Let's see your PEDAL BOARD!

[rustywire]

mine's a stock one, 78-81 era (never bothered to check). Do you find that each one has its own character? I owned another '78 once and it had a different vibe to it.

Yes, these are my findings with the vintage units. Each one has its own mystique and dominant characteristics, because internally they're all similar...yet different.
Some use ceramic caps *here* and poly caps *there* while others will swap them vice versa, and then other units will use all ceramic or all poly...etc.
Then there's the transistor (the old units use one, in the pre-amp stage?)...and its gain/leakage surely influences the overall sound.
The power transformer as well, there was less uniformity and greater impurities in the wire/windings of the old ones.
Finally, the workmanship of the individual who built and tuned the circuit around whichever components ultimately found their way inside...and how the tolerances have drifted in the 3+ decades since being manufactured.

I currently have 4 DMMs with a 5th on the way, all 5 knobber/pre-bankruptcy models.
There is no transferrable setting[s] between them, one unit's knob positions sound different in another; sometimes subtle other times glaring.
I've been putting money into a recording setup so (among other things) I can better demonstrate some of these observations.

As much as ILF, the DMM is my favorite pedal and among the most intriguing effects ever designed. Howard "Mick" Davis is an American hero.

not enough DMM

My mantra

[winkelschleifer]

Hello there



modded Jazzmaster/DeArmond Starfire Custom -->
--> Tube Zipper --> Tuner -->CT5 -->Moog --> Memory Boy --> HOF mini -->
Fender Vibrolux modded Reissue

Lovin it, need to get an expression pedal now though

[nad]

^^Kickass board and avatar/game, nad man

Splatter in the House!

Sweet. I want to ask you about Diabolik vs B:Assmaster. Is there much difference between the two or is it just a bassmaster stuck on one mode?

also VERY interested in that. Killer board!

Okay. Here is the thing. I am Assmaster crazy, I have owned several (including a fabled Double Germ at one point), they are my #1 pedal favoUrite forever and ever. So, my ears have grown very particular to them and their subtle distinctions, and the two I currently own are older varieties, back when they had a little less low end. I have owned some newer ones as well, which were overall thicker sounding, but not quite as cutting.

I put them both on my board because while I prefer the Assmaster, my band prefers the Diabolik. At home they sound quite similar, and you can somewhat imitate a Diabolik with an Assmaster, but in a band mix I can really hear the differences. The Diabolik has a certain beef and heft to it that the Assmaster doesn't. And conversely, the Assmaster has a certain cut that the Diabolik just can't reach. These differences are much more apparent in high volume situations, and speaking of that, when you run them into one another? KABOOM.

I haven't directly compared the Diabolik to the newer Assmasters, but I would hazard a guess that they are more similar.

[hbombgraphics]

winkelschleifer this is very nice
compact and cool

It makes me happy that you just fit the pedals and then cabled everything in the order that worked for ya

Screw that Right to left stuff

[DarkAxel]

thanks, nad!

[Scruffie]

Just to clear up a few bits here for you;

Then there's the transistor (the old units use one, in the pre-amp stage?)...and its gain/leakage surely influences the overall sound.

The transistor isn't in the pre-amp or actually part of the audio path, it's the driver for the overload LED and shouldn't affect the tone.

The power transformer as well, there was less uniformity and greater impurities in the wire/windings of the old ones.

The DMM is regulated (although there will be small voltage variations between units but none so much that it should really be noticeable) so that shouldn't make a difference, except maybe to noise levels from the transformer but my transformer knowledge is limited to comment on that.

Finally, the workmanship of the individual who built and tuned the circuit around whichever components ultimately found their way inside...

They all went through the same precise set up procedure, so your next point -

and how the tolerances have drifted in the 3+ decades since being manufactured.

Is the important one, the resistors will have some slight drift, trims may have drifted, electrolytic caps are certainly past their best (replacing them can help a lot with excessive noise and other issues and is something i'd recommend) and also importantly, even today with tight tolerance parts, the low pass filters are very sensitive to values so a few kHz here and there can make a difference to the overall sound. Even without drift, the tolerance of the parts will affect things.

Regards setting between units, the pots probably have the worst tolerance of all (20%, same as today's alphas) is a big variation so settings between units varying is not surprising, it can also be the reason between one unit having too short a max delay and the next having too long (whine entering the signal), EHX did actually use a 5% tolerance cap for the delay time cap in the units i've seen so the pot is usually the cause.

[kbit]

Hello there



modded Jazzmaster/DeArmond Starfire Custom -->
--> Tube Zipper --> Tuner -->CT5 -->Moog --> Memory Boy --> HOF mini -->
Fender Vibrolux modded Reissue

Lovin it, need to get an expression pedal now though

AWESOME. WOULD. What's it like playing with/without the tube zipper?

[winkelschleifer]

winkelschleifer this is very nice
compact and cool

It makes me happy that you just fit the pedals and then cabled everything in the order that worked for ya

Screw that Right to left stuff

totally. it still gives me lots of satisfaction that everything did actually fit on there that way.
(it's a hacked, turned over ikea stainless steel shelf with stained wood braces in it)

Hello there



modded Jazzmaster/DeArmond Starfire Custom -->
--> Tube Zipper --> Tuner -->CT5 -->Moog --> Memory Boy --> HOF mini -->
Fender Vibrolux modded Reissue

Lovin it, need to get an expression pedal now though

AWESOME. WOULD. What's it like playing with/without the tube zipper?

thanks, man.

i use the tube zipper mostly as a almost clean to gritty preamp/drive,
as soon as i play more single notes than chords, the resonance gets turned up to 9 o'clock (down envelope mode). set to the frequency you can see in the pic, i get a really "tight" bass response that way. paired with the moog drive for fuzzy overdrive with some sizzly highs (filter/tone as seen, peak engaged), that's about my favourite distortion sound in the world right now. feels so "full range" .

[coldbrightsunlight]

That board looks incredible. Bet it sounds amazing!

[retinal orbita]

Grind band is playing again after a 10 month break.

Post links to your band if you have them.

[PetZounds]

winkelschleifer this is very nice
compact and cool

It makes me happy that you just fit the pedals and then cabled everything in the order that worked for ya

Screw that Right to left stuff

totally. it still gives me lots of satisfaction that everything did actually fit on there that way.
(it's a hacked, turned over ikea stainless steel shelf with stained wood braces in it)

Hello there



modded Jazzmaster/DeArmond Starfire Custom -->
--> Tube Zipper --> Tuner -->CT5 -->Moog --> Memory Boy --> HOF mini -->
Fender Vibrolux modded Reissue

Lovin it, need to get an expression pedal now though

AWESOME. WOULD. What's it like playing with/without the tube zipper?

thanks, man.

i use the tube zipper mostly as a almost clean to gritty preamp/drive,
as soon as i play more single notes than chords, the resonance gets turned up to 9 o'clock (down envelope mode). set to the frequency you can see in the pic, i get a really "tight" bass response that way. paired with the moog drive for fuzzy overdrive with some sizzly highs (filter/tone as seen, peak engaged), that's about my favourite distortion sound in the world right now. feels so "full range" .

What do you think of that MF Drive?
There's one for $100 on my local craigslist, with a free EP-3 expression pedal.
Seems like a pretty decent deal, might get it if it's a neat pedal.

[Chankgeez]

That's a deal, I think you should get it.

[dase]

Grind band is playing again after a 10 month break.

Post links to your band if you have them.

humanruins.bandcamp.com is one of the bands this board gets used in. Grind band doesn't have anything up yet I think?

[foomanfat]

Bass

[UglyCasanova]

Soooo clean, dude!