SumOne

Electro Harmonix Switchblade Pro https://www.ehx.com/products/switchblade-pro/ Lots is possible with this £100 pedal. I've done an old fashioned written review rather than video but I think this is a pedal where you can get away with that as it doesn't produce sounds of it's own as such - it opens up possibilities for how you order and blend your clean signal and pedals and that means lots of potential for new sounds (depending on your selection of other pedals of course). Features: Change order of pedals in series e.g. Chorus before fuzz - click a switch to have or chorus after fuzz. And can also add mix of clean dry signal. Place pedals in series or parallel e.g. envelope filter running series into distortion - switch to have envelope filter and distortion playing in parallel, can also add mix of clean dry signal - it's like having three instruments playing at once. (can also potentially mix signals from three instruments together and control the volume of each and run them into one amp, or could route one instrument output into two separate amps.) Volume/mix: Mix clean signal with pedals, and/or mix pedals in Loop A with Loop B e.g. add clean to a fuzz that doesn't have a clean blend. Or just use it for volume control e.g. some pedals like chorus and phasers don't have volume controls - can adjust that and mix with clean signal. Can also just boost clean signal upto 6dB of clean gain. Loop switching: Can have multiple pedals in both loops engaged/disengaged with one click of a footswitch - no frantically trying to engage/disengage multiple pedals quickly for a few bars of a tune that need more than one pedal turned on/off at the same time. Bypass pedals when they're not in use - reducing tone suck from certain pedals and lots of cables. (And it seems transparent- no noticeable changes to tone). Well built, grips onto cables like a vice, soft switching, comes with power supply, reasonably priced. Alternatives: Bright Onion Dual Reverse looper: Simpler and cheaper and works well but doesn't have as many features- just 2x loops on/off and their reverse order, I have bought the Switchblade Pro as it's upgrade. Old blood noise signal blender: Doesn't have as many features, only parallel, no order switching and I found the clean channel coloured the sound. Helix FX: I didn't find adjusting the 2x external FX loops to be intuitive or good to do one-the-go (you have to go into menus and signal path re-ordering and save different presets for the different loop orders and adjust parallel/series/volumes etc. then you'd need to know what that preset represents and have one for each eventuality such as loop A in parallel with loop B and 25% dry blend etc....not very hands on or intuitive for quick changes or being able to see in live settings). Boss LS2: Doesn't have as many features or the signal re-ordering, and, I haven't tried these pedals but as far as I know the Boss ES 5 & 8 can do the loop re-ordering (not sure about control over volume for clean and each loop though) but they're big and expensive and need menu diving and saving presets for all of the potential eventualities so doesn't seem as hands on and interactive or quickly visually obvious about what's going on as with the Switchblade Pro. Issues: Potential for switching confusion: The Switchblade Pro can do a lot so it can get confusing - this could be trouble in a live setting if you don't know the pedal switching controls and and how your loops interact (e.g. In series mode is green/red light above the A/B switch representing loop A or loop B first, and which volume controls each loop? Why is the dry signal still being mixed with pedals in Loop A when dry control is set at at zero? (that was because it was set to parallel mode with A+B switch engaged but with no Loop B pedals active - this is a useful instant footswitch control of clean blend on/off, but something to look out for when that's not what you're after)).....with great opportunities comes great responsibility! There are opportunities for mucking up your sound with a mis-placed footswitch click or parallel/series toggle in the wrong position if you aren't careful. I've added stickers to make things it a bit more obvious. More variety of lights could reduce potential for confusion: A few different LED colours would be helpful when quickly glancing down - rather than what it is with 3x red with one that turns to green depending on the order of A/B being selected, perhaps the bypass as a different two colour LED that also indicates if it's on as series/parallel, or perhaps lights under each volume control when that loop is activated. Or at a minimum just something that more obviously links the green/red of A/B to their corresponding volume controls like I've done with stickers or the old blood noise signal blender does with it's graphics. And I'll be getting out the tipex or for the volume controls - the thin dull white lines aren't obvious enough. Perhaps it could do with phase switches for certain pedal combinations - I haven't ran into any issues though. Overall: 9/10. Only loses a mark because it could be confusing if you don't learn it's various ways of switching and how they interact with the many potential various pedal combinations in your loops - there are lots of potential combinations (which is a good thing) so you need to know how to control them and what works and what doesn't. Perhaps some small design changes could reduce the potential for confusion. It's a bit of a game changer if you spend time to learn how everything works and interacts with your pedal combinations - it opens up lots of new sound options. Highly recommended.

That's a lot of Freezing and looping! I like the tipex on the EHX pedals move - I've done the same in the past and will do the same on the switchblade pro I just got (or I'll keep raiding my kids stickers collection!), always seems a bit of a design flaw to create pedal controls with tiny dull thin lines on them that are difficult to see from at least 6 foot away in a dark venue.

I'd recommend all this lot.

If a picture says a thousand words then it's probably equally (if not more) true using words to communicate a tone. The easiest way I could describe the tones I try for are to reference things people have heard: Robbie Shakespeare (Sly & Robbie), sometimes Bernard Edwards (Chic), sometimes Al Sisneros (Sleep)....all very different, but all heavy, solid tones.

I needed a new heel for my shoe, so, I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. Give me five bees for a quarter, you'd say. Now where were we? Oh yeah: the important thing was I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones.

^^^ The current doubler works fine by going 2x male plugs into 2x female sockets of a multiple output power pack - then going into one male plug into the pedal that needed high current (or in reverse to power 2x pedals with half the current).

I haven't tried the synth9 but the C4 always gets recommended. I had a C4 for a while and it covers synth sounds really well with great tracking but I wasn't keen on the hardware controls, feels like they squeezed excellent software into the standard source audio one series box - which works fine for things like their chorus/phaser/flanger/distortion pedals but synth needs more hardware control. People often get additional controllers to solve some of that, but it puts the total price above £350. Not that I have any better suggestions though, I didn't like the tracking or most sounds of the SYB 5, and I wasn't keen on the synth sounds on the Helix so I've concluded I'll leave the synth stuff to keyboard synthesizers for the time being, or get as close as I can with octave/eq/filter/distortion.

Nice one.

Love Burning spear, especially the more dubby stuff— only needs a few words from one of the most soulful voices in reggae.

☀️

Yeah, there are 2 way ones cheap, I've just bought one for £2.99. I was just trying to be tight and reverse-use the current doubler I've already got though as I assume (but aren't sure) it's basically the same thing.

I'm fairly sure this is a stupid question: I've got a current doubler (combines 2x 9v pedal power supply outputs go into 1x with same voltage but double current ) I now need the opposite: 1x power supply output split into 2x low current pedal outputs. I assume I just use the cable in reverse with no dramas (it's going from a single 9v 500ma current output so is more current than both pedals need). But is there anything potentially wrong with this, like will it also be halfing the voltage to each output? I've already tried it and seems to work fine, not too sure of the voltage thing though and if it could cause damage giving lower than needed voltage? https://www.andertons.co.uk/t-rex-current-doubler-green-cable-55cm-currentdoubler?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=surfaces&gclid=CjwKCAjwpKCDBhBPEiwAFgBzj5qCGrK48b9bWw3KoHlamjcyQwLKgye9sJkT5LyzorMCLJ9Mo65xyBoCOXIQAvD_BwE

Considering the lyrics, this feels like how this should be sung

The DV247 thing is odd. They make it look like a UK website with a Romford store and £ prices and only when the order is made does it show the package is coming from Germany, but my order was £200 (as stated on the website) and didn't arrive needing any additional charges.

Nice review, it's a great value pedal. I was getting a bit obsessed with getting 'the' fuzz pedal last year....my conclusion was the SF300 isn't that different to pedals that cost nearly 10x as much and I probably shouldn't have bothered obsessing over it so much because an audience can't hear much difference in a band setting. Also, even in Stoner and Doom type band settings where it seems like the Bass needs a load of fuzz, in-fact more of a solid low Bass tone blended in and complimenting fuzzy guitar riffs often works better for a heavy wall of sound without treading on each other's fuzzy frequencies. In-case anyone is interested, these were my observations of the ones I got through. Lots comes down to personal taste about how 'good' fuzz sounds though so take it with a pinch of salt. Behringer SF300 (£22) Great value, a bit too harsh sounding for my taste though. Loses Bass and definition (can crank up the Bass though - it has Bass and Treble controls which is more than some fuzz pedals nearly 10x the cost). Also works as a boost. EHX Bass Big Muff (£70) Liked it but changed for deluxe to get clean blend and filters. EHX Big Muff deluxe (£105) Good, but lost note definition when got to the tone I wanted, or sounded a bit like 2 instruments when blending in clean. EHX Green Russian (£75) More of a solid, dark, in your face and synthy tone than the MXR Brown acid, doesn’t cut through mix of full band as well as the Brown Acid though. Seemed to work best when allowing it more space (e.g. just alongside drums- not up against drums and guitars and vocals). Using this with an LS2 for some clean blend I think could work really well. Fuzzrocious Grey Stache (£140) Quite versatile: 'Tone' changes the fuzz tone (as opposed to the Brown Acid where it seems to just add/remove the Bass) and it has mid control. Seems to lose some Bass though. I prefer the Brown Acid tone, but the Grey Stache is very close sound and is more versatile. MXR Brown Acid (£140) Winner! More guitar sounding than Green Russian, more complex tone- almost like there’s some chorus and mild filter going on, cuts through mix better. Bass and definition gets through at lower settings. It’s not very versatile- tone shaping is quite limited as fuzz tone basically stays the same and ‘tone’ is amount of Bass so needs to stay low. A bit one trick pony- but a great trick. Source Audio Aftershock (£150) Very versatile and good sounds but testing A/B with the EHX Big muff deluxe I had at the time I couldn't get it to sound quite as 'full' and couldn't get the crossover filter sounds or have all the on-hand controls and visual reference for things like the noise gate. Spent far too long tweaking it on phone/laptop which is a good and bad thing but kind of left me feeling a bit cold to it. Also wasn't keen on the small toggle to go between sounds so at the time thought I'd be best off with separate pedals - the EHX and a Mojo Mojo for similar cost. Catalinbread Giygas (£180) Tone similar to the Grey Stache but more angry sounding and more Bass. It’s the most versatile- Has the mid control of the Grey Stache but also an additional good EQ tone control (internal switchable so it suits Bass better), also has clean blend and low fuzz settings do a good milder distortion. I had problems with 100% wet signal going way louder than unity even with the ‘loud’ (volume) control set at zero and the fuzz tone didn’t quite do it for me- that’s a personal thing though, the MXR just sounded better to me.

You might be limiting your audience but I'd be keen to see reviews of some of the more boutique pedals (and not brand new ones) that don't already have comparison videos. If there are already 20 videos for something popular like the EHX Big Muff then there isn't really a need for another one, plus those pedals are relatively easy to buy/try/return online or try in shops so I don't need video reviews so much. There aren't many videos for something like the COG Tarkin though which is more tricky to try out - and what videos there are don't tend to have A/B comparisons with similar pedals so is difficult to really know how it'll sound. Likewise DHA pedals and I'm sure loads others but they are just two I've bought lately and hadn't been able to find many useful video reviews of.

I lumped compressors, switchers/line selectors, EQ, Preamp/DI into the 'boring' list of pedals so either didn't get good ones or didn't get them at all. I've since realised that was a mistake and I now spend a lot more time working with them, compression done well is really useful for almost any type of Bass playing whereas I'm starting to find things like envelope filters/delays/synth/fuzz/octavers etc. are a bit of a novelty that make practice more interesting but more often then not aren't really necessary for a Bass player in a band situation.

What I find lacking in most distortion pedals is mid control - which is where I want most of the distortion control...perhaps it's just me but generally I just want to pretty much keep the clean Bass and treble frequencies (I don' like distortion that loses low end frequencies/articulation or adds Treble 'clank'), the main part of distortion I want control over is the mids. That's the big thing I like about the DHA VT1 EQ - it has sweepable mids (as well as treble and bass EQ) and you can set the gain to just about the point where it starts to go into mid frequency overdrive/distortion when you dig in. Then for Fuzz I really like the MXR Brown Acid, which also retains the Bass frequencies and doesn't add Treble clank. I am looking for a something that sits between those two.....have tried a lot (Sansamp, EBS, Darkglass, Bearfoot, COG, EHX, TC electronic, Catalinbread) but haven't quite found the one yet and I think it might either take spending a lot to get something with good mid control- like the two notes Le Bass or Darkglass Vintage microtubes deluxe, or perhaps to team a cheaper distortion pedal up with something like the MXR thump or EWS Bass Mid Control.

Bought a COG Knightfall 66 from Sean on Tuesday evening, it arrived on Thursday morning - quick work! Thanks.

Yeah, I like taking things apart, I'll give it a go at the weekend

I'm not sure about that - the manual doesn't say anything about it.

The R500H arrived very quickly from DV247, slight concern that although their website all looks UK based and there's a Romford store the tracking showed the parcel coming from Germany- so thought I could be stung with customs + VAT but that didn't happen. First impressions are that you'd find it hard to find another new Amp Head for £202 with all the features: 500w @ 4 Ohm (it powers a 300w 8 Ohm 112 Cab about as far as I'd want to push it) 4.1kg Compressor (seems to work quite well- unobtrusive) FX loop Tuner out Speakon connector DI (pre only) 10 band EQ, footswitchable ( they do themselves a bit of a dis-service in the product photos, the three highest are actually 4.2Khz, 7.5KHz, 12Khz which I think are better than the product photos that show 3, 5, 8). Aux in Headphone out Downsides being it can get a bit hissy at high gain and volume (that might not all be down to the Amp though), the DI could do with being pre and post EQ (solvable by putting a DI pedal in the Post EQ FX loop), and it's just clean amplification- doesn't add overdrive (fine with me as I have spent a long time getting the pedals I want for that).

^^^^ Yeah, gives it life. First scratch was a worry but now it's had a few I'm not precious about it anymore. I don't expect to sell it, think I'd regret it if I did.

Nice one. Yeah, it's my favourite Bass I've owned - sounds good and is fun to play. I've quickly got used to the lightness so I expect any other Basses will feel like a lead weight to me now. Only downside I've found is the that it's very easy to scratch and dent, I like the worn in look though so not really an issue for me but if I ever come to sell it it'll be looking a bit knackered!