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What pedals have disappointed you lately?

#81
unfortunately - most things i've tried by Electro-harmonix (except the MicroPOG- that's a keeper)

russian bassballs - faulty switch (didnt always switch)

Little Big Muff - not really a bad pedal, but could never get it to cut through a band mix, and the tone i liked out of it meant that the low end was seriously compromised

Stereo Electric Mistress - had alot of cool functions, but i felt like my bass chorus did the chorus better, and my boss flanger that i used to have did flanging better too (always in my opinion), the filter matrix was crazy (in a good way) but i felt there was some low end loss- never tried it in a band so i could have been wrong.

Steel Leather - again never tried it in a band, and i actually thought the pedal was cool but i didnt think it was worth what it costs.

Metal Muff - not for bass

English Muff'n - actually, this is an awesome pedal and i want mine back, although a true bass version would convince me further, i felt there were some lows lost sometimes (the BASS control is low on a guitar but a bit muddy on bass IMO, same with the Metal Muff) - also its 24v power i think, so a wall wart is required and the pedal is MASSIVE so isn't ideal for a small pedalboard

Mini Qtron - huge volume boost that i just couldn't get rid of :(


other brands

boss metal zone - currently using that with a clean blend, still cant get it to cut through. gonna keep working it tho, im gna try messing with the EQ more.


Sansamp BDDI - well this is a mixed bag really, i still love it and hate it too- i think i want a more natural bass sound back, ill keep it though, because it has loads of applications, and i can use it with the blend down as preamp/DI to tweak my tone before sending it to my amp (which i usually keep flat) and a mixer



although i said all that stuff about EHX, i love the look of their pedals and alot of the time they sound great in theory, but just never seem to work out for me. i've got the (black) russian Big Muff on the way, and a ElectroniX MessDrive Hybrid and Submarine pedals on order too. im gonna try out everything then get rid of what i don't think works for me. (the messdrive hybrid clips in the WIKI sounded awesome- kinda like a more natural version of my MXR Blowtorch)


all this stuff is always in my own opinion, blah blah blah, you get the idea
 
#83
I think I have a new answer:

The Russian Bassballs. I'm not so much disappointed with the sound, as I am with the fact that it doesn't work. At all. I'm sending it to NYC once I get a full-time job, and if that doesn't fix the problem, then it goes bye-bye, and I try the Nano model (which I should have done in the first place).

And I found a newish BOSS pedal I like: The RE-20 Rotary Ensemble. Paid for by the good taxpayers of Dane County, WI, it gives me that sound I never knew I wanted.
 
#89
I was dissapointed with the sans amp stomp box ...

the lack of a mid control and the lack of compression were annoying ... and I didn't like the distortion it has ...

I am also usually dissapointed with most chorus and flange bass effects and phase shifting on bass seems counterproductive ...

these day I split my signal and run it into a bass pod where I model the old flip top ampeg amp and I model a rat distortion pedal and the other signal goes through a MXR bass di+ ...
 
#93
Ibanez AW-7. But only vibe-wise. It's still a fantastic pedal, but... now it sits on my board next to a 3rd-gen DOD FX25 and does nothing. I hate to say it, but the AW-7 is too usable, it just doesn't have personality or stank.

I know I'm gonna sell one of them, otherwise I'd talk about how cool it sounds to have them both on :D
 
#95
EH Freq Analyzer.

As far as a ring mod goes it is just weak. I never bought one but i played it in store and was thoroughly disappointed. Anyways, it seems like there are some patterns of disappointments here, which is kind of interesting. EH seems to have shown up a lot. I think they do have some great pedals, but also have some clear let downs as well.

J
 
#96
haz labs MuTron III+ (reissue). my noob ears thought it sounded pretty cool when i got it back in the early 90's (at a whopping 300 bucks new) but over time i was less and less pleased with it.
2 of them back to back sound pretty good, but by itself it just sucks signal and the envelope really has no pop to it. it works pretty good as a mid boost in most settings.

my other main disappointment was the bass balls (black). "twin dynamic filter"...please. more like twin dynamic icepicks into each ear.
 
#97
For straight "wow...I'm never using this - I should dump this pedal" - the ODB-3.

On the more serious side - I LOVE my Sanford and Sonny Bluebeard fuzz, but so much of the time, my amp volume has to stay low because of where we play, so I don't get the sound out of my Bluebeard/amp in combination. Not the pedal's fault - just the nature of the situation along with two much other overdrive amongst the other band members.

HOWEVER, running the Bluebeard into my Sansamp BDDI totally fixes my problem. I wanted the Bluebeard to be a standalone pedal. For many (including me) under different conditions, it would be. I'm just finding that I need to combine it to get the right tone quality.
 
#98
Maybe I am not spending enough time tweaking the settings but, I recently bought the Sansamp clone from Behringer (that supposedly sounds just as good as the real thing) and I was like...oh, ok, meh.

The overdrive doesnt really work well unless you crank it up all the way then it sounds too distorted, and all it seems to do is make the sound really "scooped". I bought it to warm up my sound a little and add a "pinch" of overdrive and so far i am disappointed. If this is what the much more expensive Sansamps sound like then I am glad I only spent $30 on the Behringer.
 

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