Dapper Bandit

Preamps in pedal form are either there to better get your signal to the PA (if you're going direct for example) or to offer you a different tonal palette to what your amp may be able to get on it's own. I'll play an active bass through a Rusty Box because the Rusty has the EQ points I am looking for in certain situations. I had a compressor once, it was years ago when I was playing fingerstyle in a fast metal band and I wanted / had read on TB that I needed a little compression to smooth out the less appealing parts of my technique at the time. It was good in that it kept things pretty even when I was transitioning from three finger galloping to tapped parts with less grace than I would have liked but I haven't used one since that band folded, part exchanged the compressor on a Whammy in fact. I think part of the pedalboard craze is that compression and preamps have been used all over recorded music since time immemorial and now people are able to get closer to that tone at home and on stage. As Al says, if you're really interested in dipping your toe, a second hand multi fx would be the way to go as you will get a decent sound for not a whole lot of money. I still remember my Zoom unit from way back when fondly, even if by today's standards it would be considered a horrendously overpriced dog!

Fraser bought a bass off me, a thoroughly easy transaction from start to finish. Deal with confidence!

Fraser bought a bass off me, a thoroughly easy transaction from start to finish. Deal with confidence!

I found that thinking about the music I actually want to make with my gear helped. Turns out I'm properly covered at this point in time and I don't need any more distortion pedals! When I'm not actively playing / writing then I end up buying gear as a way to prove I'm still "musically active" which is clearly bunkum but a trap i suspect a lot of us fall in to...

https://valhalladsp.com/2010/05/11/enolanois-shimmer-sound-how-it-is-made/ Bit of background on how shimmer works. A multi won't do the job as well as a dedicated effect but you can at least have a taste if you've already got a multi!

How much do you want to spend? You've got the Meris Mercury 7 that will give you shimmer, Eventide Space and Pitchfactor do it as well. Maybe one of the Korg multis? Shimmer is just reverb + blended octave up so anything that would allow you to stack those would give you the shimness.

I suppose all this raises the question of how much scope there is in overdrive? I would say that DG are certainly in the top tier of companies building bass-specific overdrive pedals, this much is obvious to anyone, surely. Doug is not cranking out rat clones with a couple of caps changed out. They are trying to offer something at every price point, no one is under any obligation to buy every model that comes out or to trade up although I daresay DG would not be averse to collectors! It would be extremely irritating if you'd saved up for an X7 only for an Ultra to be released shortly after, I would imagine, but it you're a dedicated follower then you would probably have seen it coming and held out accordingly. The sad thing is DG are releasing increasingly complicated pedals that are being used to hone in on one sound that you hear all over one particular genre.

It's like Nick and Juan at Pedals & Effects, everything they review is the best example ever. The Meros Enzo is the best symth pedal. But so is the Boss SY1 and the Pigtronix Mothership. They should really refer to them as demos rather than reviews, that way at least everyone would know where they stand.

The big pedal reviewers on Youtube have now hit that point where they're big enough to earn money doing something that was initially a passion project. Big names are sending them pedals for free and / or paying them to feature their product. I've been caught out a couple of times now by glowing reviews that completely gloss over any negatives and it is frustrating but I can also see the pressure a self-employed content creator would be under to keep the paying customers happy. It's a double edged sword, even more so when the pedals in question are often over the £200 mark.

But if you wanted the best generic metal tone then you've got to be willing to dig deep, otherwise you'll just be some sort of poser!

Well, yeah. I've got a Helix and it certainly covers my needs and the updates are free, not an extra investment of £300+ a pop. The flip side is that while the Helix can cop the B7K plus more, a DG pedal would fit in your hardcase. I suppose I'm basically saying "If I were Alex Webster then I can see the use of this pedal" but the vast majority of us are not. There is a market for these pedals, even if it appears to be a very small one for the professional metal bassist. The branding they have done is nothing short of excellent though, the earlier comparison to Apple really is spot on.

Now would be a fantastic time to dive into DG if you were looking to go ampless. The features of the X Ultra are super-tippity-top, certainly if you're using a lower tuning than standard. If I were in a modern metal band that played a lot of festivals / venues with proper PA support then this would potentially be my first port of call.

I'm sorry but you're entirely wrong there. Because that would mean doing something more with the Duality which certainly appears to be their least popular product.

Darkglass pedals have been getting more expensive over time, they were tipping into £300 territory a couple of years ago as I recall? They make a fantastic product but I couldn't own anything by them now as the latest game changing revision seems to only ever be 6 months away. EDIT: I say this in the full knowledge that my needs are different to the solutions the DG provide and that should not be considered to be to DG's detriment at all.

Some bands I would recommend: Clever rock music without disappearing up it's fundament Seeing Voivod on your list makes me comfortable suggesting these mentalists:

Bootsy Les Claypool Bill Laswell Bernard Edwards Jean-Yves "Blacky" Thériault

The real question there would be would this JEM design feature the monkey grip? If that has been copywritten (copywrited? copywrote?) by Ibanez then it would be liable for legal action. If we're talking about a superstrat with a floating trem and a thin neck then that boat has long set sail.

He bought a limited run Gibson once, took ages to come down and when it arrived the neck was so bad that when Gibson got it back they just destroyed it. They offered to replace it, while making a huge deal out of it because "limited run" having conveniently forgotten that it's not really making an extra guitar because you royally screwed the first one. Months later the replacement arrives broken because it hadn't been packed properly. No dice with Gibson at this point, they don't want to know. Money back and micturate off!

This is pretty much the best course of action. People want a decent Gibson at an affordable price, give them that! A friend of mine has spent a fair old chunk of cheddar on Gibsons, owns a Jimmy Page LP amongst others. His favourite guitar is a PRS because it plays well, sounds good and never needed to go back to the manufacturer / tech because of wonky QC...

Gibson are trying to protect their IP about 40 years too late, as has been said already. Legally if you don't use it, you lose it. They tried to go after PRS and failed. So now they have gone after Dean on similarly spurious grounds with the added bonus of threating Dean dealers with legal action as well. Fender are in exactly the same boat as Gibson, if not to a worse degree. How many world class luthiers are churning out "Super Rippers"? Not many posts on here or Talkbass about the latest 5k "Victory on Steroids". But Fender of late seem to be focusing on giving their customers what they want, which is a quality instrument that has the look they want, the playability they want and also the headstock they want. Gibson have still got another 20-30 years worth of customers to tap into, what with people who were teenagers in the late 80s - late 90s coming to an age where they may be more financially comfortable to buy the instrument they lusted after as a youth and the dyed in the wool Gibbo fans who still want to want a Gibson have still got some mileage left in them. When cheap Chinese counterfeits (the real problem in all this legal kerfuffle, not Sheldon's nod to an old classic that probably stems as much from his passion for classic car design as anything) and the second hand market are taking as huge a bite out of manufacturer's bottom line as it is, questionable lawsuits are probably not the way to go. Morally and ethically it's a bit more of a grey area, guitar designers have been stealing, borrowing, taking inspiration from and downright copying each other since the damn things were invented. Nobody is going to mistake a D-Bird for a Thunderbird because the D-Bird would be available in nice colours.