The Sushi Box FX Secret Society

[johnk_10]

they took me about 2 1/2-3 hours each (not counting the labeling for my bass dude enclosure)

 

[LSM07]

I need to learn some soldering skills as my curiosity on the C2C PCBs is morbidly piqued at this point...

@Sushi Box FX GL HF at NAMM, and I'd be curious to see what feedback you get on upright basses through your pedals if anyone happens to bring one by. An upright through a Venus X...

 

[BigBear77]

Hey, Box, curious about the PAX. Is the EQ the same as UAX? Isn’t the main difference to the UAX the gain?

should be the same as the UA both based on Alembic F-2B,

 

[phangtonpower]

Yeah. It sounds great. No Morse code or random thunder claps.

But I am curious why that’s happening. It doesn’t happen with my other preamps. In my experience the 3Leaf is really touchy with power supply and pedal order.

I’m not afraid to change orders. But more interested in the root.

I have a Octabvre that I used with my slampegg. I never tried it after, but mine worked fine before. Weird.

 

[WRM]

I need to learn some soldering skills as my curiosity on the C2C PCBs is morbidly piqued at this point...

@Sushi Box FX GL HF at NAMM, and I'd be curious to see what feedback you get on upright basses through your pedals if anyone happens to bring one by. An upright through a Venus X...

Take this "course" to learn/polish your skills:
VEC-1500K, KIT, SOLDERING

 

[WRM]

I plan to "satisfactorily complete this project"

before I take on my first pedal?...

 

[walking_line]

I need to learn some soldering skills as my curiosity on the C2C PCBs is morbidly piqued at this point...

@Sushi Box FX GL HF at NAMM, and I'd be curious to see what feedback you get on upright basses through your pedals if anyone happens to bring one by. An upright through a Venus X...

There’s a thread over on the double bass side of the forums about this. I’d say unanimously, people are digging SBs on AUBs. I play my uprights through a UA set clean with a (slightly) lower gain tube, a 5751. Sounds great. I think most upright players are reaching for the Slampegg though.

 

[Scott Freeman]

I double, but play a lot more upright than slab the last couple of decades. I like the UA for slab, and Elementary for upright. Haven't tried the slampegg.

 

[LSM07]

There’s a thread over on the double bass side of the forums about this. I’d say unanimously, people are digging SBs on AUBs. I play my uprights through a UA set clean with a (slightly) lower gain tube, a 5751. Sounds great. I think most upright players are reaching for the Slampegg though.

I double, but play a lot more upright than slab the last couple of decades. I like the UA for slab, and Elementary for upright. Haven't tried the slampegg.

I've been trying various combinations of the MORE, Space Heater, Elementary, and Slampegg, either straight into the input, through the FX loop, or as direct-ins straight to the power amp. It's interesting to me how one configuration will sound fine to me one day and sound like garbage the next. I normally don't like the Elementary with either upright or electric, but last night in my practice room it was blowing the Slampegg out of the water tone-wise into the power amp section of a Mark 121P combo; recently for gigs I've just been sticking the MORE in the FX loop of my PJB BG-400 and it sounds super particularly for electric bass. Of course, the goal is to be able to get a sound that I like consistently (that's what we all want I think?) but what I may do is just randomly pick a config for a gig and force myself to get a good sound out of it for said gig. The upshot of all this is that it lends a lot of A-B testing in many of situations which may lead to unexpected results that I like. I previously mentioned that I don't like how the MORE acts as a HPF for upright cutting out thumpiness, but it was the correct choice for a shoebox-shaped venue I was at 2 weeks ago as it cut down on boominess. Of course, I'd like to get down to a simple combination that works for doubling, but Phil Jones doesn't make a 2-input preamp stompbox with FX loop send/returns (not looking for recommendations on DI or preamp boxes, I'm in love with the PJB gear I have already).

TL;DR: Results seem to vary from day to day, I'm going to have fun trying random pedal combos and force myself to adapt on the gig.

 

[lomo]

TL;DR: Results seem to vary from day to day, I'm going to have fun trying random pedal combos and force myself to adapt on the gig.

Ear fatigue/ habituation and psychoacoustics are all "real things", as is the simple act of overthinking it

 

[Pacodelivery]

I don't think this is an easy question to answer. From my understanding in bugging Nathan about the differences in the gain stages between both pedals, the Elementary has less overall gain, but also has lower headroom compared to a UA. While I don't have a stock UA to compare, my take is that it's makes the grey area between clean and dirty a little wider if that makes any sense.

Oh interesting. So like, I would guess that the elementary is less like to distort on a transient (for instance if you dug in a little harder on one particular note) but maybe more likely to distort if you hit with with a massive signal (say out of the meatbox) ?

 

[Pacodelivery]

Interesting, yeah I'm not afraid of a little tube rolling (and I think I have some old ones sitting around I was using for an old tube amp!)

Is there one that has a more bouncy / squishy character? I'm trying out options to see if something can replace my origin bassrig sv that's a bit cleaner that the origin box is but still gives an "amp-like" response. The origin people say their box has some sort of push-pull thing going on, it's a bit over my head but I just know that there's the liveliness in how that box responds to the attack of the note that feels like a proper amp in the way that a simple compressor or other preamp pedals don't quite capture. This ampless thing is a journey!

I don't think this is an easy question to answer. From my understanding in bugging Nathan about the differences in the gain stages between both pedals, the Elementary has less overall gain, but also has lower headroom compared to a UA. While I don't have a stock UA to compare, my take is that it's makes the grey area between clean and dirty a little wider if that makes any sense.

First off, I have no need for distortion in my regular work and if I ever need it I have it on my amp.

So, I'm all about clean and I have both the UA and Elementary with 12AU7's. The Elementary is much cleaner without distortion at nearly maximum gain than the UA. When my UA had the 12AX7 in it, it was atomic and too easy to distort, the 12AU7 cooled it down tremendously.

I'm actually liking the Elementary tone stack better than the UA, it's seems more responsive and effective.
But keep in mind, there is a trim pot in the UA that you can use to adjust the gain if you are having issues.

I also own a Slampegg with a 12AU7 and its a different animal due to the tone stack, it's an inherently lower gain and I get a great clean sound out of it.

I use all of mu SB pedals and get plenty of volume out of them with no noise, hiss or hum.

Since I have to use multiple basses on my gigs, I preset each pedal to use with a particular instrument.
As much as the SB pedals are alike, they are vastly different too.
They take time to learn the best setting and their nuances.

 

[Jeff Kissell]

I need to learn some soldering skills as my curiosity on the C2C PCBs is morbidly piqued at this point...

@Sushi Box FX GL HF at NAMM, and I'd be curious to see what feedback you get on upright basses through your pedals if anyone happens to bring one by. An upright through a Venus X...

I play double bass and have settled on the Elementary with a 12at7 in it. I started with the More, then Slampegg. The Elementary hits how I want my upright to sound really easily and the lower gain tube gets good compression and heft without breaking up. I’m actually tempted to try an even lower gain tube at some point.

There is good info in the Sushi Box thread on the Double Bass side. If you search for “upright” in this thread you can get the gist here too.

 

[bdowd]

Jeff, did you pop for a pricey 12at7 or just like a 20$ tube or something? I'm leaning in this direction. I have a slampegg right now, but am elementary curious.

 

[Jeff Kissell]

It’s a $30ish JAN NOS from Tube Depot. I’ll probably try something similar with a 12au7 at some point.

 

[Jeff Kissell]

Jeff, did you pop for a pricey 12at7 or just like a 20$ tube or something? I'm leaning in this direction. I have a slampegg right now, but am elementary curious.

My bass is pretty mid-range forward and I found the Slampegg really nailed the Ampeg EQ but it was a little much for my ears and taste.

 

[DennyOnBass]

Said goodbye to my Slampegg today - if you happened to buy one today on Reverb then thanks and I know you'll enjoy it!

I actually really liked the Slampegg but found my personal tonal bliss with just my V1 Finally DI with no other sauce in the mix. No worries, the funds from the Slampegg have already gone towards a second Finally DI, this time V2, which should be arriving any day now and will take up residency on my larger effects board.

 

[bdowd]

It’s a $30ish JAN NOS from Tube Depot. I’ll probably try something similar with a 12au7 at some point.

Cool, ok, good stuff, thanks! I have a vintage 12au7 kicking around, maybe I should try that in one of my sb pedals. For slab I like a tiny bit of grit, but just sometimes, and I like clean tube sound with upright.

 

[bdowd]

Said goodbye to my Slampegg today - if you happened to buy one today on Reverb then thanks and I know you'll enjoy it!

I actually really liked the Slampegg but found my personal tonal bliss with just my V1 Finally DI with no other sauce in the mix. No worries, the funds from the Slampegg have already gone towards a second Finally DI, this time V2, which should be arriving any day now and will take up residency on my larger effects board.

Yeah, that vid you posted with your finally has me very tempted to go that direction, really good sounds!

 

[DennyOnBass]

Yeah, that vid you posted with your finally has me very tempted to go that direction, really good sounds!

Yeah, I've definitely put a lot of effort into dialing in that PBass tone over the past 5 or 6 years, trying different sets of flats and swapping out pickups and different string heights and refining my technique. I've also moved through the original and DI versions of the VT Bass pedal and the Two Notes LeBass. Each step got me closer, but I feel like the Finally gave me the grit and tube compression that I needed to glue it all together.

It works great with my 70's Jazz as well - I started playing with Grinder Blues guitarist Jabo Bihlman for his solo gigs at the end of last year, and about three gigs in I brought my Jazz and put the Finally in between the bass and amp and he was over the moon about the tone I was getting both in the house and out of my rig.