Looking forward to seeing what you think of it. Interesting to see the Dry knob.
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New Origin Effects DCX Bass
- Thread starter Derek Williams
- Start date
What’s the DCX like with an active bass (18v)? Does it go into drive too quickly or does it stay clean for a bit?
Depends how you want it set. Doesn’t matter if it’s my American pro p 5 string or my stingray special 5 (18v pre amp)
keeping it switched to EQ and the drive somewhere about 2 o clock gives me some drive when I dig in.
obviously switched to OD that changes things. You can dial in as much or as little as you want. It’s a very handy pedal with options!
Thanks! I have a Saturn VI that sounds great with my Fender Ultra Precision in passive but farts out when it’s in active mode. Wondering if the DCX stays clean with active basses when the gain is down or if actives drive it earlier in the gain range (in EQ mode).
Have the Saturn VI and the DCX. Agreed the Saturn drive gets real aggro on an active instrument. I run the DCX with the drive around noon in EQ, and use a Scorpion in front with my active basses and if you like, you can have unity gain.
So far, with both of my basses mentioned in my previous post, the same setting works, maybe a very slight adjustment if any. I do use it as an always on “preamp” into a KHAN VTDI with IEM’s in a live setting weekly. I like to keep a lil hair on, and some break up when I get excited and dig in, but it can stay “clean”. What are you looking to achieve with it if no drive?
it pairs very well with the cali76 and both are very responsive with the adaptive circuit. It really does work well!
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Thanks @prndltech ! Mainly wanting to know that it won’t overdrive too early like the Saturn VI does so that the lower gain ranges/bit of hair is available while using an active bass, which it sounds like it does! I’m looking for that low gain sound that I get with the Saturn VI in passive mode but with an active preamp!
Origin_Effects
Commercial User
- Feb 12, 2018
- 76
- 1,030
- Disclosures
- British Boutique Effects Pedal Builders
...it has a blend knob!
Just to jump in. Technically it's not a BLEND knob, it's a DRY level. Here are the two main differences between the Halcyon Gold's DRY control and the BLEND knobs you guys are used to seeing on bass overdrives/distortions.
- A typical bass drive BLEND control will increase dry signal and decrease drive signal simultaneously, ranging from 100% DRY at one extreme to 100% OVERDRIVE at the other. The DRY control on the Halcyon Gold simply adds dry signal while leaving the overdrive level unchanged. The idea is just to let the attack portion of the note poke through overdrive sound and give a bit more definition to notes, especially when pushing into an overdriven amp. The effect will probably "feel" more like what you get from parallel compression than what you'd expect from a modern bass drive with a blend.
- The reason the DRY control has been included on the Halcyon Gold is that the Klon Centaur has some dry signal mixed in with the drive, for the reasons mentioned above - dynamics, articulation etc. In a real Klon, the DRY level is dictated by the setting of the drive knob, whereas we've made it independently adjustable. This means you can get those dynamic peaks even with a very overdriven sound, which wouldn't be possible on a real Klon. Like a real Klon, the DRY path has a slight voicing too it, rather than being completely unaffected. These two things mean that you won't likely get that "50:50 pristine clean/heavy drive" sound that a lot of bass pedals provide, but you will be able to some nice support and definition - especially with high gain - that you won't get from a stock Klon or accurate Klone.
We look forward to seeing Dereks reporting on his findings.
I think this might end up as an interesting addition to bass pedalboards, that Darkglass super glassy distortion is not massively applicable in a lot of situations where as reactive and responsive overdrive can be just as useful as it is on guitar.
I need to try one of these out.
Dave
Halcyon Gold received. Just did a quick test with headphones, and so far so good. No big drop off in bass with the Dry control at 100%. When the gain starts going above noon the drive starts to overpower the low end, but I don't hear it dropping away. I unfortunately don't have my other pedals around to compare it with as they are all packed for moving. I will give it a go later after work using an amp to try getting a better feel of the bass from it, and might try running it into a DAW to check the frequencies.
First impression of the sound: sounds great. Without having the Green handy to compare with, it seems like the Gold has more high mid drive and sounds brighter. Plenty of variations in sound by changing the Adapt and Voice, even moreso than what I could hear in the guitar demos.
Looks like I'll be keeping this one.
First impression of the sound: sounds great. Without having the Green handy to compare with, it seems like the Gold has more high mid drive and sounds brighter. Plenty of variations in sound by changing the Adapt and Voice, even moreso than what I could hear in the guitar demos.
Looks like I'll be keeping this one.
An extra caveat: I want to like Origin pedals, I love their design, feel, and features. This still sounds like using a guitar overdrive, but as long as I can get enough low end I am happy.
Because it is a guitar overdrive… origin said they’re working on a bass version.
I believe your referring to OE saying they are going to do "Bass video" examples, not a different pedal.
Chiming in to say I use the DCX Bass exclusively with an active instrument and I've found the same as prndltech and Gorilla Monsoon: it handles the hotter signal just fine.
I can’t really do a direct comparison as my DCX is packed away. The DCX is more transparent, the Gold colours the sound even when the drive is turned down (at least for some Adapt settings). Gold is also more mids heavy. DCX is (unsurprisingly) a better bass overdrive, and I’d recommend the Halcyon Green over the Gold. But the Gold works better than the M-EQ, which can lose a lot of low end.
I'm going to have to get the Halcyon Gold and play with it some. I'll bet there is some quality Bass sound in there, just not the standard Bass sound. 
I just tried it with my amp. Some nice barky mids, and enough low end.I'm going to have to get the Halcyon Gold and play with it some. I'll bet there is some quality Bass sound in there, just not the standard Bass sound.
