NPD: Fuzzrocious Afterlife

This may end up very text and picture heavy, so apologies in advance!

After a lengthy customs wait, typical for this time of year, and a not inconsiderable charge (the pedal value listed included the $50 shipping, which no doubt bumped it up a little), the Afterlife I ordered towards the end of November turned up today.



Delivery to the UK, and dispatch from Ryan's end, was very quick, and I'm happy I ordered one that was ready to go. The wait times aren't too bad, but I was looking forward to having a play with this one ASAP!

For those who don't know, this is a reverb pedal, with as second setting that can be activated via the momentary footswitch on the left. Having the repeats knob set to full you can push the pedal into oscillation, which sounds very cool (in a noisy way!).

There's also a second output on the pedal, which sends a complete wet reverb signal to a second input or amp. Now, on the demos & instruction manual, the second output is on the side, which definitely would have been an issue with my board, so it was something I had not considered using. However, my pedal has both outputs on the top of the enclosure - I'm not sure which layout will be used going forward, but this was a very pleasant surprise.



(serial number - looks to be within the first 10 of the production run, I'm not an early adopter/collector so it doesn't make a big difference to be, but it's pretty cool)

Full disclosure, I haven't used a reverb pedal on bass before, so I'm no expert!

I've plugged it in at home and had a play using an MIA P, and I'm very happy with the sound in the bedroom. The mix knob makes it easy to get the right amount of clean sound in there, and should make it easy to avoid the feeling of being lost in the band or a 'muddy' tone that reverb sometimes can get. The repeat knob seems to have quite a wide sweep, going from a very minimal effect akin to a natural room, right up the crazy oscillation. The momentary second switch makes it a breeze to switch between two different sounds, and I found it very easy to get a really good effect going.

I haven't yet tried the second output, but it's something I'm looking forward to trying when I put it through it's paces in the band. There's a few very specific circumstances I envisioned using it in, but having had a play with it, I think I'll find more places I can make it fit. I'll probably end up writing more sections to use it in!



The paint job, as usual, is fantastic - Shannon has knocked it out of the park again, and having shown a few people the pedal and the design it's proven very popular. Build quality is great, after a long journey and a lengthy wait for delivery, it's all in fantastic condition, no problems at all that I've noticed, just a slightly cold metal enclosure!

I know the first question on Talkbass is always for sound clips, I considered recording something, but all I have is my phone to do it on - and to be honest, I'd never top this demo:



This is what got me really interested in the pedal, and if you're after a reverb or even just something a bit different, I'd definitely recommend giving the demo a chance.



A quick shot of my new live board - It makes a nice compliment/counter to the Blower Box, both with the light up eyes, and it plays great with everything on there. I didn't notice any detrimental impact, or even any effect on the tone when the Afterlife was activated - other than the desired, obviously!

First impressions of the pedal are very good, and I'll keep updating the thread with impressions as I practise and gig with it (both likely to be after Christmas now).

As an aside, do people generally prefer reverb before or after overdrive? The VT Bass is used as a preamp, so that's why it's last.

 

That was my inclination - I didn't know how it'd work after the preamp, so put it where I have. It sounds good so far, but I'll probably shift it around over time

 

I honestly don't know enough about reverb generally, nor have I really had a good chance to play with it at length & volume, to answer that question in a helpful way, sorry! Not owned a reverb previously to compare it to. Maybe Ryan, or anyone else that's played with one, could weigh in?

The noisy, oscillated sounds are definitely what appealed to me most. I can see this being a lot of fun to play with, especially with the second output available.

 

Looks great in the black! Didn't realise I'd already had mine 18 months, it's been pretty much a constant on my board. I dont have a lot of use for reverb, but I get enough use from it that it sticks around.

Ideally I'd love to start a project that's much more bass than guitar driven, with a post/noise rock vibe, and the Afterlife would really shine in that situation.