burno70

If they put the same attention into these pedals as they do with their amps then they should be decent. Regardless, the size is a big put off for me.

[quote]What is it that makes you prefer this pedals to the other hundreds of overdrives on the market? I'm not provoking, but nowadays there are so many tasty overdrive pedals that I've renounced to buy one (actually I don't need, but an overdrive is something that every bass player should have) and I'm gonna keep my incredible T-rex Dr swamp![/quote] I haven't tried all those other pedals out. No doubt there are other killer pedals out there - personally I'd love to try the Dredgetone Angler and the Cream Pie, but I tried out the Zia Drive in the shop, it's got the right kind of sound that I'm after and it does it well. [quote]Sounds like a bag of spanners mate. I'll give you a Malteaser and a once used kleenex for it. Deal?[/quote] Is that a whole Malteaser?

Can't do samples at the minute - my new pc won't talk to my music interface, I haven't checked the M-Audio site for a while so I'll have a look and see if they've released the Vista patch yet. [quote]Through a band-pass filter would it do a decent "Peaches"?[/quote] I haven't heard Peaches, just googled it, is that the Stranglers tune? I presume you mean run it through an envelope filter in bandpass mode?

Just got back from praccy and have to say I'm really impressed with this pedal. I bought it to replace my soon to be off'd HyperPak. Not that I'm dissing this pedal, it's just too ballsy for my taste. The Zia Drive can do the meaner 'chainsaw' drive like the Hyperpak but, with the gain lower, it can also add a really light grind to my tone. I found it really warm sounding and detailed too. I'm really happy with it as I was seriously missing the Fulltone Bassdrive's compcut mode, which can also do this, but had to move it on as it took up too much space. It looks like I've found my ideal Drive pedal. It's small too, which is always handy - although not as small as the HyperPak. Gonna have to do a bit of re-arranging to squeeze it on my board. ----------------------------------------------------- Finally got my pc to speak with my audio interface again so I can record at last! here's the samples.

Hey thanks for the guide and the scematics. Definately food for thought. Not sure if I can part with my ass though. The only other alternative would be to upgrade to a bigger board, which I've been determined not to do but we'll see.

[quote]How about something like a Woolly Mammoth or teh new9ish) Nano Muff, or Bass Muff ?[/quote] I'm really after a standard sized pedal - boss size etc. Haven't seen a nano muff tho so will look out for that. Don't like the samples of the Wooly Mammoth which I've heard so far but I wouldn't mind a play with one. With the one knob fuzz - I can't read those schematics but I wouldn't mind giving it a go. Where can you learn how to make one of these? Can you recommend a book or tuturial type website?

Cheers Bob, it's funny you should mention Catalinbread because I've just bought a new dirt pedal to replace my still new HyperPak as I just didn't get on with it. It's a really ballsy drive but I wanted something that can do mild grit. But now I have a normal size dirt pedal which can't fit onto my board so that's why I'm thinking of taking out the Ass - although I'm not 100% sure I can live with that yet. Incidentally the new dirt pedal I got is a Durham Electronics Zia Drive, not heard of these before but tried it out in the Gas Factory and its really sweet. With the gain turned high it's ballsy like the HyperPak. With the gain low I've finally got the mild dirt tone that I was after. It's a really nice pedal. [quote]Also if you liked the Neo, check out it's more brutal brother, the GI Fuzz.[/quote] I also tried this out, it wasn't as nice as the NeoFuzz to my ears. [quote]Check out the General Guitar Gadgets tuned muff if you can solder[/quote] Cheers for that, I've been curious about these kits for a while so maybe it's about time a took the plunge. Is the pedal you have in mind the BMP GGG tuned? Can I ask why you recommend this version in particular?....forgive my ignorance and thanks.

I need to make more space on my board so I'm thinking of taking the Assmaster off and replace it with a smaller standard size pedal - does anyone have any suggestions? Doesn't have to sound like an Ass - just a good sounding Fuzz. I tried out the NeoFuzz earlier today and thought it was decent, the right size, maybe not enough balls, anyone any thoughts on this pedal?

In an effort to speed up my finger picking I've started using 2 fingers after playing with 3 fingers for 20 years. Gone back to basics, scales/metronome, different patterns etc. Going through Jaco's Come on Come Over and making great progress - right pleased with myself!

[quote]I use a wah probe with bass and I love it[/quote] In that case I'm guessing the low end loss I percieved must have something to do with the internal trimpot settings? [quote]You really couldn't get a good sound from the Box of Rock? A Guitarist/Bassist friend of mine has one, and on Bass it sounds great!! He uses it as a grindy OD/Boost, and I've always thought it sounded awesome![/quote] Is that the standard (and pricier) Box of Rock or the Vexter Box of Rock which was the one I tried? I spent more time with this one that the others as I really did want to like this pedal - it's small and looks ace, but it just didn't sound right to my ears.

OK, finally dragged my arse down there in my lunch hour today. Brought my bass and tried out a few pedals so here's some initial thoughts on a few that I've been interested in for a while. First up I tried the ZVEX probe wah. I'm curious about this pedal due to the 'non contact' factor and the small size footprint appeals. The novelty value of the wah effect generated from the pedal magically tracking the movement of my foot was well cool but there was too much low end loss. It doesn't appear to be bass-friendly although it does have internal trim pots which I didn't have time to mess with tho so please don't take this micro review as fact. I then tried the ZVEX Vexter box of Rocks. I spent 10 minutes trying to coax a usable sound out of this pedal but it was having none of it. For geetars only. Next up was the drool worthy Fulltone Clyde 3 voice wah. Holy mamma this wah is the bomb! First setting I tried, Wacked, just completely nails all thats good'n'groovy about wah on the bass. It just sounded pure filthy! No low end loss, true bypass, lovely dynamic sweep, very articulate sounding, made me feel naughty and hot like a good wah should! May have to buy this one - it beats my Ebs Wah One hands down and I was perfectly happy with my Ebs before trying this! The last pedal I tried was the Oxygen compressor by Oohlala. The logic behind wanting to try this is because the Oxygen has a dirt control and I still miss the light grind of the Fulltone Bassdrive (sold) which cannot be replicated by my new HyperPak, (This was purely an 'economy of space' decision so I could squeeze more pedals on my board). Aaanyway, first impressions were that the compression sounded ok but whenever I stopped playing I was getting this loud wave of hiss. I tried to tame this beast but no matter what I did I couldn't entirely get rid of it - only reduce it to slightly less loud. Also, the dirt knob doesn't appear to have any discernible effect whatsoever? Maybe it was a dud, I doubt it but who knows? Definately not good enough to knock the EBS multicomp from my board - just glad I didn't take a chance and bought it from the net - hooray local boutique pedal shop! I'm looking to head back in there later on in the week so next up I'm hoping to have a go of the Malekko brights and darks, the Fulltone Fatboost and the Way Huge Pork Loin, mmmm!

Nice one Mike, when I talked about the shop to Ed he thought there may be some connection. Hopefully I'll be going tomorrow. Dying to have a go of some of their Moogerfooger stuff - amongst others!

[quote]How come I've missed this place???[/quote] I know, thats what I thought! [quote]I'll defintely give this place a look next time i'm in the area, are they really uptight about letting people try things?[/quote] The staff seem friendly enough and have no problem with me bringing my bass and pedal board so I can see how their pedals react with mine. They also expressed an interest in trying some of my pedals out.

The Phil was also part of the very same pub crawl - lovely toilets!

Sorry Steve! But its' an endless quest - you know the score Hey - The Everyman was part of my regular pub crawl during the 90's, we always used to get a banana bolls in there for some reason? Didn't take a look at the prices, I was just looking at the eye candy. Yeah it's a dilema if they end up pricey - do you support your local shop or go online for the cheaper option?

Think I'm gonna have a go at Come on Come over - some lush killer riffs in there. It's gonna take time tho! Thanks for all your suggestions

Just giving a heads up to fellow pedal geeks in the Liverpool area. Dunno how this slipped under the old radar but I only discovered it today, it's called The GAS Factory (killer name!) and is on Slater Street in the city centre, a few shops down from Probe Records. They specialise in boutique pedals and rare geetars (boo!) They actually don't stock any basses at the moment (sacrilege!) but they are looking to rectify this shortly. Speaking to the chaps behind the counter it sounds like they're are still finding their feet. I was chatting with them for almost an hour and they're very decent chaps who know their stuff. Anyhow, I shall be bringing my bass and pedal board during the week to try out more than a few pedals I've been curious about over the last few years. Looks like the have the entire Malekko range, Red Witch, I shall be trying out the Fulltone Clyde wah, Zvex box of Rocks looks yummy, oohlala, gigrig, way huge, plus many, many more. If your in the neighbourhood it's well worth a look! (just remember to bring a bass with you if you want to try anything out!)

[quote]I thought where it says A+B it means A&B in parallel, and A->B means the footswitch switches between A, then B, then bypass?[/quote] Thats right, it runs the a&b signals in parallel. Love this pedal, my most useful effects pedal.

[quote]I'm thinking about having two OC-2s on my board[/quote] + loads!

I was playing this in Dolphin with Edstraker yesterday. I wasn't sold on the look at first but loved the warm punchy tone, it was set up nicely with low action and no fret buzz. When Kev had a go I thought it looked totally awesome. I'd love one myself. I've also played an 09 Fender Jazz recently - the Lodestone was miles better.

If your talking about rhythm I can't see how you can leave the guitarist out of the equation, his syncopated rhythms and arpegiated riffs are just as essential and contrast nicely with Stings minimalist style. IMHO of course.

Experiment with different combinations and hear whats right for you. Some people like the comp 1st and some last, both have valid reasons, some like a strong, even signal going into the rest of the fx chain and others prefer the effected signal to be compressed it's all down to preference. The way I did it was one pedal at a time until you narrow it down. I personally found that having dynamic pedals near the front is important - synths, fuzzes, dirt and filters especially. I tend to have modulation, chorus ,flanger/ phaser near the end with a delay and comp bringing up the rear. This just suits me though, others may well go ewww! Then I tried "sub" combinations of these groups- fuzz before od or vice versa> Dirt before wah or after>flanger before or after phaser etc. FWIW my signal chain is: LS2, signal A= Fuzz, OD, Wah, Filter, Flanger, Chorus, Delay, Comp. Signal B= octaver, synth. [quote]I like the octave down blended with other effects too, so I had the OC-2 on one side of an LS-2 for a while, so it had a clean signal to track. I've tried it after other effects like fuzzes and dynamic filters and it just doesn't work very well[/quote] I also blend in my OC2 into a fuzzed signal but to me it sounds fantastic? If I add Flanger to the fuzz side of the signal I just have to break out Cars by Gary Neumen.