dannybuoy

Just bought a pedal from Daryl, met up in town and nice easy transaction. Cheers!

The low gain drive sounds are almost identical between the Mojomojo and Spark, just the Mojomojo is way fatter and darker (boost in the lows and low mids, treble and high mids rolled off), the Spark has more clarity (i.e. top end) and transparency (i.e. it's pretty flat with the EQ at noon on 'clean' mode, a mode which still has plenty of drive on tap btw!).

Don't forget that was recorded run into the VT Bass which will be affecting things somewhat. Fizz to me is content above 5kHz, which the Sansamp products in general all filter out. It does have plenty of 'clank' though, which is more 1.5kHz!

Lucky you, one of the first to get one over here I expect! No crossover in this one as far as I can gather - the clean channel has a ‘deep EQ’ applied which I expect means a bass boost and treble cut, plus you can cut the lows going into the drive side with the tight switch. So almost the same thing. The mid EQ is pre-drive, so acts a bit like the character knob in the VT too! It is designed to be heard direct, seeing as it’s a replica of Geddy’s rack preamp that he uses direct to the PA, so it will have the usual Sansamp speaker emulation. I don’t think this one is particularly scooped or fizzy from what I’ve heard. Lots of midrange presence, and a speaker sim to tame the fizz. Looking forward to getting one myself!

For rock/metal, I want dirt focused on the upper midrange blended with clean lows. The dirt is really there to accentuate string growl when digging in. That's where the DP3X shines! Forclassic rock, blues, Motown, etc, I want the lows distorted, with zero blending. When I dig in here with ancient flatwounds, there's no appreciable string growl, but there is an increase in volume and low end, and I want a fart sound on the peak of the note. Two very different sounds! I could get Helix Native to cover the first case nicely, but didn't have as much luck copping my Tonehammer or Mojomojo with it. As for the Grizzly, I found that to just give me harsh clipping rather then a pleasing squelch when digging in, it just didn't give me the response I was looking for.

I find my BB1025 sounds nothing like my Fender P though. I'd reach for the P every time for this music. Not sure how much of that is down to the strings vs the pickup, probably 50/50! Spark Boost just arrived btw, and just gave it a quick 2 minutes. The clipping sounds extremely similar to the Mojomojo, just brighter and not as fat, more transparent. I like em both!

Yes you can, Dave was referring to fact you can't stomp the AGS switch without boosting volume. You either leave it on or off permanently. On if you know what's good for you!

It still has two channels - on and off! With the EQ flat, the AGS rolls off the top end and the deepest sub lows, leaving you with plenty of usable low end and mids. You can be very extreme with the mid scoop if you boost the treble, since the treble control still affects your upper mids. It does tend to lose a bit of low end at high drive settings, but this is not what the pedal is really for, I treat it more like an amp sim.

I set my amp up clean and played Tonehammer vs Mojomojo for a bit last night. Struggled to pick a winner, so for £40 it’s a bargain! I’d say I prefer the Tonehammer sound in headphones but the Mojomojo through the amp at this stage. Oh and forget about treating the AGS like a 2nd channel, it has too much volume boost. They should have made it a toggle switch or added a 2nd master volume control for AGS mode! The Tonehammer is way more versatile though, you can get scooped growly rock tones from it, whereas the Mojomojo is more of a one trick pony.

Not long!

I like the Darkglass Vintage, I have the Ultra version. But it's not a great choice for this sound. The Vintage is great at layering some extra thick midrange on top of your original sound. It needs the clean blend as there's not much low end in the distorted channel. It doesn't make that bouncy rubber band sound if you know what I mean. I'd go for a tubey drive that has no blend but plenty lows without one. Another option is an alternative amp. The Orange Terror Bass for example can be picked up used for not much over £300 and will give you that sound plugged straight in!

I love the Motown sound, and have gone through a fair whack of pedals trying to get it. The Aguilar Tonehammer is the holy grail for Motown tones as far as I'm concerned. It has that bouncy rubber band effect on the peak of the note just right, and still sounds rich/tubey/3D/whatever you want to call it. It has battled everything else out there that generally gets recommended and come out way on top. Plus it works via phantom power if you're the type to just grab a DI box for the gig rather than a powered pedalboard! Here's a little clip I did recorded direct ages ago (P with TI flats, tone up full, which should have been rolled off some in hindsight!): https://1drv.ms/u/s!ApKsVfvGwYkOiqV6Q61pUu3yvWelVg The TC Mojomojo, One Control Sonic Silver Peg, Bearfoot Blueberry, Catalinbread SFT, VT Bass, and SolidGoldFX Beta all do a good job too (and roughly in that order too, the TC is well worth a bash). I wasn't a fan of the Grizzly at all for Motown, I had high hopes but it was bottom of the list for me. I also had an EBS Valvedrive in the dark and distant past, but I was chasing angry punk tones at the time (which I couldn't get from it) so would have to try it again before passing judgement!

Get a Pedaltrain Volto, or a generic USB power bank with a 5-9V converter tip. I plan on building up a mini board with either of these options, sod using batteries (which means I have to disconnect the pedals when not in use and keep multiple batteries charged) or restricting myself to pedals with a battery compartment!

The middle position is THE setting as far as I'm concerned, especially when drive is involved. I've never been able to get a solo jazz bridge pickup to sound good in my hands, even though I've heard others pull it off!

Make sure you get the full size one, the mini one is a clean boost only! I just ordered one from Guitar Guitar too, since they're on sale.

Yes, the BB is a lot brighter than the Mojomojo. The drive is a bit fuzzier, creamier, and has more sustain. It may work well for you!

Is that a VT Bass at the end there? 🧐

I used drop D even on my 5 string when it calls for it. Some tracks just call for that low open string rather than a B string at the 3rd fret. Partly because it doesn't sound the same (although I imagine if I had a fanned fret Dingwall that might negate that), but also some riffs in D are pretty tricky to play if you're constantly having to reach back to that low D. Due to this I also thought I'd make the move from a 5 to a 4 in my last band. That is, until I found a couple of tracks that really benefited from those lower notes, then there was no going back!

Lower gauges are often better for heavier music, your can coax a bit more growl out of the strings.

They did bring out new gold versions, but not sure if they have any metal shielding at the jack plug end (the first gen were pure plastic, which may be the root of the problem). Completely silent headphone practice with the dimmers on since making the switch though. Just putting one EBS flatty in a true bypass loop was proof enough for me.

They are lower profile and more flexible for sure. But I found out why my board was so noisy and it was those damn cables, they’re very poorly shielded. If you have a dimmer switch on in the room, just adding one of those to the chain picks up the buzz like an antenna!

The Digitech Whammy sounds great for dropping a couple of semitones. Barely any latency and sounds realistic. Weirdly though, it has 2 modes, and for this purpose at least, the classic mode sounds better that the new polyphonic mode. They also have a pedal named The Drop dedicated to this task, I’ve not tried it but I imagine it would use their fancy new polyphonic algorithm from the newer Whammy. If you just need drop D for a few tunes though, I’d either retune or get a Hipshot Xtender key.