New Origin Effects DCX Bass

[Evan J]

The more I work with the DCX, the more I have re-ordered my chain the get to most out of it.

1. I actually ditched my compressor altogether to let the DCX responsiveness shine. Now I let FOH compress for me (he’s also a bassist… so I trust him).

2. I used to be on team “end of chain” with the DCX. But now it’s right after my tuner. The closer it is to my bass, the higher I can set the saturation on my “edge of breakup” sound. Otherwise my chorus and octave pedals were adding clipping too soon when running into the DCX, making me set the drive lower. So early in the chain it is. And it sounds SO good.

DISCLAIMER. I am lucky that my distortion is quality enough to stand alone. If you have a drive pedal that needs to run into a tone shaper to focus the clipping, I would still recommend, running it before the DCX. But my Lucydreamer sounds just as good before or after the DCX.

 

[Evan J]

hello
I'm using the BPA-1 as a pre and comp and was in need of a drive, so I heard the DCX and loved it.

I don't have any other pre or comps apart from the BPA-1, so I was wondering if the DCX could be used on its own?

And if I buy another pre in the future, like a Bassrig or tonehammer or BP-1, will it be compatible with them?

IMO the DCX makes anything sound better. It stands alone and enhances other pedals.

Can’t think of a board that wouldn’t benefit from it. Unless someone already has an over abundance of low gain tone fattners, natural sounding EQs, and epic overdrives.

 

[Lowendtech]

I did this tonight.

With a WD-800 and a H1203.
I was very happy, but the source of my happiness was the comments from my band.

I won’t get too wordy but “this good” will suffice

 

[gillento]

I'm going Cali76 -> DCX Bass -> Bassrigs.

I personally prefer my comp after the drives. That might be an idea.

 

[mouthmw]

The more I work with the DCX, the more I have re-ordered my chain the get to most out of it.

1. I actually ditched my compressor altogether to let the DCX responsiveness shine. Now I let FOH compress for me (he’s also a bassist… so I trust him).

2. I used to be on team “end of chain” with the DCX. But now it’s right after my tuner. The closer it is to my bass, the higher I can set the saturation on my “edge of breakup” sound. Otherwise my chorus and octave pedals were adding clipping too soon when running into the DCX, making me set the drive lower. So early in the chain it is. And it sounds SO good.

DISCLAIMER. I am lucky that my distortion is quality enough to stand alone. If you have a drive pedal that needs to run into a tone shaper to focus the clipping, I would still recommend, running it before the DCX. But my Lucydreamer sounds just as good before or after the DCX.

Nice! Do you use it in EQ or OD mode for that "edge of breakup" tone? I'm still curious to try out the DCX even though my Jive does the "edge of breakup dirty boost" thing really well.

 

[Evan J]

Nice! Do you use it in EQ or OD mode for that "edge of breakup" tone? I'm still curious to try out the DCX even though my Jive does the "edge of breakup dirty boost" thing really well.

You can get that sound in both modes but it kind of depends on the output level of your bass and how hard you dig.

Since the OD mode disables the adaptive circuitry, I use the EQ mode for my “edge of breakup” sound. It’s very responsive to your playing on the EQ side. Just magic.

However, if you want more consistent dirt in your low gain sound. OD side is the way to go.

 

[Xad]

Back in November I purchased a DCX on Reverb. I've had it about 10 weeks. It immediately grabbed an always-on spot on my small (main) board. Wireless --> Tuner --> DCX --> BECOS Mini Pro MkII Comp --> Broughton Messenger Jr --> FOH.

This is an awesome pedal. It just makes me sound better, which is saying something. I love the fact that turning up the HF knob smoothly brings the sound into focus, without making it harsh. I love the fact that if I need more low-end power, it's there. I love that I can adjust the timbre from bright to medium to deliciously less bright with the flip of a switch. I love the fact that depending on how the Drive is set, with the flip of the EQ/OD switch I can get a simple boost, or a boost with a lovely something extra.

It's an awesome pedal!

Here's the thing: I inadvertently bought the wrong one!

I bought the DCX Boost instead of the DCX Bass. When I received the pedal I thought I'd been sent the wrong one by mistake. When I went back and checked the order, well, it was my own fault.

By the way, I recently purchased the BECOS Mini Pro MkII compressor, so I could move my BECOS Stella to another board. Holy smokes - it's great! The combination of the DCX Boost into the Mini Pro MkII comp is pretty much exactly the sound and feel I want. The Messenger at the end of the chain gives me extra shaping for the room when I need it, but it's set mostly flat most of the time.

I don't know what I'm missing by having the DCX Boost instead of the DCX Bass. I do wonder sometimes. Given my experience over the past 10 weeks, the Boost is something very special indeed. Given all the feedback in this thread, it sounds like the Bass is too. Great job, OE!

 

[Stellvia]

Back in November I purchased a DCX on Reverb. I've had it about 10 weeks. It immediately grabbed an always-on spot on my small (main) board. Wireless --> Tuner --> DCX --> BECOS Mini Pro MkII Comp --> Broughton Messenger Jr --> FOH.

This is an awesome pedal. It just makes me sound better, which is saying something. I love the fact that turning up the HF knob smoothly brings the sound into focus, without making it harsh. I love the fact that if I need more low-end power, it's there. I love that I can adjust the timbre from bright to medium to deliciously less bright with the flip of a switch. I love the fact that depending on how the Drive is set, with the flip of the EQ/OD switch I can get a simple boost, or a boost with a lovely something extra.

It's an awesome pedal!

Here's the thing: I inadvertently bought the wrong one!

I bought the DCX Boost instead of the DCX Bass. When I received the pedal I thought I'd been sent the wrong one by mistake. When I went back and checked the order, well, it was my own fault.

By the way, I recently purchased the BECOS Mini Pro MkII compressor, so I could move my BECOS Stella to another board. Holy smokes - it's great! The combination of the DCX Boost into the Mini Pro MkII comp is pretty much exactly the sound and feel I want. The Messenger at the end of the chain gives me extra shaping for the room when I need it, but it's set mostly flat most of the time.

I don't know what I'm missing by having the DCX Boost instead of the DCX Bass. I do wonder sometimes. Given my experience over the past 10 weeks, the Boost is something very special indeed. Given all the feedback in this thread, it sounds like the Bass is too. Great job, OE!

I’ve ordered a DCX Boost that should be arriving tomorrow! I deliberately went with the Boost as I want to use it with guitar as well and was hoping that it would still be fine for bass, which from your experience sounds like it will be!!

 

[MascisMan]

If Im not mistaken the Boost and Bass are essentially the same circuit just with different centered frequencies on the HF/LF?

 

[johnk_10]

there really isn't that much difference between the two versions.

 

[Xad]

If Im not mistaken the Boost and Bass are essentially the same circuit just with different centered frequencies on the HF/LF?

Post 63 says

LF center for Bass is 39 Hz, where Boost is 40Hz
HF center for Bass is 5.3k, where Boost is 3.7k

I just don’t know what the HF difference sounds like in practice

 

[MascisMan]

Post 63 says

LF center for Bass is 39 Hz, where Boost is 40Hz
HF center for Bass is 5.3k, where Boost is 3.7k

I just don’t know what the HF difference sounds like in practice

I would imagine 1 Hz on the LF is undetectable

 

[joel the bass player]

Seems like two of them together was a good combo. Boost into Bass or Bass into Boost?

 

[Evan J]

Is I just me… or is 39/40hz uniquely low an EQ pedal? Especially a two band EQ.

The GEB-7 only goes down to 50hz. And Darkglass 4 band EQs often only go down to 100hz.

Could this be one of the secrets why the DCX EQ sounds so natural? It seems to adjust only the frequency bands that lay outside of the instruments’ commonly playable notes… leaving the entire range of the instrument sounding natural, while only adjusting the upper end harmonics and the resonant pitches below the E string.

Does this make sense what I’m saying?

 

[warptheory]

Is I just me… or is 39/40hz uniquely low an EQ pedal? Especially a two band EQ.

The GEB-7 only goes down to 50hz. And Darkglass 4 band EQs often only go down to 100hz.

Could this be one of the secrets why the DCX EQ sounds so natural? It seems to adjust only the frequency bands that lay outside of the instruments’ commonly playable notes… leaving the entire range of the instrument sounding natural, while only adjusting the upper end harmonics and the resonant pitches below the E string.

Does this make sense what I’m saying?

It might depend on the Q or width of the EQ Points. Might be a steep or gentle bell curve, or could be a shelf.

 

[Evan J]

It might depend on the Q or width of the EQ Points. Might be a steep or gentle bell curve, or could be a shelf.

Right… because I definitely start hearing that bass boost more around Bb or so. So it’s probably a wide Q.

@Origin_Effects wanna share your secrets with us?

 

[warptheory]

I think that answers that question.

 

[Origin_Effects]

Right… because I definitely start hearing that bass boost more around Bb or so. So it’s probably a wide Q.

@Origin_Effects wanna share your secrets with us?

Pedal: DCX BASS

MODE: EQ
VOICE: FLAT
DRIVE: Minimum
LEVEL: Maximum

YELLOW: HF & LF fully clockwise, boosting at maximum.
GREEN: HF & LF at 12 o'clock, set for a flat frequency response. Within +/-0.5dB from around 30Hz-10kHz, the 3dB point is out of the range of hearing.
RED: HF & LF fully counter clockwise, cutting at maximum.

NOTE: The metering on the left hand side is the metering of the input signal level on our test hardware, hence it only displaying -X numbers. If you want to work out how much boost/cut is happening at any point, treat the GREEN line as your 0dB reference. Anything higher than that is boosting, anything lower is cutting, the meter goes in increments of 1dB.

-----------

So yes, the Q on all of this is really nice and wide. When designing the pedal, we spent a pretty good chunk of time carefully tuning the EQ points and the EQ interactions across each pedal (Boost & Bass). All with aims of keeping them feeling really musicial rather than anything approaching surgical. In the low-end the difference isn't really worth talking about, in the high-end the difference between the units is a more appreciable. That said, both Boost & Bass offer these really wide bands, so neither is likely to sound 'incorrect' on the opposing instrument. Designing the EQs in a way that we helps keeps them usable across their full sweep was quite an important design criteria for us (obviously, depending on use case).

As someones correctly pointed out, the frequency peaks of this, especially on the low end, sit lower than you might find on a typical pedal-style EQ. In the low-end especially this gives the low band a gentle low-shelving quality as the peak so low. You're only losing about 1.5dB between 39-20Hz, which on a bass guitar is unlikely to be appreciable.

As well as the differing frequency response between the Boost & Bass, there are some minor tweaks to the gain structure of each pedal that we thought necessary to further tune each unit for their respective audiences. We generally recommend people purchase the one that matches the instrument they intend to primarily use it on. We fully expect there to be a degree of interchangeability between the two.

Given what could be seen as minor differences, if you're wondering why we made the 2 models... A lot of us are studio nerds who've worked/work in recording studios, or at pro-audio companies like Focusrite & Solid State Logic. So when we were playing around with prototypes there was a degree of "Wow this sounds great on bass & guitar... It'd probably sit better on guitar if we did X/Y/Z minor tweaks... hmm bass might benefit from a slight alteration in A/B/C". At which point two slightly different models were born, in part to offer people a more optimised product, in part to satisfy our own ears.

Hope this helps,
Jacob

 

[Lowendtech]

View attachment 5322461

Pedal: DCX BASS

MODE: EQ
VOICE: FLAT
DRIVE: Minimum
LEVEL: Maximum

YELLOW: HF & LF fully clockwise, boosting at maximum.
GREEN: HF & LF at 12 o'clock, set for a flat frequency response. Within +/-0.5dB from around 30Hz-10kHz, the 3dB point is out of the range of hearing.
RED: HF & LF fully counter clockwise, cutting at maximum.

NOTE: The metering on the left hand side is the metering of the input signal level on our test hardware, hence it only displaying -X numbers. If you want to work out how much boost/cut is happening at any point, treat the GREEN line as your 0dB reference. Anything higher than that is boosting, anything lower is cutting, the meter goes in increments of 1dB.

-----------

So yes, the Q on all of this is really nice and wide. When designing the pedal, we spent a pretty good chunk of time carefully tuning the EQ points and the EQ interactions across each pedal (Boost & Bass). All with aims of keeping them feeling really musicial rather than anything approaching surgical. In the low-end the difference isn't really worth talking about, in the high-end the difference between the units is a more appreciable. That said, both Boost & Bass offer these really wide bands, so neither is likely to sound 'incorrect' on the opposing instrument. Designing the EQs in a way that we helps keeps them usable across their full sweep was quite an important design criteria for us (obviously, depending on use case).

As someones correctly pointed out, the frequency peaks of this, especially on the low end, sit lower than you might find on a typical pedal-style EQ. In the low-end especially this gives the low band a gentle low-shelving quality as the peak so low. You're only losing about 1.5dB between 39-20Hz, which on a bass guitar is unlikely to be appreciable.

As well as the differing frequency response between the Boost & Bass, there are some minor tweaks to the gain structure of each pedal that we thought necessary to further tune each unit for their respective audiences. We generally recommend people purchase the one that matches the instrument they intend to primarily use it on. We fully expect there to be a degree of interchangeability between the two.

Given what could be seen as minor differences, if you're wondering why we made the 2 models... A lot of us are studio nerds who've worked/work in recording studios, or at pro-audio companies like Focusrite & Solid State Logic. So when we were playing around with prototypes there was a degree of "Wow this sounds great on bass & guitar... It'd probably sit better on guitar if we did X/Y/Z minor tweaks... hmm bass might benefit from a slight alteration in A/B/C". At which point two slightly different models were born, in part to offer people a more optimised product, in part to satisfy our own ears.

Hope this helps,
Jacob

It does indeed. Thank you for the detailed response. Much appreciated.

 

[Evan J]

View attachment 5322461

Pedal: DCX BASS

MODE: EQ
VOICE: FLAT
DRIVE: Minimum
LEVEL: Maximum

YELLOW: HF & LF fully clockwise, boosting at maximum.
GREEN: HF & LF at 12 o'clock, set for a flat frequency response. Within +/-0.5dB from around 30Hz-10kHz, the 3dB point is out of the range of hearing.
RED: HF & LF fully counter clockwise, cutting at maximum.

NOTE: The metering on the left hand side is the metering of the input signal level on our test hardware, hence it only displaying -X numbers. If you want to work out how much boost/cut is happening at any point, treat the GREEN line as your 0dB reference. Anything higher than that is boosting, anything lower is cutting, the meter goes in increments of 1dB.

-----------

So yes, the Q on all of this is really nice and wide. When designing the pedal, we spent a pretty good chunk of time carefully tuning the EQ points and the EQ interactions across each pedal (Boost & Bass). All with aims of keeping them feeling really musicial rather than anything approaching surgical. In the low-end the difference isn't really worth talking about, in the high-end the difference between the units is a more appreciable. That said, both Boost & Bass offer these really wide bands, so neither is likely to sound 'incorrect' on the opposing instrument. Designing the EQs in a way that we helps keeps them usable across their full sweep was quite an important design criteria for us (obviously, depending on use case).

As someones correctly pointed out, the frequency peaks of this, especially on the low end, sit lower than you might find on a typical pedal-style EQ. In the low-end especially this gives the low band a gentle low-shelving quality as the peak so low. You're only losing about 1.5dB between 39-20Hz, which on a bass guitar is unlikely to be appreciable.

As well as the differing frequency response between the Boost & Bass, there are some minor tweaks to the gain structure of each pedal that we thought necessary to further tune each unit for their respective audiences. We generally recommend people purchase the one that matches the instrument they intend to primarily use it on. We fully expect there to be a degree of interchangeability between the two.

Given what could be seen as minor differences, if you're wondering why we made the 2 models... A lot of us are studio nerds who've worked/work in recording studios, or at pro-audio companies like Focusrite & Solid State Logic. So when we were playing around with prototypes there was a degree of "Wow this sounds great on bass & guitar... It'd probably sit better on guitar if we did X/Y/Z minor tweaks... hmm bass might benefit from a slight alteration in A/B/C". At which point two slightly different models were born, in part to offer people a more optimised product, in part to satisfy our own ears.

Hope this helps,
Jacob

Brilliant! These are exactly the nerdy details I was craving