dannybuoy

My favorite OD into the VT Bass when I had one was the Xotic Bass BB Preamp.

Also, don't want to insult your intelligence, but worth mentioning just in case! Since it has 3 sockets, make sure you're actually plugged into the input on the right!

Tried it with a power supply?

Personally I wouldn't want to use a Zoom B1on on the road. Not because it wouldn't survive, but from an ease-of-use perspective. It's a great unit for learning about effects and home practice, but it's quite fiddly and would frustrate me in a live scenario!

Every bassist needs (IMHO) at least a light overdrive pedal and a tuner on their board! A good cheap tuner is the Korg Pitchblack. Overdrives - there's the EHX Bass Soul Food, EHX Glove, Digitech Hardwire CM-2... tons more options if your budget is higher. Filters are one of the most fun effects to play, but you might not have much use for them depending on what music you play. I've tried tons and my favourite is the old EHX Mini-QTron that you can pick up pretty cheap used if you're lucky. Depends what other effects you fancy! If you've never tried chorus, flanger, phaser, octave, delay, reverb, filter, etc, get a cheap multi fx like the Zoom B1on (that comes with a tuner, looper, drum machine, 100 FX and is also a headphone practice unit with aux input) to see what you're into.

[quote name='Guinness21' timestamp='1452021492' post='2945659'] What's not to love? It's now got the versatility of the b7k with the addition of the switches and extra mids controls, and is obviously a warm/vintage sounding pedal. [/quote] True, but it's not the be-all and end-all of overdrive pedals. It has a very coloured baked in tone that doesn't suit all players and setups. I have a selection of basses and overdrive pedals and they don't all sound good with each other - the only bass of mine I liked with the Vintage Deluxe was my Precision with rounds. I still felt it was a bit too dull in the upper mids though, so I sold it to make way for the new one! I had a B7K too, which frankly sounded awful on every bass I own except for an active Warwick Streamer 5 with dual humbuckers. It sounded amazing with that bass, proper grindy djenty stuff, but I downgraded to the B3K which happened to sound even better. I really didn't need my signal going through 2 separate EQ sections I guess!

Doug did let on though that they'd analysed the original studio recording projects (made before Darkglass were even around) that were done with a combination of amps and plugins in order to replicate that sound using one pedal: http://youtu.be/Cjvtx3HMUks

There's an Ultra version of the Vintage planned for April release too.

[quote name='ratman' timestamp='1451775794' post='2943414'] The Crayon and Colour Box both look like cracking pedals. [/quote] The JHS Crayon is based on the JHS Colour Box but the EHX Crayon is totally different and just happens to share the name, just to confuse us all! Then to add to the confusion, EHX inexplicably offer it with two different graphics?! https://reverb.com/blog/introducing-the-jhs-the-crayon-dot-dot-dot-and-the-ehx-crayon

Probably the old EHX Mini Q-Tron I picked up - I've tried a ton of filters and it's still my favourite! Runners up are all dirt pedals: - Prunes & Custard - so responsive and fun to play - B3K - had one and ditched one a while back but it sounds killer with this active Streamer I have - Agro - sounds amazing with the BB1025X

YES

A lot of bass players don't like overdrive because they've only ever tried pedals like the Boss ODB-3 (and I assume the Behringer is probably similar) which is a horrible sounding distortion. I love mine though, but I only use it when I want to sound horrible!

[quote name='Cameronj279' timestamp='1451569516' post='2941606'] The angle of the pickups here mean that when using the low B string a lot sometimes you'll get a bit of a dent in your thumb from anchoring it on the pickup. I can't really complain too much keeping in mind the bas was designed for a pick player. I also hate pickguards on basses. The NG-2 is the only bass where I can stomach the pickguard. Saying that, I intend to -money permitting- add a third pickup and get rid of the pickguard. [/quote] I would get a little triangular wedge made to fit in that gap and give you a thumb rest that's perpendicular to the strings!

[quote name='cocco' timestamp='1451561242' post='2941504'] Neckdive on every jazz bass I've ever played while sitting down. Drives me up the wall. [/quote] I have just run into this one too. No problem with my P, BB, or Sandberg Basic, but the Jazz I acquired recently just gave me pain in my right hand from having to constantly support the body with it!

[quote name='thodrik' timestamp='1451682113' post='2942499'] No information on the ultra on the Darkglass site. I'm guessing that it is still in the prototype stage. [/quote] There are a series of new product announcements coming in January. The new Vintage Deluxe has been officially announced and should be in stores this month, the new B7K ultra and the yet to be seen amp should be announced very soon. I assume it's well past the prototype stage and Thomann have just listed it early (intentionally or not, I'm not sure!)

[quote name='danbowskill' timestamp='1451680264' post='2942462'] That ultra is lush .........shuder to think how much it will be mind? [/quote] £40 more than the standard version, looks well worth the upgrade! https://m.thomann.de/gb/darkglass_microtubes_b7k_ultra.htm

Coming soon!

The bloke might have had a point - if you're not playing into a cranked tube amp then having a bit of mild grit from an overdrive pedal is just what you want in a classic rock band IMHO - I rarely turn mine off!

I have a humble Warwick Rockbass Streamer Std 5 that's a great bass apart from the electronics - 1.6K pickups mated to 25K pots means the output level is woeful. Yet boosted with a preamp and fed into a Darkglass B3K it's such a riff monster that I can play it for hours constantly inventing new riffs and it inspires me like no other bass I own!

So, has nobody taken it upon themselves to buy one from Bass Direct as a Christmas present to themselves? I might pick one up but I've just got a Line6 Sonic Port and am too busy exploring all the possibilities of the iOS modeling apps!

[quote name='JakobT' timestamp='1450574640' post='2934055'] Bad points: a little heavy [/quote] Not all of them, mine was so light that I suspected it was made out of balsa wood!

He's been dropping some not so subtle hints on the TB thread, head over there!

[quote name='Clarky72' timestamp='1451169393' post='2938681'] [url="https://www.facebook.com/Jeffreyjohnrouse/posts/10205050556934906:1"]https://www.facebook...5050556934906:1[/url] Quick demo here.... [/quote] Reminds me of the grindy tone Geezer got on the last Sabbath album!

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1450801319' post='2936013'] I've been looking at pre-amp pedals and asked Marcus at Bass Direct to compare the two. He thought when set flat the Pike Vulcan XL to be more aggressive over the B7K also the gain to be a more modern sound. So not the same pedal IHO [/quote] I would have thought the opposite, the Vulcan sounds less aggressive than the B7K and more comparable to the Vintage from the demos I've heard. Interested to try one out but Darkglass have a new range of stuff being unveiled in January including an updated Vintage Deluxe with the 4 band EQ and toggles from the B7K as well as an amp!