Low gain OD for flatwounds, fretless and rock

[Osiris]

[quote name='JimBobTTD' timestamp='1491238427' post='3271482']
Hmm...not my cup of tea in the Premier Guitar demo ([url="https://youtu.be/YzkCtlcffw0"]https://youtu.be/YzkCtlcffw0[/url]) but other demos are out there.

For me, much like Japhet, it is not the basic tone of my amp that I dislike, it is just that I want a little extra. I found the GK 500MB Fusion to be a great amp for a warm clean, but I could not push it to a (what I felt to be) musical overdrive. Also, I use a different amp in rehearsals and I have not had the luxury of using my own amp at a gig for quite some time, going straight to the desk and using the house amp for a bit of monitoring. So I was after a good overdrive that would work with my amp (valves in the preamp), a fully solidstate amp and for DI.

Thanks for reminding me about the ToneHammer. I shall edit my post above with links to demos of it when I get a bit more time. The one with Norm Stockton was [i]incredibly[/i] brief but he produced a great sound.

For the record, I have found a Blueberry and ordered it. I was a bit unsure at first when listening to demos of it, but when it was at its best, it was better than anything else, I felt. More info when it gets here and gets used.
[/quote]

The Genzler sounds much better to me in the flesh that it does in the Premier guitar video, but as we all know, what something sounds like on YouTube doesn't often bear any resemblance to what it sounds like when we use one in the real world.

I thought I was happy with the sound of my old amp too, but there was something special about the Genzler drive channel that made me buy it. None of the YouTube clips do it justice. Musical is a great way to describe it.

But anyway, it sounds like a pedal is definitely what you need, not another amp!

I'd love to hear what you think of the Blueberry once you have put it through its paces. dannybuoy clearly rates it highly and it was one of the few on my shortlist that I wasn't able to track down to try out. If it's not for you, I'd definitely see what the Tone Hammer pedal has to offer.

Edited April 6, 2017 by Osiris

[Rumple]

[quote name='krispn' timestamp='1491304065' post='3271925']
It plays rather nice too. You can set the low gain channel to respond very well to playing dynamics. Once I get back home I'm gonna put rounds on my p bass and hear what it does. Good things I'd imagine.
[/quote]

I've just picked one up from the For Sale section on here, it arrives today
Out of interest do you run yours at 24v?

Sorry for slightly hijacking the OP's thread.

[JimBobTTD]

No probs. The thread is about low-gain pedals, but I would say that a low-gain channel on an amp falls under the same category. Besides, a discussion thread is a discussion thread!

I shall report in great depth about the Blueberry.

[dannybuoy]

Interested to hear what you think of it. I love how it never bottoms out no matter how hard you dig in, it just gives you more growl. However it is too dark sounding for some, you might want a bit more clarity if trying to bring out the mwah on a fretless.

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1490603564' post='3266214']
Xotic BB Preamp - like a bass friendly tubescreamer, very touch sensitive and can go from clean to heavy drive by plucking strength alone. Come to think of it, this is what I used when playing fretless in a rock band due to expressiveness and is worth a look.
[/quote]

Still keep an eye out for a BB Preamp though! Just had another go on mine just for the hell of it, love how touch sensitive it is and its buzzy quality really helps to accentuate that mwah.

Edited April 5, 2017 by dannybuoy

[krispn]

[quote name='Rumple' timestamp='1491390972' post='3272611']


I've just picked one up from the For Sale section on here, it arrives today
Out of interest do you run yours at 24v?

Sorry for slightly hijacking the OP's thread.
[/quote]

Mine runs at 24v internally from a 9v supply plus it's a limited edition so has the gain toggle switch on a dedicated foot switch. I think I can adjust the high gain output on an internal trimmer too.

In another quirk the pedal was 'missed' from the Peach Guitars order list so once the original owner was told that they 'forgot to build his pedal' the guys at Hudson basically asked him to 'custom design' his pedal so he went for an all black case with the silver skirted knobs. My Broadcast looks more like the Overdrive 999 but with the Broadcast innards. I've not had much time with this pedal as I was off on holiday two days after getting it but will be giving it plenty of abuse upon my return. First thing will be adding rounds to the p bass to hear the differences.

I can say I think it's gonna be an always on pedal for me. I'd be keen to hear your views too. Maybe we need a new thread for this little box of magic?

Edited April 9, 2017 by krispn

[TomRandles97]

Way Huge Pork Loin is a good soft clipping overdrive. I use it with two of my basses (one with flats, one with rounds) and it performs equally well, though differently, with each. I personally don't use any effects with flats except overdrive occasionally. Adds a bit more warmth while subtly bringing out some overtones. 'Beefs' up the tone when necessary

[JimBobTTD]

OK. I have now received the Blueberry BOD from Bearfoot. I have had a quick fiddle with different levels and settings.

Fretless Jazz with flats > BBBOD > MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe > MXR Bass Preamp (using its DI) > Mixer > Headphones. On the BBBOD: Volume between 10 and 11 o'clock, Nature at 2 o'clock, Drive at 10 o'clock. Chorus and Preamp on the settings that were there before (there are five knobs and two buttons on the chorus and six knobs and two buttons on the preamp, so I'll skip the details).

Pretty much the sound in my head...exactly what I wanted. Unbelievable. A quick look at the videos earlier in the thread tells me that I have the volume a bit higher but the other settings the same as the one with the geezer at 25 seconds - the bit which Dannybuoy suggested might be a good sound. The sound is chunkier and "more", which is what I was after. There is a bit of hair on it, especially on the higher notes, but this is probably due to the chorus which, with the crossover, mainly affects the higher notes. I would think that the hair would disappear in the mix, leaving the glorious chunky bass bits intact.

My P-bass is in the office, so I cannot give it a go with that.

Initial impressions are that the Blue Berry BOD is amazing. [i][b]Believe the hype! [/b][/i]

I also pulled out my EMG-equipped, roundwounds, neck-through bass I used to use for metal. At the same settings, the sound is far more brutal than without. This pedal is magical. [i][b]Believe the hype! x 2 [/b][/i]

Thanks to all for tips, especially Dannybuoy. I hope that the research I did and all the YouTube clips come in handy for someone else later.

[Osiris]

Great review JimBob!
Even after the recent purchase of the Genzler Magellan amp to get this kind of tone, your review above has still got me hankering to give the Blueberry a try out at sometime. Just need to try and find one in stock somewhere in the UK....

Edited April 19, 2017 by Osiris

[The59Sound]

Where is the best place to pick up a Blueberry (Bearfoot version) ?

[dannybuoy]

No UK dealers that I'm aware of:

http://www.bearfootfx.com/dealers/

Best bet is Prymaxe in the US with one of their 20% discount codes they run from time to time (sign up to their newsletter). Also they have an online chat where you tell them what you want and they will just dish you out a discount code for it! Bought loads from them and never had to pay fees either.

[Osiris]

[url="http://www.joespedals.com/cgi-bin/sh000011.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ejoespedals%2ecom%2f&WD=blueberry&PN=Bearfoot_FX_BlueBerry_Bass_Overdrive%2ehtml%23a1715#a1715"]Joe's pedals[/url] have them on their site, but appear to have been out of stock in the several months that I've been looking.

[JimBobTTD]

A little update:

I am still extraordinarily happy with the Bear Foot Blue Berry bass overdrive. I leave it on all the time. Volume set to 12 o'clock, Drive set to 11 o'clock and the Nature set to twelve o'clock. The Nature knob is a bit odd in that it seems not to do much for the first 80% and then makes the tone a bit mushy towards the last part.

I also picked up a Darkglass Vintage Deluxe for heavier distortion, as it was available and I was curious, but I am not overly sure it offers what I want. The Darkglass does low gain well but not as well as the BBBOD, I feel. The BBBOD into the Vintage Deluxe sounds good but not great, I feel. The Vintage Deluxe on its own sounds good, but the BBBOD has become an always-on for me.

Anyway, to summarise: the BBBOD is excellent in every way and it will be with me for a very long time if not forever, having made a place for itself in my sound. I would gladly accept any tips from anyone who has tried a second distortion pedal for heavier sounds (think Ace of Spades and upwards) that plays well with it.

[dannybuoy]

Will you still be using flats and fretless for Ace of Spades then?

If you like the Blueberry flavour, one pedal that has a similar vibe but is way more agressive is the Aguilar Agro. A little light on the low end for some though, I wouldn't say it has low end loss but it can definitely sound thin if boosting the presence too much.

Other recommendations would be a Two Notes Le Bass, Tech21 VT or Oxford, or the Joyo Orange Juice which looks like a right little bargain.

I would recommend trying a fuzz too, my favourite has to be the FEA Photon. It can cover the whole spectrum from mild grit/OD to full on fuzz, has blend and EQ too.

[JimBobTTD]

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1493905680' post='3291710']
Will you still be using flats and fretless for Ace of Spades then?

If you like the Blueberry flavour, one pedal that has a similar vibe but is way more agressive is the Aguilar Agro. A little light on the low end for some though, I wouldn't say it has low end loss but it can definitely sound thin if boosting the presence too much.

Other recommendations would be a Two Notes Le Bass, Tech21 VT or Oxford, or the Joyo Orange Juice which looks like a right little bargain.

I would recommend trying a fuzz too, my favourite has to be the FEA Photon. It can cover the whole spectrum from mild grit/OD to full on fuzz, has blend and EQ too.
[/quote]

Thanks for the tips! Yes, still flats and fretless.

[Osiris]

I picked up clone of the Blueberry last week from the classifieds section on this site. I've not played through the real thing so I have no idea how close it sounds to the original. But it does sound really good in its own right. It's the only drive pedal that I've really been impressed with other than the Tone Hammer - and I picked the clone up for less than one tenth of a new TH! Even if it's only half as good as the original (not sure how you'd quantify that exactly, but hopefully you know what I mean?) then the praise for the Blueberry is entirely justified.

I've not got any other dedicated drive pedals to stack with it but I have got some great results running a pre-amp model from my Zoom B3 into it to act as a booster to get a touch more gain. I can't remember which model it is of the top of my head but it's the one with a semi parametric mid range, the icon for which looks a little bit like the Tone hammer pedal, although it's purely a clean pre-amp with no inherent drive of its own. I also dialled in a push of the upper mids at 1.2 kHz to add a bit of clarity when using it with my dark sounding passive Sandberg. Backing off the volume of the Blueberry allows me to use the booster to push the saturation from the pedal without a significant volume increase. Other than a bit more more gain and the eq change, using the booster also retains the fundamental blueberry flavour. My guess is that stacking it with another drive pedal would make a more noticeable change to the overall sound. Could something similar be an option rather than another drive pedal?

Not had a chance to try the Blueberry clone through the Genzler yet, I'll need to wait for the elderly neighbours to go out for a while before firing it up in the house. But though my little 30 watt, 1 x 10 practice amp, with and without the B3 pre-amp, it's brilliant!

Edited May 5, 2017 by Osiris

[JimBobTTD]

Ignore me.

I have found a setting on my Darkglass Vintage Deluxe that works very well with the Blue Berry. They pair very well together.

It is:

BBBOD: Vol 11:30, Drive 10:00, Nature 10:00
DGVD: Blend 13:00, Level 11:00, Drive 15:00, Era at max, all EQ at 12:00

...which makes me think I should move on the Vintage Deluxe for a standard Vintage Microtubes (or perhaps a B3k). I don't use the DI on it, either, so I could free up £60 or so and a bit of space on my pedalboard.

[radiophonic]

Thought I'd bump this up again purely because I just bought a Pork Loin from the classifieds here. I got it to do real distortion and it does that really well and manages to totally avoid the 'fizzy on top' problem I had with a high gain pedal on a Stingray. However, I accidentally ran it with the gain set down at about 30% last night and it just totally fattened the sound, adding just a little grit. With a guitar playing, it wasn't even clear that it was distorted - it just sounded fatter and with improved sustain. The bottom end stayed rock solid too. This is a great low gain pedal.

[Japhet]

My search continues. It's more of a hobby than a necessity though since I'm quite happy with my sound. I guess I just like trying different stuff out at my leisure. I had a Bass Soul Food as an 'always on' for the rock covers band I play in. Not a bad pedal at all for the money. Then a COG Knightfall came up F/S but that doesn't really hit the mark for some reason which I can't put my finger on. I now have a SolidGold Beta incoming from an 'Items Wanted' post on the forum which I'm really quite excited about. Germanium should keep it warm and punchy I'm hoping. Later in my chain I have the Tritonlab Fet overdrive which is 100% a keeper. I've also recently added a Chowney Fuzzster and I can't speak highly enough of it. It's incredibly versatile, has a great dry blend and costs peanuts.

[Rumple]

[quote name='krispn' timestamp='1491717572' post='3274899']
Mine runs at 24v internally from a 9v supply plus it's a limited edition so has the gain toggle switch on a dedicated foot switch. I think I can adjust the high gain output on an internal trimmer too.

In another quirk the pedal was 'missed' from the Peach Guitars order list so once the original owner was told that they 'forgot to build his pedal' the guys at Hudson basically asked him to 'custom design' his pedal so he went for an all black case with the silver skirted knobs. My Broadcast looks more like the Overdrive 999 but with the Broadcast innards. I've not had much time with this pedal as I was off on holiday two days after getting it but will be giving it plenty of abuse upon my return. First thing will be adding rounds to the p bass to hear the differences.

I can say I think it's gonna be an always on pedal for me. I'd be keen to hear your views too. Maybe we need a new thread for this little box of magic?
[/quote]

Sorry for the late reply, I've only just noticed it!

I've been using mine at home with a Boss graphic Eq after it which makes for a nice sounding setup, I've just ordered a Mesa Boogie Subway DI, the the two together might be overkill or sonic joy.

[krispn]

I find that the transformer in the Broadcast does add to the overall tone. I was A/B'ing it (on and off basically) before my gig last weekend and after getting the on/off levels matched everything sounded better with the pedal on. At rehearsal last night I played with the 'hi gain' channel as on mine it's on a foot switch not a toggle. Again sounds good but defo more of that germanium vibe which may not be to everyones taste. It'd be interesting running a second dirt pedal into the Broadcast to see if it enhances it - might have to get a Bass Soul Food again and try it ..... running out of pedal board space and reluctant to get a bigger one as I'd be inclined to fill it

[JimBobTTD]

I have played the BBBOD at rehearsals since it arrived and gigged it for the first time on Friday night. I am still very happy with it; it is still not going anywhere!

The Darkglass I have for heavier distortion works a treat, too. I am very happy with everything.

I played the P with flats rather than the fretless J. The rhythm guitarist is a bit...ah...enthusiastic and the extra notes he often plays makes fretless impossible.