dannybuoy

The GK MB500 Fusion and TC RH750 are also worth a look as they are in a similar ballpark to the other amps mentioned.

The Precision was used on many so many classic recordings, but to cover the spectrum from Motown to punk you clearly need one with flats and another with rounds!

Thanks for that! Nicer slap sound from the modern one, but the Classic wins everywhere else! Much fatter and more mids, although I wonder if the standard could get closer by boosting the bass/mids and rolling off the treble?

I've been using EXL170-5TP 45-130 on my Yamaha BB1025X (and BB415 before that) for years - I'd love to see how these compare!

Talkbassers are wetting themselves over the Mesa, great reviews, looks like a solid choice. Not seen any reviews of the Magellan yet? A Darkglass amp is on the horizon too. The Tech21 VT500 is great value though, and the fact you can turn the blend all the way to clean to just have a transparent(ish) amp with EQ is a boon. I'm considering the VT myself, would love the Mesa but then again it is twice the price and difficult to get hold of at the moment!

If you happen to have an iPad or iPhone, you can get great apps and interfaces for those too that can totally replace a multi fx and always be upgradable!

Get the Source Audio Programmable EQ perhaps?

Yeah, a demo with fuzz in front would be great. The B7K makes every fuzz going into it sound amazing, the VMTD not as much, so it would be good to see where this sits!

There are tons of apps with effects and amp models too, check out Tonestack, JamUp, BIAS, AmpKit, and FluxFX!

Any of these pedals could be up to the task, it really depends on a bunch of factors - your bass, strings, amp, playing style, and what tones, modern or vintage, that you're trying to get. I have half a dozen overdrive pedals and each one is the best for a certain job with a certain bass! I only have the BB out of that list, it's very touch sensitive and expressive, a creamy drive with lots of lows. I prefer this one with a Precision or Yamaha BB played fingerstyle for example. I've never tried the MXR, but I wasn't bowled over by the clips. The Bass Soul Food looks like a great pedal for blending in some distorted midrange/treble with your clean signal, sound like it has great clarity. It's hard to tell if you'd prefer this or the BB, you're the only one that can really decide!

Check out the Ampeg SVT210AV also. They're ceramic but still stupidly light!

I assume you want a bright clangy sound for punk tunes, if so I would avoid the darker OD's like the Blueberry, Hookers Green and Beta, and check out the DHA VT1, VT Bass, or COG Knightfall! The EHX Soul Food and EHX Glove look like good options too, although I haven't tried them in person.

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