Thousands and thousands of records will have a UA610 on the bass channel, it’s such a commonly used studio tool not just on bass but all kinds of things.
It’s not an exact clone but is based on the characteristics of the circuit.
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New Origin Effects DCX Bass
- Thread starter Derek Williams
- Start date
Thousands and thousands of records will have a UA610 on the bass channel, it’s such a commonly used studio tool not just on bass but all kinds of things.
It’s not an exact clone but is based on the characteristics of the circuit.
- Oct 29, 2012
- 264
- 683
- Disclosures
- Mesa, Darkglass, EQD, Mantic, Source Audio, Yamaha, Delano, Hamstead Soundworks, Jad Freer Audio
The 610 is the preamp from the "Green Board", like the one built for Wally Heider and then later bought by Neil Young. This desk was used to record a bunch of artists including: Neil Young, Elvis Presley, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, The Beach Boys, Otis Redding...
Neil Young's album Harvest is a good place to start for the sound of a 610 console, and for something more recent, Arcade Fires's album Everything Now was largely recorded and processed through a 610 console too.
Neil Young's album Harvest is a good place to start for the sound of a 610 console, and for something more recent, Arcade Fires's album Everything Now was largely recorded and processed through a 610 console too.
Spent a considerable amount of time with the DCX pedal in various situations to get a feel for what really works. I used it extensively on the EQ side and the OD side. It's a good pedal, and does exactly what it says. Let me explain.
First thing to consider from the EQ standpoint is the pedal is labelled correctly as a TONE SHAPER. It is in no way a surgical EQ. If you are looking to replace your EQ pedal or your other preamp, this is not the pedal. If you want to add character, primarily the character of the 610 it does that really well. If you approach it from that standpoint it can be very useful.
There has been discussion of where to place this pedal. It seems to have worked best for me before the compressor or solo directly to the amp. The EQ controls are not for fine tuning. The LF control, even all the way cranked its still usable. It doesn't give you the low 40hz bottom you get from other eq pedal (not a bad thing). From what I could tell this weekend, it does seems to work better with a 4 string passive bass. And as you would expect, it sounded great with a P bass with flats.
The OD section is a different story. I really think this is where the pedal really shines and can be useful for most people. OD and compression are very personal and there are many right answers for this. The OD sounds good on everything! That being said, my favorite overdrive sound of the weekend was the DCX going into a compressor into the SVT bassrig. It cut just right.
Overall, its a good pedal. It's not a desert island pedal, but more of a really nice dessert to your meal. Is it replacing any of my preamps? No. With the SVT bass rig and gives me a variety of tones. Really used it primarily in EQ mode to give it an old school sound. With the 64 Bass rig I did just the opposite. More overdrive into a cleanish tone.
Where do I see it being most useful? In Ear situation where you have a wide playlist including 60s/70s music into your favorite pre or primarily as an OD. If you have a preamp that is more surgical in approach, this would be ideal to go in from of it for more character. For example, the Berg Super Pre would be a candidate to go in front of this pedal. My main concern on a situation like this is how does it really fit in the mix at a gig. I think this pedal does this well if you are clear on the intent of the pedal (or at least what I think they were trying to accomplish).
YMMV
First thing to consider from the EQ standpoint is the pedal is labelled correctly as a TONE SHAPER. It is in no way a surgical EQ. If you are looking to replace your EQ pedal or your other preamp, this is not the pedal. If you want to add character, primarily the character of the 610 it does that really well. If you approach it from that standpoint it can be very useful.
There has been discussion of where to place this pedal. It seems to have worked best for me before the compressor or solo directly to the amp. The EQ controls are not for fine tuning. The LF control, even all the way cranked its still usable. It doesn't give you the low 40hz bottom you get from other eq pedal (not a bad thing). From what I could tell this weekend, it does seems to work better with a 4 string passive bass. And as you would expect, it sounded great with a P bass with flats.
The OD section is a different story. I really think this is where the pedal really shines and can be useful for most people. OD and compression are very personal and there are many right answers for this. The OD sounds good on everything! That being said, my favorite overdrive sound of the weekend was the DCX going into a compressor into the SVT bassrig. It cut just right.
Overall, its a good pedal. It's not a desert island pedal, but more of a really nice dessert to your meal. Is it replacing any of my preamps? No. With the SVT bass rig and gives me a variety of tones. Really used it primarily in EQ mode to give it an old school sound. With the 64 Bass rig I did just the opposite. More overdrive into a cleanish tone.
Where do I see it being most useful? In Ear situation where you have a wide playlist including 60s/70s music into your favorite pre or primarily as an OD. If you have a preamp that is more surgical in approach, this would be ideal to go in from of it for more character. For example, the Berg Super Pre would be a candidate to go in front of this pedal. My main concern on a situation like this is how does it really fit in the mix at a gig. I think this pedal does this well if you are clear on the intent of the pedal (or at least what I think they were trying to accomplish).
YMMV
I have the Caveman BP-1C and i use an old BBE Sonic Stomp (i know, welcome to 1996) before it to give me that little bit of EQ.
I'm also very interested in the DCX.
I wasn't exactly a fan of the DCX in front of the Caveman. I tried the Empress parametric EQ and Broughton parametric and both worked will in front of the Caveman
Thanks for that. Good to know. You've saved me $435.
I kinda like what the Sonic Stomp is doing in front of the Caveman. I have a Hampstead Subspace (always on) before the BBE. To be honest, i'm quite happy with how it sounds.
I think it was you who got me looking at the Subspace from what I could find on-line i need that pedal
I plan to use after my Scorpion as a do it all dirt pedal. Thanks for the GAS 
I've been seriously looking into running an empress EQ in front of the DCX. Do you still have the empress EQ? Thoughts?
They work great together. I’m using a Para EQ II Deluxe and a DCX together and I’m very much liking the combination.
I have the older Empress ParaEQ. It still works great! I haven't tried it in front of the DCX, but it makes a lot of sense
Origin_Effects
Commercial User
- Feb 12, 2018
- 76
- 1,030
- Disclosures
- British Boutique Effects Pedal Builders
The DCX BASS (and BOOST) are both analogue devices. As others have pointed out, this FCC compliancy notice is on a lot of our products, despite most not having any digital elements to them. As Derek has noted, the analogue nature of the pedal was in the dealer pack and has been mentioned in video content.
When you submit a device for testing, they test it for a lot of stuff even though some of it isn't immediately relevant. Class B testing is just one of the suite of tests they perform when we submit pedals for testing, which ours complies with for obvious reasons.
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Here's a quick vid comparing a few takes on the combinations I kinda liked the best.
Excuse my amateur playing, I'm an enthusiastic tone seeker.
P with Flats and a P with Rounds. Nothing special.
Such good products.
They all sound good but I like the way the analog stuff "Feels" while playing much more.
Lemme know what you guys think and if you have a request i'll try to make it happen.
I've got a nice AM Jazz bass and an JMJ mustang as well. But my CS P's are my best.
Excuse my amateur playing, I'm an enthusiastic tone seeker.
P with Flats and a P with Rounds. Nothing special.
Such good products.
They all sound good but I like the way the analog stuff "Feels" while playing much more.
Lemme know what you guys think and if you have a request i'll try to make it happen.
I've got a nice AM Jazz bass and an JMJ mustang as well. But my CS P's are my best.
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Sounds great!
Can you tell us more about that UA Max pedal? I've never heard it but it seems to sound really good. Were the two samples on the same settings and no effects other than the Max? They sounded so different!
Thanks man,
yeah, don’t want to hijack the DCX thread too much. The Max is pretty cool.it’s a Digi pedal, it’s not intuitive what so ever. Yes both of those samples were the same settings with no other effects. Sir Duke was played with the tone knob mostly rolled off with fingers. And London calling was played with Pick with the tone knob 100%.
Just received mine today! Really didn’t have much time with it but musical would be the first thing that pops up to describe it. Sounds really good but I would need some time to find its place and what to pair it with first.
I'd love to see a direct comparison with the Noble vs the Bassrigs. There aren't any good videos doing that at the moment.
Noble is tube, Bassrig is supposed to emulate those tubes and get you in that ballpark. How close is the bassrig getting there?
I do also wonder why there isn't stupid amount of XXX pedal vs Noble videos - If the noble is the gold standard, why aren't we comparing most other pedals to it? Is it because once you spend $1000-1500 bucks on a device and wait months, you don't want to realise you could have gotten the sound for a fraction of the price and time? Or is it confirmation bias because you are dropping a chunk of change on one item so you want to hear it is better because of that investment? Or is it truly this pinnacle of sound and tube that can't be recreated as well by others and is worth the wait and time?
I'm not sure what would be the point. Everyone knows the Noble is the gold standard but that's not what any other pedals like the bassrig are for. The Noble isn't a can sim nor does it do distortion. So again I don't think there would be much of a point.
