just made this account so I could ask about walrus audio badwater. wanted to know if anyone has any experience with it and could tell me about it, cuz that would be awesome. Ive heard some mixed reviews about it, but would love to hear it from a post that I made.
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Walrus Audio Badwater
- Thread starter Randy Lang
- Start date
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,638
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
i had one for a while. i loved its features but it was too noisy (hiss) for me.
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,638
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
i sold it, since i subsequently bought a few other Walrus Audio pedals that i like better.
i’m thinking about getting like a darkglass vintage deluxe instead. the sound that comes out of that thing makes me feel excited about playing bass. which is a shame bc i like walrus audio. and i even like the way the badwater sounds, but the hiss is pretty annoying and a little bit much when certain dials are turned up. can even hear it in demos of it on youtube.
I wanted to like the badwater because the sound demos sounded decent and I had a walrus deep6 comp that I’ve loved. I got the badwater as soon as I could And then returned it as quick as I could.
compared to other amp sim pedals I’ve used it is a bit noisier. But more than that imo it just wasn’t good sounding. The mids were kinda bland there wasn’t that much of the finer things I seek in tone.
This is nothing against metal dudes but I think it would work well for heavier rock to metal. But the metal dudes I know would still go for the Darkglass products.
For me I look for a big warm sounding clean tone with breakup as you play harder. Also, when you change the EQ the character of the breakup should change, With the Bw It didn’t.
Imo,The BW just sounded like a “canned” /“synthetic” sounding bass grit pedal. Almost like you’re in garage band, recorded your bass straight in then clicked a button that said “Drive” then you tried adjusting the eq and it still sounded the same.
I’ve had a bunch of walrus pedals that I’ve loved and still love. The Badwater didn’t do it for me.
I’ve had the Microtubes vintage, don’t have it anymore but that’s a pedal I still think about. It’s awesome!
I currently have the Origin SV and haven’t really looked back.
compared to other amp sim pedals I’ve used it is a bit noisier. But more than that imo it just wasn’t good sounding. The mids were kinda bland there wasn’t that much of the finer things I seek in tone.
This is nothing against metal dudes but I think it would work well for heavier rock to metal. But the metal dudes I know would still go for the Darkglass products.
For me I look for a big warm sounding clean tone with breakup as you play harder. Also, when you change the EQ the character of the breakup should change, With the Bw It didn’t.
Imo,The BW just sounded like a “canned” /“synthetic” sounding bass grit pedal. Almost like you’re in garage band, recorded your bass straight in then clicked a button that said “Drive” then you tried adjusting the eq and it still sounded the same.
I’ve had a bunch of walrus pedals that I’ve loved and still love. The Badwater didn’t do it for me.
I’ve had the Microtubes vintage, don’t have it anymore but that’s a pedal I still think about. It’s awesome!
I currently have the Origin SV and haven’t really looked back.
I had one on my pedalboard for 6 months or so. I was hoping the EQ section would be better. I replaced it with a Wampler Equator.
I'd recommend looking at offerings from smaller indi builders such as Master Electronics or Sushi Box.Some very cool bass preamps and I own a couple by each that I'm very satisfied with.
