dannybuoy Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 On the board is just a Hotone Bass Press wah pedal. Discumbobulator, MXR and JoshWah I just like to play with at home every now and then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted October 12, 2017 Author Share Posted October 12, 2017 [quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1507830967' post='3388288'] On the board is just a Hotone Bass Press wah pedal. Discumbobulator, MXR and JoshWah I just like to play with at home every now and then! [/quote] So how about a warts and all A/B of your MXR and the JoshWah? - clean blend available on both? - LPF on JW? (MXR is band pass) - forward sweep only or reverse sweep on the JW? (MXR forward only) - general thoughts on the range and funk of the sounds (the JoshWah has the additional dirt that can be dialled in, but can it be completely dialled out to get a 100% clean wah?) - how much of a competitor to the Fwonkbeta is the JW (or indeed the MXR) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 No blend or reverse sweep on the JoshWah, and it's low pass. It sounds a lot like a Mutron III. It gets pretty clean with the gain down low, but not 100%. It has more range and is easier to dial in than the Fwonkbeta. It is a contender for sure, but 'the best' would depend on which bass your playing, what you're playing on it, your fingers, and your ears! Each shines in different situations. I've had it for several months and might let it go as I'm about to massively downsize my gear collection to clear out some clutter and focus on what I need in the band. But like I did with the MXR I'll probably change my mind several times (already sold one of those and bought it back again)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted October 13, 2017 Author Share Posted October 13, 2017 [quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1507849439' post='3388405'] It gets pretty clean with the gain down low, but not 100%. [/quote] Just picking up on one point you raised, 'cos I think there is something more general coming out of it. [b]"Dirt" in with the main effect[/b] From what I've understood dirt pedals and effects can be glorious but at the same be one of the "noisiest" in our chains. Where we get dirt included in with other effects on the same pedal (be it the Josh Wah or T65 octave) there seems to be trade off between a richer "with dirt" sound from the pedal and an inability to get a "100% clean" main effect (wah or octave or whatever). Do folk agree? If so, it's a point for us to bear in mind when deciding on the feature set for a particular pedal. In my case I'm definitely leaning towards having the option of a 100% clean as that seems to sit better with other effects on my board and I can separately add in dirt (from my Two Notes or Zoom B3n) when required. But particularly if you don't have a separate dirt pedal then there is definitely a more "in the mix" / mid boost presence from having the "with dirt" option and the additional point being made on the YouTube review of the two Broughton pedals is that having an in built dirt potentially allows a better blending of dirt with the main effect. So you pays your money and... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Jamin Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 Y'all should check out the Sonuus Wahoo. It does literally everything. Everything can be edited/customised, and the software is pretty easy to use once you get going. I just guess their marketing just isn't great? I've got one and it's an awesome pedal! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RusRDyCT3W8&t=638s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 It is a great pedal. You can get sounds out of this that are impossible with other filters. It did have some downsides for me though: - Menus. I hate all pedals with menus! At least the software is very good. - It needs isolated power otherwise it's very noisy. It's also noisy when powered from USB. Silent with its own supply though! - You can hear the filter go up and down by discreet steps which can sound a bit like crackling. The pedal position is probably encoded to a range of 0-128 or similar and then sent to the processor, then the filter snaps to these values rather than implementing some kind of smoothing algorithm. That could probably be fixed in software though! Fun fact - Sonuus HQ is just a couple of miles away from me, right near where I rehearse! When I emailed to enquire about how to adust the rocker tension, he offered to do it for me if I brang it down there, top chap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Jamin Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 (edited) [quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1507898084' post='3388649'] It is a great pedal. You can get sounds out of this that are impossible with other filters. It did have some downsides for me though: - Menus. I hate all pedals with menus! At least the software is very good. - It needs isolated power otherwise it's very noisy. It's also noisy when powered from USB. Silent with its own supply though! - You can hear the filter go up and down by discreet steps which can sound a bit like crackling. The pedal position is probably encoded to a range of 0-128 or similar and then sent to the processor, then the filter snaps to these values rather than implementing some kind of smoothing algorithm. That could probably be fixed in software though! Fun fact - Sonuus HQ is just a couple of miles away from me, right near where I rehearse! When I emailed to enquire about how to adust the rocker tension, he offered to do it for me if I brang it down there, top chap. [/quote] Yeah you need to spend a few hours at home setting up the sounds you want - but once you've set it up it's great - and you can program a setlist so switching between sounds is easy. The noise thing can be fixed in the software I think! You can select what kind of instrument you're using, and it changes the gain structure to accommodate (I guess). Anyway I think by default it's set to elec guitar - I changed it to 5-string bass and the noise was gone That's awesome! They seem like a great company Edited October 13, 2017 by Ben Jamin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CameronJ Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 (edited) The Wahoo is a powerhouse for sure. It's a shame it doesn't get more airtime actually as it's so tweakable. Meanwhile, I'm just gonna leave this here... http://youtu.be/bw77brwlcp8 Edited October 13, 2017 by CameronJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CameronJ Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 And... http://youtu.be/I9KoIUrsjBc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quatschmacher Posted October 15, 2017 Share Posted October 15, 2017 (edited) I’ve now spent a bit of time with a couple more: I got a [b]Fwonkbeta[/b] earlier in the week which does indeed produce some ridiculously smutty sounds. The controls are pretty simple: Stroke (sensitivity), Juice (filter cutoff frequency) and Fwonk (resonance/Q). This lowpass pedal has that crazy, slurpy, squelchy Bootsy thing going on. It does produce pretty hefty volume spikes which made my speaker fart. It is incredibly resonant, even on the lowest resonance setting and gets close to self-oscillation when the fwonk is on full. I’ve found that I need to have the cutoff set to around 12 o’clock or above to get sounds that won’t ruin the speaker. There’s no control over the decay speed (other than dialling up the sensitivity so that the filter opens more and hence has further to travel back down). It does have an inherently fast decay and comes to rest at an extremely low sub frequency. It gets incredibly whompy. It’s up sweep only I’m actually finding its sounds almost identical to those I can get with the Enigma: Q-balls. The enigma has more knobs to control start and stop frequencies, attack and decay and the resonance knob has a much bigger range (more at the lower end). You can produce both up and down sweep. The advantage of the Fwonkbeta is that it had a smaller footprint, is quick to dial in and takes a regular 9v power supply. I tried the [b]Discumbobulator (V2)[/b] yesterday. Again, this is another simple, lowpass pedal which takes a regular 9v supply and is easy to dial in. It does both up and down sweep with a button press. The controls on this are sensitivity, attack and width. The attack controls how quickly the envelope sweeps. At the lowest setting it is [i]really[/i] slow and not quacky at all. It’s useful when combined with octave/fuzz for slower synth lines/sounds. At the highest setting it pretty quick and quacky. A nice range of useable settings. The width seems to control the Q in the way that the MXR does in that the higher settings give a taller but narrower peak. In fact the basic sound reminded me of the MXR a bit, kind of what the MXR might sound like if it were lowpass. The Emma pedal doesn’t get subby like the MXR though. This one is definitely speaker-friendly; no crazy volume spikes here but that makes it a politer-sounding pedal. The resonance range goes to quite low settings (like the Enigma, Qtron, Proton, Wonderlove) but doesn’t go to the higher resonance levels possible on those pedals. All the settings on this pedal produce useable settings but it doesn’t do the extreme sounds possible in other pedals. I’m finding I like many of the wilder, exaggerated sounds possible on other pedals but this comes at the expense of their being harder to dial in, having some unusable settings and potentially damaging speakers and ears if not used wisely. I do like this pedal and may keep my eyes open for a used one. Edited October 15, 2017 by Quatschmacher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quatschmacher Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 (edited) I’ve just been checking out videos of the Manta. I’m linking to this one, not because of the content, but just because the bass the guy is playing has the most ridiculous finish EVER. https://youtu.be/-KY8MJ2aC0g Edited October 16, 2017 by Quatschmacher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted October 16, 2017 Author Share Posted October 16, 2017 (edited) [quote name='Quatschmacher' timestamp='1508164620' post='3390168'] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I’ve now spent a bit of time with a couple more...[/font][/color]I've just been checking out videos of the Manta. [/quote] Thanks for your detailed comments on the Fwonkbeta and Discum pedals. So, are you next trying out a Manta next and what about the Aggie FT? Out of interest, what sound do you have in mind that you going for and is it for live use / recording / or just "fun alone in the bedroom"? Are you managing to get near to a landing on a your fave filter pedal(s) yet or at least faves for particular uses? Edited October 16, 2017 by Al Krow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CameronJ Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 [quote name='Quatschmacher' timestamp='1508164620' post='3390168'] I’ve just been checking out videos of the Manta. I’m linking to this one, not because of the content, but just because the bass the guy is playing has the most ridiculous finish EVER. https://youtu.be/-KY8MJ2aC0g [/quote] I knew I’d seen that somewhere before... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quatschmacher Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 (edited) [quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1508171025' post='3390234'] Thanks for your detailed comments on the Fwonkbeta and Discum pedals. So, are you next trying out a Manta next and what about the Aggie FT? Out of interest, what sound do you have in mind that you going for and is it for live use / recording / or just "fun alone in the bedroom"? Are you managing to get near to a landing on a your fave filter pedal(s) yet or at least faves for particular uses? [/quote] It’ll hopefully always be for fun! Currently I’m just exploring sound possibilities, perhaps because I haven’t got any gigs in the diary at the moment. I definitely want to use this stuff live and for recording, just need an outlet. Sound-wise, I guess, as someone already mentioned, I’m looking for the sound which makes me pull a serious bass face when I hear it. I’m definitely after stuff at the ruder end of the spectrum (I don’t see the point of having subtle envelope) so squelchy, quacky, skanky tones are what I’m after. I guess I’ve just been heavily influenced by Mutron-style sounds and that’s what’s in my head. Ideally I’d want something that gives that, has a switchable expression pedal control too, runs on a standard 9v supply, is easy to dial in whilst having control over parameters if needed and has a loop (with blend knob). Bonus if it could be small. Nothing seems to fulfil all of those. (Maybe I should get Tom at Cog to build me something.) In short, no, I’m nowhere near narrowing it down! I like them all for different reasons. I do much prefer lowpass so perhaps I should sell the MXR but it sounds so good! And yes, I would like to try the Manta and FT too. Edited October 17, 2017 by Quatschmacher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted October 17, 2017 Author Share Posted October 17, 2017 (edited) [quote name='Quatschmacher' timestamp='1508249881' post='3390834'] It'll hopefully always be for fun! Currently I'm just exploring sound possibilities, perhaps because I haven't got any gigs in the diary at the moment. I definitely want to use this stuff live and for recording, just need an outlet. Sound-wise, I guess, as someone already mentioned, I'm looking for the sound which makes me pull a serious bass face when I hear it. I'm definitely after stuff at the ruder end of the spectrum (I don't see the point of having subtle envelope) so squelchy, quacky, skanky tones are what I'm after. I guess I've just been heavily influenced by Mutron-style sounds and that's what's in my head. Ideally I'd want something that gives that, has a switchable expression pedal control too, runs on a standard 9v supply, is easy to dial in whilst having control over parameters if needed and has a loop (with blend knob). Bonus if it could be small. Nothing seems to fulfil all of those. (Maybe I should get Tom at Cog to build me something.) In short, no, I'm nowhere near narrowing it down! I like them all for different reasons. I do much prefer lowpass so perhaps I should sell the MXR but it sounds so good! And yes, I would like to try the Manta and FT too. [/quote] Whereabouts are you based? The Aggie FT has the benefit of forward and reverse sweep, but as Cam previously noted: it's "civilised". For me that makes it ideal to include in a live mix so as [i]not[/i] to get the same expression as you've mentioned above, but this time on my band-mates and instead indicating a "please will someone shut our bassist up!" face. It seems to me that your journey's end is very probably the SA Manta from what you've said! I'm just starting to get to grips with mine... I'm currently trying to persuade Tom to build me my ideal octave pedal! I'll maybe post the spec on the octave thread... [quote name='GisserD' timestamp='1506970433' post='3382445'] I just pushed the button on a snow white [/quote] Hey - how are you getting on with this. Looking forward to your review! Edited October 17, 2017 by Al Krow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quatschmacher Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 I’m in Sheffield, Al, home of Cog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quatschmacher Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 I do like the idea of the FT’s ability to run both filters at once. I took some pedals round to a friend’s last night and he had loads of fun playing guitar through the Octamizer with the Wonderlove on a down sweep coupled with the Fwonkbeta. Sounded amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quatschmacher Posted October 19, 2017 Share Posted October 19, 2017 Finally managed to track down a (later version) Q-Tron+! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted October 20, 2017 Author Share Posted October 20, 2017 [quote name='Quatschmacher' timestamp='1508455017' post='3392390'] Finally managed to track down a (later version) Q-Tron+! [/quote] Excellent - looking forward to pics and feedback. [quote name='Bo0tsy' timestamp='1505832383' post='3374628'] Big envelope filter fan here. [/quote] More general Q directed at the wider group - how easy is it load up sound samples to share on BC? I'm thinking of Bo0tsy, amongst others, with his very comprehensive collection of filters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 [quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1508478851' post='3392416'] Excellent - looking forward to pics and feedback. More general Q directed at the wider group - how easy is it load up sound samples to share on BC? I'm thinking of Bo0tsy, amongst others, with his very comprehensive collection of filters. [/quote] Not very easy at the moment, probably best to post them on soundcloud then link. However the new site makes it super easy so maybe wait a week or so! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted October 20, 2017 Author Share Posted October 20, 2017 [quote name='ped' timestamp='1508480137' post='3392421'] Not very easy at the moment, probably best to post them on soundcloud then link. However the new site makes it super easy so maybe wait a week or so! [/quote] Cheers ped. I'm sure we can all wait a couple of weeks. Really looking forward to the upgraded site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 Easy enough to just store them on Soundcloud, Dropbox, Onedrive, Googledrive, Box, etc and link to them here for now. But looking forward to see what the new site offers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quatschmacher Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 Does anyone have any experience with the Source Audio Bass Envelope Filter Pro? It seems to have an even wider range of filter tones available than the Manta and control over a couple of extra parameters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quatschmacher Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 (edited) [quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1508478851' post='3392416'] Excellent - looking forward to pics and feedback. [/quote] I’m particularly interested to find out if it sounds the same as my big box Q-Tron. I hope it does as the smaller size, FX loop and true bypass will be welcome additions. Edited October 20, 2017 by Quatschmacher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CameronJ Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 I've just bought an Emma Discombobulator V2... I have a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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