If you could only choose one dirt pedal?

[Al Krow]

13 minutes ago, burno70 said:

I've gone for the Mojomojo, lets hope it it works well with my pups 😉

Well the nice thing is that it is pretty opposite end of the spectrum to the B3K, which you already have, so you'll be able to compare and contrast and see which works for you with which basses / pups. And I'd definitely recommend trying a pic (if you aren't already) and see the difference it makes vs fingers.

Edited June 6, 2018 by Al Krow

[CameronJ]

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Edited June 6, 2018 by CameronJ
Triple post

[CameronJ]

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Edited June 6, 2018 by CameronJ
TRIPLE POST

[CameronJ]

3 hours ago, dannybuoy said:

I would probably say the other way around, which goes to show you probably shouldn't listen to anyone!

This is what it boils down to. Ultimately the only way to know for sure is to try the pedals out in person with your own bass/amp etc.

Hopefully the mojojojo works out!

 

[garyt]

Spoiler

 

 I haven't tried a heap of pedals, but have found a pretty good overdrive sound in a band mix, by running a standard Boss ODB-3 through a Line Selector, and then blending the OD or fuzz 50/50 with a clean sound.  

[dannybuoy]

The ODB-3 has separate level controls for clean and dirty, so I would’ve thought the LS-2 would be redundant?

[Al Krow]

@dannybuoy

So what has made the final 'cut' onto your pedal boards in terms of dirt?

TC Mojomojo and Joyo American?

 

[dannybuoy]

Joyo AS is only used as a crunchy amp sim for the octave up fake guitar sound.

Mojomojo for a fat dirty boost if playing more classic rock / blues / etc with a P Bass.

DP-3X for more modern rock with my BB1025X. Also keeping the Agro, B3K and Alpha Omega on standby! Everything else is on the way out.

[Hooch]

My current fave is Broughton's Terraformer. Breaks up nicely, from light OD to pretty gainy stuff, no low-end loss, and so many tones hence its 3EQ, blend and gain combinations. The tricky part is setting the blend on the fly as it has a major effect on output level. But it doesn't sound 'layered' at all. Nice form-factor too. 

Second one would be Grizzly bass, Swell B-Peg too, which is less flexible, bigger and has specific power needs, but sounds damn right !

[Al Krow]

Solidgold FX Beta - got a fair bit of love earlier in this thread. I really like that it is specially tuned JFET preamp with light germanium diode clipping which creates a tube amp-like character (which I would expect / hope given the price differential(!) would knock the Mojomojo out the park?)

@Japhet I think you may have one of these? Was there a big step up from the MkI to the MkII? According the Solidgold marketing gumf:

"Our Beta MKII is a beefed-up version of the original Beta circuit, giving you plenty of tube-like gain without the fizz or hassle. Two modes of operation dictate the amount of grime, tonal colorization, or both. These modes are Preamp and Overdrive. The Beta MKII’s Preamp side disengages the Gain control for a smooth, even-keeled preamp colorization. Both Tone and Volume controls are active in this position, for a subtle sweetening that you’ll never turn off—think of those old Muscle Shoals tones or an Ampeg B15 Portaflex. Flicking the switch to Overdrive mode reconnects the Gain control and gives you as much breakup as you could want, giving you harmonically-rich overdrive without being too aggressive or snappy. It sits just the way you want it to without overpowering anyone else."

So it seems to me that there are two key changes between the MkI and the MkII

a) the two mode switch

b) less 'fizz' 

...and then there is then the Beta DLX, which takes things on even further. Although the DLX may have more options in terms of a: "three-position switch controls which type of clipping diodes are present in the drive channel. The left position selects a silicon-germanium hybrid for a bit more compression and crunch, the right position selects silicon parts for a bit more dynamics and sizzle, and the centre position removes them altogether for a raw, throaty tone"

I think (but I maybe wrong) that the non DLX version has a 'pure' germanium chip rather than a silicon-germanium hybrid?

Doesn't seem to get anything like air time that DG pedals or even Two Notes le Bass pedals have had on our forums. Have we BCer's been missing a trick?

@dood have you reviewed these in your travels, buddy?

 

Edited June 14, 2018 by Al Krow

[dannybuoy]

Not even close IMHO, the Mojomojo wins that fight.

I bought the Beta when it first came out, moved it on pretty quickly as it was very muddy with a baked in bass boost. I actually bought a second one a few years later as I was using a very bright sounding always on Darkglass B3K/M900 sound and wanted a darker sounding drive pedal to boost into it.

It worked pretty well for this purpose, and it went on my band board. But listening to the pedal direct it was pretty bland, and the drive quite harsh and fizzy. Not tubey at all, very transistor like - a lot like a tubescreamer in fact, just with hyped lows and subdued highs. The Mojomojo has just as much (or even more if you want it) low end depth but the drive is much more natural sounding, a softer top end yet with more clarity / less mud than the Beta. I can happily play a P-Bass into a Mojomojo direct into headphones, and I couldn’t say the same for the Beta.

Edited June 14, 2018 by dannybuoy

[garyt]

On 13 June 2018 at 09:13, dannybuoy said:

The ODB-3 has separate level controls for clean and dirty, so I would’ve thought the LS-2 would be redundant?

Makes sense, but I definitely found it to be an improvement with the LS-2.  It's a safe bet as I know I can kick the OD in and always have a clean signal and no loss of low end, regardless of how much I fosters about with the settings on the OD.  Like I said, I'm not an effects guru, so probably won't be tweaking much beyond this as I'm fairly happy with the OD and fuzz sound, whereas before I always used to feel it sucked the life out of the bass.  

[Japhet]

14 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Solidgold FX Beta - got a fair bit of love earlier in this thread. I really like that it is specially tuned JFET preamp with light germanium diode clipping which creates a tube amp-like character (which I would expect / hope given the price differential(!) would knock the Mojomojo out the park?)

@Japhet I think you may have one of these? Was there a big step up from the MkI to the MkII? According the Solidgold marketing gumf:

"Our Beta MKII is a beefed-up version of the original Beta circuit, giving you plenty of tube-like gain without the fizz or hassle. Two modes of operation dictate the amount of grime, tonal colorization, or both. These modes are Preamp and Overdrive. The Beta MKII’s Preamp side disengages the Gain control for a smooth, even-keeled preamp colorization. Both Tone and Volume controls are active in this position, for a subtle sweetening that you’ll never turn off—think of those old Muscle Shoals tones or an Ampeg B15 Portaflex. Flicking the switch to Overdrive mode reconnects the Gain control and gives you as much breakup as you could want, giving you harmonically-rich overdrive without being too aggressive or snappy. It sits just the way you want it to without overpowering anyone else."

So it seems to me that there are two key changes between the MkI and the MkII

a) the two mode switch

b) less 'fizz' 

...and then there is then the Beta DLX, which takes things on even further. Although the DLX may have more options in terms of a: "three-position switch controls which type of clipping diodes are present in the drive channel. The left position selects a silicon-germanium hybrid for a bit more compression and crunch, the right position selects silicon parts for a bit more dynamics and sizzle, and the centre position removes them altogether for a raw, throaty tone"

I think (but I maybe wrong) that the non DLX version has a 'pure' germanium chip rather than a silicon-germanium hybrid?

Doesn't seem to get anything like air time that DG pedals or even Two Notes le Bass pedals have had on our forums. Have we BCer's been missing a trick?

@dood have you reviewed these in your travels, buddy?

 

I've only used the Mk1 version Al. I like a clean amp and use pedals to create any drive so that I can get the same sound at any volume. The Beta was used as an 'always on' at the start of the signal chain to give a smattering of break up - think Motown. I really like it in that situation but not so much with flats. To my ears it sounded great with my Stingray but the Precision/flats combination did make it sound a bit too muddy. I'm currently experimenting and have a sound I like from an Ampeg Scrambler (always on) at the front end and a One Control Hookers Green further along to boost the drive tone when needed. No doubt the Beta will be back on the board at some point though. To be honest, I don't think I hear half the stuff other people seem to though.

[dave_bass5]

i got a Mojomojo a few days ago. Spur of the moment thing really. For £40 i love this thing. Its certainly outed my Aftershock. I was looking for a more dense OD, as i found a lovely patch in my B3n but would like to get close to that using my pedals. Problem is that patch is using a B7K, and i dont want one of those. 

The MM doesn't even get close, but what i love about it is it works so well as an always on,  with a bit 'more' to it. I think this is the pedal ive been looking for for ages, although not the one im looking for at the moment. Still, its outed my AS, my Pork Loin and my Joyo OJ.....for now.

[The59Sound]

I have a Bearfoot Blueberry has my always on OD pedal for grit - would it be pointless buying a Mojomojo?

[Al Krow]

6 hours ago, The59Sound said:

I have a Bearfoot Blueberry has my always on OD pedal for grit - would it be pointless buying a Mojomojo?

The Mojomojo does seem to be getting a little "marmite" these days with quite a few guys (e.g. dannybuoy, dave_bass5, osiris) liking it a LOT, but with some others finding the opposite. For me, I think it will depend on what PUPs you have on your bass as well as to what dirt sound you're looking for as to whether it is for you.

Fyi - there's one in the FS going for £35 posted.  You could do worse and give it a try and see how it stacks up against the Bearfoot Blueberry? I suspect they will be different and it will then boil down to personal preference. But if it's not for you then I'm sure you'll be able to move it on with very little £loss (if any).

Edited July 18, 2018 by Al Krow

[dannybuoy]

You won't really lose much by trying one out. They're close but different and I'm not sure which I prefer! But the Mojomojo is on the board and the Blueberry in a cupboard if that helps!

[Japhet]

I'm currently putting together a (cheap) smaller pedal board and have just picked up a Mojomojo for it. Sounds very nice at low volume. Will see what it's like with the gas turned up soon I hope.

[dave_bass5]

On 18/07/2018 at 09:22, Al Krow said:

The Mojomojo does seem to be getting a little "marmite" these days with quite a few guys (e.g. dannybuoy, dave_bass5, osiris) liking it a LOT,  (if any).

Actually ive just ordered a Joyo UD, as although the MM is nice, its a bit dark and tame for what i was looking for (at the moment). Ill keep it for now as i only gave it one shot, and that was through a rig totally different to mine. I expect it will get used again as it is a great sounding always on pedal. I might even replace my BDDI as an experiment.

I dont know what ill be buying next week to replace the UD with lol.

Edited July 20, 2018 by dave_bass5

[The59Sound]

From what I've seen, the UD has bass loss.

[Al Krow]

On 20/07/2018 at 16:46, dave_bass5 said:

Actually ive just ordered a Joyo UD, as although the MM is nice, its a bit dark and tame for what i was looking for (at the moment). Ill keep it for now as i only gave it one shot, and that was through a rig totally different to mine. I expect it will get used again as it is a great sounding always on pedal. I might even replace my BDDI as an experiment.

I dont know what ill be buying next week to replace the UD with lol.

Dave have you still got your Aftershock? If so, have you played around with the PC editor particularly on the Tube setting?

As a good starting point I'm using drive and clean set to 1pm and tone set to 3pm - see what you think? 

[dave_bass5]

I do still have it, i doubt ill ever get rid of it, and yes, ive played around a lot with the settings (using my phone). 

I tend to use it with ther blend quite high, and it do like what i hear. 

I have no doubt it can get the tone in my head, but I’m just experimenting with other pedals at the moment. Ive tried the DG stuff and never really got on with it, love the BDDI and that the one pedal ive now brought 3 times, but I want to see what else is out there, in the budget end of the market. 

I tend to keep finding the previous tone ive been looking for in my OD’s, rather the tone I’m currently looking for. At least with these cheap pedals its not going to cost much to make a mistake. 

[Al Krow]

25 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

I tend to keep finding the previous tone ive been looking for in my OD’s, rather the tone I’m currently looking for. 

The only way to catch up is to buy faster! 😂

Have you got a YouTube clip or similar with the tone you're looking for? 

Edited July 22, 2018 by Al Krow

[mcnach]

14 hours ago, The59Sound said:

From what I've seen, the UD has bass loss.

 

It was not noticeable when I used one. I only stopped using it because altering the gain a bit changed the volume a lot, so it was hard to make quick adjustments live. Nice sounding pedal, and very versatile. I also had the Vintage Drive... that one was bad for bass loss, which is a shame as it sounded very nice. BUt it's good for guitar

[dave_bass5]

21 hours ago, The59Sound said:

From what I've seen, the UD has bass loss.

I have plenty of ways to get it back if its too noticeable. I am hoping that when i use the UD it will be a bit thinner than my clean tone anyway. I find the MojoMojo to retain the low end fine, but ive been backing the Low end off a bit when its engaged to keep things clearer. If the UD is a bit thinner thats fine. 

8 hours ago, Al Krow said:

The only way to catch up is to buy faster! 😂

Have you got a YouTube clip or similar with the tone you're looking for? 

I’m trying my best 🙂

Ive seen plenty of YT clips with tones i like, but none that i would expect to get with my set up. Before, i was looking for my clean tone, only dirtier if that makes sense. This was achieved to an extent with the AS, and definitely with the Mojomojo, but now i want a OD tone, one that isn’t just my tone with more drive. I’d also love to get the B3n’s 042 patch, but this includes the DG B7K effect, and I’m not buying one of those.