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If you could only choose one dirt pedal?


Al Krow

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14 minutes ago, SumOne said:

Sansamp BDDI must be a deep pan margarita 

I'm not sure I entirely follow, would you mind elaborating on your thinking here please? For example, would that be with reduced fat cheese? 

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19 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

I'm not sure I entirely follow, would you mind elaborating on your thinking here please? For example, would that be with reduced fat cheese? 

You can find it anywhere, you know what you get - it'll get the job done. It's similar to a thin crust margarita ('clean' tone?) but with added fatness, everyone thinks it's okay -  it's not divisive but it's not overly exciting. 

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Just now, SumOne said:

You can find it anywhere, you know what you get - it'll get the job done. It's similar to a thin crust margarita ('clean' tone?) but with added fatness, everyone thinks it's okay -  it's not divisive but it's not overly exciting. 

That's actually a perfect description of a BDDI! Now that's got me thinking about my Tech 21 VTDI and Red Ripper...😁

Ok you've started a thing: the BC pizza guide to dirt pedals.

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1 minute ago, Al Krow said:

That's actually a perfect description of a BDDI! Now that's got me thinking about my Tech 21 VTDI and Red Ripper...😁

Ok you've started a thing: the BC pizza guide to dirt pedals.

That's not a bad idea! Describing tone is tricky, but comparing it to pizza types kind of works. 

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1 minute ago, SumOne said:

That's not a bad idea! Describing tone is tricky, but comparing it to pizza types kind of works. 

Hmmm...and then it becomes entirely a matter of taste: I mean do you prefer your dirt tone with Procorat thin crust or something that has the cook's strands of hair left in it like a Darkglass pedal? Do you like your meat strips to be clean-blended in (@ped doesn't) and what colour do you prefer your meat, slightly darker might just suit you nicely sir?

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On 03/07/2021 at 12:45, Al Krow said:

 Damnation Audio MBD-2

It was part of the reason that I hesitated about getting the Damnation Audio MBD1 a few years back despite the rave reviews it was getting over in the US. But also why I was always likely to buckle when its smaller footprint but souped-up successor the MBD2 came along, particularly if / when one came up for a good price used, which it just did...😊

55 minutes ago, Salt on your Bass? said:

I really like it. I tend to live in the higher end of drive distortion to fuzz most of the time. The clean blend on this sounds really nice (it's a fully integrated sound where many I feel you can hear a split in signal...buzz over the top) - I think Dunwich amps helped in the design - and there is spades and spades of low end available. It can go from light drive to fuzz, but I think it shines on heavy overdrive/ distortion territory. There's some great shaping ability with gain boost and low end saturation.

Previous drives that I liked and had for a long period include the mountainking megalith, cog tarkin. So I'm not in to the light drive camp as my amp does that duty. I've flipped a load of other fuzzes and distortions but I think this will stay for a good while on my board.

Jeff Matz used one on a high on fire record with his verellen, but I think it has broad scope for a plethora of styles and tones. 

Just leaving these on here for future reference. Looking forward to joining with you with mine!

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 04/07/2021 at 18:00, Al Krow said:

Just leaving these on here for future reference. Looking forward to joining with you with mine!

I see you have yours up for sale. Any major reasons you shifted it so quickly? I was quite interested in these as you know. 

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1 hour ago, krispn said:

I see you have yours up for sale. Any major reasons you shifted it so quickly? I was quite interested in these as you know. 

Two reasons: firstly it wasn't a million miles from the DG B7K and I have a pretty decent sim of that on my cheap-as-chips Zoom B1-4, that I'm happy to use both at home and in a band mix.

Secondly, I couldn't get away from the fact that I prefer the dirt tone from my Pigtronix Octava (obviously that's purely personal), so the Octava is staying and the MBD-2 getting moved on - it's actually already been snapped up via eBay. 

But it's an itch scratched and I think I've finally found a dirt pedal I'm really happy with in the shape of the Octava. 

Edited by Al Krow
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I should add I was gonna buy that MBD2 pedal but had a Fender Trapper Bass distortion incoming which is really impressing me with its overall tone. Dist 2 features a clean blend called Sub as well having sa variable x-over hpf type thing going on which is great sounding to my ears. What I’m enjoying the most is each bass sounds like itself- the pedal is not overly influencing the inherent tone as a** backwards as that reads. My jmj with flats sounds as I’d expect and my jazz is certainly unmistakable a jazz. Some pedals can kinda put their blanket sound over a bass irrespective (yeah I’m looking at you early Darkglass pedals) just listen to a Patrick Hunter review!
 

The tone control is worth a mention too. Dist one is a simple three knob affair but the tone, once rolling it back from noon doesn’t introduce lows per se but it does keep some of that thickness without initially being super muddy.

I’m not sold on the Dist 1&2 stacked yet but I’ve a band rehearsal booked in for The next few weeks - I think I’d need to hear it in context to really know if it’s a sound I’d be using (not that I have much need for a stacked gain sound in my current covers band).

In keeping with the OP if you see one of these Bass Trapper Distortion (not to be confused with the Trapper Fuzz) pedals pop up it’s certainly worth a look. It can add in that slight edge or sparkle which sounds great at volume (currently just been playing along amplified and via laptop with YT and Spotify but sometimes you just know a pedal will work) but has more on tap too for Geezer type old school bass and much more in between. 

 

79DB843E-A131-4D64-B441-915F65FE7DFE.jpeg

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7 hours ago, Al Krow said:

@krispn - that's a great review and has certainly put the Trapper on my radar.

And at £109 new, it's pretty reasonably priced: Fender Trapper Bass Distortion — Fair Deal Music

I think it’s EmpireMusic on YT who do a great demo, it’s better than the Fender in-house one for this particular unit.* actually the Fender in-house demo ain’t bad!* And who else but Nate Navarro of course! 

Edited by krispn
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I’ve never been one for subtlety in dirt and while I do think the old Fuzzrocious BDPG is the nicest low gain overdrive ever made, the mantle for high gain stuff has firmly been taken by the Mastotron IMO for a long long time.

Ive had a lot of pedals that did that kind of tone, but none of them ever got quite there. My only niggle with it was that without the sub switch, it was a bit lacking and with it was often too much. As a result it took a lot of work to get it to sit right in a mix without dominating.

Fast forward to 2021 and while the Mastotron has a special place in my heart, I’m now rocking the Dr. Scientist Frazz Dazzler as my primary dirt pedal and DAMN is that thing intense! Huge fuzz saturation, with a 2nd switch to engage ‘stupidly high gain mode’, three band EQ, a clean blend, gated, and a voltage starve for spluttery synth tones. It even has expression control over the mix so you can blend it in and out, though this particular feature is one I’ve found little practical use for.

I’ve been using it daily, exploring all its options and how it plays with other pedals, and right now, I just can’t imagine anything knocking it off its perch. It’s basically everything I ever wanted in a high gain pedal.

DA98DCD4-7F39-46D5-BF55-1B411F1876EE.thumb.jpeg.0a3b3cb34bea1c96505ed4979185ed67.jpeg

Edited by pantherairsoft
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  • 3 months later...

I would say that the UD and the OCD's that its based on retain the lows pretty well. I wont say theres no low end loss as i think it does lose some but how much you notice will depend on your setup.

 

I had an OCD v1.3 ages ago, which was probably the best OCD ive had and i swore that it was my holy grail but then the UD got so close and the TC Mojomojo is so much thicker that i didnt really need the the v1.3.

 

 

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7 hours ago, Supernaut said:

Caught this video of the Joyo UD by @Dosi Y'Anarchy and was really impressed. Does it maintain your low end that well? 

 

 

 

I'd say yes.

I used one for quite a while and it didn't seem to lose bottom end. The tone control is pretty wide and gives you anything from really aggressive to thick and dense. My only 'problem' with it was that the gain and level controls are very interactive: turn the gain up a tiny bit... and the volume goes up noticeably. This means it's hard to tweak on stage: you can't just bump the gain up or down a bit and continue, you'll need to adjust the volume too. It's normal for overdrives to do that, but they're usually not as pronounced. It's a minor niggle really, and the pedal sounds very good both for bass and guitar.

 

 

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