New Origin Effects DCX Bass

[el murdoque]

Thanks for taking the time to look at and discuss our latest release. As always, it's great to finally have it out there and we're really proud of what we've made. We hope those of you who opt to get one have as much fun with it as we do.

I've always wanted to try a drive pedal made by Origin. Your Cali76 compact bass knocked it out of the park for me. It is hands down the best comp I ever laid ears on and fits my needs perfectly.
When I saw that you released a pedal with 'bass' in the name and a knob named 'Drive', I pulled the trigger without thinking. It arrived today and turned out to be the most dynamic drive pedal I ever played. It really can breathe some life into my dead flatwound strings and this voicing switch is like magic. I can mix in a generous helping of top end and have the bass sound sparkly when clean, but not harsh on the ear when pushed into overdrive.

I will try to put it after compression, but playing the DCX into the Cali felt like the natural thing to do and having such sensitive reactions to playing dynamics is just too good to give up by putting it after the comp.

 

[silky smoove]

The level knob doesn't control output?

Of course it does, but if you stack a boost in front of it to increase saturation from the BassRig’s drive circuit, how are you going to maintain a level between the boosted and non-boosted variants without doing what @Derek Williams suggested and bending over to manually turn down the output knob.

 

[odarellmc]

Of course it does, but if you stack a boost in front of it to increase saturation from the BassRig’s drive circuit, how are you going to maintain a level between the boosted and non-boosted variants without doing what @Derek Williams suggested and bending over to manually turn down the output knob.

That's the only way I know. You can always preset the level to saturate. Set your initial core dist tone and the the other to saturate, lower the output volume of course. Have you tried that?

 

[silky smoove]

Have you tried that?

No because it’s not a function I need. I’m just pointing out a potential shortcoming of a stated use case.

 

[klattman]

I've always wanted to try a drive pedal made by Origin. Your Cali76 compact bass knocked it out of the park for me. It is hands down the best comp I ever laid ears on and fits my needs perfectly.
When I saw that you released a pedal with 'bass' in the name and a knob named 'Drive', I pulled the trigger without thinking. It arrived today and turned out to be the most dynamic drive pedal I ever played. It really can breathe some life into my dead flatwound strings and this voicing switch is like magic. I can mix in a generous helping of top end and have the bass sound sparkly when clean, but not harsh on the ear when pushed into overdrive.

I will try to put it after compression, but playing the DCX into the Cali felt like the natural thing to do and having such sensitive reactions to playing dynamics is just too good to give up by putting it after the comp.

I’ve tried comp before my drives (origin SV, LeBass, ampeg SGT, simplifier, etc) and I think it ruins them. Mainly because what I like is the variability of controlling the dynamic and OD range with just my fingers.
So I’m done putting comp ahead of drive at least for drives that have the magic.

 

[Pickebass]

At a gig… interesting… in a good way More details later

 

[sprag]

Yeah I've been thinking the same a small core tone rig, dcx, Cali cb and bassrig

What. No Halcyon?

 

[Campo007]

At a gig… interesting… in a good way More details laterView attachment 5044970

Can't wait to hear what you have to say about this. I have a BP-1C also. I'm keen on a DCX Bass and running it after my Cali76.

 

[Bass4LifeRS]

At a gig… interesting… in a good way More details laterView attachment 5044970

Sweet setup!

 

[JRMK]

I've always wanted to try a drive pedal made by Origin. Your Cali76 compact bass knocked it out of the park for me. It is hands down the best comp I ever laid ears on and fits my needs perfectly.
When I saw that you released a pedal with 'bass' in the name and a knob named 'Drive', I pulled the trigger without thinking. It arrived today and turned out to be the most dynamic drive pedal I ever played. It really can breathe some life into my dead flatwound strings and this voicing switch is like magic. I can mix in a generous helping of top end and have the bass sound sparkly when clean, but not harsh on the ear when pushed into overdrive.

I will try to put it after compression, but playing the DCX into the Cali felt like the natural thing to do and having such sensitive reactions to playing dynamics is just too good to give up by putting it after the comp.

Hi! How would you compare it with JPTR Jive for tone sweetening? (Asking as I know you have both now)

 

[Les Fret]

Cool pedal. But there is just too much to choose for preamps these days. Like the other two origin rig pedals or the Capo or the new Ampeg, the list goes on. Don’t they all sound a bit similar in the end? Who do you choose one over the other? You can’t possibly try them all beforehand and having more than one preamp on your board is a bit overkill.

 

[el murdoque]

I’ve tried comp before my drives (origin SV, LeBass, ampeg SGT, simplifier, etc) and I think it ruins them. Mainly because what I like is the variability of controlling the dynamic and OD range with just my fingers.
So I’m done putting comp ahead of drive at least for drives that have the magic.

IMHO, there are drives that have a sweet spot and drives that have lots of dynamic range. The former go super well after compression while the latter can suffer in that position.
I was very surprised when I tried out my Sushi Box FX Underground Accelerator in the position after the comp and instantly had a beautiful tone.
I could set the gain higher because the comp would be there as a limiting factor.

Every pedalboard should have a dirt pedal in front of the comp and one that comes after.

 

[_Tay_]

IMHO, there are drives that have a sweet spot and drives that have lots of dynamic range. The former go super well after compression while the latter can suffer in that position.
I was very surprised when I tried out my Sushi Box FX Underground Accelerator in the position after the comp and instantly had a beautiful tone.
I could set the gain higher because the comp would be there as a limiting factor.

Every pedalboard should have a dirt pedal in front of the comp and one that comes after.

What about those pedalboards that do not use compressors?

 

[odarellmc]

What about those pedalboards that do not use compressors?

The dist/OD onboard will apply mild compression

 

[_Tay_]

The dist/OD onboard will apply mild compression

That is why i do not use a compressor. Well that and most live gigs i do compression is added at the desk, or afterwards recording on a DAW.

 

[el murdoque]

Hi! How would you compare it with JPTR Jive for tone sweetening? (Asking as I know you have both now)

Totally different animals. The Jive, as you know, has no tone controls. I like to use it in what I think is the most popular application, which is setting it to saturate, but not really distort. I'm getting the most out of it by placing it just after compression to make sure I hit the sweetest spot on the gain with consistency.

The Origin does two things that make it special.
The EQ side is half of the magic, with the HF knob bringing a good amount of note definition and the LF knob bringing those bits of the low end that make sense, both knobs feel (to my ear and in my particular setup) like they try to bring out the best of that range while trying to step around the downsides those frequencies bring.
Lows bring mud, Highs bring string noise - but on the Origin, they don't do it as bad as one would think.

The Drive side is the other half, and here we get that adaptive treble roll off in low gain mode that feels like magic, especially when you're picking chords - with the HF knob set to a boost, you get that sparkly definition going, but once you dig in, upon crossing from clean to drive, the notes bloom up with that creamy warm texture and without being harsh on the ear.
Apart from that, this is one of the most dynamic drive pedals out there - if not THE most dynamic.

The Jive is just a little tone sweetener that makes things sound ... better.
The Origin is a "make bass sound better" EQ, coupled with a super dynamic drive and this nifty party trick of the adaptive treble rolloff as a cherry on top.

 

[el murdoque]

What about those pedalboards that do not use compressors?

Those are free to do as they please (which they obviously do anyway).

 

[Pickebass]

Used the pedal in a gig setting last night... Interesting observations. One of the things I expected from the pedal was the EQ to be more dynamic. It's not a bad eq, and it doesn't sound bad at all. Definitely 610esque (I have a 610 at home). In eq mode to get a significant change in the LF control, it needs to be cranked above 2:00. On the other hand the HF is more dynamic at lower levels. I feel the HF is more linear than the LF control.

With the drive control in EQ mode, it can add a nice edge(?) that could be used. You can have the drive control completely off and get a really nice clean sound or starting are 1100 a nice edge without being crunchy. The drive and HF are really interactive. Like everything else, season to taste.

The level control, works as you would expect, I never really went past noon in either mode. To keep the drive levels sane, I was usually around 900-1000 so I wouldn't have a huge jump in volume.

My initial thought process for buying this pedal was it would nice to have a little EQ in front of the caveman, but it really shines as a drive pedal! The drive side is very article and cuts without being overbearing. In OD mode anything over 1000 should be more than enough. While adjusting EQ in the OD mode, I felt the LF control was more linear than the EQ mode. HF controls were definitely more direct. It's a much better drive pedal than I expected. The drive is smoothly aggressive if that makes any sense. Two of my favorite drive pedals are the Darkglass VMT and the Solidgoldfx beta geranium.

The question is... is it a keeper? Yes. Is the setup I have with it optimum? No. For the gig last night I used the pedalboard in my earlier pic with a GR Bass head and Aerotech 210. I ran the amp in "pure" mode without EQ and was using a Fender Reggie Hamilton bass.

I do believe this would sound great in EQ mode with a more flat sounding preamp DI such as an Avalon U5 or solid state amp needing more character. For comparison, I also have a API bass tranzformer pedal (both the DI and one without). The API would be a pedal I would use for it's EQ. It's the other extreme. Great in EQ mode, OK at best in OD mode.

How does it compare to the other Origin effects pedals? I have both bass rigs and a few compressors (yeah I really like there stuff). At this time, I don't see it replacing either. I plan on trying it out tonight (weather permitting) on my board with the bass rigs and see results. I also have a couple of other configurations I'm going to try this week, since my gigs are varied I should be able to get a good feel for it. At this time, I think it is named right... "tone shaper and drive". I don't see it replacing your eq, but adding another layer to your sound

 

[Colum]

That demo, like most commercial presentations, is ridiculous.
There's a 5 to 6db increase in volume whenever the pedal is engaged.

It's clearly been put through a limiter too.
It's like comparing an unmastered track to a mastered one.

Everything sounds better when louder.

 

[odarellmc]

That demo, like most commercial presentations, is ridiculous.
There's a 5 to 6db increase in volume whenever the pedal is engaged.

View attachment 5045459

It's clearly been put through a limiter too.
It's like comparing an unmastered track to a mastered one.

View attachment 5045467

Everything sounds better when louder.

I'm not sure how reliable you tubes video are given how much they compress the audio.