dannybuoy

I would blame autocorrect, but surely that would've auto corrected 'eaisy'.

First port of call would be to contact the manufacturer, you'd be surprised how many fix items for free even if it's over a year old!

Something to do with the power management that's designed to emulate power tube compression I reckon. It also has a Thumpinator-style high-pass filter built in which filters out the lowest of the lows. I turned it up pretty loud, thumped the low E and didn't feel that thump come back at me like I do with the Orange, like it was being held back. That was the 600 too, I expect the 900 to have a bit more welly behind it though!

I had a Streamliner and thought the low end was severely anaemic when compared to the heft of the Orange.

Wow, first time I've heard this amp described as too bright and not enough low end - mine sounds like the opposite! The EQ isn't much use, but don't be afraid to use the tone control on your bass!

[quote name='0175westwood29' timestamp='1448717848' post='2917622'] If nothing has been done wrong legally, then whats the problem? is the darkglass an original circuit design? no one complains about mooer or tone city. Andy [/quote] It's not a clone anyhow, it has 2 overdrive circuits running in parallel that you blend with the colour knob. Its quite amusing watching the fanboy reactions over on Talkbass. Spencer was a bit naive to not expect this kind of reaction after the same happened when he sold some old Darkglass prototypes, but I do feel sorry for him being on the receiving end of so much vitriol!

[quote name='Naetharu'] you play a bass upside down with all the strings in the wrong order... [/quote] That's actually not that uncommon. There are plenty of left handed players who learned to play upside down on unmodified right handed instruments.

So do rock bassists! I hardly ever play bass without one. The only pedal that will help you here is a volume pedal so you can turn the volume down with that to stop your amp distorting. But in all seriousness, what you're looking for is a more powerful amp and/or cabs.

From the 3Leaf thread over at TB: [QUOTE name='Spencer!']I'm honestly surprised at all the negative response and it's made me physically ill this morning so I'm gonna try my best to clear everything up. The reason for the new company is to try some different ideas with branding. I wanted a brand that's just for bass players without any ambiguity. I was also getting really burned out and I needed a new creative outlet. It has nothing to do with "keeping the 3Leaf Audio name out of the muck" as there is no threat of legal action here. I'm not infringing on any trademarks and I didn't break any contracts. I'll still be running the 3Leaf brand, and that will be focused on all the fun and weird stuff I've always made, while Pike will be more utilitarian products for bass. As to why the pedals look similar to the old USA-made DG pedals: Doug and I had a partnership and I designed those pedals. He came to me with the schematic for the audio section of the circuits, and I designed the bypass switching and did the physical designs. I also fronted the money for every production run and managed the entire production myself. I don't think most people realize how collaborative that partnership was...I wasn't just a hired gun if that was the impression that was given off. I won't get into the ending of that partnership other than to say that Darkglass stuck me with a few hundred enclosures that were already drilled for those pedals. I couldn't afford to just throw those away since I had already paid for them, so I had to come up with a design that would work in that box. I was originally thinking of making it a limited run just to get rid of the few hundred enclosures I had, but then Darkglass changed the look of their pedals to the point that my aesthetic design was no longer there, and it was a design I was really proud of so I wanted to 'reclaim' it so to speak. I obsess over the look and feel of the products I design and I didn't want to see my work die out with the end of that partnership. Regarding the circuit: I wouldn't have done any of this if I were just going to copy Darkglass. I don't think it's fair to my customers to release a product that doesn't bring anything new to the table. The Vulcan circuit is inspired by my knowledge of the Darkglass circuits but taken in a direction that I think makes them appealing in a totally different way. I worked with those circuits for years so I learned what makes them sound good, but I also found lots of ways to change it to make it work more to my taste. The big difference with the Vulcan circuit is that it's actually two entire overdrive circuits in parallel that get blended together to form the complete sound. It's a very complex circuit design...the Vulcan circuit has 117 components and the XL has 173. In practice it sounds a lot different than a B3K or something like that, so I hope you guys get the chance to try one for yourself before just assuming that it's a ripoff since it has a similar look. I've spent most of the last year fine-tuning and obsessing over every detail of these pedals and I'm really excited about the results. Sorry to be long-winded, but I needed to be thorough because all the speculation on here gave me an anxiety attack. It really wasn't my intent to ruffle any feathers. I'm currently putting the finishing touches on a series of onboard preamps with a really cool twist, and I think you guys will like them.[/QUOTE] I don't really have a problem after reading this. He basically came up with the visual design and still had a few hundred enclosures left, and the circuits are a new design. I wish him the best of luck!

The Vulcan XL looks a lot like the B7K, but the standard Vulcan is laid out like a Darkglass Vintage, not a B3K. Then again it would be weird to have 2 differently voiced pedals both called the Vulcan. Also the fact they can take 18v suggest they aren't straight clones. <confused face> Why has Spencer started a new company Pike instead of just making them 3Leaf pedals? Unless he wanted to piss off Doug without tarnishing the reputation of 3Leaf.

[quote name='GazWills' timestamp='1448552557' post='2916406'] same here - was trying to be subtle as I don't want customs to cotton on and this magic pedal buying option to disappear... usps priority shipping was only $18 as well! [/quote] There are several other 'magical' US stores, but Prymaxe have the cheapest shipping and almost always a discount!

[quote name='elephantgrey' timestamp='1448538237' post='2916222'] Be careful with buying from outside the EU, youre likely to get charged VAT+duty on them. This usually comes to about 1/4 of the items value (often after P&P). [/quote] Bought over a dozen pedals from this store, not been charged once. The Blueberry is on sale too, plus there is a discount code that applies to all non sale items.

That could change the recommendations somewhat, as some of the basses mentioned also have pretty tight string spacing (e.g. some Music Mans and Warwicks). 2 basses spring to mind for a wide spaced 5 string, the Squier Deluxe Active Jazz (none more black, very metal) and Warwick do wide neck versions of some of their basses, they are not that common but I have seen them crop up for sale second hand!

Is there anything you don't like about your current BTB? I've heard some pretty brutal tones coming from one of those when paired up with a Darkglass B3K / B7K.

I think he runs the OC-2 into the Mammoth into the Moog... Even though in my experience the Mammoth sounds quite thin unless connected directly to passive pickups. You want to use the same building blocks as a synthesiser basically, start off with your basic waveform (your bass), add octave(s) or other harmonies, then add filter and distortion. These basic units can be swapped around to run in different orders too. You don't need to use exactly the same pedals as him to get those effects either. E.g. a ZVEX Mastotron, COG or Aguilar octave, and Source Audio Manta would be able to pull those sounds off plus far more besides! He's JohnDavisNYC over on Talkbass, you could always ask him direct about anything specific!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8OYeN9mAL4

Was the Zoom on its own power supply or shared with other pedals? I've found the Zoom units (and many other digital pedals in fact) to be hissy/noisy when on a daisy chain with other pedals.

I noticed the same thing about the pots. Switched mine out for a 500K stacked pot and added a Darkglass Tone Capsule (with another stacked pot for hi/lo mids, and a push/pull active/passive switch on the bass knob). Overall output level is slightly better but still pretty low - wish the pre had an adjustable overall output volume trimmer like some do! I've been thinking of replacing the pups too, was going to check out the measurements of the various Delano humbuckers and see if any 5-string Thunderbird pickups would be suitable. It's a great bass otherwise, a total riff machine when played with a pick and some drive!

I wouldn't say any of those are 'necessary' except the tuner and some kind of drive pedal. Depends on what music you're playing though! You are missing envelope filter or wah though!

I don't think they support charging the device, but the physical knobs are a plus over the Sonic Port.

If you want cheap with lots of things to try, the Zoom B1on / B1xon are cheaper than the B3 and have more fx (at the expense of less gig-friendly operation though). And I'm selling a B1xon in the classifieds!

Delano Sonar Xpure - no eq, just a pure clean buffer with up to 20 dB of boost: [url]http://delano.de/products.html?&cHash=ff3fe888c0&tx_smtdelano_pi1[cat]=2&tx_smtdelano_pi1[series]=11&tx_smtdelano_pi1[strings]=6&tx_smtdelano_pi1[system]=123[/url] Or if you want EQ, look at Audere, Glockenklang, or the 'flat' versions of John East's preamps. Not sure if any of these can offer a clean boost like the Xpure though.

One standout feature of the J-Retro is that it can fit the battery under the control plate with no need to route a battery box. This is great if you want the ability to take your bass back to a stock passive setup at a later date. If that is an important feature, I'm not sure how many (if any) of the other pre's mentioned here can offer the same?

I've bought a few apps but don't have an interface yet - I've left it on purpose as the wife can never think of anything to get me for Christmas as I tend to just buy everything myself! I've been trying to decide between the following setups and am probably going with the Focusrite:[list] [*][b]Sonic Port [/b]- Cheap, good selection of I/O ports, but no gain control or physical volume controls and does not charge the device. [*][b]Sonic Port VX[/b] - Adds a mic that I won't use and charging capability. [*][b]Focusrite iTrack Dock[/b] - This has knobs for gain and line/headphone output level, charges the device, and is only £105 from Bax Shop. [*][b]iRig Pro Duo + Powerbridge pass through charger[/b] - This would give me the same plus Android/Mac/PC compatibility and a better form factor (no need to remove my iPad from the case, also would work with an iPhone), but it works out a lot more expensive. [*][b]Apogee One[/b] - Also expensive, paying for a mic I don't need, deceptively large, and I don't like it's flimsy looking breakout cable. [/list] One thing putting me off about the Sonic Port is a relatively small number of users complaining about headroom issues with hot basses due to there being no gain control. Anybody here ever found clipping an issue with theirs?