Marmite Pedals ...

[Fionn]

I know that all things are open to our subjectivity, but, in this particular instance, I want to talk about effect pedals.

When considering a particular product, a broad range of opinion isn't always granted. Some pedals win the approval of all (or most, at least). Some are wholly reviled by the masses. There are those which aren't really noticed ... But there are also pedals which definitely split the camp down the middle. Pedals which are loved by some, hated by others, and leave few sitting on the fence.

What are these pedals?

Do you use one?

Does it bug you that everyone, except you, is clearly lacking some part of their brain because they can't hear how amazing the Boss ODB-3 sounds???!!!

Answers on a postcard, please ...

[Kev]

The ODB-3 is a great example. A lot of people just don't know how to get the best from it! With the gain all the way down and the blend to taste, bass boosted and highs cut, you get a great bass overdrive tone, without a trace of harsh buzzyness. I thought it was awful at first, but then I realised how to get the best from it!

Another one that springs to mind is the MXR Bass envelope filter: gets a lot of love on here, I couldn't stand the thing. Every setting had this horrible auto wah trail-off sound, the kind you get on cheap digital multieffect pedals. Clearly I am in the minority on this one!

Edited June 26, 2016 by Kev

[Fionn]

Ha! Agreed, regarding the ODB-3. Such a thick and gnarly sounding pedal when dialed in nicely. I love it, and feel that it's a worthy bit of kit, which seems completely contrary to most of the opinion I've read here (Talkbass too).

Thanks, Kev. I though I was maybe having a hallucination about that one, hahaha!

Any other lovers / haters of the ODB-3 here?

[dannybuoy]

I love the ODB-3 when used at high gain, and into a cab without a tweeter (or through a cab sim). Nothing quite like it. Those that buy it thinking it's an overdrive like the label says are the ones that usually hate it!

Other pedals I've tried and hated yet get a lot of love from others:

- Fairfield Barbershop
- Mountainking Megalith
- EHX Bass Soul Food
- Joyo Ultimate Drive
- Ashdown James Lomenzo Hyperdrive
- 3Leaf Wonderlove

[chrismuzz]

Sansamp Bass Driver! I love mine, but it gets a lot of stick for being a "generic rock sound" and that mid scoop.

[EBS_freak]

Have to admit, I fit into the "I love the MXR envelope filter" camp.

Talking of filers - Frostwave Funkaduck. Always seemed to get great reviews and love by many. I just couldn't get on with the thing - most wild.

MXR Compressor - again, meant to be amazing. It did nothing for me.

Trace Elliot Dual band compressor - again, as above.

Mark Bass Supersynth - can everybody but me get this to track nicely? Or perhaps I'm expecting too much from the tracking speed.

[ratman]

I've owned (and quickly moved on) a few pedals that are loved by many, just not by me though. ODB3 & Bad Monkey, at least they were cheap and I didn't expect too much. The pedal that dissappointed me the most recently was the Darkglass VMT. With my set, up it sucked. Shame really as with all the hype and love going around about it I thought it'd be amazing. I moved it on pretty quickly.

[bakerster135]

[quote name='ratman' timestamp='1467023079' post='3080463']
The pedal that dissappointed me the most recently was the Darkglass VMT. With my set, up it sucked. Shame really as with all the hype and love going around about it I thought it'd be amazing. I moved it on pretty quickly.
[/quote]

Definitely the Darkglass B3/7K and VMT. Don't think I've seen opinion divided quite as much for any other pedal-maker recently. Seems to be either die-hard fans or total haters, and nothing inbetween...I, for one, am firmly in the latter camp! ;-)

[Kev]

[quote name='bakerster135' timestamp='1467025356' post='3080509']
Definitely the Darkglass B3/7K and VMT. Don't think I've seen opinion divided quite as much for any other pedal-maker recently. Seems to be either die-hard fans or total haters, and nothing inbetween...I, for one, am firmly in the latter camp! ;-)
[/quote]

I wouldn't agree that the B7K and VMTD and the Ultra variants are love or hate pedals, they are just too flexible for anyone to not find anything to like about them. Even with the blend all the way anticlockwise you are left with a very musical clean preamp! I suggest anyone saying the B7K is too harsh or the VMTD to middy has not spent enough time with either of them.

The B3K and VMT, yeah perhaps more so The B3K has certainly got a tone you can't get away from without external EQ'ing. For anyone who doesn't check out this section often, I f***ing love it

[GarethFlatlands]

Tube Screamer - Weak drive and a mid hump I couldn't dial out. EQ didn't seem to do a whole lot either. I assume it works in a band setting or for bluesy stuff but I didn't get on with it as I don't play that kind of stuff. Had a Bad Monkey for a while and kind of liked it on bass but sold it for something a bit more dirty.

[dave_bass5]

I agree about the VMT, but not the VMTD.
Having owned both I can't find a bad word to say about the VMTD, but I do need to be careful with my VMT.

[Fionn]

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1467014580' post='3080362']
Have to admit, I fit into the "I love the MXR envelope filter" camp.

Talking of filers - Frostwave Funkaduck. Always seemed to get great reviews and love by many. I just couldn't get on with the thing - most wild.

MXR Compressor - again, meant to be amazing. It did nothing for me.

Trace Elliot Dual band compressor - again, as above.

Mark Bass Supersynth - can everybody but me get this to track nicely? Or perhaps I'm expecting too much from the tracking speed.
[/quote]

I'm familiar with all but one of those pedals. I love the MXR Bass Envelope Filter, dynamic w***sville, that thing. Great Compressor too, straight-up gets the job done. I had the Trace dual band Compressor before the MXR. I loved it, and was a fan of the distinct colour it lended to things. No quibbles with its performance. I just wanted something that took up a significantly lesser fraction of pedalboard space. I bought a Super Synth only last week. The answer is in the software. Tweeking gives ... I'm a fan of all that shizzle.

[KingBollock]

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1467011824' post='3080340']
I love the ODB-3 when used at high gain, and into a cab without a tweeter (or through a cab sim). Nothing quite like it. Those that buy it thinking it's an overdrive like the label says are the ones that usually hate it!

Other pedals I've tried and hated yet get a lot of love from others:

- Fairfield Barbershop
- Mountainking Megalith
- EHX Bass Soul Food
- Joyo Ultimate Drive
- Ashdown James Lomenzo Hyperdrive
- 3Leaf Wonderlove
[/quote]
The Ashdown Hyperdrive is the most disappointing pedal I have ever bought. I kept thinking that I'd eventually figure out how to dial a sound I liked into it, but I just ended up not using it at all. And it takes up an awful lot of room for nothing.

They were still being raved about at the time. But then, as soon as I got mine, there's been barely a peep since. I feel like I was conned!

Edited June 28, 2016 by KingBollock

[AttitudeCastle]

Maybe not so "marmite" but I'm not a fan of sansamp-y things. Have recorded with more than one engineer in the past who would only do bass direct through a sansamp. Not a fan of the baked in Ampeg sound. Used plenty of Ampeg gear I've liked, but just not so much for me, especially hit hard. Not my thing!

Love the ODB-3 though, I have one, but would actually like a couple more. Feels kind of OD on roids ish, if you try the Boss OD3 on bass you'll see the similarity. The active EQ relationship to the opamps is the thing with the boss pedals. Some of may favourite tones are ODB 3 though! The Metal Zone is (IMHO) a great design/template, just the parts produce a not so good result, that said I still like the thing as I'm strange... (I did start a wanted for "cheap and nasty" so yeah...)

[Tuco]

Freqbox

I loved it, then hated it , loved it again and then took it off my board at the weekend

Wanted so much to make it work for me by throwing eq's and compressors before it to smooth it out but I never quite got it right

[Dapper Bandit]

I had a Robot Factory Meatwad that I couldn't get on with at all and also foolishly sold a Chunk Systems 00funk along with an Aguilar Agro.

Not bad pedals at all but they just weren't a good fit for me at the time. Would really like to get them back in actually.

Edited June 28, 2016 by Dapper Bandit

[Osiris]

[font=Arial][size=4][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]I found the EBS Multicomp to be completely underwhelming despite the glowing reputation it seems to have.[/font][/size][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=4][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]I'm a big fan of compression, especially subtle compression, as well as mulit-band compression. (Just thought I'd throw that in there to clarify that I'm not one of those guys who doesn't 'get' compressors ) So on paper, the Multicomp should have been perfect for what I like.[/font][/size][/size][/font]

[font=Arial][size=4][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]But no matter what I did with it, I just couldn't get anything from it, it was too subtle at every setting and made no perceivable difference either when the bass was on its own or with the rest of the band. Nothing. [/font][/size][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=4][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]And also annoying are the internal trim pots to adjust the individual high on low compression thresholds (I think that's what they were for) even tweaking those to each extreme yielded no results. Not to mention the fact that if you wanted to tweak them mid gig it's pretty much not an option - unless the rest of the band are [i]really[/i] understanding. [/font][/size][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=4][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]No matter what I did with it, it was though the pedal was not in my signal path. [/font][/size][/size][/font]

[font=Arial][size=4][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]And the tube sim mode, while it did add a little something to the tone, it was definitely a [i]little[/i] something. I found myself switching it in and out and trying to spot the difference. You'd certainly never notice it in a band situation.[/font][/size][/size][/font]

[font=Arial][size=4][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Not for me, that one. [/font][/size][/size][/font]

Edited July 1, 2016 by Osiris

[Thunderbird]

Hartke bass attack bought one and loved a few of the settings but I was a bit underwhelmed with it as the demos looked most awesome dont get me wrong it is a good pedal but I think there are many other pedals that work better for me and also a plus they are not as big as the Hartke but oddly I do miss it at times

[Lozz196]

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1467013680' post='3080350']
Sansamp Bass Driver! I love mine, but it gets a lot of stick for being a "generic rock sound" and that mid scoop.
[/quote]

Same here Chris. The famed mid-scoop - well I also scoop the mids on my amp as well in conjunction with the Bass Driver, yet I can still be heard fine.

[Roland Rock]

[quote name='Osiris' timestamp='1467386839' post='3083363']
[font=Arial][size=4][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]I found the EBS Multicomp to be completely underwhelming despite the glowing reputation it seems to have.[/font][/size][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=4][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]I'm a big fan of compression, especially subtle compression, as well as mulit-band compression. (Just thought I'd throw that in there to clarify that I'm not one of those guys who doesn't 'get' compressors ) So on paper, the Multicomp should have been perfect for what I like.[/font][/size][/size][/font]

[font=Arial][size=4][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]But no matter what I did with it, I just couldn't get anything from it, it was too subtle at every setting and made no perceivable difference either when the bass was on its own or with the rest of the band. Nothing. [/font][/size][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=4][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]And also annoying are the internal trim pots to adjust the individual high on low compression thresholds (I think that's what they were for) even tweaking those to each extreme yielded no results. Not to mention the fact that if you wanted to tweak them mid gig it's pretty much not an option - unless the rest of the band are [i]really[/i] understanding. [/font][/size][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=4][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]No matter what I did with it, it was though the pedal was not in my signal path. [/font][/size][/size][/font]

[font=Arial][size=4][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]And the tube sim mode, while it did add a little something to the tone, it was definitely a [i]little[/i] something. I found myself switching it in and out and trying to spot the difference. You'd certainly never notice it in a band situation.[/font][/size][/size][/font]

[font=Arial][size=4][size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Not for me, that one. [/font][/size][/size][/font]
[/quote]

Exactly the same for me - then I sold it on and the guy loved it!
Much happier with my Fairfield Accountant

[chrismuzz]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1467473684' post='3083973']
Same here Chris. The famed mid-scoop - well I also scoop the mids on my amp as well in conjunction with the Bass Driver, yet I can still be heard fine.
[/quote]

Sound check Friday night, the sound engineer said to me "I didn't have to touch your bass tone on my desk, it's perfect!"

[NancyJohnson]

I have a board with a few drive pedals (Sansamp BDDI/VTBdi/GT2, plus a Boss ODB3).

My marmite stuff:
EHX Black Finger Compressor (distinctly underwhelmed, couldn't hear any difference whatever I did)
EBS Octabass (didn't really track fast enough and wasn't happy with any of my five strings)

[BruceBass3901]

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1467069200' post='3081033']
The Ashdown Hyperdrive is the most disappointing pedal I have ever bought. I kept thinking that I'd eventually figure out how to dial a sound I liked into it, but I just ended up not using it at all. And it takes up an awful lot of room for nothing.

They were still being raved about at the time. But then, as soon as I got mine, there's been barely a peep since. I feel like I was conned!
[/quote]

I was disappointed with the Lorenzo Hyperdrive when I first got it, so flipped it pretty quickly. Not long after, Ashdown posted a video with James Lorenzo showing how he dials it in, which really opened my eyes to the possibilities. I got another one soon after and have found it great to get a mid-focused distortion that really cuts through

[EliasMooseblaster]

[quote name='GarethFlatlands' timestamp='1467045903' post='3080760']
Tube Screamer - Weak drive and a mid hump I couldn't dial out. EQ didn't seem to do a whole lot either. I assume it works in a band setting or for bluesy stuff but I didn't get on with it as I don't play that kind of stuff. Had a Bad Monkey for a while and kind of liked it on bass but sold it for something a bit more dirty.
[/quote]

On the other hand, that mid hump was the main motivation for me buying one! But then I bought it as a pedal for soloing - if you're looking for big fat fuzzy basslines, I agree it's not so hot, but if you need the bass to sing clearly over the top of your guitarist and drummer, I found it was just the ticket. Nicely responsive to dynamics as well.

[Fionn]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Everyone seems to love the MXR Phase 90. [/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I borrowed one from a guitard, last week. It was the block-text (the preferred text) version.[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I wasn't a fan. I was digging the full low-end, but, whenever engaged, the effect was accompanied by a subtle, yet distinct, overdrive. Nice effect in its own right, but I prefer a phaser that sticks to phasing. Maybe my experience wasn't typical ... or was it?[/font][/color]

Edited July 4, 2016 by Fionn