burno70 Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 (edited) OK, finally dragged my arse down there in my lunch hour today. Brought my bass and tried out a few pedals so here's some initial thoughts on a few that I've been interested in for a while. First up I tried the ZVEX probe wah. I'm curious about this pedal due to the 'non contact' factor and the small size footprint appeals. The novelty value of the wah effect generated from the pedal magically tracking the movement of my foot was well cool but there was too much low end loss. It doesn't appear to be bass-friendly although it does have internal trim pots which I didn't have time to mess with tho so please don't take this micro review as fact. I then tried the ZVEX Vexter box of Rocks. I spent 10 minutes trying to coax a usable sound out of this pedal but it was having none of it. For geetars only. Next up was the drool worthy Fulltone Clyde 3 voice wah. Holy mamma this wah is the bomb! First setting I tried, Wacked, just completely nails all thats good'n'groovy about wah on the bass. It just sounded pure filthy! No low end loss, true bypass, lovely dynamic sweep, very articulate sounding, made me feel naughty and hot like a good wah should! May have to buy this one - it beats my Ebs Wah One hands down and I was perfectly happy with my Ebs before trying this! The last pedal I tried was the Oxygen compressor by Oohlala. The logic behind wanting to try this is because the Oxygen has a dirt control and I still miss the light grind of the Fulltone Bassdrive (sold) which cannot be replicated by my new HyperPak, (This was purely an 'economy of space' decision so I could squeeze more pedals on my board). Aaanyway, first impressions were that the compression sounded ok but whenever I stopped playing I was getting this loud wave of hiss. I tried to tame this beast but no matter what I did I couldn't entirely get rid of it - only reduce it to slightly less loud. Also, the dirt knob doesn't appear to have any discernible effect whatsoever? Maybe it was a dud, I doubt it but who knows? Definately not good enough to knock the EBS multicomp from my board - just glad I didn't take a chance and bought it from the net - hooray local boutique pedal shop! I'm looking to head back in there later on in the week so next up I'm hoping to have a go of the Malekko brights and darks, the Fulltone Fatboost and the Way Huge Pork Loin, mmmm! Edited March 17, 2009 by burno70 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 I use a wah probe with bass and I love it. I've used it on it's own and not noticed any low end loss, but I have been using it blended for the last 3 years. It's deffinitely my favorite wah out of all i've tried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higgie Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 [quote name='burno70' post='437787' date='Mar 17 2009, 08:57 PM']OK, finally dragged my arse down there in my lunch hour today. Brought my bass and tried out a few pedals so here's some initial thoughts on a few that I've been interested in for a while. First up I tried the ZVEX probe wah. I'm curious about this pedal due to the 'non contact' factor and the small size footprint appeals. The novelty value of the wah effect generated from the pedal magically tracking the movement of my foot was well cool but there was too much low end loss. It doesn't appear to be bass-friendly although it does have internal trim pots which I didn't have time to mess with tho so please don't take this micro review as fact. I then tried the ZVEX Vexter box of Rocks. I spent 10 minutes trying to coax a usable sound out of this pedal but it was having none of it. For geetars only. Next up was the drool worthy Fulltone Clyde 3 voice wah. Holy mamma this wah is the bomb! First setting I tried, Wacked, just completely nails all thats good'n'groovy about wah on the bass. It just sounded pure filthy! No low end loss, true bypass, lovely dynamic sweep, very articulate sounding, made me feel naughty and hot like a good wah should! May have to buy this one - it beats my Ebs Wah One hands down and I was perfectly happy with my Ebs before trying this! The last pedal I tried was the Oxygen compressor by Oohlala. The logic behind wanting to try this is because the Oxygen has a dirt control and I still miss the light grind of the Fulltone Bassdrive (sold) which cannot be replicated by my new HyperPak, (This was purely an 'economy of space' decision so I could squeeze more pedals on my board). Aaanyway, first impressions were that the compression sounded ok but whenever I stopped playing I was getting this loud wave of hiss. I tried to tame this beast but no matter what I did I couldn't entirely get rid of it - only reduce it to slightly less loud. Also, the dirt knob doesn't appear to have any discernible effect whatsoever? Maybe it was a dud, I doubt it but who knows? Definately not good enough to knock the EBS multicomp from my board - just glad I didn't take a chance and bought it from the net - hooray local boutique pedal shop! I'm looking to head back in there later on in the week so next up I'm hoping to have a go of the Malekko brights and darks, the Fulltone Fatboost and the Way Huge Pork Loin, mmmm![/quote] You really couldn't get a good sound from the Box of Rock? A Guitarist/Bassist friend of mine has one, and on Bass it sounds great!! He uses it as a grindy OD/Boost, and I've always thought it sounded awesome! You'll love the Malekko pedals, just got a 600 bright myself, and I love it, even though I already have an analog delay, it's got a different character to it, so both of them stay, rather than one as I originally intended The Fat Boost is nice too. Make sure it's an original though, as although the FB2 has bass and treble controls, I've heard they're not as good as the original. I used an original Fat Boost for AGES as my "always on" grit sound. It's a very nice pedal IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toasted Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 Honestly, wait for the fatboost 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waynepunkdude Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 [quote name='Toasted' post='438380' date='Mar 18 2009, 03:58 PM']Honestly, wait for the fatboost 3.[/quote] I think my missus already has one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toasted Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 "I'll get my coat!!!!!!!!!!! fnarr fnarr" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh3184 Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 *facepalm* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burno70 Posted March 18, 2009 Author Share Posted March 18, 2009 [quote]I use a wah probe with bass and I love it[/quote] In that case I'm guessing the low end loss I percieved must have something to do with the internal trimpot settings? [quote]You really couldn't get a good sound from the Box of Rock? A Guitarist/Bassist friend of mine has one, and on Bass it sounds great!! He uses it as a grindy OD/Boost, and I've always thought it sounded awesome![/quote] Is that the standard (and pricier) Box of Rock or the Vexter Box of Rock which was the one I tried? I spent more time with this one that the others as I really did want to like this pedal - it's small and looks ace, but it just didn't sound right to my ears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbass4k Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 [quote name='burno70' post='438792' date='Mar 18 2009, 11:26 PM']Is that the standard (and pricier) Box of Rock or the Vexter Box of Rock which was the one I tried? I spent more time with this one that the others as I really did want to like this pedal - it's small and looks ace, but it just didn't sound right to my ears.[/quote] The only difference between the vexter and regular models is the paint job, the regular ones have fancy (read: expensive) handpainted enclosures, the vexter ones are plain painted, teh vexter innards should be identical Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 [quote name='burno70' post='438792' date='Mar 18 2009, 11:26 PM']In that case I'm guessing the low end loss I percieved must have something to do with the internal trimpot settings?[/quote] It could be. I messed with them when I first got it but that was years ago. I know one of them controls sensitivity on the plate, can't remember what the other one does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higgie Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 It was the Vexter version IIRC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skybone Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 Defo going to be checking that out when I'm next in town... 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.