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Source Audio Zio Bass Preamp

I played the Capo for approx. 6 months. It sounds great and its analog "cab sim" (more of a LPF, I think) is the "Best" analog cab sim/LPF to MY ears.
It shines when slightly overdriven and more overdriven.
To me its sound has nothing to do with the ZIO.

What is the big difference in sound? Is the Capo better for overdrive type sound and the Zio better for clean sounds? Or are they both great for clean sounds? And can the ZIO do overdrive sounds well or it is only clean with a tube-like edge?
 
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What is the big difference in sound? Is the Capo better for overdrive type sound and the Zio better for clean sounds? Or are they both great for clean sounds? And can the ZIO do overdrive sounds well or it is only clean with a tube-like edge?

The "overdrive" on the Zio is quite harsh when cranked, they call it "Grit" , more of a transformer like saturation. I keep mine at minimum.

The Capo on the other hand shines with overdrive. To my ears it has the best DI'ed overdrive sound there is, combined with the LPF. Even when adding the A side as "more" overdrive, it never buzzes mosquito-style.
 
The "overdrive" on the Zio is quite harsh when cranked, they call it "Grit" , more of a transformer like saturation. I keep mine at minimum.

The Capo on the other hand shines with overdrive. To my ears it has the best DI'ed overdrive sound there is, combined with the LPF. Even when adding the A side as "more" overdrive, it never buzzes mosquito-style.

And how is the capo as a preamp for more clean fusion type sounds? Or is it more for rock?
 
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I got mine 2 days ago. 2 coupons from Perfect Circuit and it was sub 2 Benjies.

Sounds really good. Perfect for my Hybrid Guitar+Bass playing and only using a ZoomH6 for headphone practice with the option to record. I like the 2 band EQ. I also have the Zio for guitar and seems to be okay with my Sushi Particle Accelerator. This enables me to only use one amp (AI combo) or a powered speaker for gigs which are low volume or for stage monitoring
 
The headphone out of the ZIO can run high impedance headphones. That was a nice surprise. I had the Ampeg SGT and returned it. Also one trick I've found is set the grit to low, so you have zero overdrive and you have a more mid focus sound. I am trying to collate Christopher comments in Deadbeat Studios (Jaimie) livestram. Christopher had some notes on the block diagram as well as the HPF values where the knob is.

As with everything green, like the tube screamer, this may become a classic. Just really good, just what you need, nothing more
 
Hi Everyone!

Thanks for all your enthusiasm and kind words. I'm Christopher from Shoe Pedals (the guy from the video). I'm really happy that people are liking the sound of the pedal and doubly happy that you all seem to be appreciating the design goal we had in mind, which is simple to use, compact, but including a lot of useful functions in that package.

I always try to design circuits that sound good pretty much no matter the settings (but still contain a lot of versatility) and it seems like you all are picking up in that, which makes me super happy! It's harder than it looks, lol!

On the topic of extra knobs and footswitches, I am personally not opposed to that (my modular synth rig is looking at me knowingly). It does come with some tradeoffs, of course. One big one is well...it would be a pretty big pedal requiring a lot of pedalboard real estate. Another is that, sometimes, bigger pedals with more knobs and footswitches can be intimidating to some users. But, that said, we are open to all of your feedback and if these are things people are asking for, we will certainly take it seriously!
Size hasn’t scared off Noble buyers. This is a pedal board friendly design for sure. Would love to see a larger version with the aforementioned footswitches for scoop and grit
 
I got mine 2 days ago. 2 coupons from Perfect Circuit and it was sub 2 Benjies.

Sounds really good. Perfect for my Hybrid Guitar+Bass playing and only using a ZoomH6 for headphone practice with the option to record. I like the 2 band EQ. I also have the Zio for guitar and seems to be okay with my Sushi Particle Accelerator. This enables me to only use one amp (AI combo) or a powered speaker for gigs which are low volume or for stage monitoring
Likewise just picked up a zio bass from pc.... QQ - gain is increased by turning the screw clockwise of counter clockwise. The reason I asked is that I don’t hear much difference either way. Overall I am really liking the pedal and i think it is a keeper.
 
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Likewise just picked up a zoo bass from pc.... QQ - gain is increased by turning the screw clockwise of counter clockwise. The reason I asked is that I don’t hear much difference either way. Overall I am really liking the pedal and i think it is a keeper.
The "grit" distortion is increased going clockwise.

Gain is a knob.

The grit must be switched on to hear it.
 

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