mcnach

£22 delivered, tiny, and it sounds pretty damn good. Downside? Not that versatile. But that's all. If you just need the occasional quacking from your bass and don't want to spend much, or take up too much space on your board, I think this is a pretty good one. On bass it works very well, it doesn't lose the low end or get extreme... it's very easy to get a good fast 'wah' out of this with bass. I haven't found a *good* demo online... but if you listen to RHCP's 21st Century, it's easy to get that kind of sound: On guitar... I love it for leads where it smoothens the attack. Like this: It's not going to replace my Soundblox BEF, but it's a pretty cool little pedal. A lot of the cheaper envelope filters get too honky or lose all low end... not this one! You don't get a lot of different sounds, you can't do down-sweeps, you can't make the sweep time change a lot... but what it does it does well.

I just wish you had left that beta/alpha BS out...

Not the best player, but I think it shows nicely the range of sounds that bass can make... It works, for me.

I get the general idea... but it's still not clear to me whether: 1) I can use it such that each footswitch is assigned to a single preset (I think it's called 'pedal mode' in some other controllers) and 2) if I can, and I select one preset... can I still use the knobs on the Aftershock for changes in real time? Not interested in saving those changes. All I really want is to move that tiny mini-switch to a footswitch form.

Actually... forget the 'red' or 'green' mode... as sometimes recalling full presets will be what I really want I guess what I'm really asking is... I don't want to use the Gecko (or whatever) to navigate around the presets available. I want to assign one preset to each footswitch, and I want 2-3 available to me. With the footswitch on the Aftershock itself as a ON/OFF button. Does the Gecko support operation like that? How many presets? 2? 3? Or is it strictly a "find the preset you want and select it"?

Yes, I know I can have 6 presets that way, however the 'red' mode seems to work as full presets, where each one has its own set of parameters (drive at 50 on preset "Tube", drive at 100 on "Heavy", etc...). I like the 'green' mode... where if I have the drive knob at, say, 50, with the switch on "Tube"... drive stays at 50 when I switch to "Heavy". I would like a footswitch to do what the mini-switch does on the 'green' mode... just allowing me to use my foot rather than bending over the pedal to do it with my hand. There must be something simple out there... ?

Hmm... I have no interest in getting into MIDI. I did it years ago with a big Behringer pedalboard and I haven't yet recovered from the experience. I use the Aftershock in 'green' mode, whatever it's called. The one where each position of the mini-switch selects one overdrive engine... and the position of the knobs represent the sound you're actually hearing. If I increase the drive, and move the miniswitch to another type of overdrive, then the gain has increased there too. I like that. What I'd really like is to have a *simple* way to select various overdrive types using a footswitch, rather than the mini-switch. I'm happy with a couple, but three would be ideal, using a pedal with dedicated foot-switches for each overdrive type, and where the position of the knobs on the pedal are represent what I hear. That Gecko pedal seems to allow me to navigate among presets, and perhaps each footswitch can be associated with a different overdrive... but will it operate as I describe? Not recalling a full preset, but taking the positions of the knobs as they are, in real time.

Well... I like tractors.

Oh! Tell me more!!! I would REALLY like it if I could have say another 2-3 foot switches in a compactish box that would allow me to select an extra 2-3 overdrives... It would actually even save me space on my board. For me it's not so much having access to MANY overdrives, but to have EASY access to 2-3 of them. Three ideally, that I can just switch between with the footswitch and tweak if required on the spot with the pedal's knobs. Is this gecko thingy the key to what I am asking? 😁

I almost put it up for sale... I'm impatient. But I really must play with the neuro app on this one and try the different drive engines available... then choose my fave three and ignore the rest. Even the knobs can be re-assigned to other parameters! I just realised that one of the available presets is called "Rage Bass". Guess what band I'm using all these overdrives with???

Having been playing with the SA Aftershock a bit tonight... what a great pedal that is! I must really explore it properly. I'm getting the feeling that those sounds I'm looking for in other random pedals... they're in there already.

Then the EB Cobalt Flats would be my choice, for sound (and smooth as they can be, since they're flats).

I got the soft case. The hard case is attractive but it added quite a lot and I want to keep it light, so I figured I'd try this first and explore hard cases in the future as I don't really need anything as solid as a full flightcase.

Done it a couple of times myself

I had one for a while, the neck-through model. It was very well made, and sounded great. It also looked a bit different, which was nice. However, I let it go after only a few months. Why? That thing weighed like the Moon, and the neck dive on it was really annoying. I would recommend trying before buying or staying away.

+1!!!

I tried the G3 using a 100mA output from my power supply: it does not work. The 250mA is sufficient, but the 100mA is useless. I then tried it with a separate supply capable of 700mA. I am not sure I hear a difference between that and the 250mA. I *think* it may be slightly louder... but it was hard to tell at 'home' volumes. Which means that 250-300mA is probably what the pedal requires for normal operation. The funny instructions that came with it suggested 350mA, and as usual you can go lower... but not much. If you plan to get one, bear in mind you'll need to have an appropriate supply for it. I have not tried it using AC or anything other than 9V (it's supposed to be happy up to 12V)

Well, a Cinque 5.2 is on its way now. Thank you for the nudge! I almost went for the 5.3 which is a bit bigger than my current one... but then I realised that the 5.2 is only a bit shorter than my current one, but a bit deeper, and with the power supply underneath, it has plenty of space, and the thing is just over 3 Kg. Result! I was very tempted by the patchbay too, but I'll wait until I get the board and see how I will best organise it, as I might not find it much of an improvement and I have better things to spend £50 on... but it's a very cool possibility. Thank you!

During periods that I am really busy playing I hardly ever buy anything... but then I hit a quiet time, and here come the new basses, FX pedals, and time spent looking at things I could buy to streamline this or that. I think it's a mechanism to compensate. Then when I buy things, and I'm stil in the quiet phase, I get a bit restless because I am not really using all that stuff and it seems like such a waste and I feel a bit silly for spending so much time (and money) on it all. It goes in cycles for me.

They're a lot more flexible, you'll see. Let us know what you think!

Hmm... I'm liking what I see, thank you! And that little optional patchbay thing could be quite handy too...

I'm using a couple of tiny ones mostly (a Pedal Train nano and a similar one slightly larger by Donner), which do the job well for a couple of pedals plus the wireless receiver. However, for one band I use a larger setup, and that has now become two bands and I find myself a lot busier taking the larger board with me everywhere... It's a Diago case, which is very solid and works very well... but that thing is heavy!!! With a bunch of pedals inside, some of them pretty heavy themselves, it's getting a little annoying at times when you're carrying things in both hands and need to open doors, climb stairs... As I'm about to reorganise my board, I thought I'd look into lighter suitable alternatives. One thing that is not good about the Diago case is that the power supply is on the surface with the pedals, taking precious space (Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2+) so I'd like something with space underneath to fit the power pack there and also have all the cabling routed from the bottom if possible. What's out there? Hopefully something that's not going to cost me £200!

I have a Mesa D800+, I love it, but the black knobs on black background is not great for visibility, and as there are 10 of them all in a row I would really like to improve visibility. Ideally I'd like some white/cream chicken-head style knobs, but I don't think they make them small enough: the knobs are too close together and the 'beaks' will interfere. I have looked online but I haven't found the right stuff. I found a nice alternative using this kind: But I'd much prefer a chicken head style, if available in the right size. Has anybody come across any suitable ones? The shaft is solid 6.3mm (made for a set screw fixing) and the 'beaks' should not protrude much more than 20-21mm. Any ideas?

Ernie Ball Cobalt flats are very smooth (of course, they're flats!) but they're a lot brighter than any other flats I've used. If you're looking for the smooth feel with no string finger noise, but without the classic duller sound of flats... try the Cobalt Flats. Alternatively... Labella White Nylon Tapewounds are very smooth, but they have the tape feel (plastic) which not everyone likes. They're very low tension, and have a very good sound, bright if you want it to be, with strong low mids and very nice tight bottom end that doesn't get boomy easily. These are my favourite 'smooth' strings now. They cover everything you'd normally play with rounds down to 'old school' tones if you roll off the treble. You won't get the very bright Marcus Miller and Wooten type of sound, but anything else... they're very good.