So many pedals, so little money. I am still loving my original BDDI. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
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Tech 21 Steve Harris Fly Rig
- Thread starter wintremute
- Start date
These two make a good pair. I might be a fanboy.
I have his blue signature, guess that makes two of us!
I didn’t know that P bass’ body was made of rock maple.
that definitely helps the metallic top end. Probably would be my favorite Fender bass.(coming from Ric guy who likes clank)
Oh yeah, and it is heavy as hell. Won't be playing it for 3 hours, but will be fun to pull out occasionally.
Update: I've been using the SH-1 for a couple/few weeks now, with a wide variety of basses: active, passive; high output, low output; rounds, flats; P, J, MM, HH; etc. It works with all of them. I'll never have an overall favorite distortion pedal, but this one is Top 10 or Top 5*. In short: a keeper.
Rather than be redundant, I'll just say that my initial review and subsequent thoughts still stand. Honeymoon phase is over, and I still love it.
*Edit: in this range, it isn't a matter of better or worse, but different. Variety is the spice for me!
Rather than be redundant, I'll just say that my initial review and subsequent thoughts still stand. Honeymoon phase is over, and I still love it.
*Edit: in this range, it isn't a matter of better or worse, but different. Variety is the spice for me!
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It is a nice bass. I had one and sold it. Love the sound but it was absolutely too freakin heavy to use for any length of time. At least for me it was.
I built a PJ from maple. It sounded solid but a little less clanky than my Ric or my Epi Ripper(bolt-on, but also rock maple) I had. Both the Ric and Ripper have very thin bodies compared to the Fender, so I figured that's what gave the P a chunky tone and the Ric and Ripper a very resonant high end tone.
The Ripper had that thin body, but since it was so huge it weighed as much as that monster PJ.
I also built a maple P that I sanded down to make a thinner body, but totally SNAFU'd the drilling on that body!
it’s kinda pretty tho!
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Well I got one for my birthday and I think its going to be a keeper.
So far I've only tried it at home through my tiny Phil Jones Double Four practice amp. Of course the real test will be hearing it cranked through a big amp with a band. But I can tell it's voiced to work perfectly through the front of an amp. No need to worry about pre-amping twice.
With the EQ knobs at 12o'clock, the response is flat with a gradual high frequency roll off. With the Speaker Sim and Bite off, it's a nice transparent overdrive. Turning on the Speaker Sim produces a much steeper high frequency roll off and a big low frequency bump around 55hz. Honestly, I don't think it sounds very good with just the Speaker Sim on. But turning on the Bite evens it out with a huge bump at around 3.5kHz. Likewise, the Bite doesn't sound very good on its own. As far as I'm concerned, the Speaker Sim and Bite could've been one combined switch as one seems to require the other to sound good. I think Tech21 was wise to not allow the Speaker Sim to be assigned to the XLR and 1/4" separately. That would've seemed sensible in theory, but after hearing it I don't think it would've been practical.
Probably makes sense as Steve Harris actually uses a Marshall guitar cabinet, which likely doesn't sound very good for bass, either, without his "Steve Boost" that is replicated with the Bite switch.
So far I've only tried it at home through my tiny Phil Jones Double Four practice amp. Of course the real test will be hearing it cranked through a big amp with a band. But I can tell it's voiced to work perfectly through the front of an amp. No need to worry about pre-amping twice.
With the EQ knobs at 12o'clock, the response is flat with a gradual high frequency roll off. With the Speaker Sim and Bite off, it's a nice transparent overdrive. Turning on the Speaker Sim produces a much steeper high frequency roll off and a big low frequency bump around 55hz. Honestly, I don't think it sounds very good with just the Speaker Sim on. But turning on the Bite evens it out with a huge bump at around 3.5kHz. Likewise, the Bite doesn't sound very good on its own. As far as I'm concerned, the Speaker Sim and Bite could've been one combined switch as one seems to require the other to sound good. I think Tech21 was wise to not allow the Speaker Sim to be assigned to the XLR and 1/4" separately. That would've seemed sensible in theory, but after hearing it I don't think it would've been practical.
Probably makes sense as Steve Harris actually uses a Marshall guitar cabinet, which likely doesn't sound very good for bass, either, without his "Steve Boost" that is replicated with the Bite switch.
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I hear ya -- for me the magic happened when using both Bite and Speaker Sim, I've been leaving both on, but I'm glad they are individual controls. I could imagine turning Bite off to get a very mellow tone for a classic ballad or whatever, then back on for rock. But also, not all bass rigs are equivalent, tone-wise, and people have different tone goals, so what works for me (and you) might not work for others.
Definitely going to get one of these at some point. Hoping for a Black Friday 20% off or something from Prymaxe.
You can probably get 10% off just by messaging Prymaxe. I had a 20% discount code but they wouldn't apply it to that, can't blame them for not wanting to heavily discount a new pedal that's bound to sell out.
I made an offer for one on Reverb that was 10% off, so there is that route too. The seller shipped really quickly.
I did the same. Got it for 255.
Look what just showed up on my desk!! Will have to wait until the weekend to plug it in but stoked to try it.
- Oct 16, 2014
- 6,942
- 29,551
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Langstrom Carrot Farms
I am so happy to see the Cliff tested with For Whome The Bell Tolls. That's the exact song I would use it for.
Also, that sparkly black bass is hella cool.
Played on a fairly big stage last night (real stage, as opposed to being crammed in the corner as in many of my bar gigs). I was going to use the DP-3X because I hadn't in awhile (the SH-1 has been the shiny new object) but I didn't put it in its usual place so I didn't find it until after the gig (duh). No matter: the SH-1 was the bomb.
Got to crank my rig (guitarist kept getting louder), and the SH-1 gave me amazing cranked tube amp tone. Not saying 100%, but damn close enough, and I'm not dragging tube amps any more. I used the Darkglass head in clean mode -- I did use bit of compression along with minuscule tweaks the graphic EQ, but the SH-1 didn't need that to sound great.
I would have loved the DP-3X too... it's great to have choices! And while I'm a big fan of stacking dirt, both of those sound great all by themselves.
Got to crank my rig (guitarist kept getting louder), and the SH-1 gave me amazing cranked tube amp tone.
Not saying 100%, but damn close enough, and I'm not dragging tube amps any more. I used the Darkglass head in clean mode -- I did use bit of compression along with minuscule tweaks the graphic EQ, but the SH-1 didn't need that to sound great.I would have loved the DP-3X too... it's great to have choices! And while I'm a big fan of stacking dirt, both of those sound great all by themselves.
FYI, Prymaxe isn't discounting this much at all. 10% off is the best I've managed to get, so I went ahead and pulled the trigger.
Decided to move mine on. Great as it is, I still prefer the DP3X and VTDI.
