Two types of people:
Those who know what that is and want it, and those who will want it as soon as they know what it is!
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
New Pedal That Delivers Alembic Style Filters For Bassists
- Thread starter 57pbass
- Start date
Two types of people:
Those who know what that is and want it, and those who will want it as soon as they know what it is!
It might be a stretch to think of an SF-2 as having two clean channels (signal paths).
Yes, in stereo you can have 1 filter + 1 parallel clean (direct) per channel, so yeah that’s 2 clean channels ...but feeding 2 separate outputs.
In mono you can have 2 filters + 1 parallel clean (direct) only.
The only way to get 4 signal paths is to configure it as stereo but patch the output of channel A into the input of channel B -- so it’s actually mono -- and then the two direct signal paths aren’t both “clean” since B is being filtered by A; they're in series, not parallel. And imho the real magic of an SF-2 (and these clones) comes from the parallel blending of direct + filter(s).
Signed,
/Captain Pedantic
Last edited:
Yeah, that’s how I thought of it and still do. I don’t have an SF-2 so it’s moot for me. I am looking forward to clean plus filter plus filter. That’s as much as my small brain can take at once, lol.
I got a distiller and have an sf-2. I have some stuff on my plate but plan to do some comparisons and rew plots of them both as well as some other filter pres this summer.
Looking forward to some hands on reviews of this. It seems to check all the boxes, unlike all the others that are all missing one key thing or another. Not to mention how hilariously overpriced some of them are.
I’m a little surprised that @Passinwind hasn’t chimed in here yet. He’s built a lot of resonant filter preamps, in onboard, rack and pedal formats and started the open source filter-pre design thread thats ran here for years.
He’s pretty insightful when it comes to this stuff.
He’s pretty insightful when it comes to this stuff.
This is actually how I use my EHX Q-Balls when I'm not using it as an envelope filter. Just put the Start and Stop knobs in the same position (whichever position sounds best for your specific application - 11:00, 2:00, whatever). Even where you put the Sensitivity makes a difference. You also have LP, BP, HP, and Blend.
I use it as an envelope filter, with an envelope filter, or as a standalone tone shaper. It can even make a gnarly dirt pedal even more gnarly. It's far more than just a quack machine if you really know how to get the most out of it!
The Broughton SVF drop was just before I found out Frequency Distillers existed so my money went there. I bought a second SVF so I am looking at cobbling together a poor-man's SF-2 like this.
Excited to hear more about what y'all think about the Frequency Distiller
edit: sentence structure.
Excited to hear more about what y'all think about the Frequency Distiller
edit: sentence structure.
I mean, it's great! I have like five different places in my chain that I want to put it. It's everything that I was looking for and then some. Crazy flexible, and has so many uses - I'm thinking about putting one on my synth board and then another on my main board. Sounds koler with fretless, slap bass, synthy sounds ... I really , really dig it.
I normally go thru preamps like some ppl go thru underwear, but this hasn't left my chain since I got it. They did a really, really good job.
Just ordered one. Damm you for spending my money 
!
Friendly contact at the company and made intl. shipping possible. I am really looking forward to this one. If it lives up to the "real thing" it will be a real winner.
!Friendly contact at the company and made intl. shipping possible. I am really looking forward to this one. If it lives up to the "real thing" it will be a real winner.
Things are settling down enough here I might get to try mine Monday. Fingers crossed 
So educate me please Frequency Distiller as a preamp does what exactly and would that mean I'd no longer need my RFE on the board. My current End of chain is in this order
LowRider >RFE>Magellan Pre-amp.
LowRider >RFE>Magellan Pre-amp.
Frequently distiller is like a super powerful EQ stage. But much more powerful than regular eq.
It’s like an RFE, but more so. You could probably replace your RFE with it, but if you have room for both, you may find they work together for you.
It’s like an RFE, but more so. You could probably replace your RFE with it, but if you have room for both, you may find they work together for you.
You might even be able to replace both the lowrider and the RFE.
I can't say enough how much I love this pedal. It's found a permanent place on my board,and that's saying something!
So pumped, supposed to arrive tomorrow…can’t wait.
Mine will take a few weeks. It seems I got one of the last two ... 
