The Sushi Box FX Secret Society

[CH Design]

Lab Rat was designed to have a nice fat bottom end, which is the main reason people tend to use a blend on bass, so while it's possible to put a blend in, it's not something currently on my to-do list.

I'm probably in the minority on this, but a clean blend on the Lab Rat seems like a good feature to add, provided it doesn't add a lot of components and/or significantly change the tone.

I only dug up this zombie post because I am currently looking for a Rat alternative for bass. The clean blend is a must for me. In my use, it's not so much just to add low end. I actually want a predominate clean-ish tone with some aggressive clipping in the background.

 

[Sushi Box FX]

I'm probably in the minority on this, but a clean blend on the Lab Rat seems like a good feature to add, provided it doesn't add a lot of components and/or significantly change the tone.

I only dug up this zombie post because I am currently looking for a Rat alternative for bass. The clean blend is a must for me. In my use, it's not so much just to add low end. I actually want a predominate clean-ish tone with some aggressive clipping in the background.

The tricky thing about a clean blend is that it needs something to drive it, typically a transistor or op-amp, or alternatively a tube. I try to keep solid-state devices out of the signal path in my pedals, but Lab Rat is already an exception to that since the LM308 is such an integral part of the Rat sound.

So a solid-state driven clean blend could be added without introducing a ton of extra components, but a tube-driven clean blend would obviously need to add an extra tube.

 

[CH Design]

The tricky thing about a clean blend is that it needs something to drive it, typically a transistor or op-amp, or alternatively a tube. I try to keep solid-state devices out of the signal path in my pedals, but Lab Rat is already an exception to that since the LM308 is such an integral part of the Rat sound.

So a solid-state driven clean blend could be added without introducing a ton of extra components, but a tube-driven clean blend would obviously need to add an extra tube.

I take it that the current Lab Rat uses both sides of its tube?

Would a solid state clean blend allow the HW Lab Rat to fit in the same enclosure?

 

[Sushi Box FX]

I take it that the current Lab Rat uses both sides of its tube?

Would a solid state clean blend allow the HW Lab Rat to fit in the same enclosure?

Yes both halves of the tube are used in the current Lab Rat, and maybe on the blend fit. A solid state blend could probably fit if I use SMD components and hide it on the bottom of the board with the power supply, but there's no way I would be able to fit it with the typical HW components.

 

[CH Design]

Yes both halves of the tube are used in the current Lab Rat, and maybe on the blend fit. A solid state blend could probably fit if I use SMD components and hide it on the bottom of the board with the power supply, but there's no way I would be able to fit it with the typical HW components.

Sounds like in order to fit in with your design philosophy it should likely go in to the next larger enclosure which means you’d have room to add another tube to run the clean blend and be able to offer both SMD and HW versions.

 

[JackFawkes]

Not to suggest a potential custom away from Sushi Box (whom I love and own more from than any other pedal maker), but another pedal artisan that I love the work of has a Blend knob on their most deluxe Rat pedal.

Check out the Drunk Beaver Heavy Bat. It's probably way more options than you actually want; in addition to the Blend knob, it has two Channels, selectors for four different Op-Amps, and eight different clipping modes.
While the Heavy Bat is by far his most over-the-top pedal, all of his work is absolutely top notch and always feels like it's priced at least $100 less than it should be, just awesome bang-for-the-buck pedals.

Jack

 

[Sushi Box FX]

Not to suggest a potential custom away from Sushi Box (whom I love and own more from than any other pedal maker), but another pedal artisan that I love the work of has a Blend knob on their most deluxe Rat pedal.

Check out the Drunk Beaver Heavy Bat. It's probably way more options than you actually want; in addition to the Blend knob, it has two Channels, selectors for four different Op-Amps, and eight different clipping modes.
While the Heavy Bat is by far his most over-the-top pedal, all of his work is absolutely top notch and always feels like it's priced at least $100 less than it should be, just awesome bang-for-the-buck pedals.

Jack

Drunk Beaver does some really cool stuff, definitely worth checking out if you're not familiar. I've been following him for a while now.

 

[andare]

And he's in Poland like me. Good to know!

Drunk Beaver does some really cool stuff, definitely worth checking out if you're not familiar. I've been following him for a while now.

 

[Parzival]

Question for the group. I currently have a Finally for my board. It does a great job of warming up the board and sending out a signal to FOH. I love tubes warmth and wondering if also adding a More or Space Heater would work well or be overkill. Currently run Tuner>Env Filter>YYZ>Chorus>VTDI>Finally.

Where would I add in the chain. Note: YYZ is not always on, if I want a grindy overdriven Geddy like sound I turn it on and bypass VTDI.

 

[CH Design]

Not to suggest a potential custom away from Sushi Box (whom I love and own more from than any other pedal maker), but another pedal artisan that I love the work of has a Blend knob on their most deluxe Rat pedal.

Check out the Drunk Beaver Heavy Bat. It's probably way more options than you actually want; in addition to the Blend knob, it has two Channels, selectors for four different Op-Amps, and eight different clipping modes.
While the Heavy Bat is by far his most over-the-top pedal, all of his work is absolutely top notch and always feels like it's priced at least $100 less than it should be, just awesome bang-for-the-buck pedals.

Jack

Thanks! I'll definitely check their stuff out.

There are a few different rat based pedals for bass players with clean blends. None of them have tubes though. I know the idea of a clean blend on the Lab Rat had been brought up before, so I just wanted to get some discussion going to see what Nathan thought of it and if there was any interested from others that follow this thread.

I trust that Nathan knows his audience better than anyone. If he likes the idea and thinks it would increase demand for the Lab Rat, we might see it in a future version. If not, we won't.

 

[VegasGutPlucker]

Not to suggest a potential custom away from Sushi Box (whom I love and own more from than any other pedal maker), but another pedal artisan that I love the work of has a Blend knob on their most deluxe Rat pedal.

Check out the Drunk Beaver Heavy Bat. It's probably way more options than you actually want; in addition to the Blend knob, it has two Channels, selectors for four different Op-Amps, and eight different clipping modes.
While the Heavy Bat is by far his most over-the-top pedal, all of his work is absolutely top notch and always feels like it's priced at least $100 less than it should be, just awesome bang-for-the-buck pedals.

Jack

Oh that looks like fun. Might knock the Machinist off my board... thanks for sharing!

 

[JackFawkes]

I trust that Nathan knows his audience better than anyone. If he likes the idea and thinks it would increase demand for the Lab Rat, we might see it in a future version. If not, we won't.

As much as I want to agree with you, I think Nathan's decisions are mostly forced by practicality. I think if he somehow had limitless time, energy, and materials he'd happily just make every possible iteration available so that every customer could get exactly what they want/need.

Oh that looks like fun. Might knock the Machinist off my board... thanks for sharing!

Drunk Beaver's pedals are a lot of fun! I'm not much of a Guitarist, and as much as I've always wanted to like "fuzz" as an effect, I'd never tried one that appealed to me whatsoever... until I tried his Ivan Mazepa (modified Poltava Fuzz clone). For me, it doesn't take a lot of careful dialing, I get good sounds pretty much no matter where I turn its knobs.
Vitalii builds his different models in small batches and puts them in his Reverb store as he finishes them; a small operation run by one super-talented guy, just like Sushi Box.
The downside is that you can never really see all of his models at one time, and he makes a lot of different awesome stuff. But on the upside, in addition to making excellent pedals with well thought out settings at an affordable price, he's also just a great guy who loves making and improving quality circuits (just like Sushi Box!)

 

[FronTowardEnemy]

I’ll leave this right here.

 

[bassbrad]

Question for the group. I currently have a Finally for my board. It does a great job of warming up the board and sending out a signal to FOH. I love tubes warmth and wondering if also adding a More or Space Heater would work well or be overkill. Currently run Tuner>Env Filter>YYZ>Chorus>VTDI>Finally.

Where would I add in the chain. Note: YYZ is not always on, if I want a grindy overdriven Geddy like sound I turn it on and bypass VTDI.

My suggestion would be to await the updated SBVT (or SBVT2) and replace the VTDI since you have the Finally. The original SBVT was popular but @Sushi Box FX wants to make it better with his constant goal of improvement.

 

[Sushi Box FX]

As much as I want to agree with you, I think Nathan's decisions are mostly forced by practicality. I think if he somehow had limitless time, energy, and materials he'd happily just make every possible iteration available so that every customer could get exactly what they want/need.

This is accurate. Alas I didn't win the powerball this time around, so my time and money available is still driven by external factors.

I’ll leave this right here.

Thanks man, I really appreciate you putting this together. I'm really happy with how Dreamcatcher turned out, and I'm excited to make it available for the December batch.

 

[jcburn]

I’ll leave this right here.

That demo and pedal sounds great

 

[Killing Floor]

Not to suggest a potential custom away from Sushi Box (whom I love and own more from than any other pedal maker), but another pedal artisan that I love the work of has a Blend knob on their most deluxe Rat pedal.

Check out the Drunk Beaver Heavy Bat. It's probably way more options than you actually want; in addition to the Blend knob, it has two Channels, selectors for four different Op-Amps, and eight different clipping modes.
While the Heavy Bat is by far his most over-the-top pedal, all of his work is absolutely top notch and always feels like it's priced at least $100 less than it should be, just awesome bang-for-the-buck pedals.

Jack

Vitalii’s Cold War Bat also has some gutsy bass settings. I love the Sushi Lab Rat but I use mine on my guitar more than bass. But you guys are making me want to try it in a loop switch.

 

[jcburn]

I’ll leave this right here.

Great demo man. I'd like to see demos like this for all the other pedals too. I know that takes time, organising etc.

@FronTowardEnemy - what was your signal chain for the gig you played with the Dreamcatcher? What was the stage rig (if one existed)? How did the live signal chain effect what we are hearing in the demo.

It's certainly sounds great. I understand channel A is intended to be clean but if I'm not mistaken there is definitely a bit of drive available at higher gain?

@Sushi Box FX - is the tone stack based on the Fender tone stack you use quite a lot?

 

[Sushi Box FX]

Great demo man. I'd like to see demos like this for all the other pedals too. I know that takes time, organising etc.

@FronTowardEnemy - what was your signal chain for the gig you played with the Dreamcatcher? What was the stage rig (if one existed)? How did the live signal chain effect what we are hearing in the demo.

It's certainly sounds great. I understand channel A is intended to be clean but if I'm not mistaken there is definitely a bit of drive available at higher gain?

@Sushi Box FX - is the tone stack based on the Fender tone stack you use quite a lot?

I can answer a couple of those questions. I want to get more video demos out there, I know that's something I'm currently lacking and it's on my list of things that I want done, like you said it's a matter of getting organized for it, which is one of my weak points.

You can absolutely get some drive available on the blue (clean) channel with the gain cranked up.

Both channels are using the same Fender tonestack found in the Underground Accelerator.

 

[Hasty]

I’ll leave this right here.

I have to admit… when I heard your voice speak the first sentence I thought “OMG he got H Jon Benjamin to do a pedal review!”

That was a great review. I liked the way you compared the settings and time. Nice work!