My quest for low-gain tube-like overdrive is over as of today!
It all started with JHS Charlie Brown(too much gain, too much low end loss), then Barbershop(not enough gain, raspy and farty with flats), then Aguilar Agro(too much gain, too much low end loss) and finally Aftershock. Actually I'm pretty happy with my Aftershock, but I just wanted plain simple "always-on just at the edge of breakup overdrive". Spark was coming up all the time, when someone was asking about low-gain overdrives here in Effects section. I really liked what I heard on YouTube and few clips I found online. It was just the question of time when one will show up on my local Craigslist at reasonable price and it finally did!
What I can say? Aside from booster with a huge headroom, it's a very capable low-gain overdrive that can easyily into moderate gain territory. Very transparent at CLEAN setting. Basically it gives you that "your tone + more" vibe. Quite tubey with rich harmonic presence in the mids and very dynamic - as you dig harder, it starts breaking up just right(for my taste). Sounds great with both rounds and flats. That was my biggest problem with Barbershop - it sounded great with rounds, but went "kazoo" with flats. I noticed zero low end loss and clean settings, but some loss with FAT and Works great with compressor in front of it, giving you even tighter, "tubier" tone. I think everyone should just try one.
This pedal is criminally underrated as @mmbongo put it and I totally second that. I'd guarantee that if TC Electronic would simply change name of this pedal to something like "Spark Overdrive", it will immediately get huge attention from bass players. It's quite affordable if you buy it used, but I wouldn't mind paying full price for this pedal.
It all started with JHS Charlie Brown(too much gain, too much low end loss), then Barbershop(not enough gain, raspy and farty with flats), then Aguilar Agro(too much gain, too much low end loss) and finally Aftershock. Actually I'm pretty happy with my Aftershock, but I just wanted plain simple "always-on just at the edge of breakup overdrive". Spark was coming up all the time, when someone was asking about low-gain overdrives here in Effects section. I really liked what I heard on YouTube and few clips I found online. It was just the question of time when one will show up on my local Craigslist at reasonable price and it finally did!
What I can say? Aside from booster with a huge headroom, it's a very capable low-gain overdrive that can easyily into moderate gain territory. Very transparent at CLEAN setting. Basically it gives you that "your tone + more" vibe. Quite tubey with rich harmonic presence in the mids and very dynamic - as you dig harder, it starts breaking up just right(for my taste). Sounds great with both rounds and flats. That was my biggest problem with Barbershop - it sounded great with rounds, but went "kazoo" with flats. I noticed zero low end loss and clean settings, but some loss with FAT and Works great with compressor in front of it, giving you even tighter, "tubier" tone. I think everyone should just try one.
This pedal is criminally underrated as @mmbongo put it and I totally second that. I'd guarantee that if TC Electronic would simply change name of this pedal to something like "Spark Overdrive", it will immediately get huge attention from bass players. It's quite affordable if you buy it used, but I wouldn't mind paying full price for this pedal.
