In my experience One Control's descriptions in English of their pedals read like pretty good translations from Japanese, but never perfect. They always seem a little like poetry to me.
Though I don't know for a fact what the CRB circuit is doing, I can report how it is to operate its controls.
- Volume is the master output level
- Brilliance is quite subtle
- Gain is very impactful
- Gain and Brilliance aren't truly interactive, but they act on the source sound relative to each other
- Scale is king. There are even scales within scales (e.g. Brilliance < Gain < Volume). In my brief experience of Björn Juhl's work, this is a signature BJF design technique. All his Blueberry-based circuits capitalize on that approach. Spence uses this approach in his Vulcan Bass Overdrive. In the CRB, Gain sets the scale of the overall frequency spectrum by setting the bass boost, within which Brilliance seems more effective or less (depending on the Gain setting). Not rocket science, but it is critical to mastering this pedal's usefulness.
- If you are familiar with the Blueberry Bass Overdrive (BBBOD), then you know that its Nature control is a sort of tilt EQ. In the CRB's sound design structure, you could think of it as being like a BBBOD with no Drive plus a tilt EQ that tilts only in the bass direction. Continuing that comparison, but substituting the BBBOD-based Über Bee OD, you could think of the CRB's Brilliance control as being like the UBOD's Treble, though much more subtle.
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As explained in another current thread, I'm trying to fatten up my dub dedicated Pbass that can't quite achieve Flabba Holt type fatness, at least in my hands. I'm quite intrigued by the Crimson Red pedal that could be the ticket but before ordering I'd like to ask you guys if you think the AMT A-Bass tube pedal is somehow comparable to the CRB and if so which one will deliver max fatness.
