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NPD - Creation Audio Grizzly Bass

kbakerde

kbakerde

Supporting Member
Jan 24, 2012
3,013
4,695
#1
Broke down and got two new pedals. Already delivered is the Creation Audio Grizzly Bass overdrive and distortion. And oddly enough, after doing a search, despite the fact the Grizzly pops up and is mentioned in several best OD threads I could not find one dedicated to the Grizzly directly.

I've only played with it a little, but so far I do really like it. With controls for Gain (volume), Overdrive, Distortion, Mid-Scoop and Hi Cut. The actual aesthetic and design of the pedal are really cool. I've read that the pedal is transparent and for the most part I'd agree. It doesn't have the dark wooly coloring of the tone say a Dark Driving, Blueberry or Barbershop. With the flat setting you can get a pretty consistent tone and volume whether the pedal is engaged or not.

There are two separate circuits to control the dirt. An overdrive circuit that is round, fat, a bit wooly or fuzzy (think Tube overdrive, barbershop, blueberry). The distortion circuit is crunchier, harder, edgier, something like an OCD or a Rat. Controlling the levels on these controls let's you blend your overdrive to suit you needs. I've found that there is not nearly the amount of gain you'd find on most other boutique pedals (say Fuzzrocious) so this is certainly low to mid gain overdrive.

The mid cut knob is a contour that cuts around 800 hz. This can help dial some honk out of your tone that becomes more pronounced with the dirt. If you find your tone is too clangy, take some highs out. You can get a few different cool sounds out of it. I need to play with it more, but I like it so far and it's actually pretty easy for a 5 knob pedal. One thing to talk about is the infamous topic of low end loss. I do not seem to loose much if any perceivable lows (not playing with a band) with this pedal. I found playing through a PA system with subs can really show you how much lows get cut with some pedals. I am not playing currently, so I can't speak for the Grizzly.

I have two weeks to decide if I keep this pedal or if it goes back, but so far I really like it. It's not cheap, but it's not super boutique expensive either. I like that I ordered this on Tuesday night, and I already have the pedal. That is service. So far I'm positive on the pedal, and I'd love to hear your opinions as well.
 
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#3
Indeed this is a very cool pedal.
You can do anything yo want with it. From Motown through overdrive to all out fuzz, I would say.
With both gain at minimum and mid cut at 12 you get that Jamerson's sound, you can just add some drive and you get a raw B15.
On the other extreme with both drive at max it's really wild and raunchy.
Look at the videos from the Creation Audio Labs website. They're short but very clear:











I own a Grizzly since it came out and and couldn't be happier !
 
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#4
vincent69 said:
Indeed this is a very cool pedal.
You can do anything yo want with it. From Motown through overdrive to all out fuzz, I would say.
With both gain at minimum and mid cut at 12 you get that Jamerson's sound, you can just add some drive and you get a raw B15.
On the other extreme with both drive at max it's really wild and raunchy.
Look at the videos from the Creation Audio Labs website. They're short but very clear:











I own a Grizzly since it came out and and couldn't be happier !
Click to expand...


Im using the dirty pick tone. I like it
 
#10
cnltb said:
How does it compare to the Holy Fire?
Click to expand...

Crazy Otto said:
Couldn't tell you, never played the HF.
Click to expand...

mmbongo said:
I've never compared the two directly, but from what I understand the Grizzly is a Holy Fire, Funkulator, and Redeemer all combined into one.
Click to expand...

So I did research on this. Don't take this as gospel, but this is the lineage of their products.

First off, all of their pedals have a version of the Redeemer Buffer circuit, unless you ask for a passive true bypass. I think the first pedal they created was the MK 4.23 Boost pedal built to overdrive an amp. They added a modified circuit into their own distortion pedal with overdrive, distortion and hi-cut controls and this became the Holy Fire.

Then they made the Funkulator which is a mids cut control designed for slap playing. So you take a modified version of the Funkulator, put it in a Holy Fire and tune it for Bass, there you have the Grizzly Bass pedal.

My guess is the Grizzly wouldn't work as great for guitar, and the Holy Fire wouldn't be spectacular for bass, but are probably usable for both. I haven't tried the Grizzly with guitar.
 
#11
Update from band rehearsal. I played the grizzly with my Indie/Punk band where it would get more use (it's a louder more aggressive heavier band than my other band). And holy cow it was AWESOME!!!!!! Here are the settings I liked:

Gain - 10 o'clock
Overdrive - 9:30
Distortion - 3:30-4
Mid Cut - 4
Hi Cut - Off (fully clockwise)

Oh, it was a nice meaty grind with not too much fuzz. Tons and tons of low end for a nice fat sound that still cut through and was dirty. Oh it was really amazing. I also used a different guitar, I was using an old Gibson EB 2013 that I'd sold to my dad. Had the bridge on full, neck pickup full on and tapped to single coil. Great sound, and I'll have to make sure it does as well when I play my passive J and my Warwick 5 through it. It's also worth noting that CA Labs does have a return policy should you not like the pedal, so the risk on it is a lot lower than other boutique pedal makers.

One note, I used my Sanyo Pedal juice and it worked very very good. However, the Grizzly with it's voltage multiplier circuit takes a LOT of amps and kills the batter pretty quick, but certainly enough juice to last a couple hours for a rehearsal and some practice time at home.
 
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#12
kbakerde said:
So I did research on this. Don't take this as gospel, but this is the lineage of their products.

First off, all of their pedals have a version of the Redeemer Buffer circuit, unless you ask for a passive true bypass. I think the first pedal they created was the MK 4.23 Boost pedal built to overdrive an amp. They added a modified circuit into their own distortion pedal with overdrive, distortion and hi-cut controls and this became the Holy Fire.

Then they made the Funkulator which is a mids cut control designed for slap playing. So you take a modified version of the Funkulator, put it in a Holy Fire and tune it for Bass, there you have the Grizzly Bass pedal.

My guess is the Grizzly wouldn't work as great for guitar, and the Holy Fire wouldn't be spectacular for bass, but are probably usable for both. I haven't tried the Grizzly with guitar.
Click to expand...
Thanks,
Interesting!
 
#14
I've known about the Grizzly Bass since I caught the Ed Friedland demo years ago, but that was when I was primarily using rack rigs. When I switched to small amp plus pedals I acquired a bunch of very cool distortion/overdrive units, but realized I didn't have one that was ultra-low gain and transparent. So, I started researching those. A big factor is that one of my favorite basses is a fairly hot active, so I need pedals that play well with it.

Long story short, the Grizzly seemed to be the best choice for me, so I bought one. I absolutely love it. Even with my hottest bass, I can dial in subtle, dynamic overdrive that only kicks in when I dig in. Of course it can be soft OD that gets grittier when I dig in, etc. Perhaps the OD has some tone coloration (?), but to me it sounds transparent and tube-like. I also like the Grizzly's higher gain tones -- with a high output bass it's easy to dial in fairly heavy dirt -- but again, the real hole in my pedal collection was low gain/transparent OD, and the Grizzly filled that niche perfectly.
 
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#16
johnk_10 said:
I have both.
they sound nearly identical. my holy fire is the older 48V version and, other than having to use it's dedicated 48V power supply, I actually very slightly prefer it over the grizzly.
Click to expand...
Thanks John!
How does it compare to the Barbershop. especially at high settings?
from what I have read/seen I do lightly tend towards it over the grizzly.
 
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#17
johnk_10 said:
I have both.
they sound nearly identical. my holy fire is the older 48V version and, other than having to use it's dedicated 48V power supply, I actually very slightly prefer it over the grizzly.
Click to expand...

That is interesting. Could you describe what it is about the Holy Fire 48V you prefer to the Grizzly? It appears this was a pretty popular pedal as they still sell it as the Holy Fire Classic requiring the 48V wall wart. The Holy Fire 9 and the Grizzly have the voltage multiplier circuit (I think that's what it's called?) to supply the 48v of power through a 9v supply (per their website).
 

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