mcnach Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Isn't this one of the best 'unknown' overdrive pedals out there? I used to have one a while ago, then stopped needing it, got sold... Eventually I came to my senses and bought another . Both times it cost me something like Ā£35, used. Cheap. Pretty versatile... set a mid gain sound, roll off the treble on your bass a bit... FAT FAT FAT overdrive. And with the "attack" switch you can get some really cool metallic overtones that doesn't sound miles away from the Darkglass BK3 I used to own (and sold as I preferred this little unit). It can also double as a weapon, this thing is a brick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Never actually played one, but I think it is the first bass overdrive I remember seeing being played on a stage and it sounded great. That was probably the start of the slippery slope of pedal buying for me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmo Valdemar Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 I've owned a couple... One years ago in my first proper band, when I was very much new to pedals, distortion etc. I have no idea what became of it though! I bought a couple of years ago and it didn't really work for me, my tastes in distortion having moved on. Still, a great little pedal, very distinctive tone. Fond memories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted June 28, 2017 Author Share Posted June 28, 2017 One of my favourite sounds with it is when set to clean (essentially the pedal becomes a 2-band EQ preamp pedal) engaging the Attack. It adds a really cool raspy metallic edge... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jus Lukin Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 (edited) - Edited February 24, 2022 by Jus Lukin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byo Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 The PD7 is the first effect pedal I ever bought and I still have it. It was my main drive for a few years too and used to pair it with a Darkglass B3K (1st edition). Awesome sound and extremely underrated. My sound was setting to OD, gain to around 9-10 o'clock, a little Bass boost and a tiny cut on the highs and it was an awesome OD with a P-Bass. Nice to see that I am not alone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted June 29, 2017 Author Share Posted June 29, 2017 [quote name='Jus Lukin' timestamp='1498696233' post='3326446'] I have one of these and am rather fond. The built in, fixed blend makes it quite easy to use, although it is quite a scooped, 'distortion' pedal regardless of settings. Nevertheless, it's a good sound, and does get those 'oooh, that's nice' reactions! I used it to re-record the bass for a remix of an industrial-cybergoth-metal track once, and as much of a niche genre as that may have been, it suited the context well. The sound it makes reminds me of a little bass break in a Morbid Angel song, maybe off the first or third album. Also, for anyone chasing John Entwistle's later bass tones, the Phat Hed with the right flanger would do a very good job. I have heard the micro-switches are prone to wearing out and aren't the standard boss type, but otherwise the pedal is solid and the 'sinkable' knobs are a great idea. [/quote] The two I've had, I had no issues with the switches... fingers crossed for the one I still have! I find the distortion a little too scooped for my liking. It works, but if it's a busy sound with the rest of the band you need to EQ it carefully, however the overdrive works very well for me. The 2EQ is very effective, I find I nearly always have to cut bass to make it sit just right. I get very nice fat gritty low gain overdrive sounds (think Audioslave "Be yourself") or grittier higher gain ones (think Biffy Clyro "The captain") simply by adjusting the treble/bass controls on my Stingray (those are two songs we do in a covers band I've just started playing in, and that's exactly how I manage the sound...)... I find with overdrives, if you have an active EQ in your bass, the treble/mids are fantastic at shaping the distortion, so you can set a drive level that with the treble down a bit doesn't feel very distorted... and then you turn up a bit and you get a very dirty sound. One pedal does it when I used to use two for that. The PD7 works very very well that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted June 29, 2017 Author Share Posted June 29, 2017 [quote name='Byo' timestamp='1498696298' post='3326447'] The PD7 is the first effect pedal I ever bought and I still have it. It was my main drive for a few years too and used to pair it with a Darkglass B3K (1st edition). Awesome sound and extremely underrated. My sound was setting to OD, gain to around 9-10 o'clock, a little Bass boost and a tiny cut on the highs and it was an awesome OD with a P-Bass. Nice to see that I am not alone! [/quote] and those push-in buttons... love those! Find your setting, push them in... settings safe! I had once a scare when my pedalboard stopped working. No sound at all.. but all lights were on. This is for the RATM band, so I really didn't want to play clean all night... I needed 2-3 overdrives, the wah, a phaser... I traced it back to the second to last pedal in the chain: an EBS compressor. I took it out and played the gig. Later I realised that the level control was at zero! The pedal was absolutely fine, but somehow the cable inside the pedal board had turned that knob down to zero. Of course, now I check and recheck those things, but still... the push buttons to save settings are a great solution Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jus Lukin Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 (edited) - Edited February 24, 2022 by Jus Lukin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 I remember finding the bottom end a bit mushy, but these are very old memories ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted June 29, 2017 Author Share Posted June 29, 2017 [quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1498732135' post='3326612'] I remember finding the bottom end a bit mushy, but these are very old memories ! [/quote] it can get a bit too unwieldy, that's why I generally bring the bass control down a bit... but if you have a variable high pass filter later in the chain, you can remove all the excess flab and just leave the delicious bits in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krispn Posted July 3, 2017 Share Posted July 3, 2017 (edited) I used one of these in my 'swagger-core' band about 10 years ago -(we "invented" the genre don't try to find it) and it worked for many styles of filth. This has made me all nostalgic. Cheers š Edited July 3, 2017 by krispn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.