GazWills Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 so, has anybody tried one of these yet? I'm really loving my mxr carbon copy and analog delay, and this o/d looks like it could be a tidy little pedal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudewheresmybass Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 It's ok, but I found a little dark with the 'adjusted' clean sound. Still might pick one up since it could provide a useful contras to the b3k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazWills Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 Interesting - it sounds far from dark on the demos i have heard. I was worried it may not be dark enough! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan_da_man Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Great little pedal - worth the dough for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FretNoMore Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 Just got it but don't like it much unfortunately ... of course it depends on what you're going for, but as I'm looking for a bare minimum of breakup and little change in tone this is not for me. This pedal is not clean with "Clean" on max and "Drive" on minimum. MXR mentions that the clean signal has a preset EQ, but they don't say it's also distorted even at the minimum setting, so not actually clean, and it's too much for the subtle breakup I want. It's also not quite transparent; to me it sounds a bit muffled - not to be confused with "warm" or "dark" in my opinion. I think this pedal will work great if you're looking for medium drive or more, but don't buy it if you want barely audible dirt and a transparent tone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 [quote name='FretNoMore' timestamp='1369857073' post='2093668'] Just got it but don't like it much unfortunately ... of course it depends on what you're going for, but as I'm looking for a bare minimum of breakup and little change in tone this is not for me. This pedal is not clean with "Clean" on max and "Drive" on minimum. MXR mentions that the clean signal has a preset EQ, but they don't say it's also distorted even at the minimum setting, so not actually clean, and it's too much for the subtle breakup I want. It's also not quite transparent; to me it sounds a bit muffled - not to be confused with "warm" or "dark" in my opinion. I think this pedal will work great if you're looking for medium drive or more, but don't buy it if you want barely audible dirt and a transparent tone. [/quote] I am curious about the MXR too, but I am glad that I decided to try the Darkglass Vintage first. From what you say above, I think you would probably like it. I got mine looking for a substantial overdrive sound, which the Darkglass can do very well (without getting crazy like the B3K can), but what it does really nicely is that fat cleanish/nearly clean type of overdrive. So much so, that I think it's going to become my default "very low overdrive" pedal, the kind you're sometimes likely to leave permanently on. My only "niggle" is that it seems to be a little dark. I wish it had a tone control of some sort. It was ok with my Stingray (active with a semiparametric mid control) as it allows me to tweak the sound a lot, but on the Jazz it was always a bit darker than I wish. Although that particular Jazz is darker than most too, so that could be a factor. I only really played with it a bit in the house, and then during a 2h rehearsal... but I was using a battered horrible Peavey combo which made all my overdrives sound teh same. I normally bring my RH450 head and plug that into a 410 Ampeg cab they have at the rehearsal place, but the other day it had been substituted by that combo. I was annoyed as I brought 4 pedals so I could try them side by side and compare... but that combo was both horrible and sounding nothing like my normal rig does... The four pedals were two cheap Joyo overdrives (the Vintage Overdrive, which is lovely but takes away too much bottom end... so it's a guitar only pedal for me, really, and the Ultimate Overdrive which is mighty), a TC Electronic Mojo Mojo (which is more like a strange distortion, almost fuzz) and the Darkglass Vintage. Through that combo, those very different pedals sounding too much alike... grrr. Next week! I still need to play with the Darkglass a bit more to really understand what it can do. The "Era" knob seems way too subtle... but then with that combo everything was a subtly different shade of brown, sh*t-brown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FretNoMore Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 I do have a few pedals I'm trying out at the moment, the jury is very much out on which I will keep. Among them is the Darkglass Vintage, and it's not completely unlike the MXR really. It's hard to describe sound but the VMT, to me, has a more open sound and a slightly finer grained breakup, if you know what I mean. It sounds "nicer" than the MXR which is darker and a little harsher. Which can be good or bad depending on what you're looking for. Both of them boost the midrange a bit, changing the tone of the sound, the MXR perhaps at a lower frequency range. Of the two I prefer the Darkglass pedal that can also go from clean to quite a lot of overdrive. This isn't easy though - I don't always hear the same as I hear in online reviews when trying a pedal myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 [quote name='FretNoMore' timestamp='1369908973' post='2094230'] I do have a few pedals I'm trying out at the moment, the jury is very much out on which I will keep. Among them is the Darkglass Vintage, and it's not completely unlike the MXR really. It's hard to describe sound but the VMT, to me, has a more open sound and a slightly finer grained breakup, if you know what I mean. It sounds "nicer" than the MXR which is darker and a little harsher. Which can be good or bad depending on what you're looking for. Both of them boost the midrange a bit, changing the tone of the sound, the MXR perhaps at a lower frequency range. Of the two I prefer the Darkglass pedal that can also go from clean to quite a lot of overdrive. This isn't easy though - I don't always hear the same as I hear in online reviews when trying a pedal myself. [/quote] I know! I have bought enough pedals based on reviews and found them completely unlike what the reviews led me to think they would sound like. I guess you can only get so much information second hand, you still need to try stuff with your own basses etc and see what works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
such Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 I believe that the MXR Bass Overdrive is a repacked Way Huge Pork Loin (having tested them next to each other), with maybe some subtle tweaks. The "clean" is not a blend of the direct uneffected signal, it's a clean channel emulation, as in guitar amps. So yeah, it does have an eq preset, and it does have a bit of hair too. I had high hopes, but so far, the BlowTorch remains my favourite MXR drive pedal. Those Darkglasses do look interesting though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudewheresmybass Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 I have just returned from spending some time ( an hour +) with the vmt and mxr side to side. My first impression of the mxr has been confirmed. It's dark but this wouldn't cause a problem if the clean sound was 'clean' rather than with an applied eq. The vmt was a clear winner, and I ended up walking out of the shop with the darkglass to add to my b3k. I think I have most of my drive needs covered now. The era knob makes the vmt one of the single most useful drive pedals I have played ime. Time will tell how it fairs in context though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FretNoMore Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 [quote name='such' timestamp='1369921005' post='2094472'] I believe that the MXR Bass Overdrive is a repacked Way Huge Pork Loin ... [/quote] Is the Pork Loin the same, i.e. no real clean blend? (It does look like it should be from the product description) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
such Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 "The Pork Loin incorporates two distinct tonal pathways that are blended together - a modern soft clipping overdrive and a modified British preamp for [i]clean[/i]" quoted from the Dunlop catalogue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 [quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1369907592' post='2094195'] The "Era" knob seems way too subtle... but then with that combo everything was a subtly different shade of brown, sh*t-brown. [/quote] Tis interesting, as the era knob seems quite the opposite of subtle in the sound samples i have heard. Mine should hopefully be with me next week so we shall see! I envisage running the Vintage into the B7K could bring about some rather desirable results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 [quote name='Kev' timestamp='1369944400' post='2094895'] Tis interesting, as the era knob seems quite the opposite of subtle in the sound samples i have heard. Mine should hopefully be with me next week so we shall see! I envisage running the Vintage into the B7K could bring about some rather desirable results. [/quote] Let us know what you think. I find the Era knob very subtle on its own, to the point of being undistinguishable live. But I suspect its effect is most noticeable in conjunction with the drive knob, as they seem to interact a lot. More experimentation required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krispn Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 (edited) I use an MXR bass overdrive and find its got a slightly 'modern sound' on the clean blend - the way I use the pedal it turns my passive bass into somehting with just that little hint of scoop - something akin to the modern setting on the M80+ di pedal MXR make. I find the MXR sounds good in the live mix with two guitars and I tend to leave it engaged with the clean blend just around noon and the drive turned nearly fully anti-clockwise for adding a bit of edge to the tone and I then add in a little more gain (with my foot) if the song required a tad more filth. I have a Cog pedal for more heavy drive and the two complement each other well - I've tried running the MXR in the efx loop for that pure clean blend and it's very pleasing used this way too - my amp has both a series and parallel loop which is a real nice feature especially for sticking drive pedals in with the clean signal. McNash you're welcome to give it a try sometime we're only round the corner from each iother ...sorta! G Edited February 7, 2014 by krispn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 I spent the summer playing with various overdrives, and I finally sold the Darkglass and I seem to be reasonably happy with the VT-Bass 2... but the MXR looks interesting and I'd love to hear it in person some time Which COG pedal do you have, krispn? I hear people say nice things about them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krispn Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 McNash I'll PM ya! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 [quote name='krispn' timestamp='1391909336' post='2362645'] McNash I'll PM ya! [/quote] PM'd back. McNach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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