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The Sushi Box FX Secret Society

#13,902
casual_platypus said:
It has a good amount of headroom but has a very pleasing breakup past 11 depending on the bass; after 3 oclock, its too much for me. When it goes, it goes fast, so I have kept it between 11-1 almost exclusively, but there are more than enough great sounds in that range. So far the ONLY issue I've had is the inability to boost the mids; that's exactly how the preamp was designed though, so that's on me... My solution is to use the mids-bump on my compressor.
Click to expand...

I've been running a Jive into the DW, and really dig the mid bump that happens when you push the Jive's gain past noon (no diodes).

On the DW, I've got the gain ~9 o'clock, mids at 3-4, bass and treble around noon. Tobias/MTD/MM basses, all of which have a fair amount of output.

The Jive was an impulse buy, but is surprisingly useful. I won't say it yet, but if anything could dethrone the accountant as an early-in-the-chain dirty boost...
 
#13,906
Fun fact: 2 years, 2 months, and 2 days ago I was working on the original SBVT design.

Guess it's time to look at SBVT II.

EDIT: I lied, it was one year, not two. Two years ago I think I was still charging full speed ahead with the miniature tubes.
 
Last edited:
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#13,907
Maybe a noob question here, just got a Dr. Wattson, and it sounds and works great, but have some questions about how it operates.

  • I have it plugged in, but turned off, and it's warm, does it still pull current to warm up the tubes when the pedal has power even though it is disengaged? Makes sense if it does so it can be warmed up when switched on.

  • How long does it take to warm up? I have it powered with 12v if it matters.

  • What is the lifetime of the tube? If I forget to turn it off am I going to go through tubes faster?

  • How do I know if the tube needs to be replaced? Being a preamp, I think that tubes have a longer lifetime, but not totally sure.

Thanks everyone!
 
#13,908
@warptheory
When SB pedals are powered they are either in standby or active mode so they do stay warm. Generally they take from 1 to 2 minutes to get fully warm and you may notice some change in operation during the warming process. Tubes do have a life cycle, older preamp tubes have been known to last decades but it is not certain how long the current manufactured tubes will last. Your ears will tell you when it is time to replace your tube as the audio performance will deteriorate generally with reduced volume, whine or unpleasant distortion.
 
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#13,909
warptheory said:
Maybe a noob question here, just got a Dr. Wattson, and it sounds and works great, but have some questions about how it operates.

  • I have it plugged in, but turned off, and it's warm, does it still pull current to warm up the tubes when the pedal has power even though it is disengaged? Makes sense if it does so it can be warmed up when switched on.
Click to expand...
yes. it still pulls current.

How long does it take to warm up? I have it powered with 12v if it matters.
Click to expand...
IME, just a minute ore two.

warptheory said:
How long does it take to warm up? I have it powered with 12v if it matters.
  • What is the lifetime of the tube? If I forget to turn it off am I going to go through tubes faster?

  • How do I know if the tube needs to be replaced? Being a preamp, I think that tubes have a longer lifetime, but not totally sure.
Click to expand...
it will go thru tubes faster but preamp tubes last a very long time (sometimes more than 20 years)
warptheory said:
  • How do I know if the tube needs to be replaced? Being a preamp, I think that tubes have a longer lifetime, but not totally sure.
Click to expand...
if the output is less than it used to be, it's time to replace the tube.
 
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#13,910
bassbrad said:
@warptheory
When SB pedals are powered they are either in standby or active mode so they do stay warm. Generally they take from 1 to 2 minutes to get fully warm and you may notice some change in operation during the warming process. Tubes do have a life cycle, older preamp tubes have been known to last decades but it is not certain how long the current manufactured tubes will last. Your ears will tell you when it is time to replace your tube as the audio performance will deteriorate generally with reduced volume, whine or unpleasant distortion.
Click to expand...

johnk_10 said:
yes. it still pulls current.
IME, just a minute ore two.
it will go thru tubes faster but preamp tubes last a very long time (sometimes more than 20 years)
if the output is less than it used to be, it's time to replace the tube.
Click to expand...

Thank you both for the sanity check.

So sounds like if I replace the tubes every 10-15 years (when I change my strings lol/jk), I should be good.

I just get paranoid about something going dead on a gig, and constantly unplug my active bass so I don't drain the batteries. This is helpful knowing that I don't have to baby it.
 
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#13,911
warptheory said:
Maybe a noob question here, just got a Dr. Wattson, and it sounds and works great, but have some questions about how it operates.

  • I have it plugged in, but turned off, and it's warm, does it still pull current to warm up the tubes when the pedal has power even though it is disengaged? Makes sense if it does so it can be warmed up when switched on.

  • How long does it take to warm up? I have it powered with 12v if it matters.

  • What is the lifetime of the tube? If I forget to turn it off am I going to go through tubes faster?

  • How do I know if the tube needs to be replaced? Being a preamp, I think that tubes have a longer lifetime, but not totally sure.

Thanks everyone!
Click to expand...
The length of time it takes to heat up will depend on available current it's being supplied. More than 500ma, and it heats up pretty quick. Less, and it might take a minute or two.
I flip the switch on my board, turn off the mbd, turn on the tuner, tune up, and by then it's hot...
 
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#13,912
DrHooper said:
The length of time it takes to heat up will depend on available current it's being supplied. More than 500ma, and it heats up pretty quick. Less, and it might take a minute or two.
I flip the switch on my board, turn off the mbd, turn on the tuner, tune up, and by then it's hot...
Click to expand...

I have a similar ritual involving another SB pedal that runs "flip the switch on my board, turn off octabass, turn on tuner, tune up, and by then it's hot..."
 
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#13,913
Idea time.


@Sushi Box FX

With the UA+tone stack bypass, there's a large jump in volume when bypassing the tonestack. This is due to insertion loss of the tone stack, right?
Is it possible to wire in a trimpot like you had on the SH, to help control the output of the tone bypassed side?
 
#13,914
dedpool1052 said:
Idea time.


@Sushi Box FX

With the UA+tone stack bypass, there's a large jump in volume when bypassing the tonestack. This is due to insertion loss of the tone stack, right?
Is it possible to wire in a trimpot like you had on the SH, to help control the output of the tone bypassed side?
Click to expand...
That's correct, bypassing the insertion loss of the tonestack results in a big volume difference. A trimpot could be added for just the tonestack bypassed side to balance it, but UA also has the internal trimpot already for the master volume adjustment.
 
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