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Reviewing pedals - anything you wanna know?


62P-Bass
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I'm going to write a review of three new EBS pedals for Bass Guitar Magazine - the DPhaser, MetalDrive and Stanley Clarke signature wah-wah. I know reviews are a potentially contentious issue, but I thought as an experiment I'd throw it open and see if anyone had any particular questions about these pedals, or any specific angles you would like to see explored in a review, particularly if you are potentially in the market for any of these pedals or if you use similar products and are interested in specific features and how they work.

The [url="http://www.ebs.bass.se/"]EBS website[/url] is very comprehensive in terms of specs etc, and it also has loads of recorded sound examples, so most basic information can be gleaned there so I was thinking beyond this - stuff you can't find out there.

I'm not sure exactly what I'll be able to do with any of your questions - as I said, it's a bit of an experiment, but I thought it might be good to get a general consensus on what people want to know about the products. I'll do my best, but if you want to know how they compare, for example to every other distortion pedal on the market, I don't have the facility (or time) to do that!!

They sent them to me on a pedal board with all of the other pedals as well (see pic), which has been a hell of a lot of self-indulgent fun! I also borrowed a looping pedal so I've been creating some epic soundscapes in my bedroom. Well, occasionally epic, but mostly wonky sounding funk!

Cheers,

Andrew

[attachment=81113:photo_1.JPG]

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It's not a very exciting angle Andrew, but I'd be interested to know how long any of the pedals can run with battery/DC power.
I've used some pedals over the years that have drained batteries so quickly that I've thought I must have put the old ones back in by mistake!
Although pedal board and AC mains power is preferred, there are some occasions where a battery powered pedal (taken in the gig bag with the DI box) is the easiest option. I'm probably not alone in that.

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[quote name='Len_derby' post='1248120' date='May 28 2011, 12:04 PM']It's not a very exciting angle Andrew, but I'd be interested to know how long any of the pedals can run with battery/DC power.[/quote]
Good question, and something that is rarely if ever mentioned in pedal reviews.

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A very useful angle would be:
If you were to buy one of these, which would it be. And ask the same question for buying two or three.
I think this would be incredibly useful, as I have never even heard of anyone buying a full set of a brand's pedals, at least not in one go. So you could say for the average player, which single pedal would make the most difference to their sound quality and variety (choose the factors as you wish). Similarly, say that if you had the money to spend on only two/three (they aren't cheap), which ones you would then go for, this also may be different to buying just the 1 pedal, if perhaps 2 or 3 of them work particularly well in conjunction with each other.

Hope this helps,
Dan

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[quote name='Len_derby' post='1248120' date='May 28 2011, 12:04 PM']It's not a very exciting angle Andrew, but I'd be interested to know how long any of the pedals can run with battery/DC power.
I've used some pedals over the years that have drained batteries so quickly that I've thought I must have put the old ones back in by mistake!
Although pedal board and AC mains power is preferred, there are some occasions where a battery powered pedal (taken in the gig bag with the DI box) is the easiest option. I'm probably not alone in that.[/quote]

Good point! I'm looking into this at the moment to see what I can find out. My Dr of physics bass-playing friend is helping out with the calculations. Easier than plugging them in and setting a timer!

[quote name='dc2009' post='1248337' date='May 28 2011, 03:40 PM']A very useful angle would be:
If you were to buy one of these, which would it be. And ask the same question for buying two or three.
I think this would be incredibly useful, as I have never even heard of anyone buying a full set of a brand's pedals, at least not in one go. So you could say for the average player, which single pedal would make the most difference to their sound quality and variety (choose the factors as you wish). Similarly, say that if you had the money to spend on only two/three (they aren't cheap), which ones you would then go for, this also may be different to buying just the 1 pedal, if perhaps 2 or 3 of them work particularly well in conjunction with each other.

Hope this helps,
Dan[/quote]

This is a great question, but I think beyond the scope of the review. As 3 of the pedals are new, those are the ones I have to focus on, but not necessarily the ones I would chose! I think most people would have a different answer for their top 3 pedals and it totally depends on what style of music you play and what you're after. Would make a good poll! Mine would be #1 OctaBass, #2 BassIQ, and the third I really don't know - maybe the MultiDrive. The DPHaser is really good fun and sounds great at home, but I'm not sure I could fit it in live anywhere, but that's down to type of music I generally play.
Actually I guess there's nothing wrong with voting for a favourite out of the three in the review, and I can certainly talk about how they work together too. Thanks!

[quote name='umph' post='1248341' date='May 28 2011, 03:43 PM']the real question is, will it blend?[/quote]

Blend with? The band generally, or do you mean your unaltered bass tone?

Thanks for all your help with this - much appreciated.

Andrew

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[quote name='umph' post='1248710' date='May 28 2011, 09:54 PM']sorry was making a reference to this - [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAl28d6tbko"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAl28d6tbko[/url][/quote]

Aha! Love it. The pedals are pretty solid beasts, but that looks like one helluva blender.

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