Top Finds of 2010 / Ddyna Music: Bass 10

Righty-O here we go. We all have our own tastes, opinions, favorites, and go-to's when it comes to gear. Whether it be an amp or pedal, guitar or set of pickups. This is what makes gear so special and what gives us all our own unique tonal voices. To me there is no such thing as better than - what might sound good to me or work for me may not work for another, and vice versa. This next collection of articles and reviews are our own personal favorites - pieces of gear that stood out to us in one way or another. There is not one piece of gear featured on this site that isn't special to us, which is exactly why I started this site - to share with ya'll my insight and experiences. I thought there'd be no better way to start this Top Finds than by hitting you with the long awaited Bass 10 from my good buddy Dan Simon of Ddyna Music. I can remember when I first became acquainted with Dan (some 2 years ago or so) and him running down his idea of what would become the Bass 10. I must admit that even way back then I was quite curious and eager to see the pedal come to fruition. Now that this pedal is in rotation amongst the world of us stompbox junkies, I will say it has surpassed every one of my expectations. The world of effects pedals is one that does not touch or work for every player. But for those that do choose to use these little metal boxes of magic and wonder, I say it does not get much better than this.... the Bass 10.

BASS 10

Comp/EQ/Overdrive

Specs:

• Switching: True Bypass (TPDT)
• Input Impedance; 300k (min)
• Output Impedance: 4K (max at 5Hz)
• Input/Output Jacks: Neutrik 1/4" Phone
• Current Consumption: (Operating) 60mA (max) - (Standby) 54mA @ 18DVC
• Power: 12VDC AC Adapter (Supplied)
• Voltage Range: 12.0VDC-18.0VDC 
• Connector: 2.1mm x 5.5mm - Tip Positive
• Dimensions: 4.87(W) x 3.72(D) x 2.25(H)
• Weight: 0.92 lbs
• 100% Analog Signal
• Built with Top Notch Components in the USA

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Many of you guitar slinging readers of mine may and see the word bass and instantly be turned off. But for those of you who have done your fair share of pedal experimenting - you know that bass pedals can sometimes do more than just the trick of working with basses. The Bass 10 certainly proved worthy of providing for more than just the bass guitar. In my guitar ventures this pedal did more than I thought possible, this goes for many other instruments as well - stringed and not. It is the array of versatile controls that linger on the Bass 10's face that make it capable of taking your tone up on high and just about anywhere you want it to go. The controls themselves are very intelligently laid out and work with one another beautifully. The top row of controls sporting the white markers work as four Bandpass Filters - there for precise dialing in & out of the selected frequencies. The bottom row of controls is split into two channels/sections - The controls sporting the blue markers are a top notch great sounding compressor, and the ones with the red markers are your overdriver. Last you will find two footswitches - one for engaging the compressor and the other for kicking in the overdrive. Together all of these controls come together to create one of the most powerful and versatile pedal I have ever come across. The Bass 10 is a 100% analog circuit, sporting true bypass switching, and can run off of anywhere from 12 to 18 volts. 


My first run-through of this magical pedal began with a Jazz Bass and Ampeg amplifier. I found this a great pair for hearing exactly what this pedal was capable of. I started by rolling the amp in straight up the middle, this giving me a neutral sweet sounding overall tone. The bass I played both with my fingers and pick. One giving me a warmer softer sound, and the other pumping out plenty of thump'n'boom. I dug into the bass, slapped the strings a bit, played soft jazz and R&B runs, and simple roots rock bass lines. I did this to get an exact feel of what the Bass 10 would do for me. Once my ear got adjusted to the clean amp tone I went ahead and set the pedal's compressor. First I set the ratio to my liking, then the sustain, and last I worked in the compression's volume. Before using the pedal's EQ section to shape and mold my tone, I first played around with it to see how easily I could match the amp's root tone. This in fact ended up being as easy as pie. Engaged, the Bass 10 gave my tone more clarity and control. I was able to hear the strings much clearer, the touch of my fingers, and the walking of the notes. Playing softly the pedal's compression created this pillowy sound that sounded spec-tac-ular. The notes would jump out at me as if alive and breathing. I was able to maintain the tone's character while at the same time fine tuning each corner and peak of the overall sound. This is where a killer sounding compressor can do you proper, and what no other effect will do. Once set to the Jazz Bass' liking and kicked in, I found no reason to turn this pedal off. I found the compression channel very easy to use and very friendly to my attack. Here I began playing with the overdrive section and tuning in the EQ section to a bigger feel. I set the drive first to about 10'o'clock, started with the depth control back near it's lowest setting, and last dialed in the overdrive volume. The EQ's bass I rolled well past noon, the low mids at about 9'o'clock, high mids between 1 and 2'o'clock, and the treble at noon. In this setting the pedal provided me with more of a boost than an actual overdrive sound. It was the depth control's position that made this possible. Rolling the depth clockwise converts the overdrive signal into a more of a square wave tone other than a round sound. This control alone makes the overdrive channel on this pedal very very versatile. Oh, and before I forget to mention - The overdrive section cannot be engaged unless the compression channel is in action. This keeps the overdrive signal in check, and with the EQ stack blended in the possibilities are damn near endless. Getting a dirtier bass tone from here was very simple. Just roll in a bit more drive and depth and you are home-free. With the depth right around noon, drive just passed 9'o'clock, and OD volume to my liking - I was able to get a nice balance of my root bass tone and th pedal's dirty/compressed signal. I found this tone this tone worked great for jumping the dynamics in tunes and making things in general just sound much bigger. Here is where I discovered the range and possibilities of the Bass 10's depth knob. By rolling th depth closer to 2-3'o'clock and rolling in a little more OD volume, I was able to take the same drive setting into even more of a grittier tone. With the EQ section things only got better. I was able to shape the overdrive signal into anything I wanted - a big fat dirt sound, or a thin bass cutting punching machine. Even fuzz tones were no problem wit this pedal. Before experimenting with other instruments I also did plug in a Danelectro bass and a active pickup ESP bass. With both of these basses ( as well as the Jazz Bass) I was able to shape them way beyond their character tones. Giving the Dano bass more aggression and softening the EMG's signal were no problem. This proved one thing - Dan did his homework, making this a pedal fit for many types of bass guitars. Next came my guitars. I ran the exact same tests with a semi-hollow body, Strat, Tele, and Junior. The pedal's compression proved to work much better than some of the guitar comp boxes I have come across, and the overdrive section did this really cool tight'n'gritty thing that blended really well with other guitar tracks ( both clean and dirty). One of my favorite though was playing this baby through a lap or pedal steel. Hands down one of the best tools for this type of instrument I have ever heard. In the end this pedal worked beautifully for both vintage and modern tones. As a tool for the bas guitar I could not recommend anything else. For those of you who dig multi-functional pedals this pedal is a dream. I myself am a huge fan of finding pedals that work just as good in the studio as they do on the stage. The Bass 10 is of this breed of stompbox. This of course is only a graze of the Bass 10's capabilities... the rest is for you to discover.

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Find more information on Ddyna Music stompboxes at www.ddynamusic.com or click the direct link in our sidebar. Also make sure to search our other Ddyna Music reviews and articles. We will be featuring much more from Dan Simon's world to come in the very near future. Stay tuned and get ready for more Top Finds!!!

Helping You Get There

Vyagra Boost

Tone Shaping / Booster

CONTROLS

• Right Footswitch: True Bypass Operation
• Left Footswitch: Kicks in Parametric EQ
• Gain: 25db of  Clean Boost
• Frequency: Parametric EQ / 220Hz-1kHz
• Cut/Boost: Cut or Boost Frequency Signal

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Anytime I get a chance to try anything from the Crazy Tube Circuits pedal line, I just know I'm going to be in absolute treat. For those of you hardcore pedal addicted stompbox junkies, these pedals are the ultimate fix. It didn't take me long to become a loyal and dedicated fan once getting a hold of these boxes. Everything from the artwork on these boxes to the dynamite sound that they project is highly attractive. Chris Ntaifotis (mastermind behind CTC) has been able to design his pedals with the perfect balance between vintage vibe and traditionally smooth boutique sound. In all of the CTC pedals I have ever tried I've been able to find spot-on classic tones, as well as characteristics that make them all their own beasts. And speaking of tone beast, this is exactly the perfect way to describe the fury of the Crazy Tube Circuits Vyagra Boost. 

The Vyagra Boost's purpose is unlike any other booster you will ever come across. This simple yet extremely effective pedal will most certainly boost your signal into some of the most beautiful and powerful overdriven tones your ears will ever hear. But it is the Vyarga Boost's capability of taking your tone into wild and new horizons that sets it apart from many others. How it does this exactly? We will get to that shortly. This pedal is housed in a heavy duty small footprint enclosure, which makes it great for saving on pedalboard space, and built with only the highest of components. The Vyagra's gain control is capable of a whopping 25db of boost, enough for slamming the front-end of any amp. The freq control works as a parametric eq which lets you dial in a number of different tone characteristics. The cut/boost works inconjunction with the freq control for dialing the eq signal in & out. Last the pedal sports two LED indicators, and two high quality footswitches for true bypass and the for switching in the eq circuit.

Because of the Vyagra Boost's eq section I was able to run it up against every type of pickup and amp imaginable. The sweep of the parametric eq made it possible to fine tune both my clean and dirty tones, and let me convert certain pickup types into completely different animals. The pedal's eq section also made it possible to convert other pedal's into different beast and gave pedals such as modulation and compressors really cool flavors. I started with a duel humbucker equipped semi-hollow guitar and 15 watt tube amp. I set the amp as clean as I could with it's tone control at noon, no verb, and nothing but a pair of high quality cables going to amplifier and guitar. The root tone itself was thick and full of lots of meaty clean harmonics. The Vyagra Boost I set with it's gain control at about 15% power and left the eq circuit out for now. I engaged the pedal and hear the amp go up into an even thicker meatier sound. With the guitar's humbucking pickups I was able to easily get a bit of grit from the signal simply by digging in and striking down on the strings. Chords rang out rich and clear which made the amp sound much more poweful than it actually was. Single notes also had plenty of definition and strength which sounded great with riffs and licks of all sorts. I added in another 10% of the pedal's gain and switched to the neck humbucker. Here the root signal became much thicker and even more grittier depending how I struck the strings. I really liked how transparent the Vyagra's signal was, and how much mileage I could get from it's sound in each gain setting. I switched the pedal in & out to listen for changes in my tone, but there was none. The character of the naked amp was still present, only much more in-your-face. I then dialed the pedal's gain control to give me a medium overdriven signal, something perfect for blues and classic rock. I was actually able to get these great southern rock tones by pushing my amp and using the semi-hollow guitar. All good good stuff. I then took the amp's volume control as loud as it could go, which gave me an organic crunchy tone, and shot it's tone up a bit higher for more sparkle. I then pumped the pedal's gain up to about 50% which pushed the amp into delivering a stunning bedroom/studio level rock tone. The overall sound handed me plenty of everything! Rich harmonics, great overtones, lots of smooth'n'creamy grit, and sweet sweet mojo. Next I took the pedal's gain to full gain, and cranked out an army of different chords. My oh my what a sound that little was able to kick out. I was actually quite taken by how much power the Vyagra had to give. Here is where I began playing with it's eq section. I began by finding the neutral eq frequency, and left the cut/boost control at noon. From here I experimented with shifting from cut to boost. This is where I realized just how many sounds were going to be possible with this pedal. I was able to add weight to my sound or thin it out with just a turn of the cut/boost control. This also let me fine tune my amplifier, which is perfect for those of you who have trouble finding your amp's sweet spot. By cranking the pedal's gain control to the desired spot and setting the eq section just where I wanted it - I was able to get exactly the sounds I was hearing in my head. Next I began playing around with different freq control settings. Very very quickly did things become interesting. To get the sound I wanted form my pickups all I had to do was strum down on a chord and turn the freq control until I found the tone I wanted. Then with the cut or boost I was able to dial in as much or as little of that sound as I wanted. I was able to get cocked wah sounds, treble boost tones, midrange heavy tones, tones that sliced through the air, and just about everything in between all of these. Using this pedal for lead guitar tones was something I found was exceptionally fun. I then plugged the Vyagra Boost into a 100 watt Super Lead and let it fly. I set the amp really loud so it would overdrive into a big natural crunch. Then I stacked the pedal's boost section into it and got an even bigger sound. The Vyagra didn't change the feel of the tone but instead gave it more of what made it sound great. The more of the pedal's gain I pushed into the amp, the more of the amp's mojo I was able to get. Tossing in some of the pedal's parametric eq was also quite delightful. The huge sound of the amp and frequency range of the eq gave me just about every sound I wanted. I could go about playing my amp's natural clean or overdriven tone, then with the Vyagra Boost boost that signal and have the eq pre-switched for a maniacal sound that made everything sound wild and crazy. Then there was mixing in different dirt pedals, such as overdrivers, distortions, and fuzz boxes. The Vyagra Boost worked as an external eq control which could convert every one of the dirt pedals into whatever sound I wanted them to be. Overall the Vyagra Booster worked great with other pedals and many many different amps and guitars. This was only a scratching of the surface of what kinds of sounds one can get from this pedal. It you're a tone perfectionist or just love tone weapons with lots of range - this pedal is for you. 

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For more info on Crazy Tube Circuits go to www.crazytubecircuits.com or click the direct links in our sidebar. Make sure to check back in with us for more awesome CTC features coming very soon! Also make sure to check out our review of the CTC Ziggy overdrive pedal. Just type out Ziggy Overdrive in our search engine.

Open up and say "Awwwwesome"!

The Doc is most definitely in the house and prescribing some of the healthiest tone remedies to ever hit the music scene. FX Doctor is another one of these cool little outfits floating around out there that I was blessed to come across. It was a couple of the FX Doctor's (Joshua's) modified stompboxes that first caught my eye. Later I would discover this wasn't the only talent this company had. Along with an array of fantastic mods that can be done to your everyday pedals, the FX Doctor also builds and designs his own line of superb stompboxes. The FX Doctor pedal line is one that is cleverly designed, ear/eye catching, and perfect for the professional player, weekend gig monster, and bedroom rock and roller. It is pedal companies like FX Doctor that are keeping things moving forward, keeping things fresh, and keeping things on the up and up. Step into the doctors office and get your fix!!!

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FX Doctor
Preamp

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You cats must be looking at this little monkey and saying to yourselves "Preamp huh? Hmm, where's the switch?" Well, this is like no preamp you have ever plugged into. The FX Doctor Preamp is based around the 2-band active preamp's that can be found in the vintage Musicman Stingrays. I myself am familiar with vintage Stingray basses, and if you've ever had a chance to rumble one out you know how great they sound. This design gives players who use passive pickups and amp's without active tone controls a wider tonal spectrum, and many more tonal options when dialing in other effect pedals. When running long cables runs or a high number pedals, the FX Doctor Preamp also works beautifully to help bring your signal back to life. Besides this I found a number of other cool uses for this pedal (which I will share with ya'll later). The Preamp consists of Bass and Treble controls, no footswitch, a 9VDC input jack, and an LED indicator. Both the Bass and Treble on this unit give you lots of flavor and lots of control. This is a simple and quick way to fine tune your sound and really get inside of what tones your dreaming of.

I first grabbed my single P90 equipped Junior copy and modified Hot Rod Deville. I dialed in my amp to it's normal clean root tone, grabbed a couple high quality cables, and let things flow. First I slammed down on some chords without the Preamp engaged. To turn it on and off I put it on a effects loop switch. Without the pedal engaged I got everything I've always gotten. A nice and sweet, fat'n'sparkling, big open Fender clean tone. Next with the FX Doctor Preamp in the mix. I had both the bass and treble controls at twelve'o'clock. I lost none of the feel and bite of my tone, but somehow got more boom and spank. It gave my lows a rounder, wider feel, and gave the highs a chimey character that I've only otherwise been able to get with eq pedals. This meant many things. It meant I could roll down my tone knob and still have plenty of twang and bang, it meant I could roll down the volume and control how much mojo I wanted, and it meant I could now really dive into my amp's root tone to get the best possible sound. Next I threw some dirt pedals into mix. Again I tested the signal without the Preamp first, then with it. This was in fact really really fun and damn exciting! The FX Doctor Preamp was able to give my rhythm dirt pedal tone an entire new range of sounds, feels, and tones that before were not possible. If you rely on your pedals for your dirty sounds you know sometimes it can be a pain in the ass to match those pedals to your root tone. Sometimes dirt boxes eat away highs, or produce too much lows, or just plainly make things dull. You don't know how many dirt boxes I have played that sound great on their own. But when switched back and fourth from my amp's tone it's a different story. One thing I was able to do which really came in handy was throw the dirt box into the mix of the looper. This meant with one switch I could turn both pedals on and get exactly the sound I wanted. I could now match the pedal's tone to my amp's and keep things in line. With lead tones the Preamp worked great to spice up the tone and really make it bite and stand out. If you play with another guitar player (which I do and can be a pain sometimes) this is a perfect little tool for jumping out of the mix. Then I got to modulation pedals and delays, reverbs, and other fun stuff. With digital delays I could now pump in a bit of warmth, making them much more earthy and analog sounding. This was true for chorus pedals, vibe's, flangers, and phasers. For those modulation pedals that do the opposite and makes things too dull and warm, this pedal can brighten things up beautifully. After some rocking and rolling with the clean Fender tone it was time to play the Preamp through a big and mean tube driven gritty tone. Oh the sounds I was able to dial in!!! We all know how sweet and awesome a good sounding tube sounds when taken to the limit. Well with this badboy I was able to juice up and magnify everything that makes big tube amp tones so wonderful. It's as if the Preamp's sound sits beside your tone inside of above it or behind it. Then there was tossing the Preamp at the end of my pedal chain. Here is one of the spots this pedal works it's best. What rocks to hard about this is that you just dial in your amp tone, leave the Preamp on, and let the rest do it's thing. It tosses in any tone loss you may have lost from too many pedals or long cable runs, and it gives every pedal before it much more magic. But wait there's more! Something my partner suggested I tried was tossing the Preamp into my amp's effects loop. Oh yes was this sweet too. I have placed many pedals that have sounded good in my effects loop but this may be one of the if not the best little tricks I have ever learned. I'm telling you guys, for such a simple little box this pedal does a lot. It is never too overpowering (even when cranked to the max), never noisy, and it is always easy to get back to your root tone if need be. Whether tossing it in to your effects loop, stacking it up with dirt pedals or other effects, putting it on a switch, or using it to simply give your overall sound a bit more or less. This pedal is quick and precise. I am quite excited to continue trying more of Joshua's effects and really stoked to come back here and share it with you guys. If you have not yet heard of the mighty FX Doctor pedal line make an appointed and get yours. It'll do you some good.

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For more info on FX Doctor go to www.fxdoctor.com or click the logo in our direct links. We will keep you guys up to date on any happenings with this killer little company and try to bring you more cool toys to check out. Stay tuned for more!!!

Time to check in to detox!!!

To me HomeBrew Electronics has always been one of the heavyweights of the boutique pedal world. The reason being the attention to detail of their designs, HomeBrew's hard work and skill has always led to stunning performance and sound from their pedals, a fact you will learn for yourself if ever you come across one of their stompboxes. Visiting HBE's website you will find an infantry of awesome pedals that range from boosters, overdrive, distortion, fuzz, compressors, real time effects, wah wahs, switchers, and even a few amp heads that will floor you. If there's a effects pedal you're lacking or are in need of, HBE is a great place to start. Not too long ago HBE starting producing their own line of Signature Series pedals, pedals designed by and for some of today's top players. Artist series pedals from a boutique pedal company... what smart artists. Most artist series pedals you see out there are mass-produced over seas, 9 times out of 10 it being a marketing scheme with the artist never having any input. We were curious to see what some of these pedals were capable of, and curious to hear what today's top guns are in need of. I present to you the HBE Paul Gilbert Detox EQ, a slick little pedal with a world of tonal options. Got an amp that's just not giving you what you want? This is the pedal for the job.

H.B.E.

Detox EQ

(Paul Gilbert Signature Series)

* Input: Instrument in

* Output: Output to amplifier

* Treble: Adjusts amount of treble boost or cut

* Bass: Adjusts amount of bass boost or cut

* Mid: Adjusts amount of mid boost or cut

* Level: Controls overall output level

* 9VDC Jack: Use - center power supply

EQ pedals have always been a kind of savior for me, in those times when I've been recording and needed to get different sounds out of an amp or guitar, in live situations when a room is not giving me my amp's tone, and in times when I've just needed a little more or less girth from my sound. The HomeBrew Electronics Detox EQ is capable of all this but can also pull-off a few other tricks that I've never heard from an EQ pedal. It was obvious I had something special in my hands, something alien, unique, and just right-down awesome. I really have to give it up to Paul Gilbert and the HBE team for coming up with this killer tone tool, I literally haven't stopped playing with this pedal since it landed on my doorstep. You're probably thinking to yourself "What's so special about this pedal, it's only an eq?" Well before we get into what the Detox EQ can do let's take a closer look at it. The Detox EQ rocks an active three band eq with each channel capable of dishing out around 5db of boost or cut. The pedal sounds great with just about every stringed instrument you run it through, and with it's overlapping frequencies there are no gaps in the overall sound which give you a balanced, clear tone. The Detox EQ can pull off everything from traditional eq shaping, overdrive tones, and what I like to call underdrive tones. The reason for the Detox EQ's organic and wide range of sounds is it's mighty Burr Brown IC that the pedal is built around, this along with it's overall design of course. The pedal has Treble, Bass, Mid, and Level controls, and runs on a 9V battery or center - 9VDC power adapter. My first runthrough of this pedal was on it's own with everything at noon, through an overdriven amp, and rocking it with my custom Tele. I rang out some AC/DC style hairy chords then went ahead and engaged the pedal. I noticed things got a tad mellower, smoother, and cleaner. As if my hairy tone had gotten a haircut. In this setting the pedal worked like a reverse overdriver, almost as if shutting off an overdrive pedal itself, but it did it without loosing any of the tone's intensity. This was awesome compared to just having a guitar volume and tone to roll down, we all know how muddy and dead our sound can get when we do this. This gave me an idea. I have an old 5 watt tube amp that I sometimes use for getting big sounds out of at low volumes, you should hear the sounds I can get out of it by throwing it in the shower and sticking a 57 in front of it. The only problem is the amp is literally a one-trick pony, only capable of a mid-rangy dirty tone. I've always thought "If only I could get more from this little monster." Well I thought maybe, just maybe, that by playing the Detox EQ through it that I'd be able to pull a few more sounds out of it. So I do so, stomp the pedal, and low and behold... an entirely new collection of sounds to play with. It was freakin kickass! By setting the Detox EQ's level below noon, and pulling back on it's three band eq, I was not only able to clean up the amp's sound, but also mold it into some perfect tones for layering guitar tracks. I wanted to see if the pedal would do the same through a big boy amp so I plugged it into a 100 watt Super Lead and let her rip. Just like I expected the pedal came through like a champ! Here is where things got really fun, I set the amp to my root tone and used the Detox to bump, push, and slam certain frequencies into an exaggerated version of my sound. It was like my sound on steroids, like the Incredible Hulk had jumped in. I could just push the lows to get some fatty brown sounds, push the mids to get a classic Brit sound, or mix it up to match the pedal to my amp. Another sweet little trick I discovered with this pedal is you can fatten up single coils to sound more like humbuckers, and shape humbuckers to sound like just about everything imaginable. This is perfect for those of us who carry around more than one guitar for gigging, or have to step on a handful of pedals to get a similar effect. I must say, for a pedal with four knobs, one being a level control, the Detox EQ is extremely versatile. I'm really curious to know how Paul Gilbert uses this pedal since it is his design/idea. I can't see HomeBrew ever disappointing me or letting me down. I remember the first time I ran into their pedals at my local guitar shop, I had pulled one out, then the next, then before you know it I had run through every HBE pedal they had in the shop. There's talent, and then there's gift. The cats at HBE own a bit of both, and with the vision they have to build pedals like the Detox EQ they have a one-up on the game. I am looking forward to checking out more of these signature pedals and cannot wait to see what else they have in store for us. For now we'll all just sit back and let them brew.

For more info on HomeBrew Electronics go to www.homebrewelectronics.com There are a handful of awesome pedals to check out on their website and HBE is always cooking up something new. Make sure to stay tuned for more from this killer company. Rock on folks!

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