dannybuoy

If you’re going into the VT Bass anyway, you don’t necessarily need another Ampeg style drive, just one that works well as a dirty boost going into it. Something with plenty of mids to counteract that mid scoop the VT has from lowering the character control below noon. I’ve not tried the Zvex but I’ve always liked the demos. The SFT is modelled after an Ampeg SB12 and sounds rather different to the classic scooped SVT grind, it’s a lot more mid heavy. It did sound good going into the VT though, and there is one lurking in the classifieds! If you’re looking to blend it though you’ll need a new blender as it inverts phase, something the LS-2 is not equipped to deal with. I didn’t like the tone of the Scrambler myself, but I never tried it going into a VT. Plenty of mids and a clean blend though, it could work well. I was always a fan of the BB Preamp into the VT myself! Particularly if you’re a fingerstyle player, tubescreamer based pedals are very expressive / reactive to how aggressive you play.

Different class of effect if you ask me, so choosing only one is like choosing between two very different sounds. The POG is great for octave up fake guitar solos, the OC-2 is great as a fat octave down or standalone synth sound.

Nice work! I have a Mooer Tender Octaver which is essentially a tiny MicroPOG clone, I love playing fake guitar through it. If you want to go FULL fat though, get the HOG2 with the additional preset and expression pedals. You can have a preset that adds a 5th up, use the filter as a wah, drone a background note or chord, all kinds of crazy stuff!

I too found it unintuitive compared to Cakewalk Sonar. I managed to find my way around Sonar without having to read the manual for most things, but I struggled to do some pretty basic stuff in Reaper without diving into the documentation.

I've never understood the point of those power out sockets though, as you could just as easily put the daisy chain on the power supply before it goes into the pedal. The power out sockets are often limited in output too, I think my Korg Pitchblack one was like 100mA and I blew the output on it!

Ignore the manuals when they tell you to use their own brand adapter, as Boss do. Get a 1-Spot or any other 9V supply with a decent current output and a daisy chain... Or for a little more you can get a unit with switchable voltages and isolated outputs, both of which will be important if you find yourself expanding to a much bigger board as you go deeper down the fx rabbit hole! https://www.musicstore.de/en_GB/GBP/Fame-DC8/art-GIT0038973-000

Trujillo wins, and Joe Dart is not on the list? Pfft.

Page 15: https://www.zoom-na.com/sites/default/files/products/downloads/pdfs/E_MS-60B_FX-list_v2.pdf

Good shout for Virtual DJ, I've seen it before but never thought to use it for bass practice. I've been using Riffstation lately, as well as slowing down and looping sections it analyses the chords for you. Doesn't get them bang on, but is useful when you get sent an MP3 of original material to learn with no charts or tab!

It has a decent compressor on it, no need to take out a mortgage to get a Cali 76 CB.

Zoom MS-60B has a bitcrusher I think? You'll get plenty of other uses out of it too.

I had faith in them too until I did an actual scientific experiment!

I might put together a mini board of pure top jack pedals just because. Agro, Tonehammer, Cali76 CB, Octabvre Mini, JoshWah. Snug as a bug! Oh and I thoroughly disendorse (if that's a word) EBS patch cables. In my bedroom at least they act like an antennae for interference when I have my dimmer switch on at night and add a very noticeable amount of noise, I'd imagine dodgy electrics and lighting at many venues would produce the same effect. Tested by simply putting various patch cables in a true bypass loop into a headphone amp. I moved to isolated power to try and solve my noise issues only to find my old daisy chain was fine and it was just those cables. There you go Al, I just anti-plugged something I'm going to be selling, if anyone wants some barely used EBS patch cables?

http://bfy.tw/Fagm

HGBM only £69 delivered here, bit of a bargain: https://www.scan.co.uk/products/one-control-bjf-series-fx-hookers-green-bassmachine-bass-preamp-pedal-true-bypass-aluminium-enclosur

Oh yeah I forgot about the HGBM, that's an option too! I only plug things I'm about to sell if they are genuinely what somebody might be looking for though! Whether it's better than a HGBM would be purely down to taste, like arguing which flavour of ice cream is best (chocolate btw). Gonna end up selling loads of my pedals as they just end up all over my floor and I spend more time fiddling with them than actually learning how to play the bass better!

Looked it up - seems to be an OCD clone like the Joyo Ultimate Drive, and is said to lose a bit of low end. The Mooer Cruncher was mentioned in my travels as well, where one person A/B'd it with the Hustle and took the Cruncher home. Also the ENO Trouble appears to be the same pedal as the Hustle: https://uk.dhgate.com/product/eno-micro-guitar-effect-pedal-dso-2-trouble/161040366.html

If you're limiting yourself to nano pedals you don't have many options, one of the best out there is the Cog Mini 66. Keep an eye on the FS section, wink wink nudge nudge. FWIW I far prefer pedals with top jacks to nano pedals, as they take up about the same amount of space overall depending on your board layout and other pedals - so that might widen the net a bit!

If you don't mind an oversized pedal that runs at 15V, go for it. Both of those would be deal breakers for me though. It might not sound any better than your more compact 9V Boss pedal either. Reviews are thin on the ground as not many people ended up buying these Eden pedals for the above reasons!

I don't know if the CoPilot Orbit is actually a bitcrusher, or just a bitcrusher-esque fuzz, but John Davis uses/used one of those too. There are some version out there without the switch that can't do the same 303 laser sounds though, as I was disappointed to find when I bought one second time around. Looks like the latest version on their site has 6 knobs, replacing the switch with a dry volume control, although a google image search did turn up one with 6 knobs AND the switch, so I'd get in touch with them if interested in buying one.

Analog bitcrushers? Are they a thing?

It sounds more tube like than the Vulcan, it doesn't have the blend but I can put it in a Mosquite Blender if I wish. It sounds similar to the 2 Notes but with less EQ/blend options, and there is a built in treble roll off which means it sounds nicer in headphones than the Two Notes without it's speaker sim (and I don't like the speaker sim on it as it's too muddy). But ultimately it just makes you want to close your eyes and play blues guitar solos on the bass as it's so touch sensitive. Great for Black Sabbath stuff. Reminds me of what the Ashdown CTM15 I had sounded like when cranked! Admittedly this is all in the bedroom though, I tend to change my opinion on pedals in a band context, but since my band has disintegrated it sounds good for now!

It just sounds good! Was getting very similar tones out of the Two Notes, Vulcan and Agro but the Agro just had a bit more character, like a crunchy guitar amp. I'll probably be shedding a bunch of pedals soon but I keep changing my mind about which I like best!

Plugged in my Orange Terror Bass today to mess about with some drive pedals and have changed my answer. If I could only have one overdrive pedal it would be...

Both of these issues are now fixed by the way. No idea if it was something done at your end or just me rebooting my iPad, but all is well now!