I've seen a lot of people who swear by these pedals and I was curious what the hype is all about. I'm thinking to buy either that or a v4 morning Glory (yes I did see the other thread comparing the two)
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What is the hype about the b3k microtubes OD?
- Thread starter Nathan Miller
- Start date
It’s a cool sounding overdrive with a baked in character that helps it sit alongside distorted guitars very well. I use mine for everything.
CAL Grizzly!Edit: I should add that it can do a lot of distortion if wanted but can do minimal easily.
Also; My very favorite pedal is a DOD Boneshaker. It can do mild distortion if you control the input. It is the best pedal I have ever tried for my "Mild" Overdrive needs. I actually use a Barber "Linden" Preamp to attenuate the input. Then I can get that Sweet Spot where digging in a little brings it to life.
For light overdrive I’d recommend the Aguilar Tonehammer. Nothing does light breakup quite like it.
Darkglass make good stuff but they are unabashedly non-transparent and are barely low gain even at minimum gain. I'd recommend a 4 knob TC Spark for low gain transparent overdrive.
Anything can be low gain if you control the input. It's just that most people run their basses volume wide open.
That's true but I've found it to be inconvenient in practice. I used to do it in order to run an Acapulco Gold at low gain. It was a cool sound but in a band context with other pedals it was a pain. I got tired of having to turn my volume up and down every time I wanted the AG off or on.
It’s what happens when an awesome talented dude makes bass overdrives and has exceptional customer service.
Also: see MBD1
Also: see MBD1
Great stuff with great sound. I've owned everything he's made pedal-wise but they just don't fit what I like. I'll second the MBD-1, or the new MBD-2, which is the same thing but in a smaller enclosure. Mine is always on to add just a bit of heft and grit to my sound.
The low gain aspect definitely depends on the bass (and the pre-drive sculpting switches, which control how much of your signal gets clipped), but I think the pedals were mostly meant for blending the dirt and clean so you’d be using more drive than you would on a pedal without the blend. I like my DG pedals best with minimal blending, and find the Vintage and X circuits to be capable of nice low gain tones with my Ricks without any extra attenuation. With higher output basses I can use the Blend on the Vintage (or another pedal with volume control earlier in the chain) to essentially “roll down the gain” to taste. You are correct that none of the DG stuff is transparent sounding!
B3K, 4003 Ric, low gain.
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my personal favorite here, VMT with B3K:
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my personal favorite here, VMT with B3K:
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If you are looking at a Darkglass pedal you would be better for getting a Vintage Microtubes or an Alpha Omnicron for low gain tones. Yes, the Alpha can be massively distorted, but it can do nice fat low gain tones as well.
I dig the Darkglass sound, but if you are looking for lower gain that doesn't sound too coloured, it may not be your thing.
I dig the Darkglass sound, but if you are looking for lower gain that doesn't sound too coloured, it may not be your thing.
I think this depends squarely on which Darkglass pedal you're talking about. On my Alpha Omega Ultra, the blend knob allows me to go anywhere between complete insanity to super subtle tube overdrive. There are a million different tones in the thing, and many of them are usable in a multitude of genres.