These are maybe the most persuasive videos ever made for Darkglass products. A lot of people say these things are not just for metal, but Amos makes you believe it.
For those of us who are not so fond of over the top distortions, it's nice to see a demo like this ... hopefully you can test how Darkglass pedals interact with Gibson SG / Epiphone EB basses.I will be thankful
thanks for making a review that showcases some cleaner sounds!! My buddy lent me his. I play in a blues band and a jazz group and hearing chugga chugga all the time doesn't help. The compression on this is incredible too. Will likely get one soon :)
That white Jazz with tort pickguard is seriously gorgeous! I'm usually a maple neck guy but that is making me rethink things haha. Tone was mighty and video quality is crispy, recently found your channel and was an easy subscribe!
I’ve watched 15+ reviews of the different versions of this pedal (X, X7, Ultra) trying to figure out 1. If I want it…and 2. Which one I should get. Your review was by far the easiest to follow and most useful explanation of the pedal (love the graphics). Most others were too technical and long winded with crappy samples. I was sold on the first song demo, simply amazing tone and just what I’m looking for. Ordering mine now, wish I could hook you up on the sale somehow! Thanks for an awesome review! 🤘🏻
Dude thank you for this! Most people definitely use this as a metal tone but your review made this pedal much more versatile! I love the metal tones but the songs you played and the way you integrated the pedal just made me more excited that i have this pedal!
yo this is the best demo ive seen of this pedal. playing all the different styles really helps give a great example of its flexibility. I was sold on an AO ultra until seeing this. now you have me questioning lol
Awesome demo, Amos. 😎🤘🏻🎸this preamp pedal sounds phenomenal. I own 2 microtubes x pedals. The compact version on my main pedalboard and the x7 on my backup pedalboard. Both pedals sound killer.
I absolutely love that jam you did with the black bass with the pick, very nice! Then u kicked in the distortion it was nice and very melodic, and you did the best jib explaining this pedal I found one for sale about 20 mins from my hopefully I can drive there and pick it up tomorrow 😊!! New sub here bass brother
Amos! You are so gifted bro! Someone with a big name band or gig PLEASE hire this man asap! Clearly sir, you are a a talented composer, player, and product demonstrator, but it’s the humor and technical analysis and descriptions that make these videos most useful. My brother, Jason Werkema, is a gifted Jazz and Classical guitarist. You two would be an incredible foundation to any group! Look him up and drop him a note. Tell him Mark sent ya!
Amos, after watching your videos about the ADAM and this pedal... Just wow! You show how to use those pedals for alot other styles too! Such an eye opener!!!
I'm still trying to decide between this one and the B7K Ultra... (And I'm not even a bass player LOL) these pedals (AND YOUR VIDEO) have made me get even more excited to play bass using this thing. I do own the plugin version of the B7K but I've heard from fellow musicians its nothing compared to the real thing. I guess I want to go for the most versatile option, so I can add just a little bit of break and coloring but when needed take it to distortion land hehe
Thanks! Most of their stuff is capable of Anti-DG as well- that’s super high gain shred capability is a little harder to come by, so a lot of other folks have featured it very thoroughly. These also do the low gain fattening tone magic thing quite well
One tiny but super helpful tip, on my X Ultra I've used some tiny bits of white paper stickers jammed into the little notches on the low/high filters frequency knobs to make them more visible, I just used a paper clip to push it in there. I'm not sure why Darkglass didn't use knobs with more visible markers, in a dim room it's near impossible to see where those filters are set and they have a huge impact on the effect. Adding those little bits of white into the notches made setting it so much easier. Also, the X Ultra can also be used as a full band compressor on the clean channel, if you hold the bypass switch down for a few seconds the lights turn blue, indicating that compression is being applied to the full signal when the pedal is engaged but the distortion is turned off, another little super power!
@@AmosHeller Thanks for making these demos, the production quality and arrangements are superb! I really appreciate the way you set tone goals then dial them in, it's a fantastic way of showing off pedals. Speaks to knowing how a pedal can serve your sound rather than just control twiddling and hoping something good happens (which I'm plenty guilty of myself sometimes!).
I appreciate that! Glad they’re helpful. Random twiddling is definitely how I start. It’s been my experience that nearly every piece of gear has something it does well. Figuring out what it is can definitely help you use it to its best advantage
Amazing pedal; it's my primary preamp and distortion. I only wish the low comp could be active all the time, not just when the distortion is engaged. I know you can use the blue mode to have compression all the time, but that compresses the whole frequency range and not just the lows.
Great demo! Love all the riffs and the feeling you create. I’ve got the Microtubes X Ultra and this I think helped me gain control and confidence in using the pedal. I’ve seen that you can also by activating some function in the Darkglass suite, use the comp on the complete signal without the distortion activated? The LED:s should then turn blue, when activated. I missed a short explanation about this in the video. But still 10/10 top notch stuff yore making. Regards!
Thanks Anders! You're correct-you can configure the pedal so that the compression is always on, and yes it turns the lights blue. I didn't get to that in this video-perhaps I'll do a follow-up. Thanks for the comment and the kind words!
I believe it is possible to achieve the same by holding bypass for 2 seconds (the lights will turn blue and compression will be added to the clean signal too).
Definitely the most concise review for this pedal I've seen. I'm curious about your opinion tho; I'm going on tour in a few months and I'll be using someone else's amp/cab set-up. My plan is to use this as a DI to FOH and run parallel out to the amp/cab more as a stage monitor. Do you have any experience using this as a DI? I'll be doing mostly cleaner "jazzier" tones with the occasional distortion thrown in on some songs. Any advice on this? Any other preamp/DI/Distortion you'd consider?
Hey Adam! Thanks for watching. So-I used this as the DI for the video, and it was great. Although a lot of the real estate on this pedal is devoted to the drive controls it’s a useful clean EQ pedal. There’s a whole world of DI/Preamps/Drives out there, no surprise. It all depends on so many things that are personal to *you* that it’s hard to make a recommendation. Using your own gear to avoid having to change someone else’s settings is a great idea. Seems like this one would work.
That's a very unique approach towards the lpf/hpf filter. I've always set them way apart as I thought any overlap would be unwanted. The result is a scooped kinda sound which doesn't always work for me. So maybe here's a solution...
I noticed the same. I like the filters at least meeting in the middle, with both on full as my favorite sound. It is a different approach on this pedal. Try it with the filters up and let me know what you think!
@@AmosHeller Thanks for the tip, I've tried it yesterday. It gives the pedal a new vibe, kind of similar to the Alpha/Omega but less fuzzy. I certainly dig it, although in a guitar-heavy scenario moving the filters apart can definitely help to punch through the mix.
You know how to demo these things, for sure. This X series seems very different than other Darkglass pedals in that it doesn't use a Blend knob to balance your raw low end sound with the distortion. I've grown used to using correcting pretty much every bass distortion or fuzz with a dry blend of some sort - either within the pedal or using a splitter. This pedal solves that problem in a very different way. I'm not sure if I'll like that or hate that yet, but it sounds great when you do it. I wish you had a demo of the AO Ultra up. Have you played the AO series yet?
I’ve done a video on the Alpha Omega 500, the amp with that same engine. I love how the AO stuff sounds. I wish people knew how big of a deal the X approach to blending is. It’s a little strange to control it with two filters like they do, but personally I set them to maximum and we’re good.
@@AmosHeller i was trying to decide what to trade my ADAM for. The X Ultra should be here Monday. I think it’s more in line with the always-on b7k that I’ve been using for nearly 8 years. I’m looking forward layering the two pedals.
I love the X. Can’t do AS MUCH as the Adam, but the use is a lot more straightforward. This thing does plenty, and while you can’t save presets ETC there’s a lot here. Just the advantage of keeping your low end clean is next level. Smaller footprint, easy power supply...if you don’t *need* the complexity of the ADAM this is pretty great.
@@AmosHeller thanks for the quick response! I'm kinda torn between the ADAM and the X Ultra. I really like the idea of the ADAM's three presets and being able to switch between very different sounds in real time. On the other hand, the Ultra X just sounds really good and can switch the distortion on and off. Hard to choose!
It is! I find myself saying this often when replying to folks like yourself: it depends what you need! If you need presets and having some pretty distinct sounds to swap between, then yes, the ADAM is cheaper than three separate pedals. The amount of control and customization is bonkers. BUT if you want to move physical sliders and have something a little more approachable, and you just need a clean and dirty sound, the X Ultra might be a better bet.
I wouldn’t say pointless-if you used the X7 eq to shape your distorted tone as distinct from your clean tone. You could have a distinct setting for just your drive and another on the amp for your clean to e
I find the compressor to be pretty useless for more aggressive plucking style players. It doesnt even work in clean mode, and it doesnt do the job in distortion mode. Theres some room for improvement especially considering its one of the more expensive pedals out there.
These are maybe the most persuasive videos ever made for Darkglass products. A lot of people say these things are not just for metal, but Amos makes you believe it.
All three of those riffs were just amazing. Look forward to your posts and reviews. Really appreciate your style/vibe. Keep em coming.
For those of us who are not so fond of over the top distortions, it's nice to see a demo like this ... hopefully you can test how Darkglass pedals interact with Gibson SG / Epiphone EB basses.I will be thankful
The groove of 'Scare City's is seriously so badass. LOVE IT.
Thanks Patrick!
i second that.. sooo good!
thanks for making a review that showcases some cleaner sounds!! My buddy lent me his. I play in a blues band and a jazz group and hearing chugga chugga all the time doesn't help. The compression on this is incredible too. Will likely get one soon :)
You are so succinct and concise Amos. Yet another awesome review that has me wanting to buy some gear.
Please do more reviews of bass gear.
Done and done. Thanks for the kind words Jason. Glad you’re enjoying.
This demonstration really helped me understand the X Ultra better. Thanks Amos.
Awesome. Glad to help!
Great review. Really glad I found this channel-- keep it up.
Hi Amos, your video has inspired me to buy an X Ultra and I couldn’t be more happy with my purchase. Thank you so much for the great review!
such a wonderful review! thank you Amos.. i really enjoyed the tone-breakdowns, oh, and i love soft-touch switches too :-)
Hard to overstate how much they contribute to a pedal’s feel.
That white Jazz with tort pickguard is seriously gorgeous! I'm usually a maple neck guy but that is making me rethink things haha. Tone was mighty and video quality is crispy, recently found your channel and was an easy subscribe!
Great review. I like the pedal.
I’ve watched 15+ reviews of the different versions of this pedal (X, X7, Ultra) trying to figure out 1. If I want it…and 2. Which one I should get. Your review was by far the easiest to follow and most useful explanation of the pedal (love the graphics). Most others were too technical and long winded with crappy samples. I was sold on the first song demo, simply amazing tone and just what I’m looking for. Ordering mine now, wish I could hook you up on the sale somehow! Thanks for an awesome review! 🤘🏻
Dude thank you for this! Most people definitely use this as a metal tone but your review made this pedal much more versatile! I love the metal tones but the songs you played and the way you integrated the pedal just made me more excited that i have this pedal!
Thanks so much! Glad it helped.
Riffage is top shelf. You, by a country mile, have the best darkglass reviews on the planet. Thank you so much!!!
Aw shucks! Thanks!
Your playing is so inspiring...
Thank you!
yo this is the best demo ive seen of this pedal. playing all the different styles really helps give a great example of its flexibility. I was sold on an AO ultra until seeing this. now you have me questioning lol
Thanks Rosie! Glad it helped
Awesome demo, Amos. 😎🤘🏻🎸this preamp pedal sounds phenomenal. I own 2 microtubes x pedals. The compact version on my main pedalboard and the x7 on my backup pedalboard. Both pedals sound killer.
I absolutely love that jam you did with the black bass with the pick, very nice! Then u kicked in the distortion it was nice and very melodic, and you did the best jib explaining this pedal I found one for sale about 20 mins from my hopefully I can drive there and pick it up tomorrow 😊!! New sub here bass brother
Thanks so much! Good luck with the pedal. Let me know how it goes!
Amos! You are so gifted bro! Someone with a big name band or gig PLEASE hire this man asap! Clearly sir, you are a a talented composer, player, and product demonstrator, but it’s the humor and technical analysis and descriptions that make these videos most useful.
My brother, Jason Werkema, is a gifted Jazz and Classical guitarist. You two would be an incredible foundation to any group! Look him up and drop him a note. Tell him Mark sent ya!
Is Taylor Swift not big enough for you? 😂
Amos, after watching your videos about the ADAM and this pedal... Just wow!
You show how to use those pedals for alot other styles too!
Such an eye opener!!!
Thank you!
Man that first song is so badass I had to teach myself how to play it
I'm still trying to decide between this one and the B7K Ultra... (And I'm not even a bass player LOL) these pedals (AND YOUR VIDEO) have made me get even more excited to play bass using this thing. I do own the plugin version of the B7K but I've heard from fellow musicians its nothing compared to the real thing. I guess I want to go for the most versatile option, so I can add just a little bit of break and coloring but when needed take it to distortion land hehe
Great anti-Darkglass tone on the Flea bass example. Luscious OD. Perfect capabilities review.
Thanks! Most of their stuff is capable of Anti-DG as well- that’s super high gain shred capability is a little harder to come by, so a lot of other folks have featured it very thoroughly. These also do the low gain fattening tone magic thing quite well
Also ‘fallow’ gives very Low Roar vibes. Check them out if you haven’t already!
One tiny but super helpful tip, on my X Ultra I've used some tiny bits of white paper stickers jammed into the little notches on the low/high filters frequency knobs to make them more visible, I just used a paper clip to push it in there. I'm not sure why Darkglass didn't use knobs with more visible markers, in a dim room it's near impossible to see where those filters are set and they have a huge impact on the effect. Adding those little bits of white into the notches made setting it so much easier.
Also, the X Ultra can also be used as a full band compressor on the clean channel, if you hold the bypass switch down for a few seconds the lights turn blue, indicating that compression is being applied to the full signal when the pedal is engaged but the distortion is turned off, another little super power!
Great tip!
@@AmosHeller Thanks for making these demos, the production quality and arrangements are superb! I really appreciate the way you set tone goals then dial them in, it's a fantastic way of showing off pedals. Speaks to knowing how a pedal can serve your sound rather than just control twiddling and hoping something good happens (which I'm plenty guilty of myself sometimes!).
I appreciate that! Glad they’re helpful. Random twiddling is definitely how I start. It’s been my experience that nearly every piece of gear has something it does well. Figuring out what it is can definitely help you use it to its best advantage
0:56: Amos Heller - Fill In Text Later. Exactly my humor xD
Glad you caught it! Cheers
Amazing pedal; it's my primary preamp and distortion. I only wish the low comp could be active all the time, not just when the distortion is engaged. I know you can use the blue mode to have compression all the time, but that compresses the whole frequency range and not just the lows.
any preamps that have such a compression?
Great demo! Love all the riffs and the feeling you create. I’ve got the Microtubes X Ultra and this I think helped me gain control and confidence in using the pedal. I’ve seen that you can also by activating some function in the Darkglass suite, use the comp on the complete signal without the distortion activated? The LED:s should then turn blue, when activated. I missed a short explanation about this in the video. But still 10/10 top notch stuff yore making. Regards!
Thanks Anders! You're correct-you can configure the pedal so that the compression is always on, and yes it turns the lights blue. I didn't get to that in this video-perhaps I'll do a follow-up. Thanks for the comment and the kind words!
I believe it is possible to achieve the same by holding bypass for 2 seconds (the lights will turn blue and compression will be added to the clean signal too).
🥳
Definitely the most concise review for this pedal I've seen. I'm curious about your opinion tho; I'm going on tour in a few months and I'll be using someone else's amp/cab set-up. My plan is to use this as a DI to FOH and run parallel out to the amp/cab more as a stage monitor. Do you have any experience using this as a DI? I'll be doing mostly cleaner "jazzier" tones with the occasional distortion thrown in on some songs. Any advice on this? Any other preamp/DI/Distortion you'd consider?
Hey Adam! Thanks for watching.
So-I used this as the DI for the video, and it was great. Although a lot of the real estate on this pedal is devoted to the drive controls it’s a useful clean EQ pedal.
There’s a whole world of DI/Preamps/Drives out there, no surprise. It all depends on so many things that are personal to *you* that it’s hard to make a recommendation. Using your own gear to avoid having to change someone else’s settings is a great idea. Seems like this one would work.
That's a very unique approach towards the lpf/hpf filter. I've always set them way apart as I thought any overlap would be unwanted. The result is a scooped kinda sound which doesn't always work for me. So maybe here's a solution...
I noticed the same. I like the filters at least meeting in the middle, with both on full as my favorite sound. It is a different approach on this pedal. Try it with the filters up and let me know what you think!
@@AmosHeller Thanks for the tip, I've tried it yesterday. It gives the pedal a new vibe, kind of similar to the Alpha/Omega but less fuzzy. I certainly dig it, although in a guitar-heavy scenario moving the filters apart can definitely help to punch through the mix.
@@flv2358 good to know!
@@AmosHeller Thank you for your videos. Lots and lots of useful information!
I love this video, its made me realise I need this pedal, thanks for the gas....😅
Sorry! And ew. :)
Update, I picked one up a couple of months ago and its superb.
« Capacity » amazing bass sound ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️👍🏻💪🏻
Thank you!
You know how to demo these things, for sure. This X series seems very different than other Darkglass pedals in that it doesn't use a Blend knob to balance your raw low end sound with the distortion. I've grown used to using correcting pretty much every bass distortion or fuzz with a dry blend of some sort - either within the pedal or using a splitter. This pedal solves that problem in a very different way. I'm not sure if I'll like that or hate that yet, but it sounds great when you do it.
I wish you had a demo of the AO Ultra up. Have you played the AO series yet?
I’ve done a video on the Alpha Omega 500, the amp with that same engine. I love how the AO stuff sounds.
I wish people knew how big of a deal the X approach to blending is. It’s a little strange to control it with two filters like they do, but personally I set them to maximum and we’re good.
@@AmosHeller i was trying to decide what to trade my ADAM for. The X Ultra should be here Monday. I think it’s more in line with the always-on b7k that I’ve been using for nearly 8 years. I’m looking forward layering the two pedals.
What Class D amp do you recommend if I use this preamp as an always on pedal?
How is easy level matching when distortion is engaged?
So hard to choose between the X and the alfaomega
Amos: do you place this guy before or after your compression (assuming you're using compression)?
Have you tried the Alpha Omega Ultra? If so, do you find the X Ultra or AOU more versatile?
Just a question - did you run an IR on the DI out?
Shit...now I want it.
same here.. damn GAS :D
My bad folks. 😂
Great demo! How do you like this one compared to the ADAM?
I love the X. Can’t do AS MUCH as the Adam, but the use is a lot more straightforward. This thing does plenty, and while you can’t save presets ETC there’s a lot here. Just the advantage of keeping your low end clean is next level. Smaller footprint, easy power supply...if you don’t *need* the complexity of the ADAM this is pretty great.
@@AmosHeller thanks for the quick response! I'm kinda torn between the ADAM and the X Ultra. I really like the idea of the ADAM's three presets and being able to switch between very different sounds in real time. On the other hand, the Ultra X just sounds really good and can switch the distortion on and off. Hard to choose!
It is! I find myself saying this often when replying to folks like yourself: it depends what you need! If you need presets and having some pretty distinct sounds to swap between, then yes, the ADAM is cheaper than three separate pedals. The amount of control and customization is bonkers.
BUT if you want to move physical sliders and have something a little more approachable, and you just need a clean and dirty sound, the X Ultra might be a better bet.
@@AmosHeller appreciate your feedback! I will need to think about it (and watch more videos)
ALWAYS MOAR VIDYOES
Are you using an active or passive bass?
I'm curious if I have the alpha Omega head which has the 6 band EQ would it be pointless to get the x7 with the extra EQ and just get the microtube X?
I wouldn’t say pointless-if you used the X7 eq to shape your distorted tone as distinct from your clean tone. You could have a distinct setting for just your drive and another on the amp for your clean to e
@@AmosHeller thanks will definitely try that out
Where can i found tab for scare city ??
insane
Sorry but I’m not making tab at this time. Maybe in the future...
@@AmosHeller Do you have try the comp on the clean only ? It sound great too
I didn’t get into that setting for this video unfortunately. So-comp is off for the clean parts
I find the compressor to be pretty useless for more aggressive plucking style players. It doesnt even work in clean mode, and it doesnt do the job in distortion mode. Theres some room for improvement especially considering its one of the more expensive pedals out there.
100th