Akai Deep Impact... really?

[ficelles]

Ok so I just noticed an Akai SB-1 Deep Impact on fleabay with an asking price of £650. So I've never played through one or even knowingly heard one but I know they are well rated, but really? £650? *That* good? Someone tell me what it's all about...

ficelles

[LawrenceH]

[quote name='ficelles' timestamp='1323735547' post='1466502']
Ok so I just noticed an Akai SB-1 Deep Impact on fleabay with an asking price of £650. So I've never played through one or even knowingly heard one but I know they are well rated, but really? £650? *That* good? Someone tell me what it's all about...

ficelles
[/quote]

They are not...they're pretty good but for that price I'd buy a proper synthesiser!

[woodyratm]

Its a great sounding pedal. Its muse fans i think who push it up. Chris wolstenholme uses it often

[deej]

I had one for about a year and just didnt get on with it, found it quite cheesy sounding like 80's pop. I play different music these days so id quite like to try one out again, but no way would I ever pay these prices.

[thisnameistaken]

I don't like the sound of them either. Performance is good, not too many artefacts, but the sounds are a bit cheesy as deej says.

[xgsjx]

As Pete Academy would say, "Not worth more than £50".

[LawrenceH]

I've said it before but though the filters give quite a powerful funky sound, they sound very lo-fi compared to a proper synth (not in a good way) and the flexibility/editability is rubbish with a fair number of the oscillator configs being of very limited use. How good are the Roland bass guitar midi converters? Because if you linked one of them up even to something cheap like a minikorg then it would destroy the Deep Impact in every conceivable way!

[xgsjx]

My singer uses a Godin Synth access guitar into a Roland GK20 & then a Microkorg (or sometimes a Yamaha SY?) & gets some brilliant sounds.
I've considered going down the synth route a few times, but for now I want to see how I can manipulate the sound via pedals.

[BigBassBob]

I agree regarding the Deep Impact; I found while its tracking was decent enough all of the sounds I got out of it were pretty cheesy. I was pretty disappointed.

If I remember correctly I sold it on to Higgie

[woodyratm]

I used the gk pickup with a novation bass station.. Prefer the deep impact! The pedal tracks better than the synth did.

[phil.i.stein]

on their own, the SB-1 sounds are a tad cheesy.

blend them with fuzz, or feed them into other pedals and the results can be massive.

[GarethFlatlands]

[quote name='phil.i.stein' timestamp='1323795804' post='1467204']
on their own, the SB-1 sounds are a tad cheesy.

blend them with fuzz, or feed them into other pedals and the results can be massive.
[/quote]

I'm sure they reward tweaking, but £650 would get you a decent 2nd hand synth. Plus you can learn to play basic keys which is always useful.

[thisnameistaken]

I bought a bass with a GK-3B pickup on it earlier this year and gave it a fair go with the GR20 floor unit. Tracking was much better than I expected but I just didn't dig using midi, even though it opened up a ton of new sounds.