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Stoner/Doom Bassists Thread, Part 90: Maxed Out

#50,502
kleinenenten said:
I have various HM-2s. They include:

MIJ Boss HM-2
DOD Super American Metal
Arion Metal Master
Earthbound Audio Throat Locust

I may also be getting a Behringer HM300. Would anyone be interested in a shootout? I have some time off work this week and need to play bass, but have no real reason to do so. Figured I love the HM-2 circuit, and have plenty of versions, so I may as well pit them against each other.

I’ve also had the BYOC Swede and LWA Left Hand Wrath, but they were unnecessary as they didn’t do anything I was interested in besides the standard HM-2.
Click to expand...

I've been experimenting lately and the Metal Master into a Gunslinger sounds pretty cool. Depending on how I adjust the level/gain on the Gunslinger it will sound more wooly or hyper chainsaw-ery. All the Metal Master knobs are dimed except the level is set at 9:00.

The only thing that worries me is the amount of plastic used on the Arion, also one of the pots was crapping out and luckily it was just dirty, but those things look weird to me and I bet impossible to find spares.
 
#50,503
Novarocker said:
Yeah that's tight.

@oZZma how do you like the portaflex? Which ones are they? I've been on the fence about a 15 or 210 for on the road small gigs.
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They are a 115LF and a 210HE. The 115 is noticeably better in terms of low end, although they are both clear and punchy enough.
Moreover, the 210 rattles a lot. I would not recommend it unless you find it for a small, small price.
On the other hand, the 115LF is better quality IMO. Better sounding too.
Anyways I'm going to replace them both as soon as I find a good deal for a couple of 115 Powerhouse.
 
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#50,504
cornfarmer said:
I've been experimenting lately and the Metal Master into a Gunslinger sounds pretty cool. Depending on how I adjust the level/gain on the Gunslinger it will sound more wooly or hyper chainsaw-ery. All the Metal Master knobs are dimed except the level is set at 9:00.

The only thing that worries me is the amount of plastic used on the Arion, also one of the pots was crapping out and luckily it was just dirty, but those things look weird to me and I bet impossible to find spares.
Click to expand...
Perhaps I’ll try that as I also have a Gunslinger.
 
#50,505
oZZma said:
They are a 115LF and a 210HE. The 115 is noticeably better in terms of low end, although they are both clear and punchy enough.
Moreover, the 210 rattles a lot. I would not recommend it unless you find it for a small, small price.
On the other hand, the 115LF is better quality IMO. Better sounding too.
Anyways I'm going to replace them both as soon as I find a good deal for a couple of 115 Powerhouse.
Click to expand...

I have pretty much 0 rattle in my 210he, then again I haven't played through it in some months.
 
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#50,513
lucas303 said:
Maybe a bit off topic, but how many of you play six string basses? Do any of you play sixers exclusively?
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I have one, but it’s not exclusive. I enjoy it, but could really get by with my 5. The high C is ‘t used that often, at least not by me. It does help with melodies and chords, however, if I’m trying to play something slower or “prettier”.
 
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#50,514
If any of yall have a Line 6 DL4, and it's stock, let me tell you about Nose Pedal/Westminster.... I had them do some mods to mine, mostly to improve the performance, but the best one was the max feedback switch. While some of the delay's are still kinda meh to me, it definitely gives this relic a little more balls.

On that note, do you stoners prefer running a wah before or after a delay?
 
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#50,515
lucas303 said:
Maybe a bit off topic, but how many of you play six string basses? Do any of you play sixers exclusively?
Click to expand...

I have a Squier Bass VI, does that count? :roflmao::roflmao:

Edited to add: @cornfarmer , I prefer to run most time dependent things before the delay when I'm noodling alone, because I like to hear the changes in the repeats. When I'm playing with other folks, I'll usually put things like the tremolo after everything, so it gets to assert itself over the sum of them and do its thing clearly.

But wah's a funny thing. It's both tone and time based. It's traditional to put it before everything else, but I sometimes get neat noises by doing things like putting them after the fuzz.
 
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#50,516
I guess more noodling is in order. Right now I've got

  • Metal Master -> Gunslinger -> EHX bass micro synth -> Dunlop bass wah

Tonight's planned experiment is

  • Metal Master -> Gunslinger -> EHX bass micro synth -> Dunlop bass wah -> DL4 delay (maybe swap the wah & delay at the end)

or

  • Dunlop bass wah -> Metal Master -> Gunslinger -> EHX bass micro synth -> DL4 delay
 
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#50,518
scabpicker said:
I have a Squier Bass VI, does that count? :roflmao::roflmao:

Edited to add: @cornfarmer , I prefer to run most time dependent things before the delay when I'm noodling alone, because I like to hear the changes in the repeats. When I'm playing with other folks, I'll usually put things like the tremolo after everything, so it gets to assert itself over the sum of them and do its thing clearly.

But wah's a funny thing. It's both tone and time based. It's traditional to put it before everything else, but I sometimes get neat noises by doing things like putting them after the fuzz.
Click to expand...
I've always put wah at the end of the chain. :bag:

Never got on with delay on bass. On synths, hell yes. But I never found myself wanting or needing it on bass. But I run a pretty small board.
 
#50,519
Did a quick and dirty A/B of various HM-2s on bass today. No clips, my DAW wasn’t being cooperative.

Short version - Throat Locust wins.

I only spent a few minutes with each pedal, and didn’t do anything outside of “chainsaw” as I have no interest in other tones. I am here for Entombed/Dismember/Bloodbath worship (not that these couldn’t doom as all hell). The reviews include my findings as of today, as well as plenty of time spent over the last few years my A/Bing all these pedals to find the “perfect” HM-2.

My go-to settings on any HM-2 are max bass, high at 4:30 or so, distortion at noon, and volume to taste. I tested all pedals at this, except the Throat Locust (with details to be specified later). With the original HM-2 having no noticeable difference in tone throughout a large portion of the gain knob (and only slight differences after), I have opted to keep the distortion lower. If I do that, while this doesn’t really affect tone (depending on the exact clone), it does make the pedal less noisy and feedback prone (which may or may not be a positive for some). I am not a fan of feedback or noise, so I lower the gain.

Here goes the review:

MIT HM-2 - Everything you know and love. Sweet, sweet, chainsaw tones, plenty of bass, a great tone if you’re into that sort of tone. I swear that the original HM-2s must have some sort of component aging going on to slightly reduce highs, because all newer clones seem noisier and more harsh in general. Lots of treble “fizz”, but not bad. Good for bass, but not my favorite.

DOD Super American Metal - This seems to basically be the HM-2, but with a little bit more treble “fizz”. Other than that, this sounds pretty well identical to the HM-2. A bit noisy, perhaps, but with my gates, not a big deal.

Arion Metal Master - Seems to have more low mids or bass presence, can’t quite pin it down. Regardless, a great, and much cheaper alternative to the original for bass. It seems to have a bit more “presence” if that makes sense, but not a problem - perhaps higher treble frequencies than a traditional “treble/high” control on an HM-2. Regardless, it seemed to be both bassier and treblier, but also less harsh, than the original. Great HM-2 for bass.

Throat Locust - The settings were as follows - bass cranked, mids at 3:00, treble at 1:30, distortion at noon, mid frequency at noon. This gave a distinct HM-2 tone, but with plenty of bass, and an almost “natural” sounding bass underneath the distortion to boot (relatively speaking, of course, this IS an HM-2). It also gave plenty of treble to cut, but not harsh as many others. I like bass that is nice and distorted, but too much high end “fizz” kills it for me. This is a great tone that is plenty aggressive, but also grounded in plenty of bass. This is the best HM-2 I’ve played, hands down. The flexibility makes it both easy to find a tone that works, and also work in plenty of mixes. There aren’t tons of changes to the circuit, but the addition of a tweakable mid frequency and separate mid and high controls make this pedal.

If I had to rank their usefulness on bass, this would be my list (it would be a different ranking on guitar):

1. Earthbound Audio Throat Locust
2. Arion Metal Master
3. MIT HM-2
4. DOD Super American Metal

The following reviews are from memory, as I no longer have the pedals:

Lone Wolf Audio Left Hand Wrath: While competently built, I found this pedal to be nothing special. Unless I was aiming for chainsaw, this pedal did nothing for me that the other clones couldn’t do as well and far cheaper. In fact, reducing the highs per my preferred method seemed to absolutely neuter this pedal. Any sort of definition was quickly lost, and in raising the highs it gave off plenty of feedback I didn’t want. The “presence” control was far too high and harsh to be of any use. Mids absolutely HAD to be cranked for me to do much of anything since the highs were just so harsh. In addition, the egregious (and much longer than expected) wait time and general disdain that was shown for me as a customer has really turned me off to this pedal (and brand overall).

Behringer HM300 - The absolute best budget-minded HM-2. If anything, it was slightly more trebly than the original, but I attribute that to the newer components and aging of the original. If you want a solid HM-2 for almost nothing, or are unsure of the whole HM-2 in general, get this. Sure it’s a plastic enclosure, but for the price, it’s well worth it. Buy bunch and swap them as they break and you’ll still spend less than plenty of these others! A friend of mine has this (and let me mess with it a while ago) and it’s a great affordable clone. I may yet get one just because they’re so cheap.

BYOC Swede - A modern clone with true bypass as the only improvement. I found this to be identical tone-wise to modern clones (i.e. the harsh highs, though the DOD was pretty much the exact same tone and also much older...) but also noisier in general. It required me to set my noise gate higher to keep from getting feedback. It wasn’t a bad clone by any stretch, but seeing as I had the original and other clones, there was no need to keep it.

Hope all that helps fellow “chainsaw” enthusiasts.

Other HM-2s to be aware of:
KMA Wurm
Decibelics Angry Swede
Wren and Cuff Hangman 2D
Dunwich (2 or 3 versions at least)
Dunn Effects Hierophant (and “Black Pedal”)
XIX HMD-1

I’m sure there are others I’d love to try!
 
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