Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Pork loin or DK vmt?
- Thread starter midichlorine
- Start date
-
- Tags
- pork loin
Love the Darkglass Vintage. It has some tone coloration, but in a good way IMHO. For vintage tones I set the Era knob to 11 o'clock -- of course it's important to add that I usually play active basses which typically have better treble response than passives.
18v sounds promising, that and the bright mod make the PL worth another try for me. One thing that put me off it before was that once the internal trim had been set to let the most amount of low end through, the clean channel clipped in an unpleasant way and the only fix was to dial it back and lose a small amount of bass. Increased headroom from 18v might fix that though!
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,636
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
just tried my Pork Loin at 18V for the first time. 18V really cleans it up and sounds great.
i may even install a charge pump in it so i can still use a 9V power supply with it.
i may even install a charge pump in it so i can still use a 9V power supply with it.
It changed everything for me. I don't know what I was doing wrong, but at 9V even with my passive bass (equiped w/ an alnico 5 p pickup), it would fuzz whenever I'd play on the E string. With my active MFD-equiped L-2500, it would fuzz pretty much all the time. Now (at 18V) I can use the PL even with the L-2500 (but I do have to roll off a little bass).
Darkglass vmt would be a good choice for a mild overdrive. it can also do medium gain overdrives if you play hard rock or heavy metal.
It's just one capacitor that has to be changed, but if you're buying a new PL you don't have to worry about it - they come already modded.
Just purchased a pk off of reverb. Not sure if it's new enough for the mod yet but we'll see.
Thanks guys
Thanks guys
Good luck! The info for the mod is here: Pork Loin mod
If you read the whole thing, somewhere in there it shows you how to tell the value of the cap by the code written on its package.
I completely read the thread title as "... DK VoMiT". 
I've tried the PL and liked it, tried the B3K and liked it — will have to try the VMT.
I've tried the PL and liked it, tried the B3K and liked it — will have to try the VMT.
it's got a baked in and very specific EQ which can't be dialled out and the grit sounds kind of artificial to me. It's not really an Overdrive, it's more of a distortion pedal in my opinion. An Overdrive pedal is supposed to simulate a valve amp being overdriven, hence the name. The VMT sounds nothing like any valve amp that I have ever used or heard. To my ears the VMT's grit is very odd sounding. Sure, it sits in a mix well on a congested sound stage...but it still sound odd to my ears and nothing like any valve stack I've heard.
Tried the PL on 18v. Nothing game changing for me. But I already love the PL as is, so I could see those who want less clipping loving it. It added a bit more clarity to my tone, and a little less distortion. I could probably get more defined tones if I wanted, but I didn't change any settings or anything. I guess what I'm trying to say is the clips posted previously had a huge difference in tone between 9v and 18v. My experience did not. I'm imagining it's because I didn't mess with internals or with the clean knob to hear the cleans being given more headroom. Either way, this is still a beast of a pedal, I just have no need for it at 18v, especially since I'd have to cram another power supply in somewhere.
Side note - @Johno Dunn , does your IsoPump create hiss? Most pedals I've tried mine with create an audible hiss in the chain. Even just plugging the IsoPump into an open plug but not actually using that plug creates hiss. Seems to go away with some pedals, but a majority of those that can do 9v or 18v I've tried with hiss. I use a simple 1Spot for power. Just asking as this seems to be a fairly esoteric piece of gear and no one has been able to offer support for me.
Side note - @Johno Dunn , does your IsoPump create hiss? Most pedals I've tried mine with create an audible hiss in the chain. Even just plugging the IsoPump into an open plug but not actually using that plug creates hiss. Seems to go away with some pedals, but a majority of those that can do 9v or 18v I've tried with hiss. I use a simple 1Spot for power. Just asking as this seems to be a fairly esoteric piece of gear and no one has been able to offer support for me.
"Side note - @Johno Dunn , does your IsoPump create hiss? Most pedals I've tried mine with create an audible hiss in the chain. Even just plugging the IsoPump into an open plug but not actually using that plug creates hiss. Seems to go away with some pedals, but a majority of those that can do 9v or 18v I've tried with hiss. I use a simple 1Spot for power. Just asking as this seems to be a fairly esoteric piece of gear and no one has been able to offer support for me."
I use a PowerAll, and run an IsoPump at 24v for my Diamond BCP-1. No issues there. I did try one on my BMC and it hissed. Just run it at 9v's now. I'm going to try the PL at 18 just for kicks.
Johno!
I use a PowerAll, and run an IsoPump at 24v for my Diamond BCP-1. No issues there. I did try one on my BMC and it hissed. Just run it at 9v's now. I'm going to try the PL at 18 just for kicks.
Johno!
Not to hijack this thread, but are there rules/guidelines about when you can use 18v on a pedal that calls for 9v? Or do you only use 18v for pedals that say it's okay? Thanks, DM
Yeah there is so to speak. You usually will be running most pedals at 9v. You don't ever want to run a pedal higher than 9v, especially 18v, until you know for a fact that the builder/manufacturer specified so. It will fry the pedal otherwise. A lot of them will have it marked on the pedal like "9-18v" or the like. But you always always want to make sure its ok. Otherwise, 9v is almost always good to go.
Well, I tried my modded PL at 18v last night. Through headphones though so I couldn’t quite tell a huge difference. A little, yeah. But I will need to get in on a big rig to really hear the difference.
@kleinenenten, the mod was a total game changer for me on the PL. I liked it quite a bit before the mod, but post mod, it hasn’t left my board. I love it. I’m not sure if it would’ve stayed onboard this long otherwise. It’s going to be hard to beat. I just got a Mountain King Behemoth too and I stacked the two, oh wow is it good! I really like it. I hope it works at loud volumes because I’ve been waiting to find two OD type dirts to stack again. I haven’t had that since the ODB3/OCD combo I used to use.
Sorry to derail the thread a little. Just spreading the love on the PL a little and the mod that @johnk_10 made us aware of. I still cant believe of all the ODs out there and all the ones I’ve tried that the PL was the one that stuck. Modded mind you. But it’s pretty cool in my eyes. And my ears
@kleinenenten, the mod was a total game changer for me on the PL. I liked it quite a bit before the mod, but post mod, it hasn’t left my board. I love it. I’m not sure if it would’ve stayed onboard this long otherwise. It’s going to be hard to beat. I just got a Mountain King Behemoth too and I stacked the two, oh wow is it good! I really like it. I hope it works at loud volumes because I’ve been waiting to find two OD type dirts to stack again. I haven’t had that since the ODB3/OCD combo I used to use.
Sorry to derail the thread a little. Just spreading the love on the PL a little and the mod that @johnk_10 made us aware of. I still cant believe of all the ODs out there and all the ones I’ve tried that the PL was the one that stuck. Modded mind you. But it’s pretty cool in my eyes. And my ears
Sorry (not sorry) to dredge this old thread up again but I finally got 'round to adding the Pork Loin back to the stable. Johnk mod and running it at 18V and it sounds so amazing, especially with my P bass. I have it feeding a EHX Hot Wax for some added fun. It's as if an old friend has come home.
