pantherairsoft

Hi all,

Up for grabs... 

Nemphasis Steam Bass - SOLD

TC Electronic Flashback 2 - SOLD

Emma Electronics Okto Nøjs - SOLD

Darkglass Vintage Microtubes - SOLD

Lekato Loop Station - SOLD

TC Electronic Polytune - SOLD

Neunaber Immerse Reverberator - SOLD

Darkglass Alpha Omicron - SOLD

EBS DPhaser - SOLD

Postage is £5 in the UK, or you are welcome to collect from me in Derby.

Any questions, or if you want more pics, just ask!
 

I did this for a while and went through quite a few. The EBS Microbass always seemed to be the one that sounded most like having a rig behind me and was also the one that sound-men seemed to be most impressed with. If I went down this route again, I wouldn’t hesitate to get the Microbass.

1 hour ago, lee650 said:

It seems CIOKS Have upped their game. I bought a DC5 brand new as it was the only thing that would fit under my metro20 at the time. It's very underpowered and I struggle if I've a lot of digital pedals.

The DC7 is a monster. It runs my entire board and I’ve not even managed to light the 40% of load light yet. Insanely good, plus it fits under a Pedaltrain with no modification to the board needed. It’s not cheap, but worth every penny for me.

56 minutes ago, 0175westwood29 said:

Wait no Moog?

All the foogers’ were sold over 3 years ago and getting them now is hardly an easy or affordable prospect. I’d probably pick up the Cluster Flux again, given a suitable opportunity, but the others, I’ve learned to live without/appreciate the alternatives.

12 minutes ago, meercatzbass said:

 

My new mini board in progress...

 

 

 

The most amazing thing about the DC7 - it could probably power that entire board from one output!

I’ve never been one for subtlety in dirt and while I do think the old Fuzzrocious BDPG is the nicest low gain overdrive ever made, the mantle for high gain stuff has firmly been taken by the Mastotron IMO for a long long time.

Ive had a lot of pedals that did that kind of tone, but none of them ever got quite there. My only niggle with it was that without the sub switch, it was a bit lacking and with it was often too much. As a result it took a lot of work to get it to sit right in a mix without dominating.

Fast forward to 2021 and while the Mastotron has a special place in my heart, I’m now rocking the Dr. Scientist Frazz Dazzler as my primary dirt pedal and DAMN is that thing intense! Huge fuzz saturation, with a 2nd switch to engage ‘stupidly high gain mode’, three band EQ, a clean blend, gated, and a voltage starve for spluttery synth tones. It even has expression control over the mix so you can blend it in and out, though this particular feature is one I’ve found little practical use for.

I’ve been using it daily, exploring all its options and how it plays with other pedals, and right now, I just can’t imagine anything knocking it off its perch. It’s basically everything I ever wanted in a high gain pedal.

14 minutes ago, Kev said:

Oo, talk me through the Collider and Nemesis combo?  Would have thought the Ventris would be a more obvious choice to pair with the Nemesis, if the Collider wasn't enough alone?

Killer board though buddy!

Actually the Nemesis came first. One thing I really love is stacking delays - it makes for very complex and beautiful textures. I was using a Flashback as the 2nd delay and a Neunaber Immerse as my reverb (which is actually far nicer than the Collider as a stand alone reverb). In the interests of trying to condense things and work with more planned functionality, the Collider offered a solid replacement for both, with some additional signal routing options and little flourishes that make it quite nice.

The Ventris is overkill for my reverb needs and if I was to stick with a standalone, the Immerse would stay without a doubt. But yeah, the overall point was to have two delay pedals in series and as I love the Nemesis tone, this made sense.

7 minutes ago, lee650 said:

Awesome board 😁

Thanks!

I've been on a rampage over the last couple of weeks to get my set up well refined and nail down to pedals that really gel with the overall sound of the new project I'm working on. I've pretty much auditioned three pedals for every space on the board and made more signal chain tweaks than I can count.

Finally, I'm happy with the set up. So much so that I have pledged to myself that I won't buy another pedal for at least 6 months... I'm going to work this set up hard!

For those of you interested in such things, here is the signal chain being used (note, this is for some ambient, synth textures)...

• Input -> Boss OC-5 Octave ->
• Dr. Scientist Frazz Dazzler ->
• Darkglass Alpha Omicron ->
• Red Panda Bitmap 2 ->
• Bananana Matryoshka ->
• Wampler Terraform ->
• Iron Ether Xerograph Deluxe (+ Moog EP-3 Expression Pedal) ->
• Digitech Whammy Ricochet ->
• Source Audio Nemesis Delay ->
• Source Audio Collider Delay + Reverb ->
• TC Electronics Polytune 2 Mini -> Output

Everything is powered by a Cioks DC7 (which hasn't even hit the 40% load light yet - what a power supply!) and cabled with EBS gold flat patch cables. The Bananana Matryoshka was originally on the chopping block, but I had space for a mini pedal without ruining the ergonomics of things. Originally, this was being used exclusively as a bit crusher (before the Bitmap 2 came along), but it's worth keeping here for the Arp and LFO settings, which allow for layering some nice textures and soundscapes. I have a pile of pedals to move on now to recoup some costs!

I'm super happy with this set up. Endless creative options and everything plays really well with each other.

1 hour ago, Hugsonic said:

I'd say that anything that tracks the signal ie octaves, pitch stuff and synths is best near the start and agree can benefit from a comp in front. I would alway go for a comp with a blend so you can keep some dynamics while balancing the rest and blend to taste. 

Given that I rarely play 'normal' bass and spend my time creating synth overtones and ambient soundscapes, octave down effects always go first (to be fair, that's one thing that almost always has no place being anywhere else), but pitchshifters like whammy's are always much farther along, typically alongside modulation. Polyphonic pitch shifters don't struggle to track in the same way as many classic octave effects and using a whammy-like effect after your dirt and filters sounds WAY more synth-like than shifting the pitch of the input signal to dirt pedals and the like. In many ways, then become an EQ control to enhance the synth-like nature of the tone.

I rarely use compressors at all these days, but when I do, your point about the blend is sooooooooooooo important. The difference that makes to the overall dynamics can't be understated.

12 minutes ago, prowla said:

My logic is:

1. Input (patch bay, wireless, etc.).
2. Compressor.
3. Signal generators (Synth, Octave, etc.).
4. Distortion.
5. Modulation (Phaser, Flanger, Chorus, Tremolo).
6. Echo (Reverb, Echo, Looper, etc.).

If you're using a preamp with an Fx loop, then pre- or post- eq is your choice; it depends whether you are looking to define the sound of the bass or the whole chain.

This recipe is certainly the ‘norm’, but there are always exceptions and importantly there are no ‘wrongs’.

For example, synth pedals often sound better after distortion pedals.

Filters sound very different before and after both distortion and modulation so it depends on what you’re after.

In a traditional synth bass setting where you create sounds by using Octave > Distortion > Filter, it’s common to place the compressor last in the chain, not first. This allows it to act as a limiter and it works to increase output consistency, much more like a keyboard synth. This is how I typically use compression.

Whammys and pitchshifters usually go first in the chain for tracking as they sound most natural there, however, if you’re going for synth bass tone, pitch shifters will normally go along side modulation as the deliberately unnatural sound to pitch swells makes it sound even more synthesised.

There are of course many more... but what I’m trying to say is, there are no specific rules. Always try everything in every position to see what works for you. It’s too easy to get trapped into what is considered the ‘norm’, but often it’s not the most optimal.

Great pedal - I’m using one as a Bitcrusher at the mo.

Note that in English this is called a ‘Matryoshka’, which is what people would need to search for to find much about it!

Bought a Boss OC-5 from Gaz. Super easy transaction, good comms and it arrived really fast. Couldn't be happier.

4 minutes ago, Witch Hazel said:

talking about cables, has anyone tried the fixed "coupler" type pedal connectors like these?  i'm imagining they're probably really annoying when the connectors don't quite line up properly (which a couple of the reviews mentioned), but i'm tempted to get some to try.

These are notoriously bad for your jack sockets as it forces pedals to bend and flex against each other and the weight of the plug. With a cable, when pressure is applied to a pedal and it slightly moves, the cable prevents anything else from moving with it. With a coupler, that force is directly applied to the jack sockets of the connected pedals.

I’ve heard nothing but bad things about them, though I admit, I’ve never tried them myself (on account of them historically being considered a poor choice).

43 minutes ago, dand666 said:

Best patch leads to get? Ideally nice and thin but not too pricey. 

I used to be all about the Lava Cables and George L's, but I've moved over to EBS flat patch (gold version, but I'm sure the regular are fine). Personally, I'm super impressed with them.

Bought a pedal from Darren. Excellent communications and super helpful.

2 hours ago, gorandelac said:

Here is mine, @pantherairsoft what kind od Xerograph is that?

The one on the really old huge board? That was a custom version designed to take +/-5v CV control to every knob so it could be controlled by the Moog MP-201. It was basically a replacement to using the Moog LPF, but to retain all the functionality.

The one on the smaller board is just a regular V1 Xero Deluxe.

2 minutes ago, GisserD said:

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1926136/Gfi-System-Synesthesia.html?page=7&term=dry&selected=3#manual

quick search for mix confirms it

Dammit!

My multiple searches for 'blend' were a total fail

Cheers! Case closed.

2 minutes ago, GisserD said:

my guitarist friend has one. im pretty sure the tweak knob is a dry/wet mix on most patches.

This is good to know - I was getting that impression from some videos, but the manual doesn't actually tell you what the knobs do per patch (I assume because the onboard display does!). Thanks!

Having tired most multi modulation pedals, I'm keep to turn my gave to the Synesthesia. I'm particularly interested in any user experiences with bass as the pedal does not appear to have a blend control (unless that's hidden deep within the menu and user manual) - I'm wondering how able you are to balance modulation tones with clean bass tones.

If you have any first hand experience with this pedal, please let me know!

Thanks.

18 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

First dibs please, if you do decide to move your Pro on!

2nd dibs! 

20 minutes ago, CalDeep said:

I had the WMD Geiger as above. Had two weeks in a studio producing with my band, I used to nearly every day on something, by the 4th day I'd bought a pro...... Its a beast of a thing! Sadly not getting tonnes of use any more as 3Sigma have done a plugin model of it that is fantastic! 

If you want to part with the pro, fire me a PM! 

24 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

He even specifically mentions us bass-players in his NAMM 2018 launch of the Pro - by virtue of having a clean blend.

Nice.

For a period of time, he sold the regular (larger) GC in a 'bass version' too, and would even take back regular ones and mod them for bass. I understand that it just let a little clean through the signal. The GC regular and civi were never kind to low end, but then it's a bit crusher! It never bothered me as I ran mine (along with all the dirt effects) is an parallel loop along either a clean signal, or a sub octave. That said, as I prefer to play in projects without guitar etc. it's no issue to me to not always have huge low end.

Just now, Al Krow said:

I wonder where @CalDeep and your WMDs ended up?

I've had my WMD Civilian Issue for 5 mins, but having heard clips from your albums @pantherairsoft I'm already GAS-ing for one of its big brothers. The 2018 Pro version looks awesome...if anyone has one they've forgotten about which has been quietly disarmed in a cupboard somewhere...😊

The Pro came out after I'd stopped playing for a while - it looks insane, but I've never seen one in the wild. He does make some incredible toys though, I have no doubt that it rocks!

13 minutes ago, lee650 said:

Ahh I remember those boards! I was a fan of "our Helical Mind" at the time, and you actually inspired me,to get more into effects and electronic music. I actuslly bought one of your Diago boards at the time 😁

Thanks!

I was pretty fond of that 2-board set up... it felt like a compromise at the time, but on reflection, it was still ALOT of pedals! I have a few pics of the last version of that...

1 hour ago, 51m0n said:

That much Moog makes me sweaty in a somewhat embarrassing way 😍

 

 

There were two more at one point!

One of my biggest regrets in life was selling the Cluster Flux. That pedal was the single most creative thing I've ever made noise with.