Review: BASS PANDORA

About 6 months ago i purchased a Korg Pandora Bass Effects Processor and, for the benefit of my fellow TB'ers i intend to write a brief review of it.

I got it at Archambault, in Montreal for $250CAD (not cheap!). I tried for one night and something inside it probably got fried, because all of a sudden there was nothing but garbage coming out of the headphones. So i took it back and they gave me a new one. Since then, that has been the only bad experience i've had with it.

This little bugger rules! It has 50 pre-made effects, and you can make yourself another 50, using hundreds of different cominations of basic effects like distorsions, different types of chorus, flanger, auto-wah, reverb, delay, octave, etc. It also has an equaliser and an amp-simulator.

It also has a drums simulator, where you can choose from 50 different beats (rock, bossa-nova, dance, 16th shuffle, jazz, etc..), and you can adjust the tempo and volume for your beat.

You can also plug your discman into it, and that way you can play along to jaco's 'c'mon come over' while using your own jaco effect. And if there is a riff that is a little too hard for you, you can record it (up to 16 seconds) into the pandora and play it repeatedly (you can even slow it down, without changing the pitch) so you can practice it until you get it!

I'm very happy with my pandora, and the $250CAD dont even hurt anymore. Its been only 6 months and i think i got my moneys worth already. Its not really that expensive, considering a good pedal goes for around $200CAD.

I use it all the time. Its not really that practical for gigs, because you have to go and switch effects manually, but it is really great for in-the-comfort-of-your-home practice. And if you have bitchy neighbors like me, its awesome because you can just plug your headphones into it and no one will even know you are getting ready to be the next claypool.

Hope this helps some of you make a decision. Any questions, let me know!

 

yeah, i actually forgot to mention that the tuner sucks. It really does. I have a real tuner and i always use that one instead.

If you like taping yourself with the stereo like i do, you'll find that its also pretty useful. You can just plug the pandora's output to the stereo's aux, and it gives your recordings good volume without needing an amp.

The infinite number of effect combinations that you get, and a drum machine, all for the same price as one single effect pedal, i think it makes it a pretty good deal.