OVNIFX Smoothie Compressor

[kringle77]

I'm one of the rare birds here who have owned a lot of compressors and actually still use an old lmb3. I really like the cali76 with transformer option though. I'll be receiving a smoothie next week. I have a suspicion that because my basses are so hot, they cause some kind of pleasing distortion in the lmb3 which gives my tone alittle more life. We shall see.

 

[kringle77]

Mine came early. Nice build quality, no high or low loss, works like everyone said. But, I still slightly prefer my old boss so, I'm going to sell it. If anyone is interested, pm me.

 

[filler83]

After trying several compressors and not being totally happy, I finally just ordered a smoothie. Can't wait to try it!

 

[Turn Em Loose]

Should have one in a few days.

I'm a comp newbie. What's a good starter setting for the Smoothie?

 

[kringle77]

There is one setting suggested that is pretty good found in the manual.

 

[monsterthompson]

I just cut a few bass clips on a track I'm working out, and I used the Smoothie in my chain. Figured I'd post the rough mix. There's other compression going on in the master track, but no plugins on the bass (Spector Euro 5).


The Smoothie certainly added some oomph. Nice, plump density.

 

[bigshiny]

Mine should be arriving today.

 

[mhartman29]

Does this pedal eat batteries? I just received a new smoothie a few days ago. I've had to put two new batteries in and both times the pedal seems to have died overnight. When I start playing (in the morning after playing with it the previously night) I hit the stomp switch to turn it on and nothing happens. I unplug the connections and reconnect them and the orange light come son for a second and disappears. Purple never lights up.

I'm trying to decide between the smoothie and markbass right now and I'm loving the smoothie when it works. But this is getting frustrating. Do you have to disconnect the cables when you are done? What's the deal?

 

[Turn Em Loose]

Does this pedal eat batteries? I just received a new smoothie a few days ago. I've had to put two new batteries in and both times the pedal seems to have died overnight. When I start playing (in the morning after playing with it the previously night) I hit the stomp switch to turn it on and nothing happens. I unplug the connections and reconnect them and the orange light come son for a second and disappears. Purple never lights up.

I'm trying to decide between the smoothie and markbass right now and I'm loving the smoothie when it works. But this is getting frustrating. Do you have to disconnect the cables when you are done? What's the deal?

I would ASSume you need to disconnect the cables.

 

[Turn Em Loose]

I just got a Smoothie recently from @kringle77 and love it! I'm a comp newbie but it took me almost no time in finding a setting that works great for me:



One question I have is the Attack knob doesn't seem to do much, if anything. What am I missing? Does it work in conjunction with something else on the pedal?

 

[bongomania]

With any and all battery powered pedals, you have to unplug the input cable when you're not playing, or the battery will run down.

 

[bassophile]

I just got a Smoothie recently from @kringle77 and love it! I'm a comp newbie but it took me almost no time in finding a setting that works great for me:

View attachment 1025699

One question I have is the Attack knob doesn't seem to do much, if anything. What am I missing? Does it work in conjunction with something else on the pedal?

Attack knob defines how quickly it starts to compress your signal after it passes the threshold level. It should be more obvious if you set the compression to kick harder. I suggest you to checkout bongomania's faq on compression and its parameters on his website.

 

[bongomania]

the Attack knob doesn't seem to do much, if anything. What am I missing? Does it work in conjunction with something else on the pedal?

To get a feel for that function, try turning the Sust knob all the way up, and the Direct Volume all the way down. Now play with some big peaks, like heavily thumbing the lowest string. As you do that, adjust the attack knob, and you should hear differences in the amount of your peaks that do or don't get compressed at the beginning of the note. Listen for the amount that the input of your amp distorts, for example.

It's one of those things that will not be noticeable or even quite audible when you use a properly moderate compression setting, but it can make that fine point difference between "almost right" and "just right".

 

[Turn Em Loose]

To get a feel for that function, try turning the Sust knob all the way up, and the Direct Volume all the way down. Now play with some big peaks, like heavily thumbing the lowest string. As you do that, adjust the attack knob, and you should hear differences in the amount of your peaks that do or don't get compressed. Listen for the amount that the input of your amp distorts, for example.

Thanks!!

 

[mhartman29]

With any and all battery powered pedals, you have to unplug the input cable when you're not playing, or the battery will run down.

The smoothie didn't come with an ac adaptor. Will any ac adaptor that fits work to power the device?

Also I'm trying to compare the smoothie against the markbass compressore. Do you have any advice on how to set the two devices to get a decent side by side comparison between the two? I'm mostly concerned with getting a smooth even (not squished) sound with tone fattening/Improvement.

Thanks!

 

[LSMFT6]

The smoothie didn't come with an ac adaptor. Will any ac adaptor that fits work to power the device?

Also I'm trying to compare the smoothie against the markbass compressore. Do you have any advice on how to set the two devices to get a decent side by side comparison between the two? I'm mostly concerned with getting a smooth even (not squished) sound with tone fattening/Improvement.

Thanks!

It needs to be the standard 9V DC center negative, same that any Boss pedal uses.

Definitely don't use the Markbass' adapter

 

[bongomania]

The smoothie didn't come with an ac adaptor. Will any ac adaptor that fits work to power the device?

Also I'm trying to compare the smoothie against the markbass compressore. Do you have any advice on how to set the two devices to get a decent side by side comparison between the two? I'm mostly concerned with getting a smooth even (not squished) sound with tone fattening/Improvement.

Thanks!

As LSM said, use the same standard power supply that works for Boss, MXR, and most other brands. 9V DC, center negative. Markbass is one of the few brands that doesn't use that type of supply. It is definitely NOT just a question of whether the plug fits--be sure about the voltage, DC not AC, and the polarity of the plug.

To compare the two pedals, start with all knobs on both pedals at 12:00. On the Smoothie, turn the Direct Vol all the way down. Now adjust the Sust knob on the Smoothie, and the Threshold knob on the Markbass, until the LED indicators on both of them light up the exact same amount in response to your playing. Shoot for having those light up to peak brightness about 50% of the time while you play. Lastly, adjust the output volume on both pedals so they are the same volume.

Good luck!

 

[mmbass21]

Anyone know where I can get my hands on one of these pedals?!?!?

 

[Ricky Caboverde]

Anyone know where I can get my hands on one of these pedals?!?!?

I believe @kringle77 recently mentioned that he would be putting his up for sale...

 

[kringle77]

I sold it but, also recommend it highly.