Flatwound player looking for natural, low gain grit/bloom.... Blackberry?

[wolffire99]

Can anyone possibly explain what sets a good low gain pedal apart and workable on flat wounds.

That's the [art I have trouble with, I keep trying & buying pedals that sound better on rounds but not well on my chromes.

For me it’s a drive pedal that doesn’t need a lot of high frequency input to get breakup and has no bass cut. For me that’s the Darkglass VMT original. Prefer other drives for rounds.

 

[PapaGInTheHouse]

P Bass with TI flats.
+1 on the Grizzly.

I’ve been through a few low gain drives. I have settled on the Grizzly Bass. I use the Overdrive and the High Cut, leave the mid scoop alone. There are a few demos on YouTube. It’s a very pleasing tubey sound to me and always on.

 

[butterfingers1]

For me it’s a drive pedal that doesn’t need a lot of high frequency input to get breakup and has no bass cut. For me that’s the Darkglass VMT original. Prefer other drives for rounds.

Well put.

The Fairfield Barbershop, Accountant, SolidGoldFX BetaV, Broughton SVpre work well for me in this regard.

The Empress Bass Compressor has a tone switch that produces a “gentle harmonic distortion”. It is deceptively simple and subtle but surprisingly effective in a mix.

 

[thedovewarlord]

For me it’s a drive pedal that doesn’t need a lot of high frequency input to get breakup and has no bass cut. For me that’s the Darkglass VMT original. Prefer other drives for rounds.

This was very helpful along with all the suggested pedals. Thank you.

 

[mouthmw]

This is true in EQ mode, but in drive mode the adaptive circuitry turns off. So it won’t darken as you dig in on that side. And that side also has a wide gain range to play with.

However, the DCX does lean vintage. So if you’re looking for modern grindy top end, it’s probably not the vibe.

The treble cut won’t happen in any mode if you set the voicing to “flat”. In “dark” and “medium” voice modes, the treble reduction will happen in either eq or od modes. It will happen gradually the more you dig in in eq mode (adaptive circuitry), and it will always cut it in od mode.

I think it’s mostly due to gain being higher in od mode so you don’t really get clean tones in that mode, so no gradual treble cut. IMO the treble cut in med mode gives it a great smooth overdrive, and it still retains more than enough high end. I like Darkglass VMT but that one cuts high end too much for my taste in comparison.

 

[OnlyFlats]

I'm a similar player, using flats on basses without bridge pickups. I'm still on my low grit journey, I've been through a few! A Barbershop is in transit. (El murdoche suggested it in another thread so I'm onto it)

Barbershop update: on my 32" scale with TI flats, finger style, it's great. Really good fit for that role. Also good on my 30" with la bellas dtfs.