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Way Huge Pork Loin

GreggBummer

GreggBummer

Jan 16, 2008
1,790
624
Southern New Jersey
#1
I have a Pork Loin that I have been using for a touch of overdrive. I got it about six months ago, and I have been quite happy with it. It does a great job of adding just a little bit of dirt on songs that need it. Otherwise, I just play a clean signal through my Hartke LH1000.

(The LH1000 is a great amp, but it needs a decent pre-amp in front of it. I have been using a Sansamp Programmable BDDI, which I have a love/hate relationship with).

In a fit of boredom, I cracked open the Pork Loin pedal and found that there are some trim pots inside. If I had read the manual that came with it, I'd have known that sooner. So, I started messing around it.

According to manual, the Pork Loin has two "sides". One is a clean pre-amp and the other provides the overdrive. While I was playing around I turned down the overdrive completely and just used the pre-amp side. WOW! What a great sound. It is a huge sounding pre all on its own. Super clean, very warm. BIG SOUND. I really like this pedal as an overdrive... but it really shines as a clean pre-amp. My Sansamp is now back in retirement.

If you have Pork Loin, give it a try.

So... now what? I am leaving this pedal on my board as an always on clean pre-amp... do I buy another Pork Loin? Check out another OD?

My discovery has given me GAS for an effect I already have. :(
 
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#7
I bought a modded pork loin about a month ago. I tell you, I've tried and tried to like this pedal. So many other people have raved about it, I keep going back to it thinking I'm doing something wrong. I've tried hitting it hard and turning down the distortion and the tone. I've tried hitting it easy and with more clean. I've also tried it at 18v and 12v. I was hoping to use it for finger style (the Fifth Gear can't be beat with a pick) to warm things up a bit. But I can't get around that it has a discrete jump from clean to farty. In reference to another thread, maybe it turns out that I just don't like overdrive, and should be looking for something else entirely. Does anybody have any suggestions for how I should be approaching this before I give up and sell it?
 
#8
CoreyI35 said:
I bought a modded pork loin about a month ago. I tell you, I've tried and tried to like this pedal. So many other people have raved about it, I keep going back to it thinking I'm doing something wrong. I've tried hitting it hard and turning down the distortion and the tone. I've tried hitting it easy and with more clean. I've also tried it at 18v and 12v. I was hoping to use it for finger style (the Fifth Gear can't be beat with a pick) to warm things up a bit. But I can't get around that it has a discrete jump from clean to farty. In reference to another thread, maybe it turns out that I just don't like overdrive, and should be looking for something else entirely. Does anybody have any suggestions for how I should be approaching this before I give up and sell it?
Click to expand...

My feeling is, try tweaking the trim pots inside. Don't worry, there is a sticker inside the housing that gives you a reference for where the pots are supposed to be for "factory" settings. Easy.

That being said... I have tried a lot of distortions and never found one I have liked. What I was looking for was overdrive. So, maybe, as you stated- overdrive isn't for you.

Keep experimenting.
 
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#9
I just got a modded pork loin, which i intended to use as a smooth light/med OD, but this post has me thinking about using it as a preamp instead. I already have a tonehammer that i use as a preamp but also love it as an OD with the gain up but can only use it for 1 purpose(due to AGS volume jump). Perhaps i can swap roles......
My whole board is full of versatile pedals that do many things well and im stuck in a spot where i dont know what pedal to use for what tone haha. Welcome to suggestions. Here's the board, oh btw the BPD is an OCD derivative
IMG_20180730_170336.jpg
 
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#10
I recently picked up a G&L M2000. It is my first active bass and it has massive output. The 18volt preamp makes having a preamp kind of unnecessary. This has changed the role of my Pork Loin (and my whole pedal board). If I take the M2K, I don't bring anything but a tuner. If I use one of my single coil passive basses- The pedal board and Pork Loin come with it. The Pork Loin still plays the role of preamp.

That being said, the Pork Loin has competition from my trusty MXR M80 bass DI. It has a great clean sound and a bad ass distortion. However, it does not do overdrive well and is not sensitive to dynamics.

For comparison sake: I recently was asked to sit in with a band for a set. The bass amp was provided. When I got on stage, plugged in my bass... and the amp was dead on arrival. I reached into my "gig bag" and pulled out a Sansamp BDDI. In a pinch, it is the gold standard of bass preamp/DI. It sounds great through a PA. I can dial in any sound I need and get by with it in any situation with PA support. The Pork Loin and MXR can't do that. So the BDDI stays in the gigbag until it's needed. The Pork Loin stays on the board. The MXR gets rotated on and off occasionally.
 
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#15
GreggBummer said:
I have a Pork Loin that I have been using for a touch of overdrive. I got it about six months ago, and I have been quite happy with it. It does a great job of adding just a little bit of dirt on songs that need it. Otherwise, I just play a clean signal through my Hartke LH1000.

(The LH1000 is a great amp, but it needs a decent pre-amp in front of it. I have been using a Sansamp Programmable BDDI, which I have a love/hate relationship with).

In a fit of boredom, I cracked open the Pork Loin pedal and found that there are some trim pots inside. If I had read the manual that came with it, I'd have known that sooner. So, I started messing around it.

According to manual, the Pork Loin has two "sides". One is a clean pre-amp and the other provides the overdrive. While I was playing around I turned down the overdrive completely and just used the pre-amp side. WOW! What a great sound. It is a huge sounding pre all on its own. Super clean, very warm. BIG SOUND. I really like this pedal as an overdrive... but it really shines as a clean pre-amp. My Sansamp is now back in retirement.

If you have Pork Loin, give it a try.

So... now what? I am leaving this pedal on my board as an always on clean pre-amp... do I buy another Pork Loin? Check out another OD?

My discovery has given me GAS for an effect I already have. :(
Click to expand...


I know this is an old thread, but I but I'm having problems with a used Pork Loin I just picked up, and hope you might be able to give me some advice. People talk about the pedal being able to function as a clean preamp, but I can't get it to stop distorting, even when I open up the insides and turn the drive completely off. It distorts the most on the lower strings in this setting, and this is with a passive P bass. I was hoping for it to able to create a more subtle drive and expected it to even go clean, so I wonder if it's broken.
 

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