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

[eyeballkid]

I did. it was a nice combo.

 

[jdwhitak]

It is easy to dial out the harsher edge with the EQ of the B7K, but impossible to dial in the sweet midrange bump of the Vintage at the same time. The Vintage has a nice low to mid midrange bump that gives it "warmth", where the B7K tends more towards a scooped tone with an upper midrange bump. The "Fat" setting on the Grunt switch of the B7K gives a nice low mid fullness, but there is still a scoop to my ears in some of the frequencies that the Vintage fills out. The Vintage also stays really articulate to my ears at most settings, whereas the B7K can get a little murky when you cut out too much of its aggressive character. They are both really good at different things- so I too am reluctant to let go of either! The Vintage definitely inherently gets closer to the tones I'm looking for, but the EQ, DI, and tweakability of the B7K make it pretty invaluable as well. Between the two I'd probably chose the B7K if I could only bring one pedal just because of the added features, but I prefer the tone of the Vintage!

Makes a lot of sense once you consider the EQ points on the B7K.

 

[Darkglass]

Makes a lot of sense once you consider the EQ points on the B7K.

Yeah! But there are also differences on the way the pedals clip the signal! Even though you can get pretty close with the 4 band EQ on the B7K, there's an inherent feel and texture that's different from the B3/7K and the Vintage.

 

[Bassed in NZ]

Howdy Cats,

I've had a VMT to try out over the weekend, and I'm a little confused.

I'm running a Lakland 44-02 with quite a hot active output (which feeds my octave pedals well).

I love the higher gain settings that I can get from the VMT - great tones across the ERA control that match the sound in my head.

What I can't get is a good low gain sound, where the pedal is just coloring the tone, providing a bit of warmth and texture. Even with the drive all the way down I get a "fuzziness".

When I switch the bass to passive mode, I've got much more control over the breakup and can get just the bit of warmth that I'm looking for without the fuzziness.

It may be that I'm looking for something that can't be done with the levels I'm feeding it. Those of you with active basses - can you comment and help me out?

Or does anyone know if it's possible to adjust the input gain on the pedal (internal trimpot maybe) to suit a hotter signal?

(I guess the other option turn down the output gain on the bass - but I don't think I'll like that so much with the Octamizer - it likes a nice hot signal particularly for held notes).

Any advice welcome - the question is does it go back tomorrow, or is it a keeper???

 

[FretNoMore]

This is what I hear too, a fuzziness rather than overdrive and also a slight bass cut (or mid boost, if you will), not the fattening bottom end growl that I think I'm looking for. I think the VMT will get pushed off my board - the search continues.

(Current want-to-try pedals are Barbershop, and maybe TC Spark Booster)

 

[Darkglass]

Hi!

I actually used, among others, an active Lakland (Jazz Bass,5 Stringer) for designing the Vintage.

I get pretty good control over the breakup as long as the EQ is not set super high (all knobs cranked).
All though the preamp on yours might be different than mine.

I am always in awe at how loud some basses are... in my experience that just adds problems (when interacting with other gear) and bring little to no benefit. In my opinion of course.

My Lakland is loud as hell. A lot louder than my - also active - Fender Deluxe V, but the extra loudness doesn't seem to negatively affect its interaction with my pedals... But I can't imagine myself using a bass at a much louder output.

If your bass has an inner trim pot for output, try dialing it down a little bit... You can always make up for any volume loss later on the chain (using the Vintage itself, or your amp's volume knob).

Your signal will probably stay as loud, but the interaction might be cleaner and better, not just with mine, but with a lot of other gear too.

Hope this helps!
Doug.

Howdy Cats,

I've had a VMT to try out over the weekend, and I'm a little confused.

I'm running a Lakland 44-02 with quite a hot active output (which feeds my octave pedals well).

I love the higher gain settings that I can get from the VMT - great tones across the ERA control that match the sound in my head.

What I can't get is a good low gain sound, where the pedal is just coloring the tone, providing a bit of warmth and texture. Even with the drive all the way down I get a "fuzziness".

When I switch the bass to passive mode, I've got much more control over the breakup and can get just the bit of warmth that I'm looking for without the fuzziness.

It may be that I'm looking for something that can't be done with the levels I'm feeding it. Those of you with active basses - can you comment and help me out?

Or does anyone know if it's possible to adjust the input gain on the pedal (internal trimpot maybe) to suit a hotter signal?

(I guess the other option turn down the output gain on the bass - but I don't think I'll like that so much with the Octamizer - it likes a nice hot signal particularly for held notes).

Any advice welcome - the question is does it go back tomorrow, or is it a keeper???

 

[Bassed in NZ]

Thanks Doug,

My bass has the LH3 preamp, and I'm running the eq flat for testing, so not driving it super hard, though the output is pretty high.

Maybe I'll try turning the output down, though my octamizer likes it hot. Any OD and fuzz has struggled a little with the levels, so perhaps a gain staging rethink is in order...

Cheers,
Matt

Hi!

I actually used, among others, an active Lakland (Jazz Bass,5 Stringer) for designing the Vintage.

I get pretty good control over the breakup as long as the EQ is not set super high (all knobs cranked).
All though the preamp on yours might be different than mine.

I am always in awe at how loud some basses are... in my experience that just adds problems (when interacting with other gear) and bring little to no benefit. In my opinion of course.

My Lakland is loud as hell. A lot louder than my - also active - Fender Deluxe V, but the extra loudness doesn't seem to negatively affect its interaction with my pedals... But I can't imagine myself using a bass at a much louder output.

If your bass has an inner trim pot for output, try dialing it down a little bit... You can always make up for any volume loss later on the chain (using the Vintage itself, or your amp's volume knob).

Your signal will probably stay as loud, but the interaction might be cleaner and better, not just with mine, but with a lot of other gear too.

Hope this helps!
Doug.

 

[LeonD]

If that "fuzziness" is your signal distorting the pedal, I don't think there's anything you can do. OTOH, if it's not distorting, I'd try using the blend knob. Have it mostly a clean signal and let in a little bit of the effect with the level.

 

[lemongrenades]

Check out that gear rundown that Doug dig with Alex Webster. He talks about using the bassbone first to kinda bring his signal to a good level for his B3K. I have been using a G&L asat, which has a passive mode, but it might as well be active. Huge output. And while I will say that both the vintage and the B3k sound better IMO, with passive bass'. I have found settings that work great with the G&L. Problem with most bass' is if you come off the volume a bit, it changes the overall tone, even if it corrects your input.
I know the tonebone is not the best solution because of the price. But it does seems to have other great functions.

 

[JP Morin]

if the bass if doing distortion in any pedal or without, may be the pups could be too close from the strings... I had an issue like this where my signal always fuzz or fart, may be the pups were loading the bass pre too much...

 

[Bassed in NZ]

Thanks for the thoughts guys.

if the bass if doing distortion in any pedal or without, may be the pups could be too close from the strings... I had an issue like this where my signal always fuzz or fart, may be the pups were loading the bass pre too much...

No, not a problem with the bass - plenty clean normally - it's just the output driving the pedal too hard to get the low gain sound that I want I believe.

If that "fuzziness" is your signal distorting the pedal, I don't think there's anything you can do. OTOH, if it's not distorting, I'd try using the blend knob. Have it mostly a clean signal and let in a little bit of the effect with the level.

Thanks - appreciate that - I've taken the preamp output down (internal trimpot, it was on about 1/2 of it's range, now I've got it closer to the passive level) which plays much nicer with the VMT.

Check out that gear rundown that Doug dig with Alex Webster. He talks about using the bassbone first to kinda bring his signal to a good level for his B3K. I have been using a G&L asat, which has a passive mode, but it might as well be active. Huge output. And while I will say that both the vintage and the B3k sound better IMO, with passive bass'. I have found settings that work great with the G&L. Problem with most bass' is if you come off the volume a bit, it changes the overall tone, even if it corrects your input.
I know the tonebone is not the best solution because of the price. But it does seems to have other great functions.

Good thoughts here - thanks. Changing the internal trim doesn't (to my ears at least) seem to affect the overall tone, so I think I'll play around with that a bit more. Where I have it now lets me use the VMT on low drive settings so that it provides just a little bit of warmth without really breaking up - so a much better range. I guess where I started from I was driving it too hard in the first place - much more usable range now. Still need to find the sweet spot between the VMT and the Octamizer - some more experimenting to be done.
What sort of settings have you found work with the G&L, and what tones are you looking for with them?

 

[Tim_Mofunk]

Thanks Doug,

My bass has the LH3 preamp, and I'm running the eq flat for testing, so not driving it super hard, though the output is pretty high.

Maybe I'll try turning the output down, though my octamizer likes it hot. Any OD and fuzz has struggled a little with the levels, so perhaps a gain staging rethink is in order...

Cheers,
Matt

Tried running the VMT on 18v or 12V?

 

[Spencer!]

Tried running the VMT on 18v or 12V?

Don't run it on 18 volts.

 

[Tim_Mofunk]

Don't run it on 18 volts.

Yeah... Maybe I should try reading the manual. Will it give more headroom with 12v?

 

[lemongrenades]

What sort of settings have you found work with the G&L, and what tones are you looking for with them?

I was trying to cop a warmer/classic always on subtle grit. To contrast the more intense B3K. I found myself using them for different parts of song, and it worked out great. There were a few settings a liked at home. But at practice, this is the one that sat really nicely in the mix. I kept the asat passive, parallel mode, neck pickup, vol max, treb 50% bass 80%(the asat has a ton of tone options haha). Here is a pic of the the VMT setting

 

[mmbongo]

Yeah... Maybe I should try reading the manual. Will it give more headroom with 12v?

Don't run it at 12 volts. It's a 9 volt pedal.

 

[Tim_Mofunk]

Don't run it at 12 volts. It's a 9 volt pedal.

The website says you can try 12v for more headroom

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Granted I should have read that when I asked about 18V

 

[Spencer!]

I don't know what it sounds like at 12v because I've never tried it. These pedals are designed to sound good on 9v so I've always just used them that way (same goes for the 3Leaf stuff).

 

[Tim_Mofunk]

I don't know what it sounds like at 12v because I've never tried it. These pedals are designed to sound good on 9v so I've always just used them that way (same goes for the 3Leaf stuff).

I just thought with Bassmans problems more headroom would help.

I use the VMT with active and passive basses and find the breakup smooth and natural. If you (Bassman) have a particularly high output bass I would give 12V a try. It might help. Either that or try lowering your levels into the VMT. The VMT can boost your signal back up with the level knob.

 

[Bassed in NZ]

I just thought with Bassmans problems more headroom would help.

I use the VMT with active and passive basses and find the breakup smooth and natural. If you (Bassman) have a particularly high output bass I would give 12V a try. It might help. Either that or try lowering your levels into the VMT. The VMT can boost your signal back up with the level knob.

It's a good thought - I saw it could run at 12v so I gave it a shot yesterday. Certainly some more headroom, but still not enough to get me the low gain sound I was after. So I've knocked the bass output down and that's done the trick. Still some playing around to be done (& a reconfig of the pedal board!) to get used to how it works, but that's half the fun, right?!
Thanks for all your help guys.