If you could only choose one dirt pedal?

[Al Krow]

The SA OFD is a great pedal to give you a flavour of / introduction to a bunch of drives. The Aftershock, in terms of core gut drive tone, takes it to another level. 

The OFD is nice for messing about with at home. The Aftershock will take your audiences' heads off if you want it to, or provide something mellower but crunchy and very usable, live.

Ok I'll come off the fence, and let you know which of the two I prefer, in a minute...

[Quatschmacher]

13 hours ago, Al Krow said:

The SA OFD is a great pedal to give you a flavour of / introduction to a bunch of drives. The Aftershock, in terms of core gut drive tone, takes it to another level. 

The OFD is nice for messing about with at home. The Aftershock will take your audiences' heads off if you want it to, or provide something mellower but crunchy and very usable, live.

Ok I'll come off the fence, and let you know which of the two I prefer, in a minute...

The 12 models in the OFD are exactly the same ones that can be used on the Aftershock. The Aftershock has the ability to swap them out for a whole bunch of others or to tweak them further than the OFD allows.

I’m presuming it’s either this enhanced tweakability or the models which are different from those on the OFD that forms the basis of that statement.  

[dannybuoy]

The Aftershock has a bunch of new models that aren't in the OFD though.

Not that it matters to me, I thought they were both stinky poo!

[Al Krow]

The core tone on the Aftershock is not the same as on the OFD - certainly to my ears; I definitely prefer what I've been able to get from the Aftershock, which is the successor to the OFD.

@dannybuoy have you settled on B3K plus Yammy P/J as your favourite combination?

[dannybuoy]

For the main sound in the last band I was in, yes. There are other pedals that I think sound better in isolation, but when playing along to those recordings the B3K just sounds perfect in the mix. Much of that is down to the baked in EQ curve and that the lows are left relatively clean and unaffected. Looking forward to seeing how the DP3-X compares!

P Bass and flats though - Tone Hammer all the way!

[uncle psychosis]

Catalinbread SFT for me. Love it for that overdriven valve tone. 

[The59Sound]

It takes a while to find the right OD for your purposes but it's worth it. 

My Bearfoot Blueberry is my permanently on pedal but it adds so much to my core tone. It also works as a great booster for other higher gain pedals.

I thought I found it with the SFX Micro Black Dragon but it wasn't quite there. Fortunately, the Blueberry into the BD gives off one hell of a sound; and my Green Russian Big Muff for that matter. 

[Al Krow]

Amptweaker - Tightdrive

38 minutes ago, danbowskill said:

Depends what sound your gunning for? It's very mid heavy( quite tube screamer like) sounding and colours your tone......but that's what I was needing, cuts great through the mix, if it didn't have the low clean mod I don't think I'd like it.

Compared to a lot of dirts ive gone through its definitely a keeper,I love it :-)

Good man! (And just continuing the chat on this thread) Was very tempted to go for that pedal myself and only hesitated 'cos I'm good with my SA Aftershock right now. Interesting point about the low clean mod - does it lose low end without this? 

Which other dirts have you been through - if you find yourself at a loose end it would very interesting to get your views on the + / - on each of them?

On 13/04/2018 at 16:24, uncle psychosis said:

Catalinbread SFT for me. Love it for that overdriven valve tone. 

Have to admit, the Youtube clips of this did sound good!

[VAMPYRE 5]

0m:36s

Ashdown Drive Plus!!

Received it 10 years ago when I gained an Ashdown Artist edorsement. Tried all their other pedals, chorus and dual-band compressor, etc but they really weren’t up to much for my tastes and yes they are a size but the growl & colourful harmonics can’t be matched. Bought and returned or sold just about every OD pedal going froum US to 80’s Jap over the years even more recently the Darkglass’s. Serious pedals (instant production & gratification)  BUT you get the ‘cold’ sound everyone has nowadays and really, just not convinced.. 

Other pedals sound like lo-gain distortion which is kinda thin, fuzzy and cold.

The Ashdown is all about response so it demands to be practiced for months to ‘get’ it.

Sure, get a pick out and strum like an unknowing thug and fuzz is all you’ll get. Dynamics will lift your game. Fingerstyle will definitely give you a tone and timbre that can be truely tuned. Fine tune the Hi gain then figure where on the string and how hard to pick/ strike is best to get a tone!!! Basics!! ...and nevermind being sidetracked with HPF scientific -20hz debates 😂😂

[Al Krow]

Thanks for sharing that clip - sounds really good. 

Three things in response of I may: 

a) "The Ashdown is all about response so it demands to be practiced for months to ‘get’ it." - so definitely not for the fainthearted, but pays dividends if you're willing to invest time in it.

b) I do agree that you're getting a sound pretty close to John Entwistle (one of my all time bass heroes!):

 

c) there's a pedal about to be released which gets somewhere pretty similar, that folk have been getting pretty excited about...

 

[Al Krow]

35 minutes ago, VAMPYRE 5 said:

...and nevermind being sidetracked with HPF scientific -20hz debates 😂😂

Nah! Cutting the crud below 20Hz, tightening up the low end, and stopping the house shaking when practising at home has been one of the better marriage-saving discoveries for me for 2018. HPFs rule! Every bass player should consider using 

 

Edited April 29, 2018 by Al Krow

[VAMPYRE 5]

4 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Thanks for sharing that clip - sounds really good. 

Three things in response of I may: 

a) "The Ashdown is all about response so it demands to be practiced for months to ‘get’ it." - so definitely not for the fainthearted, but pays dividends if you're willing to invest time in it.

b) I do agree that you're getting a sound pretty close to John Entwistle (one of my all time bass heroes!):

 

c) there's a pedal about to be released which gets somewhere pretty similar, that folk have been getting pretty excited about...

 

That’s a very cool sound. Geddy insired? Wonder if there’s any clean top end in the mix if you crack the strings? Ashdown lets through bit of clean ‘zing’ over the driven tone if you get the gain just right.. 

[VAMPYRE 5]

4 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Nah! Cutting the crud below 20Hz, tightening up the low end, and stopping the house shaking when practising at home has been one of the better marriage-saving discoveries for me for 2018. HPFs rule! Every bass player should consider using 

 

...as do LPFs 🤘🏻🤘🏻

 

[Al Krow]

6 minutes ago, VAMPYRE 5 said:

That’s a very cool sound. Geddy insired? Wonder if there’s any clean top end in the mix if you crack the strings? Ashdown lets through bit of clean ‘zing’ over the driven tone if you get the gain just right.. 

Not really my thing in terms of 'dirt', but if you want to find out more then @Cuzzie is a chief cheerleader and will be able to tell you more.

There's a whole thread dedicated to it, in case you've not seen...

 

 

[VAMPYRE 5]

2 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Not really my thing in terms of 'dirt', but if you want to find out more then @Cuzzie is a chief cheerleader and will be able to tell you more.

There's a whole thread dedicated to it, in case you've not seen...

 

 

Nice one Al 👍🏻

[Al Krow]

 

3 minutes ago, VAMPYRE 5 said:

Nice one Al 👍🏻

PS You're right it could have been Geddy inspired, but not quite (ok not even close to!) in the same league as the maestro himself. A chap by the name of dUg playing in a band which did hit no. 49 in the UK charts in 1994 (highest ranking in the US charts was 85)...but have not really had much chart success in the last 24 years over here...

[Cuzzie]

Can’t give you the full low down, don’t have my hands on it yet, but chatting to sources, if you know and like how the dUg Ultrabass amp works then you will defo like this, and actually the clean sound is much more useable than the one in that amp.

This thing will be good, may not be for everyone, but without doubt it will keep your low end clean as that’s its design, and then add dirt as required. It’s got a compressor and a tuner in a 12 Oz package for a pretty reasonable price with XLR and 1/4 output. Pop it in front your amp, in the FX loop or straight to PA. 

From another source I have the perceived DI and jack signal difference is not as great as it has been billed

[Cuzzie]

@Al Krow except they influenced a whole generation of bands that are household names and made it big and these bands and their members reference them.

I’ll not get into external reasons, it’ll probably breach forum rules, but if you measure greatness purely by chart success and figures that’s fine, but you sell yourself short. Evidently artists like Rodriguez were rubbish.....

[krispn]

12 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

PS You're right it could have been Geddy inspired, but not quite (ok not even close to!) in the same league as the maestro himself. A chap by the name of dUg playing in a band which did hit no. 49 in the UK charts in 1994 (highest ranking in the US charts was 85)...but have not really had much chart success in the last 24 years over here...

Words fail me 😢

 

[VAMPYRE 5]

6 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

@Al Krow except they influenced a whole generation of bands that are household names and made it big and these bands and their members reference them.

Kings X certainly made waves way back when and definitely influenced many bands.

 

[Al Krow]

@Cuzzie; @krispn; @VAMPYRE 5

You deserve a reasoned response.

Interesting subject.

But definitely a side-track from dirt pedals.

Let's continue this more generally elsewhere...

Edited April 29, 2018 by Al Krow

[krispn]

No I’m good 😀 Let the dirt chat continue..

Edited April 29, 2018 by krispn

[Cuzzie]

8 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

@Cuzzie; @krispn; @VAMPYRE 5

You deserve a reasoned response.

Interesting subject.

But definitely a side-track from dirt pedals.

Let's continue this more generally elsewhere...

Let’s not

[tandark]

I've been researching a pedalboard overhaul to make way for an HX effects with an analogue drive to pair with it.

Reached out to Hamstead as their new Odyssey pedal looks great (need something that works for bass and guitar), and they hinted at something very interesting to come in the next few weeks...

Watch this space!

[Al Krow]

1 hour ago, tandark said:

I've been researching a pedalboard overhaul to make way for an HX effects with an analogue drive to pair with it.

Reached out to Hamstead as their new Odyssey pedal looks great (need something that works for bass and guitar), and they hinted at something very interesting to come in the next few weeks...

Watch this space!

Oooh that does look good!  Please do keep us posted! 

Looks like an analogue alternative to the SA Aftershock but a little more pricey (£219 vs £149) which I guess is fair enough given the more 'boutique' nature of the pedal.

Edited May 9, 2018 by Al Krow