blue Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 (edited) Posting here because I thought the topic would get more response then in the Effects forum. For those who embrace and use effects pedals. Ok, I guess some of them are ok. Maybe some of the professionally produced ones from the manufacturer, however even many of those are questionable. I think it's a tough call, because we all have something in our head on how we want to use and apply these effects and under a variety of circumstances and environments. Some of these demos are done by newbies that don't appear to have ever left the bedroom and have serious problems with diction and enunciation. The audio quality on some is so poor you really can't tell the difference in any of the settings they demo, they all sound the same, awful. And it's always one guy using a bass and an amp in a music store or bedroom, very few live demos playing with a band. I think maybe some of the rig run downs by pros might be more informative. What do you guys think? Blue Edited May 9, 2015 by blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skankdelvar Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 (edited) Andy from Pro-Guitar Shop when he was doing it. End of. Ever since Burgerman took over it's been a mushy pentatonic distortion fest. Actually - sorry - that's guitar effects. I don't think I've ever watched a bass fx vid except the Cbread SFT, on the basis of which I bought one and was savagely disappointed with its - er - 'widely respected' guitar tone. Edited May 9, 2015 by skankdelvar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted May 9, 2015 Author Share Posted May 9, 2015 (edited) [quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1431138360' post='2768212'] Andy from Pro-Guitar Shop when he was doing it. End of. Ever since Burgerman took over it's been a mushy pentatonic distortion fest. Actually - sorry - that's guitar effects. I don't think I've ever watched a bass fx vid except the Cbread SFT, on the basis of which I bought one and was savagely disappointed with its - er - 'widely respected' guitar tone. [/quote] Interesting comment regarding the SVT. I purchased one New back in 1973 after my first decent paying job out of high school. Best amp I ever owned. However I would never lug that refrigerated sized 8/10s cab around at this stage in the game for me. I understand Ampeg actually developed all that SVT tube stuff for the Stones when they started playing arenas and stadiums and most of what was previously available didn't have the power they needed. Blue BTW, you haven't missed much in the bass effects demo world. Edited May 9, 2015 by blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 Looked at some over the last year as I have dabbled with effects for the first time. I just wish these guys would demo the pedal, i.e. go through the features, and not use it as an opportunity to show off their chops. MXR's own demos are good for this, EHX allow users to post, which can be pretty hit and miss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toneknob Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 There's a guy here on basschat who posted some great demos of (probably among others) the Sonuus Wahoo, which were instrumental (sorry) in me getting one of the same. So there are good ones out there, but as you say some are awful. Thumbs-up to TC Electronic as another manufacturer to provide good non-nonsense pro demos of their pedals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 I'm always suprised that manufacturers don't utilise You Tube more. The handheld unboxing stuff I find somewhat compelling and unwatchable in equal measure. On the subject of rig rundown stuff, I find the Premier Guitar very entertaining but pretty uninformative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameltoe Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 Dear god I hate unboxing videos. I mean what, literally, is the point? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 [quote name='blue' timestamp='1431139646' post='2768214'] Interesting comment regarding the SVT. [/quote] It wasn't the SVT he was talking about, Blue, it was a Catalinbread pedal called the SFT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cameronj279 Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 Effect demos are great to give you a vague idea of the general sound of a pedal I find. Saying that, they will always sound slightly different when you're playing it with your bass/rig/playing style but you can always get an idea of wether it's worth trying or not. A pet hate about these videos is people using them to show off how fast they can slap or when we never get to hear the clean tone of the bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlungerModerno Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 [quote name='cameltoe' timestamp='1431175033' post='2768496'] Dear god I hate unboxing videos. I mean what, literally, is the point? [/quote] +1 - I don't mind people making them, as long as they put unboxing in the title. If you call it a demo - don't talk for 2 minutes, unbox for 3, and play for 1 - 40+ seconds of which is slap! If you make a video you can do what you like. I think youtube is as good as the videos on it - OK at the best of times, as audio quality is usually less than reliable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Riva Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 Some of the Bobby Vega/MXR ones are good. That said, Bobby Vega could probably make an elastic band in a shoebox sound good.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0175westwood29 Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 (edited) As one of those ppl who make videos, i have to agree the quality of some videos is awful bad camera bad lighting and pretty awful sound. im trying to improve my sound and video quality all the time! but there are alot of people who are happy to put out low quality videos which dnt do any good as i cant tell what the hell is going on. i started because there were no or very few videos of some of the pedals that i want to try, so i make the videos so that others can hear. but also the reason i demo on my own is cause to get a whole band to jam and get good audio ideally need a day in the studio really andy Edited May 9, 2015 by 0175westwood29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted May 9, 2015 Author Share Posted May 9, 2015 [quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1431180106' post='2768540'] It wasn't the SVT he was talking about, Blue, it was a Catalinbread pedal called the SFT. [/quote] Ouch! guess I missed that. However it's still a good Stones story. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthurhenry Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 Why do people film demos in front of their unmade beds and piles of dirty washing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Admiral Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 Usually interesting, but there are so many variables : the quality of the playing, the bass, the amp, the mic, the soundcard, the recording medium, the video audio quality, the soundcard, the speakers etc. I've seen cheap guitar pedals made to sound incredible by very good players at music show stands, which does kind of bear out the fact that the technique is a huge part of the sound - and that they have taken time to learn how to get the best from them, which I think a lot of people don't. Mate of mine plays a cheap Squier tele through a Marshall Bluesbreaker (£40?) and a Roland Mini Cube, and recorded it sounds like Jimmy Page - he's a cracking player, but a skint one, and necessity has been the mother of invention. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancient Mariner Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Like Skank, I normally watch guitar effects videos, and I've found there are a bunch of demonstrators that do a great job. It's just really helpful to give an idea of whether the pedal might be worth a punt and cuts down on the amount of disappointments one can have using mail order. Just occasionally the only review will be of useless quality, but there's enough good stuff now for that to be rare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Online demos are good to give you an idea of what the pedal does, but unless you're using your rig for the audio, you're not gonna get an accurate representation of the sound. My old rig never has the oomph in the videos that it had in the real world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted May 12, 2015 Author Share Posted May 12, 2015 Other considerations or variables are the fact that single coil PUs hit those pedals differently than humbuckers. For all I know tubes vs solid state might come into play as well. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteb Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 The MXR bass pedal videos are not too bad and give you a good idea of what the pedal sounds like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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