Skeptical about Darkglass

[Grahams Groove]

I think that Darkglass products are all interesting and versatile, they are great and really well made, the Alpha Omicron is really tempting. It's just a pity that I can't try their pedals in a live situation, maybe they're just too subtle and fine for me (the Beast, in the west wing of the castle, is looking the petals of the rose falling one after the other).

Just to be clear on what your goal is tone wise... are you looking for an OD/mild distortion that is secondary to maintaining the fundamental/thump of your bass? Or are you looking for a nasty distortion that adds breakup to your full signal? When I hear 'too subtle/polite' I assume you're looking for something that is obviously distorted...

 

[fuzzspiral]

@bigsnack yeah, is good! But that is the only review where has THE sound, and looking at the amp he's using I think that the rig is doing the big of the work...

@Grahams Groove the first is the correct one. For breakups to the full signal I have three fuzzes that I really like (smallsound/bigsound TAFM, ehx Green Russian reissue, Zvex Mastotron). In the first page of this thread I put two videos (boss bb1x and a video af a song), just to give the idea.
"are you looking for an OD/mild distortion that is secondary to maintaining the fundamental/thump of your bass?"
at least in the reviews it seems that the Alpha Omicron is good at the first option you mentioned, at low drive

 

[oldskoolskatedad]

I had been keeping an eye on DG for quite some time and though being impressed, nothing quite did it for me. Then they release the X7 and it was time to pony up. Couldn't be happier with it.

 

[FLV]

The beauty of Darkglass's stuff is how well it sits in the mix and blends with the rest of the instruments. It doesn't clash with the guitars or the kick, while alowing the bass to shine in other areas. Each version of the drive is just a tad different when it comes to the 'flavour' of the sound. I've once read somewhere in the net that the B3K is a katana and the AO is a chainsaw - I think the description is pretty accurate. And the VMT is pretty much like an ovedriven tube amp - especially on low to mid gain setting.

That being said, perhaps you're just looking for something different. The Sansamp comes to mind, along with the KHDK Abyss which seems to be getting more and more fans little by little.

 

[fuzzspiral]

I love DG for a lot of reason, but if I am looking for a mild to heavy overdriven tube tone, this is my go to pedal. To me, it’s the closest I’ve found to my all tube heads when running to FOH.

wow...veeery interesting! At high gain it's a beasty fuzz

 

[Ellery]

Hi all! I really like overdrives by Darkglass (at least in the hundreds of reviews...) because they seem to be really "drive", and they don't cross into the fuzz territory.
Since I already have fuzzes on my board a darkglass style is what I look for.
BUT. They sound, I don't know how to put..."hollow". I mean, they seem to have a lot of great frequencies but they stay "around", not very direct. Very aggressive but soft, if I can say this. I could only try the Vintage and this sensation got confirmed.

Can you give me some feedback please? Especially in a live situation with other instruments...considering my budget I'm interested in the Alpha Omicron but I can't try before buying it. In this forum they all talk good about it.
The others two that I've taken in consideration are the SS/BS Mini (I love it!), but it seems fuzzy, and since I already have the TAFM and the EHX Green Russian Reissue it's a bit redundant, I think. The other one is the Boss BB1X bass driver
I play a Precision standard, Gallien Krueger 700RBII, Ampeg svt410hlf.
Thank you very much
PS I like stoner rock.

I'm using a G&L LB-100 pbass, Gallien Krueger 1001RB into an Ampeg 1x15 cab. I use a B3k into a Sansamp pedal, and it sounds great. But I do NOT scoop the mids. My best results are with mids at no boost or gain, or boosted just a hair.

 

[Ellery]

I only tried the B3K, but what you are saying is more or less the reason why I sold it. It's dirt without the dirt Very tight, great definition, blah blah BUT... maybe suitable if you want that polished "modern sounding" djent tone, not if you want to sound nasty.

Have you taken into consideration a Rat clone instead?

My two cents here, to get nasty I run an Ibanez Turbo Tube Screamer into a B3k and that is some filthy stuff!

 

[JtSD619]

I use a Alpha-Omicron (as well as a Keely bassist compressor, and poly tune tuner). GK NEO 410 (8ohm) with GK 1001RB. Fender Precision Elite. The Alpha-Omicron cuts through with ease. I absolutely love my tone/rig. You will not be disappointed

 

[Grahams Groove]

@fuzzspiral - I missed that video on my first look, but just listened to it. I think you could approximate that sound with the Alpha Omega. The B3k or A/O can be dialed in for plenty of punch, but I still think it 'darkglasses' your bass tone across the full spectrum - kind of that mid/low 'openness' that was mentioned. The X lets you keep a lot of your signal intact, and then you just choose the cutoff for distorting top end. That is if you want to go the DG direction. There are a few other pedals that will get you into that territory as well. I also like the Pike Amplification Vulcan OD, the Pork Loin, and the Damnation Audio MBD-1 for clank/crunch with the ability to blend in plenty of your raw bass tone.

I actually was toying with the X7 last night and made a little comparison demo so I could listen back and see if I was losing the meat of my bass sound when I engaged the X7 with some light distortion. I found that I could actually use more distortion than I typically like, and just roll up the HPF to keep some clean lows & mids. I'll post it when I get home tonight...

 

[Jonahlane]

The thing with darkglass products is I have found them to be much more responsive to what you feed into them, and what you run them into, than most other pedals. I have 5 different basses, 4 of them are fenders, and the different DG products I have all bring out different things from each of the basses. The B*K gives my P basses a nice upper mid emphasis on the pick attack, while my jazzes get filthy and more aggressive due to the brighter top end. The Vintage Deluxe gives my P basses a nice warm natural drive sound, but my jazzes distort the upper mids a bit too much. The AOU is the only one that seems more consistent (read compressed) across the line. Not a bad thing at all. If you can, I would try them all in person, as the experience of playing with them is much different than listening to a demo on YouTube.

TLDR: Darkglass Products are incredibly dependent on what bass you feed them. Nice sounding bass with fresh strings is going to sound very different than the same bass with old strings. Notice I didn’t say expensive.

 

[Grahams Groove]

TLDR: Darkglass Products are incredibly dependent on what bass you feed them. Nice sounding bass with fresh strings is going to sound very different than the same bass with old strings. Notice I didn’t say expensive.

Good call on that. I think 'the tone' in question is often dudes with fresh, bright strings, and piano-like active basses. Certainly they contribute to the ubiquitous tone that can feel over-used to some listeners.

 

[hintz]

Good call on that. I think 'the tone' in question is often dudes with fresh, bright strings, and piano-like active basses. Certainly they contribute to the ubiquitous tone that can feel over-used to some listeners.

New strings help, but I don't think you need active basses. In fact I prefer passive basses into DG stuff(all of mine are anyways)

 

[Jonahlane]

Good call on that. I think 'the tone' in question is often dudes with fresh, bright strings, and piano-like active basses. Certainly they contribute to the ubiquitous tone that can feel over-used to some listeners.

I play all passive basses, with pretty fresh strings, with DG for both the Worship band I’m in and an Americana project as well.

 

[Grahams Groove]

New strings help, but I don't think you need active basses. In fact I prefer passive basses into DG stuff(all of mine are anyways)

I play all passive basses, with pretty fresh strings, with DG for both the Worship band I’m in and an Americana project as well.

I use passives with my X7. I'm saying that the sound some people have said is too common-place/sterile with these pedals is often active dingwall, ibanez, etc. with fresh bright strings. Meaning, there are other uniform factors with gear that push you further in that direction. I think running my passive basses with the tone rolled off a bit gives them more variety & makes them applicable in the stuff I play.

 

[Kevan Campbell]

In my limited experience, Darkglass gear is pretty cool when playing bass alone but can easily get lost in the mix. I love how my B3K sounds but it seems to all but disappear in a full-band mix, and I’ve found that when I try to dial in slightly more dirt to stand out a bit more I lose a significant amount of low-end fundamental.

However, I got to play the A/O, X’s and VMT at NAMM this year (I’ve never seen that many Darkglass products in one place before) and all three of those have been calling to me since, so its possible that I just have the wrong box for my purposes on my board.

 

[Jonahlane]

In my limited experience, Darkglass gear is pretty cool when playing bass alone but can easily get lost in the mix. I love how my B3K sounds but it seems to all but disappear in a full-band mix, and I’ve found that when I try to dial in slightly more dirt to stand out a bit more I lose a significant amount of low-end fundamental.

However, I got to play the A/O, X’s and VMT at NAMM this year (I’ve never seen that many Darkglass products in one place before) and all three of those have been calling to me since, sonits possible that I just have the wrong box for my purposes on my board.

Odd, ive never experienced that with my B3k (I now have a b7k, but I had a b3k for a while)

 

[TheLowDown33]

In my limited experience, Darkglass gear is pretty cool when playing bass alone but can easily get lost in the mix. I love how my B3K sounds but it seems to all but disappear in a full-band mix, and I’ve found that when I try to dial in slightly more dirt to stand out a bit more I lose a significant amount of low-end fundamental.

However, I got to play the A/O, X’s and VMT at NAMM this year (I’ve never seen that many Darkglass products in one place before) and all three of those have been calling to me since, so its possible that I just have the wrong box for my purposes on my board.

Dont increase the dirt, increase the volume. Because you're adding upper harmonics that eat into guitar territory, you need to boost the overall output volume. Alone, it might sound unevenly loud, but with a band itll sit just right...especially with DG stuff.

 

[hintz]

I use passives with my X7. I'm saying that the sound some people have said is too common-place/sterile with these pedals is often active dingwall, ibanez, etc. with fresh bright strings. Meaning, there are other uniform factors with gear that push you further in that direction. I think running my passive basses with the tone rolled off a bit gives them more variety & makes them applicable in the stuff I play.

I understood what you meant, I was just giving my preference for passive despite what many DG players tend to use. Sorry if I wasn't clear, I just woke up! LOL

I've had the B3 and B7K, small and big version of VMT, a duality and now the 900 amp. I find the VMT works best for cutting through a dense mix with the midrange Boost where the B7K sits in a mix better with the cut around 300Hz. The VMT also gets hairier with the drive than a B#K but is more transparent despite that...

DG aren't for everyone and they do have a baked on sound, but they can be versatile outside of just metal genres. I used to use the B7K for a pop group, I just had the drive off with the blend at 100% to get a nice amp like sound.

 

[Maxfenderbass]

I used to have a b3k for a little bit, I ended up buying a MBD-1 on a whim from the hype, the darkglass was sold a week later. I have still yet to try a AO, but I can get Damnation/Dunwich and other smaller brands for the same/less price.

 

[jthisdell]

I use my VMT with low drive and the blend towards dry for a fat tubey always on sound, when I want a hotter signal I send my Fifth Gear into it to bring out more grit.