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What the...Darkglass Vintage Microtubes?!?!

#501
Got a M87 not so sure thatr it is better than a dbx 160a, am wondering what is better an Empress or FEA Dual Band.. the mxr seems to kill my tone somewhat.. Playin in drop D and Drop C on Occaision using several different brands of basses in an evening and need to even out my spikes.. Usually using an SVT CL (2006-USA Made)
 
#505
I've barely had a chance to mess with mine, but I have a simple little gig tonight. Our drummer's other band is playing and the opening band bailed on them just this week. One of our guitarists can't do it, so the rest of us will play with our drummer to open. We are just doing a quick 10 classic rock/hardrock/metal covers. I'm going to use the Vintage on some Alice Cooper, Thin Lizzy, and Black Sabbath, so trial by fire!!! ; )
 
#510
Finally got a chance to spend some time with it. It sounds great but it's not staying with me. I can approximate everything the Vintage does with the B7K, but prefer the massive low end of the B7K over the Vintage. So for those of you looking for a vintage, mine will be up shortly.
 
#511
willsellout said:
Finally got a chance to spend some time with it. It sounds great but it's not staying with me. I can approximate everything the Vintage does with the B7K, but prefer the massive low end of the B7K over the Vintage. So for those of you looking for a vintage, mine will be up shortly.
Click to expand...

That's what I was hoping, that I could get the same kind of sounds with the B7K as I could with the vintage. But I can get nasty gnarly/raunch with the B7K that the vintage wasn't designed to do.
 
#514
I spent a good couple hours playing around with the B3K and the Vintage yesterday and have some thoughts. My disclaimer: They are both new to me, arriving just last week, and so far just playing around with my rig only an not in the mix. My rig is Puma 900 thru Baer ML112s, BTW.

First off, They really are different flavors good. I cannot get one to sound exactly like the other, which is good, right? I mean it wouldn't make to much sense for them to cover the exact same ground. From my pre-purchase reading, I was thinking the vintage would be an always on subtle effect to vintage up your tone, which it does great, but with the drive up it can get nasty. I mean it can get dirtier than I expected and least IMO can add more dirt than I would need for an always on effect. For me, the best tones from the vintage are with the drive around 50% and the ERA almost all the way clockwise. To my ear the ERA knob acts kind of like a vintage tone control or passive tone control where the highs are rolled off when set counter-clockwise. It may be a more complicated design than that, but that is what I am hearing. With my tweeter-less ML112s the effect of the ERA from fully counter-clockwise to fully clockwise is pretty subtle, with counter-clockwise having a more vintage tone and the clockwise having a bit more open sound.

The B3K is just a nasty good drive overdrive. I know nasty is a relative term and while I can't really compare to other overdrives the B3K just sounds more metal than the Vintage. I know Spencer said it was not scooped , but when compared to the Vintage it has more of a scooped tone. The Vintage seems to emphasize the mids more and the B3K seems to work more on the low end and high mids. Where the Vintage sounds warmer the B3K sounds more metallic. The Vintage is like a classic tube amp being pushed and the B3K is a more industrial metal sound. Vintage = John Entwhistle, B3K = Justin Chancellor.

While there are similarities between the two pedals, they work differently and I cannot get the BK3 to sound like the vintage. Some have said it is redundant to have the B7K and the Vintage, but to get close to the Vintage tone with the B7K you would have to bump the mids but even then I am not sure you could obtain the warmth of the Vintage. Now, you may like one more than the other or only have a use for one or the other but I am pretty sure there will not be a Vintage setting on the B7K.

I could easily keep both of these pedals on my pedal board and not feel like it is redundant. The Vintage can warm up a sterile rig and give you a classic tone. The B3K is well suited for modern metal and running the B3K into the Vintage is just sick sounding. The way the more scooped sounding B3K interacts with the mids on the Vintage is just great to my ear. If I were playing more or if I needed to warm up my clean tone I would keep both, but since I am not I am going to move the vintage. I like my clean tone and it is already a bit warm and I like the metal sound of the BK3. Great pedals Doug and Spencer!
 
#515
Holy crap Saluki. I could have written your post (except that I've owned a B3K for about a year)!

I've still yet to try out both pedals together though...been busy diving into the Vintage (among other things..)
 
#517
Saluki said:
While there are similarities between the two pedals, they work differently and I cannot get the BK3 to sound like the vintage. Some have said it is redundant to have the B7K and the Vintage, but to get close to the Vintage tone with the B7K you would have to bump the mids but even then I am not sure you could obtain the warmth of the Vintage.
Click to expand...

There isn't anything the vintage can do that the B7K can't, IMO. The same can't be said for the Vintage. Now, iF you own the B3K, I could see a use for the Vintage, but with the B7K's EQ it's redundant, IMO.
 
#519
willsellout said:
Also, I wouldn't say that the Vintage or the B7K is scooped. Quite the opposite to my ears. The B3K has a bit more high mids, where the vintage seems to have a bit more in the low mids.
Click to expand...

Ya I believe that is what I said. When compared to each other the B3K is scooped sounding. So if you put the B7k next to the Vintage and toggle between them, what settings do you need on the B7k to get close to the vintage? I would guess your bumping the low mids quite a bit and a small cut on the upper mids, correct? The vintage is still warmer to my ear. How do you account for that?
 
#520
Saluki said:
Ya I believe that is what I said. When compared to each other the B3K is scooped sounding. So if you put the B7k next to the Vintage and toggle between them, what settings do you need on the B7k to get close to the vintage? I would guess your bumping the low mids quite a bit and a small cut on the upper mids, correct? The vintage is still warmer to my ear. How do you account for that?
Click to expand...

Oh OK, I gotcha, I misread your post about the pedals being scooped. I don't understand when people talk about something being warm, so it's hard for me to respond to that. I found that you can use the treble and upper mids to simulate the era knob. As far as the EQ, I set everything at noon and cut the treble a bit to, as you put it, use it as a tone control, and then either boost the high mids or cut them depending on what I'm looking to do.

Honestly the B7K sets the bar so high, there aren't many pedals that would really impress me. I'd steer anyone that is looking at the vintage to the B7K. There's so much more flexibility, so much more gain on tap, and it's just massive sounding in a live situation.

The Vintage is a great pedal, and I'm sure there will be plenty of people who will make good use of it. Everything Darkglass makes is top notch, but the B7K is just too good:)
 

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