If you could only choose one dirt pedal?

[mcnach]

Having been playing with the SA Aftershock a bit tonight... what a great pedal that is! I must really explore it properly. I'm getting the feeling that those sounds I'm looking for in other random pedals... they're in there already.

[Al Krow]

21 minutes ago, mcnach said:

Having been playing with the SA Aftershock a bit tonight... what a great pedal that is! I must really explore it properly. I'm getting the feeling that those sounds I'm looking for in other random pedals... they're in there already.

Welcome to SA Aftershock fanboy club!  

 

[mcnach]

6 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Welcome to SA Aftershock fanboy club!  

 

 

I

 

almost

 

put it up

 

for

 

sale...

 

 

I'm impatient. But I really must play with the neuro app on this one and try the different drive engines available... then choose my fave three and ignore the rest. Even the knobs can be re-assigned to other parameters! 

I just realised that one of the available presets is called "Rage Bass". Guess what band I'm using all these overdrives with???

[Al Krow]

I've just got myself a One Control Gecko Midi pedal so I'm not going to be limited to just my favourite 3 Maybe go for my top 3 for each of the three main choices of tube / heavy / fuzz and turn the AS into a genuine drive multifx. 9 drive choices should be plenty! 

Should allow me to tweak so they work optimally with the different pups on my active and passive basses. 

Edited October 10, 2018 by Al Krow

[mcnach]

9 hours ago, Al Krow said:

I've just got myself a One Control Gecko Midi pedal so I'm not going to be limited to just my favourite 3 Maybe go for my top 3 for each of the three main choices of tube / heavy / fuzz and turn the AS into a genuine drive multifx. 9 drive choices should be plenty! 

Should allow me to tweak so they work optimally with the different pups on my active and passive basses. 

 

Oh! Tell me more!!! I would REALLY like it if I could have say another 2-3 foot switches in a compactish box that would allow me to select an extra 2-3 overdrives... It would actually even save me space on my board. For me it's not so much having access to MANY overdrives, but to have EASY access to 2-3 of them. Three ideally, that I can just switch between with the footswitch and tweak if required on the spot with the pedal's knobs. 

Is this gecko thingy the key to what I am asking? 

😁

 

[Al Krow]

I've been resisting getting a midi controller like for ever, being more of a Luddite at heart than I care to admit! But having found that I actually quite enjoy PC editing of pedal effects (e.g. free Tonelib software for my Zoom B3n and and MS-60B which has made creating and editing patches both a doddle and fun), I'm starting to get a lot more out my digital pedals and I have a few that are both digital and can be edited with PC software but also midi enabled (e.g. Source Audio Manta and Aftershock, Zoom B3n and Panda Future Impact, and, if I get it, the Helix Mini). 

A midi footswitch means that the individual pedal presets can be easily accessed; but the midi controller can do more than that e.g. change all your midi enabled pedals in one go with one preset (that will be stage 2 for me )

I've just got a Gecko from DV247 (£106 posted new) which seemed to be a really good combination of good value and compact size:

Edited October 11, 2018 by Al Krow

[dannybuoy]

There are other ways also you may be unaware of. I believe you can flip the unit between red and green LEDs by pressing and holding the footswitch to give you 6 presets with no extra MIDI pedal required? Also, more restrictive, but if you aren't blending drives in parallel you can set up different drives on the left and right channels and use an A/B box to flip between them.

[Al Krow]

10 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

There are other ways also you may be unaware of. I believe you can flip the unit between red and green LEDs by pressing and holding the footswitch to give you 6 presets with no extra MIDI pedal required? Also, more restrictive, but if you aren't blending drives in parallel you can set up different drives on the left and right channels and use an A/B box to flip between them.

Yes there is a separate SA footswitch that increases the accessible Aftershock presets from 3 to 6. It's a half-decent half-way house  

But I can have much more than 2 per main setting (tube / heavy / fuzz) with midi, I can also control ALL my other midi enabled pedals and I really like having the LED display showing which number preset I'm accessing - that's going to be a must for me in remembering whereabouts I am in the preset order when playing live.

Edited October 11, 2018 by Al Krow

[dannybuoy]

You'd have to check the manual but I remember reading that you can flick it over with a long press, so the footswitch is optional.

[dave_bass5]

Ive gone through a few ODs this year, inc a Pork Loin, SA Afterschock, COG Knightfall 66, TCE Mojomoj and Joyo OJ and Ultimate drive. I thought i had found THE one in the COG, it ticks all the boxes and more, but ive gone back to the cheapest of the lot, the Joyo UD. i just cant find anything else that sounds a open and full as this cheap pedal. Even though it lacks features many of the other have, its the basic tone that i love.

[mcnach]

15 hours ago, Al Krow said:

I've been resisting getting a midi controller like for ever, being more of a Luddite at heart than I care to admit! But having found that I actually quite enjoy PC editing of pedal effects (e.g. free Tonelib software for my Zoom B3n and and MS-60B which has made creating and editing patches both a doddle and fun), I'm starting to get a lot more out my digital pedals and I have a few that are both digital and can be edited with PC software but also midi enabled (e.g. Source Audio Manta and Aftershock, Zoom B3n and Panda Future Impact, and, if I get it, the Helix Mini). 

A midi footswitch means that the individual pedal presets can be easily accessed; but the midi controller can do more than that e.g. change all your midi enabled pedals in one go with one preset (that will be stage 2 for me )

I've just got a Gecko from DV247 (£106 posted new) which seemed to be a really good combination of good value and compact size:

 

Hmm... I have no interest in getting into MIDI. I did it years ago with a big Behringer pedalboard and I haven't yet recovered from the experience.

I use the Aftershock in 'green' mode, whatever it's called. The one where each position of the mini-switch selects one overdrive engine... and the position of the knobs represent the sound you're actually hearing. If I increase the drive, and move the miniswitch to another type of overdrive, then the gain has increased there too. I like that.

What I'd really like is to have a *simple* way to select various overdrive types using a footswitch, rather than the mini-switch. I'm happy with a couple, but three would be ideal, using a pedal with dedicated foot-switches for each overdrive type, and where the position of the knobs on the pedal are represent what I hear.

That Gecko pedal seems to allow me to navigate among presets, and perhaps each footswitch can be associated with a different overdrive... but will it operate as I describe? Not recalling a full preset, but taking the positions of the knobs as they are, in real time.

 

[mcnach]

14 hours ago, dannybuoy said:

There are other ways also you may be unaware of. I believe you can flip the unit between red and green LEDs by pressing and holding the footswitch to give you 6 presets with no extra MIDI pedal required? Also, more restrictive, but if you aren't blending drives in parallel you can set up different drives on the left and right channels and use an A/B box to flip between them.

 

Yes, I know I can have 6 presets that way, however the 'red' mode seems to work as full presets, where each one has its own set of parameters (drive at 50 on preset "Tube", drive at 100 on "Heavy", etc...). I like the 'green' mode... where if I have the drive knob at, say, 50, with the switch on "Tube"... drive stays at 50 when I switch to "Heavy".

I would like a footswitch to do what the mini-switch does on the 'green' mode... just allowing me to use my foot rather than bending over the pedal to do it with my hand.

There must be something simple out there... ?

[mcnach]

16 hours ago, Al Krow said:

I've been resisting getting a midi controller like for ever, being more of a Luddite at heart than I care to admit! But having found that I actually quite enjoy PC editing of pedal effects (e.g. free Tonelib software for my Zoom B3n and and MS-60B which has made creating and editing patches both a doddle and fun), I'm starting to get a lot more out my digital pedals and I have a few that are both digital and can be edited with PC software but also midi enabled (e.g. Source Audio Manta and Aftershock, Zoom B3n and Panda Future Impact, and, if I get it, the Helix Mini). 

A midi footswitch means that the individual pedal presets can be easily accessed; but the midi controller can do more than that e.g. change all your midi enabled pedals in one go with one preset (that will be stage 2 for me )

I've just got a Gecko from DV247 (£106 posted new) which seemed to be a really good combination of good value and compact size:

 

Actually... forget the 'red' or 'green' mode... as sometimes recalling full presets will be what I really want

I guess what I'm really asking is... I don't want to use the Gecko (or whatever) to navigate around the presets available. I want to assign one preset to each footswitch, and I want 2-3 available to me. With the footswitch on the Aftershock itself as a ON/OFF button. Does the Gecko support operation like that? How many presets? 2? 3? Or is it strictly a "find the preset you want and select it"?

 

[Al Krow]

5 hours ago, mcnach said:

Actually... forget the 'red' or 'green' mode... as sometimes recalling full presets will be what I really want

I guess what I'm really asking is... I don't want to use the Gecko (or whatever) to navigate around the presets available. I want to assign one preset to each footswitch, and I want 2-3 available to me. With the footswitch on the Aftershock itself as a ON/OFF button. Does the Gecko support operation like that? How many presets? 2? 3? Or is it strictly a "find the preset you want and select it"?

I think it can do exactly what you're after, but I'm a newbie myself to midi control pedals - so maybe someone with more expertise can jump in to confirm?

In the meantime, the first part of this YouTube clip will give you some idea of its capability. Jump in at 1.02.

[mcnach]

2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

I think it can do exactly what you're after, but I'm a newbie myself to midi control pedals - so maybe someone with more expertise can jump in to confirm?

In the meantime, the first part of this YouTube clip will give you some idea of its capability. Jump in at 1.02.

 

I get the general idea... but it's still not clear to me whether:

1) I can use it such that each footswitch is assigned to a single preset  (I think it's called 'pedal mode' in some other controllers)

and

2) if I can, and I select one preset... can I still use the knobs on the Aftershock for changes in real time? Not interested in saving those changes.

 

All I really want is to move that tiny mini-switch to a footswitch form. 

[Dragonlord]

Crazy Tube Circuits Locomotive for me - OK, I came back to write some more as I realised this won't be too helpful. Anyway, I went through my share of overdrives, was very fond of a Fulltone Bassdrive years ago, got a Verellen Meatsmoke at some point but didn't like the fact it was heavily EQed or the size - of course it was still awesome, but too much money to have tied into one awkward to carry pedal. Recently got a Darkglass Alpha Omega and the Locomotive to try. The Alpha Omega was more versatile (it can do something close to the Locomotive, but it can also do much more), but for what I'm doing at the moment the Locomotive was the clear winner. Warmer (no wonder as it has a tube in it), transparent, more "open" - the Darkglass sounds a bit compressed in comparison. Overall just great quality and lovely vintagey tone.

Edited October 12, 2018 by Dragonlord

[Al Krow]

43 minutes ago, Dragonlord said:

Crazy Tube Circuits Locomotive for me - OK, I came back to write some more as I realised this won't be too helpful. Anyway, I went through my share of overdrives, was very fond of a Fulltone Bassdrive years ago, got a Verellen Meatsmoke at some point but didn't like the fact it was heavily EQed or the size - of course it was still awesome, but too much money to have tied into one awkward to carry pedal. Recently got a Darkglass Alpha Omega and the Locomotive to try. The Alpha Omega was more versatile (it can do something close to the Locomotive, but it can also do much more), but for what I'm doing at the moment the Locomotive was the clear winner. Warmer (no wonder as it has a tube in it), transparent, more "open" - the Darkglass sounds a bit compressed in comparison. Overall just great quality and lovely vintagey tone.

You clearly only bother with the "good stuff"!!

Just drop into the conversation that you "got a Verellen Meatsmoke at some point but didn't like..."  why don't you? 😂

I'd best go check out what this Crazy bit of kit you're recommending is then!  

Edited October 12, 2018 by Al Krow

[Dragonlord]

@Al Krow lol, sorry about that! What can I say, I like my bass toys, don't spend much on anything else so I allow myself this little luxury. And I only keep what I use, and try to buy used so that I don't lose much when I move gear. For example I got the Verellen when they were having a 20% discount or something so I could sell it at the same price. It was impressive, but except for the form factor, I didn't like the fact that I found it had a baked-in EQ which I had to work against to get my own EQ back. Not a deal breaker but it seemed a little less impressive once I figured that out. I wouldn't directly compare the Locomotive to the Meatsmoke, different beasts. I like that the Locomotive doesn't affect your EQ more than expected from a tube circuit. I should also add that it has less gain than the Alpha Omega (or the Meatsmoke), but I had them mod mine for more gain. There are some nice and pretty accurate demos on youtube.

[Japhet]

Would be nice to know what sort of music people are using these pedals for. On my board I have 3 drive pedals. I like to run the amp clean and use the pedals to get the sounds I'm after so that it can sound the same at any volume for different venues.. I have a Tritonlab FET to provide an initial bit of drive and then an Ampeg Scrambler for a fuller grittier tone when I need it. I then have a One Control Hookers Green for when I need a pretty gnarly sound. I play in a covers band doing a wide range of mainly rock/blues music and some of the songs need a much dirtier sound than others. I also find that the overdriven sound stops the bottom dropping out of the mix when the guitarist goes into his solos since there's only me, him and the drummer doing the music.

[Dragonlord]

Hope I'm not breaking any rules, but since you asked here's a song from my band (posting a link since it's not really a specific genre, you could say heavy rock I guess). There's no overdrive on this (just a little from the B|Amp), hopefully I'll be using the Locomotive on the album version of the song, when we're ready for that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfx5KtuT6Vo

 

Edited October 12, 2018 by Dragonlord

[paul_5]

Dave Hall VT2. I’m using this on my ‘rock’ board. Think Iron Maiden / Judas Priest with a bit more of an Anthrax edge.

[Al Krow]

40 minutes ago, Dragonlord said:

Hope I'm not breaking any rules, but since you asked here's a song from my band (posting a link since it's not really a specific genre, you could say heavy rock I guess). There's no overdrive on this (just a little from the B|Amp), hopefully I'll be using the Locomotive on the album version of the song, when we're ready for that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfx5KtuT6Vo

The opposite! As @Japhet said it's great to hear fellow BCer's in action!

Nice track btw!

Edited October 12, 2018 by Al Krow

[mcnach]

On 12/10/2018 at 07:46, Al Krow said:

I think it can do exactly what you're after, but I'm a newbie myself to midi control pedals - so maybe someone with more expertise can jump in to confirm?

In the meantime, the first part of this YouTube clip will give you some idea of its capability. Jump in at 1.02.

 

Sorry to derail this a bit more... but I've just realised something:

How do you connect the Gecko to the Aftershock? You need the SA Neuro hub, right? If that's the case... that's getting too expensive and too many extra bits to add on the board... it would be simpler for me to buy a second Aftershock

[Al Krow]

Yup neurohub, which for me only makes sense if you have at least a couple of SA pedals (I have the Manta too). 

So I agree with you, just get your 2 or 3 fav AS drives sorted and just use those. Simple is good! 

[mcnach]

20 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Yup neurohub, which for me only makes sense if you have at least a couple of SA pedals (I have the Manta too). 

So I agree with you, just get your 2 or 3 fav AS drives sorted and just use those. Simple is good! 

 

Aha! Indeed.

Yes, if I had intentions to use other midi-capable pedals then fine, but it doesn't look like I am going that way. So... I'll just bend over and use the switches manually and/or get a second or even third Aftershock.

Glad I realised this before I bought a Gecko. I had not even thought how they connect together  I assumed USB.