I have had some limited exposure to some higher end boutique type pedals recently.
I have recently become a big fan of overdrive. On upright, U-bass, and on electric, I have even gravitating towards that fatter tubey sound, anywhere from clean to a tiny bit of hair. It adds a depth and almost a natural compression and thickness, especially to the lower notes. I had been pretty happy with the sounds of Tech21's VT Bass.
On my main player, the Kala U-Bass, I have been searching for a tone control. A passive type one that cuts and shelves the highs AFTER the buffer (I prefer the F-deck). The bass's synthetic strings combined with the passive piezo pickup produce undesirable (for me) finger scratching noises. Most passive tone controls interact with passive pickups, but would probably not be desirable with this high impedance pickup without buffering. The VT Bass has great overdrive tone, but at some settings, even a full high cut on its EQ still lets through some high end above its frequency center. In fact, every EQ I own lets through highs even with full high end cut. I was looking for a tone control in a pedal (I love the f-deck and my rig) that shelves, so my friend and fellow TB'er caeman acquired a custom 2-channel always-on summing Red Dragon box made by SFX.
Each channel is gain, tone, and volume, and that's it. Powered by a 9-v wall wart (no battery), it is always on and truly sums the two into one output. There is no extra loading from the non in use channel being plugged into something. So I could put my bass into an A/B box, the two outs into each channel of the red dragon, and switch between 2 settings that way with no loss of output. Or run 2 basses.
First of all, the tone control does exactly what I needed it to do. Rolls off highs. Like the excellent tone knob on my P-bass. All the way down does not cut as far into the mids though. What I was not ready for was the incredible tone of the drive. The first third of the gain is clean. The middle thirds gets fat, ant the rest gives sweet, creamy hair, and keeps the lows. Even all up gives me the deep 3-D overdrive sound I strive for. Even with the tone knob wide open the drive does not get fuzzy or buzzy. The harmonics seem to be just right and very warm.
I dialed in the best overdrive sound I could get in my VT pedal then switched to the Dragon--- it tops it. Especially with my stingrays---where the on-board EQ is perfectly tuned (for me) I need no other tone controls. On upright and U-bass I used the VT for fat warmth, with the lows and mids flat, only the highs cut.
For tone and the best sounding overdrive for bass, I very highly recommend the Red Dragon from SFX. I cannot say enough good things about this piece.
I have recently become a big fan of overdrive. On upright, U-bass, and on electric, I have even gravitating towards that fatter tubey sound, anywhere from clean to a tiny bit of hair. It adds a depth and almost a natural compression and thickness, especially to the lower notes. I had been pretty happy with the sounds of Tech21's VT Bass.
On my main player, the Kala U-Bass, I have been searching for a tone control. A passive type one that cuts and shelves the highs AFTER the buffer (I prefer the F-deck). The bass's synthetic strings combined with the passive piezo pickup produce undesirable (for me) finger scratching noises. Most passive tone controls interact with passive pickups, but would probably not be desirable with this high impedance pickup without buffering. The VT Bass has great overdrive tone, but at some settings, even a full high cut on its EQ still lets through some high end above its frequency center. In fact, every EQ I own lets through highs even with full high end cut. I was looking for a tone control in a pedal (I love the f-deck and my rig) that shelves, so my friend and fellow TB'er caeman acquired a custom 2-channel always-on summing Red Dragon box made by SFX.
Each channel is gain, tone, and volume, and that's it. Powered by a 9-v wall wart (no battery), it is always on and truly sums the two into one output. There is no extra loading from the non in use channel being plugged into something. So I could put my bass into an A/B box, the two outs into each channel of the red dragon, and switch between 2 settings that way with no loss of output. Or run 2 basses.
First of all, the tone control does exactly what I needed it to do. Rolls off highs. Like the excellent tone knob on my P-bass. All the way down does not cut as far into the mids though. What I was not ready for was the incredible tone of the drive. The first third of the gain is clean. The middle thirds gets fat, ant the rest gives sweet, creamy hair, and keeps the lows. Even all up gives me the deep 3-D overdrive sound I strive for. Even with the tone knob wide open the drive does not get fuzzy or buzzy. The harmonics seem to be just right and very warm.
I dialed in the best overdrive sound I could get in my VT pedal then switched to the Dragon--- it tops it. Especially with my stingrays---where the on-board EQ is perfectly tuned (for me) I need no other tone controls. On upright and U-bass I used the VT for fat warmth, with the lows and mids flat, only the highs cut.
For tone and the best sounding overdrive for bass, I very highly recommend the Red Dragon from SFX. I cannot say enough good things about this piece.
