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Pedals that (far) exceeded your expectations...

Origin Effects Cali76 Bass Compact. This is an 'always on' unit. I feel it doesnt compress as much as creates. The way it brings out the subtle tones with a light touch is fantastic. Its compression is quite natural. It certainly removes some of the heavy attack volume, but its quite musical and dynamic. Recommend it to anyone!


Brougton HPF - LPF. SHOCKED at how awesome this pedal is. I feel every bass player should have one. It can save your night in certain rooms or on rigs you may not be familiar with. I like that it can go from super subtle filter setting to a 'no holds barred' boost pedal with a turn of the gain. The frequency sweeps are spot on. It can essentially be used as a massive mid boost if you need it to be!
 
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VT Character Bass Deluxe - this pedal is always on when I play. I don't even remember what my bass sounds like without it on. I have 6 settings on it with varying degrees of OD/distortion. Every amp I play through I pretty much set flat and use this to get the tone I want. It also allows me to go without an amp when I want to. I used to do the same thing with the Sansamp PBDDI which I also loved. The VT just gives you a few more options.
 
This thing:
leadImage_b1xon.png


I found it to be a fun little pedal.

Up to 5 effects in a chain in any order, looper, basic drum machine, turner, expression pedal,
store up to 100 patches, select from 105 effects. Sounds good enough in a band setting, to me.
Fun! :)

yep..and the g1xon as well..I should prolly qualify this by saying I use these when playing a d tuned piccolo for VERY noisy free improv. I have both and it's pretty easy to get into 'what iz that" land. Sometimes in stereo series, sometimes parallel. TWO loopers, two awful drum machines and really terrible strange effects..by terrible I mean good. and with the free librarian for my Commodore 64, the sky is the limit! Bought both for new <$100

I have a theory on these two..I envision a basement lab in a non descript industrial building on the outskirts of Sapporo, ill lit, a bit musty. Two Zoom engineers who refused to go along with the company on what to make next.. said screw it, we'll take the best efx that we made for the $$$$ Zoom multi-fx, put them in a plastic\box that no TBer would EVER by, and sell them for $0.054. And when nobody buys them, we'll just gloat until we get a job with korg.

I don't think i'd recommend them for doing your Saturday night in the local tribute band thing though. For that $100 gig, you need a helix Mach 5, the only pedal that makes your Fodera Emporer really "cut through the mitz" when your band rips into "Tush".

Close in at second place, any boot sale Roktek time based pedal that has been circuit bent by Paul at circuit benders.uk. Mine are in my avatar. Best noise machines ever.
 
For bass, I don't use many pedals, and frankly almost everything I've ever bought was kind of a disappointment once I got it home

For guitar- the two biggest surprises were the OCD and the Dunlop CAE wah. The OCD is the most amp like overdrive I've ever played, and gives several of my amps a legit lead channel. The CAE wah is just perfect for me. A boost so it actually cuts, and just enough flexibility, without the hassle of having to mess with a bunch of settings
 
Digitech RP360XP.

Bought it for my guitar and tried it on my bass with the bass presets. A few tweaks later and I get a great sound out of it.

Right now I only have an Amp, Light distortion and compressor programmed.
 
Airis Effects Hades - I was lookin at the Fortin, but really didn’t want to run the key line. It’s an amazing clamp. I don’t have any noise until I turn up gain. But wow. It’s amazing. They make excellent stuff.
 
yep..and the g1xon as well..I should prolly qualify this by saying I use these when playing a d tuned piccolo for VERY noisy free improv. I have both and it's pretty easy to get into 'what iz that" land. Sometimes in stereo series, sometimes parallel. TWO loopers, two awful drum machines and really terrible strange effects..by terrible I mean good. and with the free librarian for my Commodore 64, the sky is the limit! Bought both for new <$100

I have a theory on these two..I envision a basement lab in a non descript industrial building on the outskirts of Sapporo, ill lit, a bit musty. Two Zoom engineers who refused to go along with the company on what to make next.. said screw it, we'll take the best efx that we made for the $$$$ Zoom multi-fx, put them in a plastic\box that no TBer would EVER by, and sell them for $0.054. And when nobody buys them, we'll just gloat until we get a job with korg.

I don't think i'd recommend them for doing your Saturday night in the local tribute band thing though. For that $100 gig, you need a helix Mach 5, the only pedal that makes your Fodera Emporer really "cut through the mitz" when your band rips into "Tush".

Close in at second place, any boot sale Roktek time based pedal that has been circuit bent by Paul at circuit benders.uk. Mine are in my avatar. Best noise machines ever.
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Damnation Audio MBD-1.

I'll be honest I thought it was just hype but the MBD-1 is excellent.
It can do low gain, high gain, heavy, articulate, dark, bright, "grindy", "tubey".
Easily one of the most essential tools in my tone.
At first I'll admit I was underwhelmed with it but after spending more time with it on different basses and into different effects I've truly fallen in love with it.
I only wish it had digital brain for preset functionality because it has so many "sweet spot" tones for a plethora of purposes.
+1
 
Darkglass Alpha Omega. Both the B3K and the Vintage were so close but no cigar. The A/O however ended my drive quest.
3Leaf Wonderlove. The perfect filter for the way I play. I had started to get frustrated with my filter search, but this guy and the IE Xerograph tick all my boxes.
Iron Ether Subterranea. I initially had no idea what I'd use it for, I just knew I wanted it. It's become a staple for several key tunes we play.
 
The 3Leaf Chromatron and the Cali76 CB.

The Cali was just a revelation for me in that I immediately knew it was the right compressor FOR ME. The HPF and the dry blend kinda dilutes the impact of the effect, and I love having the ability to use dramatic squish while still maintaining my dynamics. Not for everybody but definitely my bag, baby.

The Chromatron is by far the most expressive and flexible envelope I’ve tried, and people should take that with a grain of salt because I’ve only tried a dozen or so. It doesn’t have a ton of “quack”, but it excels at most other things I expect from that type of pedal.