The Sushi Box FX Secret Society

[nealw]

Have you ever considered a Pultec EQ? I’ve only seen one in pedal form- Origin Effects Equinox (limited edition so pretty rare). Yours would be cooler though, as the original hardware is a tube device (assuming even a large pedal-sized tube Pultec is feasible). Pultec is great on bass, especially on upright, where the “Pultec low end trick” can give you a nice tight thump on the low end.

 

[DennyOnBass]

Got my Finally DI today. Played through it for five minutes and immediately installed it on the board.

This is going to be the perfect DI for live shows to add a little saturation, then I’ll kick it up a notch and send the 1/4” out dry to a clean preamp and blend the two for recording.

Love this DI! It won’t be my last Sushi Box pedal.

 

[lomo]

It won’t be my last Sushi Box pedal.

View attachment 4976581

….like shiny, glowing, habit-forming, electronic potato chips…..

 

[lomo]

A question for Sushi aficionados.........do any sushi preamps provide low end and low mids as prominent as the UA? I love my UAs. The Slampegg wasn't for me (not enough gain on tap and lows/low mids not as punchy as the UA to my ear). I'm ruminating another pre flavour , but I am not into heavy OD or cutting highs. Another UA set slightly differently will scratch my itch, but I'd rather try another more different flavour if it won't provide less lows/low mids.

 

[nealw]

Have you ever considered a Pultec EQ? I’ve only seen one in pedal form- Origin Effects Equinox (limited edition so pretty rare). Yours would be cooler though, as the original hardware is a tube device (assuming even a large pedal-sized tube Pultec is feasible). Pultec is great on bass, especially on upright, where the “Pultec low end trick” can give you a nice tight thump on the low end.

Sorry- it’s Spaceman Effects Equinox I meant. I misspoke.

 

[Killing Floor]

A question for Sushi aficionados.........do any sushi preamps provide low end and low mids as prominent as the UA? I love my UAs. The Slampegg wasn't for me (not enough gain on tap and lows/low mids not as punchy as the UA to my ear). I'm ruminating another pre flavour , but I am not into heavy OD or cutting highs. Another UA set slightly differently will scratch my itch, but I'd rather try another more different flavour if it won't provide less lows/low mids.

The older Particle Accelerator X had an option to be voiced for bass and it’s still one of my favorite pedals. They turn up used here in the classifieds.

 

[Sushi Box FX]

Have you ever considered a Pultec EQ? I’ve only seen one in pedal form- Origin Effects Equinox (limited edition so pretty rare). Yours would be cooler though, as the original hardware is a tube device (assuming even a large pedal-sized tube Pultec is feasible). Pultec is great on bass, especially on upright, where the “Pultec low end trick” can give you a nice tight thump on the low end.

Well I hadn't before, but I certainly am now.

 

[Sushi Box FX]

The older Particle Accelerator X had an option to be voiced for bass and it’s still one of my favorite pedals. They turn up used here in the classifieds.

That was misleading, I built PAX the same for bass and guitar. DW was the only thing I ever voiced differently for one or the other.

 

[Killing Floor]

That was misleading, I built PAX the same for bass and guitar. DW was the only thing I ever voiced differently for one or the other.

Aw, man! Now I’m just lost and wandering.

 

[CH Design]

Nice! If I had to pair down to only 1 box of sushi, it'd be a UA.

You haven’t tried an Elementary… yet.

LOL

A question for Sushi aficionados.........do any sushi preamps provide low end and low mids as prominent as the UA? I love my UAs. The Slampegg wasn't for me (not enough gain on tap and lows/low mids not as punchy as the UA to my ear). I'm ruminating another pre flavour , but I am not into heavy OD or cutting highs. Another UA set slightly differently will scratch my itch, but I'd rather try another more different flavour if it won't provide less lows/low mids.

You know, you aren’t that far from me. PM me and maybe we can work something out.

 

[bassbrad]

A question for Sushi aficionados.........do any sushi preamps provide low end and low mids as prominent as the UA? I love my UAs. The Slampegg wasn't for me (not enough gain on tap and lows/low mids not as punchy as the UA to my ear). I'm ruminating another pre flavour , but I am not into heavy OD or cutting highs. Another UA set slightly differently will scratch my itch, but I'd rather try another more different flavour if it won't provide less lows/low mids.

Perhaps the JC Emerald might be the alternative you seek, I just received mine and have begun exploring it. It can do a clean & phat with plenty of booty ~ seems to have a touch more tube depth than the UA which really IMO really shines on bass. It also seems to push over very nicely like a Marshall Major with the deep engaged it has punch and grunt.

 

[Sushi Box FX]

Perhaps the JC Emerald might be the alternative you seek, I just received mine and have begun exploring it. It can do a clean & phat with plenty of booty ~ seems to have a touch more tube depth than the UA which really IMO really shines on bass. It also seems to push over very nicely like a Marshall Major with the deep engaged it has punch and grunt.

When I made the first version of JC Emerald I wasn't really thrilled with it, it sounded okay on guitar but nothing super special. On bass it had promising grind, but seemed to lose too much in the low end to really be useful.

As soon as I got the first prototype together of the current version with the Deep and Brite switches, I knew I had something special. It very quickly became one of my favorite pedals to play with. With the Deep switch on it can do the clean-fat-warm thing that UA does so well, but the bright switch also lets you add a little more cut to it without losing any of the low end punch. With both switches off it rolls off some lows but still keeps a nice punchiness that I really enjoy. And to top it all off it has enough gain to do a solid overdrive if you want it, so it's honestly a really flexible pedal all the way around.

I had a social media channel contact me recently offering to do demo/review videos for me, and I'm planning to send them an Elementary and a JC Emerald, as I consider those to be kind of hidden gems right now. They're excellent pedals but they've both been modified beyond what they were when they were originally based directly on familiar amplifier preamps, so I think getting some high-quality recordings out there would let people see what they sound like and make it easier for people to take a chance on them.

 

[CochinoBass]

I watch YT channels all the time doing gear demos and when I see one doing preamps, the thing that constantly goes through my mind as I watch is:

"Thats not as good as a UA"
"Thats not as good as a Dr Wattson"
"Thats not as good as...(insert SB pedal name here)"

 

[Sushi Box FX]

I finished up a few stock builds last night to replenish the store a bit, so UA, Finally, and Detective are back in stock.

I have at least one of everything in stock now aside from More, which I'll need to order more parts for.

 

[sloppy_phil]

At danger of getting lost in the unimportant weeds of aesthetics, is it doable for a person with no pedal-building nous to swap the LEDs inside one these Sushis? It's a silly, silly thing to fuss over, but I'd enjoy having a not-blue LED in my UA; without meaning to, I seem to have an almost full set of blue-LED pedals, and would like a touch of variation. Of my current line-up, the UA seems like the one I'd have any potential luck with, plus it's an always-on.

Not gonna lose any sleep over not being able to change it, but thought I may as well ask the one place that would (probably) have the answer!

 

[havnjero]

At danger of getting lost in the unimportant weeds of aesthetics, is it doable for a person with no pedal-building nous to swap the LEDs inside one these Sushis? It's a silly, silly thing to fuss over, but I'd enjoy having a not-blue LED in my UA; without meaning to, I seem to have an almost full set of blue-LED pedals, and would like a touch of variation. Of my current line-up, the UA seems like the one I'd have any potential luck with, plus it's an always-on.

Not gonna lose any sleep over not being able to change it, but thought I may as well ask the one place that would (probably) have the answer!

it is quite easy.

 

[GR7G5TER]

At danger of getting lost in the unimportant weeds of aesthetics, is it doable for a person with no pedal-building nous to swap the LEDs inside one these Sushis? It's a silly, silly thing to fuss over, but I'd enjoy having a not-blue LED in my UA; without meaning to, I seem to have an almost full set of blue-LED pedals, and would like a touch of variation. Of my current line-up, the UA seems like the one I'd have any potential luck with, plus it's an always-on.

Not gonna lose any sleep over not being able to change it, but thought I may as well ask the one place that would (probably) have the answer!

All you need is a hammer and some Duck tape!

 

[all_sixes]

I've always been interested in Sushi boxes, but thought the limited monthly ordering thing was a bit inconvenient. However, I just noticed the in-stock collection on the website and damn that makes it hard to resist! Either the Elementary or the Slampegg would tickle my fancy. Or both (modern & vintage flavors for variation?).

Has anyone been able to compare the Elementary with the UA soundwise?

MASSIVE YMMV warning on the following:

I think they are quite different. I purchased the HWUA which Nate graciously swapped for an HW Elementary after I felt that the UA didn’t totally fit with my rig the way I wanted. They both have excellent punch and really make your sound kind of jump out of the speakers a bit more than without them on.

I like the Elementary just because I think it gives a cool tone-shaping flavor that I guess I just like? I use it pretty much always-on at the front of my chain. It definitely isn’t as “transparent” in the way it affects the tone as much as the UA is. The lows get nice and big without getting muddy and the highs have some nice clarity to them. I think the thing I like least on the Elementary is that you have to live with the mids as they are. So while I really like how my bass sounds, I’ve been worried that it’s been a little too scoopy for an in the band mix after adding in the Elementary, even with the mids pretty much all the way up. Hard to say though since I’m not usually out front. I recently compensated by a slight bump in the 250-300hz range in an EQ block on my Quad Cortex right after the pedal and it seems to help. One thing I think is a bit odd is I would have expected the Elementary to be louder. I don’t know if it’s an issue with my unit or what, but I keep the gain low ish (9 o’clock) to stay cleanish but then I find I have to pump the master almost all the way up to get the level I need. When I’m using it as a guitar preamp into a power amp (which it’s also really great for), the master pretty much has to be all the way up or it feels like it’s lacking.

I think the main reason why the UA didn’t work in my rig as much was that it almost had too much low end for me that was a bit hard to get away from. I really liked how open sounding it was with the tone stack bypassed, but then I didn’t have control over the lows to clean it up in the way I needed. With the tonestack in it was nice that I could whack away some of the lows (honestly it still had enough low end for me with the lows almost all the way off), but I felt in some ways it felt a little choked down with the tonestack in. Overall I liked what it was doing, but it kind of muddied up my sound a bit much when run with my full rig — though it sounded pretty sweet with amp modeling into powered monitors at my desk. I did like that it didn’t steal as much of the mids away, and the TSBP switch is pretty awesome. But it didn’t give the same character that the Elementary does. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to gig on it like I wanted to before swapping out for the Elementary and I kind of regret that but needed to make a decision.

In regards to dirt, and I think this is uncommon opinion, I actually don’t love the way either of the two breakup *for bass* — hence why I liked both of them early in the chain so I could cook them a little bit on the master but not drive them much further by clicking my OD pedals on. I’ve seen many people say they like just the opposite, so YMMV. I did like how both of them break up with guitar, and I may have even liked the UA for guitar more than I like the Elementary for guitar when used as an OD/effect. I never tried the UA as a full-bore preamp with guitar like I have with the elementary but as a boost/drive effect it was pretty wicked.

Lately I’ve been thinking about picking up an SMD UA because I did still quite like it the longer I played with it and I’m wondering if the SMD version may trim away just enough of that “too much big-ness” I was experiencing with my HWUA. If I end up pulling the trigger on that I’ll report my findings, but I’m also considering a MORE since I seem to like my sushi on the clean side and it may just serve a better purpose at the front of my chain like I’m currently using the Elementary. I’m just worried it’ll be too transparent to be worth it based on what I’ve read?

If you have any more questions we can talk it out here or you can DM me. Happy to help. I did actually film a video playing the UA with multiple different types of basses, but the whole working full time with 2 little boys life kind of stopped me cold in regards to editing/putting it up on the YouTubes.

 

[sloppy_phil]

MASSIVE YMMV warning on the following:

I think they are quite different. I purchased the HWUA which Nate graciously swapped for an HW Elementary after I felt that the UA didn’t totally fit with my rig the way I wanted. They both have excellent punch and really make your sound kind of jump out of the speakers a bit more than without them on.

I like the Elementary just because I think it gives a cool tone-shaping flavor that I guess I just like? I use it pretty much always-on at the front of my chain. It definitely isn’t as “transparent” in the way it affects the tone as much as the UA is. The lows get nice and big without getting muddy and the highs have some nice clarity to them. I think the thing I like least on the Elementary is that you have to live with the mids as they are. So while I really like how my bass sounds, I’ve been worried that it’s been a little too scoopy for an in the band mix after adding in the Elementary, even with the mids pretty much all the way up. Hard to say though since I’m not usually out front. I recently compensated by a slight bump in the 250-300hz range in an EQ block on my Quad Cortex right after the pedal and it seems to help. One thing I think is a bit odd is I would have expected the Elementary to be louder. I don’t know if it’s an issue with my unit or what, but I keep the gain low ish (9 o’clock) to stay cleanish but then I find I have to pump the master almost all the way up to get the level I need. When I’m using it as a guitar preamp into a power amp (which it’s also really great for), the master pretty much has to be all the way up or it feels like it’s lacking.

I think the main reason why the UA didn’t work in my rig as much was that it almost had too much low end for me that was a bit hard to get away from. I really liked how open sounding it was with the tone stack bypassed, but then I didn’t have control over the lows to clean it up in the way I needed. With the tonestack in it was nice that I could whack away some of the lows (honestly it still had enough low end for me with the lows almost all the way off), but I felt in some ways it felt a little choked down with the tonestack in. Overall I liked what it was doing, but it kind of muddied up my sound a bit much when run with my full rig — though it sounded pretty sweet with amp modeling into powered monitors at my desk. I did like that it didn’t steal as much of the mids away, and the TSBP switch is pretty awesome. But it didn’t give the same character that the Elementary does. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to gig on it like I wanted to before swapping out for the Elementary and I kind of regret that but needed to make a decision.

In regards to dirt, and I think this is uncommon opinion, I actually don’t love the way either of the two breakup *for bass* — hence why I liked both of them early in the chain so I could cook them a little bit on the master but not drive them much further by clicking my OD pedals on. I’ve seen many people say they like just the opposite, so YMMV. I did like how both of them break up with guitar, and I may have even liked the UA for guitar more than I like the Elementary for guitar when used as an OD/effect. I never tried the UA as a full-bore preamp with guitar like I have with the elementary but as a boost/drive effect it was pretty wicked.

Lately I’ve been thinking about picking up an SMD UA because I did still quite like it the longer I played with it and I’m wondering if the SMD version may trim away just enough of that “too much big-ness” I was experiencing with my HWUA. If I end up pulling the trigger on that I’ll report my findings, but I’m also considering a MORE since I seem to like my sushi on the clean side and it may just serve a better purpose at the front of my chain like I’m currently using the Elementary. I’m just worried it’ll be too transparent to be worth it based on what I’ve read?

If you have any more questions we can talk it out here or you can DM me. Happy to help. I did actually film a video playing the UA with multiple different types of basses, but the whole working full time with 2 little boys life kind of stopped me cold in regards to editing/putting it up on the YouTubes.

I'd say to also keep an eye out for a London Underground, too; that's the UA front end, but with a less bass-forward tone stack. Could be precisely what you'd want out of a UA, if the only issue is too much bass.

 

[Sushi Box FX]

At danger of getting lost in the unimportant weeds of aesthetics, is it doable for a person with no pedal-building nous to swap the LEDs inside one these Sushis? It's a silly, silly thing to fuss over, but I'd enjoy having a not-blue LED in my UA; without meaning to, I seem to have an almost full set of blue-LED pedals, and would like a touch of variation. Of my current line-up, the UA seems like the one I'd have any potential luck with, plus it's an always-on.

Not gonna lose any sleep over not being able to change it, but thought I may as well ask the one place that would (probably) have the answer!

It's a piece of cake, I actually changed the design of the tube daughter board where the LEDs are installed to make them easier to change out.

1. Remove power. I don't care how comfortable you are with circuits, always always always remove power before working on my pedals.
2. Open back plate
3. Remove the existing LED. There are a number of ways to do this, my two favorites are: (1) stick the soldering iron between the two LED legs so it heats up both at the same time and slide it out; (2) cut both legs with wire cutters and remove the leftover bits one at a time.
4. Clean out the solder from the holes (as best you can). I've had good luck with "impact-assisted solder removal", i.e. heat up the solder and quickly whack the pedal on a firm surface, the solder flies out the bottom. If you do it that way make sure you clean up the solder so it doesn't short somewhere else.
5. Slide the new LED in. There's a '+' on the board next to the pad where the Anode (positive side, longer of the 2 legs) will go in. Slide it down until the LED is sitting where you want it to, then solder it in and snip off the excess length of the legs.

I can get pictures sometime if it would help, it's something I do every now and then.