my main band, so adding that tube character when I play solid states amps, and especially for my secondary band which is IEM only and no amps, and it brings some of that familiar element to my sound. I've had one of my regular sound guys think I brought my amp heads when I didn't.

 

[andare]

Disclaimer: I’m not a Sushi Box FX customer yet. Currently saving up so I can throw my money at Nathan asap.

I have however interacted with Nathan here and elsewhere. He’s extremely generous with his time and knowledge and definitely a person with a ton of passion and integrity. Much respect to his explanation above.

 

[S-Bigbottom]

Just the hype of a Noble alternative, smaller and cheaper.
Though it is a great box, SushiBox makes many other fantastic preams as well as the Finally DI and Venus box with more to come.

Go get yourself's something else from Nathan and you will forget about that Noble thing.
Us long time Sushi users have.

 

[pfschim]

Just the hype of a Noble alternative, smaller and cheaper.
Though it is a great box, SushiBox makes many other fantastic preams as well as the Finally DI and Venus box with more to come.

Go get yourself's something else from Nathan and you will forget about that Noble thing.
Us long time Sushi users have.

well, there must be something to the Noble thing, or all these guys would not be cloning them.

 

[CoachEvan]

Just wondering: for everyone jonesing for the Neptunium, have you tried the Venus Z? I think it’s a great DI for those chasing tube warmth. I’ve been really happy with it (and with my Dreamcatcher, and More, and…)

 

[Parzival]

Since discontinuing Neptunium I have received an average of one email per day asking if/when they will be available again.


At the end of the day, Neptunium is basically a Noble clone. That's what it was designed to be. It can be argued that it's not an exact clone because it's only part of the Noble, and legally there's nothing Jack can do to stop me from making and selling them as long as I'm not using the Noble name to do it. But that's not what I want to be as a brand, and to be candid it's been a little frustrating that of all the pedals I make, the one that's garnered the most hype has been the one that wasn't an original design.

But what are your next pedals to be released? Are they emulations of B-15 and SVT? Come on. Do only original designs from this point forward or those words above hang hollow. I was sad I was not in position to get a Neptunium when they were available. To hell with loyal customers though. You do you.

Thanks and good luck with your Ampeg copies.

 

[Terry Reilley]

I got a Nobelium in May. When I saw the Neptunium for sale not long after and throughout the summer I coveted it for its size. However, there was no way I could justify a $350 spend after just getting a Nobelium.

Too bad for me, timing-wise but I use the Nobelium every day and the size isn't that big of a deal to me. I also use both the DI and the 1/2" outputs every day. At least I know that each output gets it's own tube, unlike the Neptunium. Well, that's what I tell myself, at least.

Same here. Another TalkBasser built mine for me and I love it, but now I want to downsize my pedalboard and the Neptunium caught my eye. It’s not just the size either. Nathan makes the pedals look good too. That hammered finish and clean logo is a real eye-catcher.

 

[Sushi Box FX]

But what are your next pedals to be released? Are they emulations of B-15 and SVT? Come on. Do only original designs from this point forward or those words above hang hollow. I was sad I was not in position to get a Neptunium when they were available. To hell with loyal customers though. You do you.

Thanks and good luck with your Ampeg copies.

I consider that apples and oranges. Noble is a pedal, and Neptunium is a copy of that pedal. B-15N and SVT are amplifiers, and Grand Slampegg and SBVT are attempts to get that sound and feel in pedal form. Neither of these are exact copy/paste replicas of the Ampeg circuits, because turning an amplifier circuit into a pedal isn't that simple. Grand Slampegg and SBVT are actually great examples because they have both taken several iterations of prototypes and countless hours of testing and tweaking for me to feel happy with the results, that's why they are taking so long to release. The design of Neptunium took maybe 3 hours start to finish.

 

[Parzival]

Cool. Good luck with those. You are a great pedal builder. Hope to see more original designs.