I've heard the dpFX ECHIDNA from a friend-bassist the other day in the studio and I gotta say it's a really mean overdrive! The demo can't really do it justice, so this will be my number 1. The AMIANTO is definitely my second choice (and maybe pretty close sounding to the Echidna?). And in order to pick a more mild and AMP-like overdrive I'd choose the dpFX ACHERON for my number 3.
You are right! The echidna can get very aggressive. In the high gain I samples I had it set with a lot of gain but about 70/30 dry/wet, to give a modern edge to the clean signal. 🤘🏻
i really liked how the DPFX Acheron sounded in the throaty part, i like the strange kinda muffled sound the amianto gave the overdrive in the throaty section, i didnt love how the germanium sounded when throaty but for the aggressive style i thought it was a lot nicer of a sound, the amianto also sounded very good in the agressive as well. if i had to choose one of them to actually get i would probably choose the amianto, seems like pretty good all round overdrive at least to my taste in overdrive its like a slightly less agressive tube screamer with a more aggressive color scheme
I'd have to say that I liked the Substance, the Acheron and the B85 Germanium the best, in no particular order. Great work here, can't wait for the rest of the videos!
it's tough to choose but I think I'll go with these three: 1. dpFX Echidna (I really liked the presence on the high gain setting and the tone of its grit, very modern) 2. Moody Sounds Hjart Muller (very gentle even in high gain settings, nice mids on the the mid gain setting) 3. dpFX Acheron (nice attack with less grit, I'd love to hear it in classic doom tunes)
Tough task here to select three! I'll pick the Echidna, the Amianto and ... arghhh... the... Critical theory! I considered the pedal form factor and exterior aesthetics while choosing 😊
First off, what a ton of work. Thanks for all of this. Second, for me The substance, Chrom, and B85 germanium had the best overall characteristics in the scenarios you showed. I loved the throatiness of the Substance, the mid-punch of the chrom, and the bassy drive from the B85.
@@thewetterbass -- I would say yes, that is my preferred order. I've been looking at the Chrom on Reverb, primarily for its mid-focus, but now I'll have to scope out the substance. Currently, my mid-focused sound, and drive come from either a Darkglass X, or the Trondheim Skarone. I prefer the compressor in the Skarone, and the unit is much less noisy than the DG, but the DG has that certain mid-focus and mid-punch that I can't seem to dial in using the Skarone. The Chrom seems like a perfect replacement for the DG, as it has all the same characteristics, but without the noise, and I can use the Skarone for the compressor (in blue mode). Food for thought. Keep up the amazing videos.
+1 to others, these are great shootouts, thanks for all the work on these! My top three in order: Tritonlab FET (with less treble rolloff in the mid gain sample), Hjart Muller (very close second), and the Substance.
Awesome! The mid bump example of the FET is to show that it can do it, unlike other pedals here. Centered at around 800Hz it helps give a bit of presence in the growl of the saturation. I really like this pedal, hits way above its price tag. Not available any more sadly.
Hmm, I expected the Bass Fuckin Drive to be the best, but didn't like it at all. I didn't really like the Hjart Muller either. I think the B85 Germanium takes the crown for me as the number one over all. The Acheron is very nice for the high gain aggressive though.... it's a tough call between these two. Second place overall I'd put the Amianto. That's a very nice pedal that might be added to my ever growing list! I'm not really sure for third place. All the rest are about equal to me and I think I'd be fine with any of them.
Second part review time! working purely off of the sound: 1. DPFX ECHIDNA - It has a great character, however, It's just a bit too hollow on higher gain, so I have to knock it down a point - I am usually looking to fill out a mix with the bass... 6/10. 2. DPFX ACHERON - Pretty killer sound, but could really use a mid EQ. Doesn't get that throatiness, and the higher setting could use a bit of extra grit - but it's actually pretty great. 6.5/10. 3. B85 AUDIO GERMANIUM OVERDRIVE - Classic, throaty, unapolagetic, honest to god overdrive. It's a bit old school in the sound, not gonna get very hifi, but I like it quite a bit. 8/10. 4. B85 AUDIO HROM - Very solid alternative to darkglass. I would absolutely use this live - low gain setting is ok, medium is solid, but the heavy setting is where it's at. 7.5/10. 5. FTELETTRONICA CRITICAL THEORY - pretty similar to the HROM, I like the Heavy setting more on this one but the lighter setting are a bit lacking. it get's the same rating. 7.5/10. 6. FTELETTRONICA SUBSTANCE - personal preference. I like this one more than the critical/hrom, (especially on the lower settings), and it still kicks ass at higher gain. very versatile. 8.5/10. 7. FTELETTRONICA ANIMATO - a bit anemic compared to the other options on display. still a very solid sound with different character and pretty consistent across gain ranges. 7/10. 8. FTELETTRONICA BASS FUCKIN DRIVE - It's clankier and messier than the other options. Not for me. could be perfect for somebody else, but for me it's a 6/10. 9. ONE CONTROL HOOKER'S GREEN BASS MACHINE 4K - Feels a bit like a disappointing fuzz. Doesn't get as hard as I hoped it would, pretty limited frequency response. 5.5/10 10. TRITONLAB FET OVERDRIVE - Very solid pedal, great sounds across the board, even if the specific character is not exactly to my liking. I bet it's pretty versatile with all those knobs. 7/10. 11. TRITONLAB CORSAIR - I expected more from this one. Might be the way you set it up specifically but it's kind of unrefined and dull to my ears. Still pretty solid though. 6.5/10. 12. MOODY SOUNDS HJÄRT MÜLLER - To me it lacks the brightness in the heavy setting, lacks the punch in the medium, but it is pleasently dirty in the low gain. Not for me. 6/10. Seems my favorites out of these are the FTElettronica Substance (which was quite a surprise honestly, I might have to buy one now...), the B85 Audio Germanium Overdrive (which is more specific, but I love this type of bass overdrive), and the FTElettronica Critical Theory - which is technically tied with the HROM, but I would use these pretty much exclusively on the higher gain anyway, and I prefered the Critical theory in that context. I think that this demo perfectly encapsulates that prices of pedals yield diminishing returns in most categories, especially so in overdrive/distortion. A lot of these drives could easily be used in the studio on album work - and would pass with flying colours in live settings. I would be perfectly happy with my chosen top three drives as my only gain pedals in general - and while these might very well deserve even higher marks I am keeping things more towards the middle of the scale in case one of the higher end options really blows my mind.
Yes, for the price you get excellent pedals. My favorite of the bunch is the B85 germanium overdrive. I love how it sounds at mid gain. It certainly offers something unique. I also love the FET, one of my first pedals and I thought the Echidna sounded great in this shootout.
1)One Control Hookers Green, sonido gordo y tamaño pequeño la verdad me gusta hacia donde va esta marca 2)FT Critical Theory, tipo sonido B3K, aunque soy mas de AO y microtubes 3)B85 Hrom
Hi! The bass fuckin’ drive right? I love it! The green hooker can be found new at a reasonable price, around 125€, at least here in Europe. Is there a third you like?
@@thewetterbass Hey, Wetter! That thing is killer indeed. I have just watched some more videos on it. The Hooker's Green, I could pick up here in AU for $150 used. It's just under double that new. Our dollar sucks. Hmm. The germanium overdrive from B58 piqued me also. Very simple, very effective.
I have to say I’m pretty taken with that Aminato! I used to have a clone of the Human Gear Animato but it didn’t have a clean blend and actually kinda suffered because of that.
dpfx acheron, tritonlab corsair, and the substance. bass fucking drive / critical theory / substance. all of the fteletteonica pedals sounded great that is a hard choice between them.
Can't help but feel that not one of them sounded better than the clean example. I mean just listen to the clean tone in the Mid Gain section. That's the sound. Clean bass is all powerful.
@@hyper-sloth The clean sounds more present to me here. You can really hear the notes. Drive makes it less distinct. Those old B-15's were driving a LOT less than most drive pedals do, even at low gain. If you listen to those tracks it's not even what you'd call overdrive in most cases. It's just the peaks driving a little bit. It's not really accurate to cite that as a validation of bass players' current day fixation on drive pedals. My point is that bass players have largely forgotten how powerful their instrument is completely clean. It's been demonized as bland and "sterile", and there seems to be an assumption that some amount of drive is pretty much always warranted. As if completely clean is somehow not finished and "needs a little hair on it" in order to be done. We've forsaken the simplicity we once enjoyed and joined guitar players on their materialistic fool's errand of trying to find the perfect drive sound. It's all just cooked up to sell products. I'm not saying there's no place for drive at all. I use it from time to time. But clean is king. None of this is a slight against @thewetterbass btw. This is a good video.
That Substance bass overdrive sounds really good in all three scenarios, great pedal.
It does! Any two more pedals you enjoy too apart from the Substance?
Probably would say the B85 Germanium, which has it's own sound going on, and the Bass Fuckin Drive on low and mid gain settings! @@thewetterbass
@DLenk thanks!
I've heard the dpFX ECHIDNA from a friend-bassist the other day in the studio and I gotta say it's a really mean overdrive! The demo can't really do it justice, so this will be my number 1. The AMIANTO is definitely my second choice (and maybe pretty close sounding to the Echidna?). And in order to pick a more mild and AMP-like overdrive I'd choose the dpFX ACHERON for my number 3.
You are right! The echidna can get very aggressive. In the high gain I samples I had it set with a lot of gain but about 70/30 dry/wet, to give a modern edge to the clean signal. 🤘🏻
i really liked how the DPFX Acheron sounded in the throaty part, i like the strange kinda muffled sound the amianto gave the overdrive in the throaty section, i didnt love how the germanium sounded when throaty but for the aggressive style i thought it was a lot nicer of a sound, the amianto also sounded very good in the agressive as well. if i had to choose one of them to actually get i would probably choose the amianto, seems like pretty good all round overdrive at least to my taste in overdrive its like a slightly less agressive tube screamer with a more aggressive color scheme
Amianto, Acheron, Geranium. Got it, thanks!
I'd have to say that I liked the Substance, the Acheron and the B85 Germanium the best, in no particular order. Great work here, can't wait for the rest of the videos!
Excellent!
it's tough to choose but I think I'll go with these three:
1. dpFX Echidna (I really liked the presence on the high gain setting and the tone of its grit, very modern)
2. Moody Sounds Hjart Muller (very gentle even in high gain settings, nice mids on the the mid gain setting)
3. dpFX Acheron (nice attack with less grit, I'd love to hear it in classic doom tunes)
Nice! Thanks.
Tough task here to select three! I'll pick the Echidna, the Amianto and ... arghhh... the... Critical theory! I considered the pedal form factor and exterior aesthetics while choosing 😊
Great!
Germanium overdrive. Animato. Hookers green bass machine. In that order.
Brilliant!
First off, what a ton of work. Thanks for all of this.
Second, for me The substance, Chrom, and B85 germanium had the best overall characteristics in the scenarios you showed. I loved the throatiness of the Substance, the mid-punch of the chrom, and the bassy drive from the B85.
Great! Is that your order preference? Substance-Hrom-Germanium?
@@thewetterbass -- I would say yes, that is my preferred order.
I've been looking at the Chrom on Reverb, primarily for its mid-focus, but now I'll have to scope out the substance. Currently, my mid-focused sound, and drive come from either a Darkglass X, or the Trondheim Skarone. I prefer the compressor in the Skarone, and the unit is much less noisy than the DG, but the DG has that certain mid-focus and mid-punch that I can't seem to dial in using the Skarone. The Chrom seems like a perfect replacement for the DG, as it has all the same characteristics, but without the noise, and I can use the Skarone for the compressor (in blue mode). Food for thought. Keep up the amazing videos.
Skarone will be in part IV… 😉 and btw, it’s tons of work yes, but worth it just for the fun of it!!! And I’m a freak.
I like the B85 Audio Germanium Overdrive, the FTElettronica Bass Fuckin Drive and the Tritonlab Corsair. Great pedals!
Brilliant!
B85 Germanium and the One Control Green Machine blew me away
1. Hookers Green
2. Corsair
3. B85 Germanium
Noted, thanks!!!
1. Hrom
2. Echidna
3. Substance
Lovely!
+1 to others, these are great shootouts, thanks for all the work on these! My top three in order: Tritonlab FET (with less treble rolloff in the mid gain sample), Hjart Muller (very close second), and the Substance.
Awesome!
Great job!
1) Acheron
2) Tritonlab FET (but NOT with mids boosted so much lol!)
3) Substance
Awesome! The mid bump example of the FET is to show that it can do it, unlike other pedals here. Centered at around 800Hz it helps give a bit of presence in the growl of the saturation. I really like this pedal, hits way above its price tag. Not available any more sadly.
No order: Acheron, Substance, and Fuckin Drive. These are so fun to watch and listen to.
I chose the same 3.
B85 Germanium and the hrom both sound like something I'd enjoy!
Cool! Any particular order preference? And a third choice for next round?
Hmm, I expected the Bass Fuckin Drive to be the best, but didn't like it at all. I didn't really like the Hjart Muller either.
I think the B85 Germanium takes the crown for me as the number one over all. The Acheron is very nice for the high gain aggressive though.... it's a tough call between these two. Second place overall I'd put the Amianto. That's a very nice pedal that might be added to my ever growing list! I'm not really sure for third place. All the rest are about equal to me and I think I'd be fine with any of them.
Let’s say Germanium, Acheron and Amianto then? In that order?
@@thewetterbass I think so yeah. The first two spots I think would fluctuate with the day or just randomly as I feel like it haha.
Wow, this was a good batch of pedals. My money would go to the Bass F*ckin Drive, FET Overdrive, and Hooker's Green.
Cool!
B85 germanium overdrive (although the hrom sounded great on high gain)
Ftelettronica Critical theory
Moody Sounds Hjärt Müller
Awesome!!!
TRITON LAB FET all life !!
Awesome!!! Love it too, a lot. Any two other pedals you like too?
@@thewetterbass One control And Corsair....✌️👍🏼
Second part review time! working purely off of the sound:
1. DPFX ECHIDNA - It has a great character, however, It's just a bit too hollow on higher gain, so I have to knock it down a point - I am usually looking to fill out a mix with the bass... 6/10.
2. DPFX ACHERON - Pretty killer sound, but could really use a mid EQ. Doesn't get that throatiness, and the higher setting could use a bit of extra grit - but it's actually pretty great. 6.5/10.
3. B85 AUDIO GERMANIUM OVERDRIVE - Classic, throaty, unapolagetic, honest to god overdrive. It's a bit old school in the sound, not gonna get very hifi, but I like it quite a bit. 8/10.
4. B85 AUDIO HROM - Very solid alternative to darkglass. I would absolutely use this live - low gain setting is ok, medium is solid, but the heavy setting is where it's at. 7.5/10.
5. FTELETTRONICA CRITICAL THEORY - pretty similar to the HROM, I like the Heavy setting more on this one but the lighter setting are a bit lacking. it get's the same rating. 7.5/10.
6. FTELETTRONICA SUBSTANCE - personal preference. I like this one more than the critical/hrom, (especially on the lower settings), and it still kicks ass at higher gain. very versatile. 8.5/10.
7. FTELETTRONICA ANIMATO - a bit anemic compared to the other options on display. still a very solid sound with different character and pretty consistent across gain ranges. 7/10.
8. FTELETTRONICA BASS FUCKIN DRIVE - It's clankier and messier than the other options. Not for me. could be perfect for somebody else, but for me it's a 6/10.
9. ONE CONTROL HOOKER'S GREEN BASS MACHINE 4K - Feels a bit like a disappointing fuzz. Doesn't get as hard as I hoped it would, pretty limited frequency response. 5.5/10
10. TRITONLAB FET OVERDRIVE - Very solid pedal, great sounds across the board, even if the specific character is not exactly to my liking. I bet it's pretty versatile with all those knobs. 7/10.
11. TRITONLAB CORSAIR - I expected more from this one. Might be the way you set it up specifically but it's kind of unrefined and dull to my ears. Still pretty solid though. 6.5/10.
12. MOODY SOUNDS HJÄRT MÜLLER - To me it lacks the brightness in the heavy setting, lacks the punch in the medium, but it is pleasently dirty in the low gain. Not for me. 6/10.
Seems my favorites out of these are the FTElettronica Substance (which was quite a surprise honestly, I might have to buy one now...), the B85 Audio Germanium Overdrive (which is more specific, but I love this type of bass overdrive), and the FTElettronica Critical Theory - which is technically tied with the HROM, but I would use these pretty much exclusively on the higher gain anyway, and I prefered the Critical theory in that context.
I think that this demo perfectly encapsulates that prices of pedals yield diminishing returns in most categories, especially so in overdrive/distortion. A lot of these drives could easily be used in the studio on album work - and would pass with flying colours in live settings.
I would be perfectly happy with my chosen top three drives as my only gain pedals in general - and while these might very well deserve even higher marks I am keeping things more towards the middle of the scale in case one of the higher end options really blows my mind.
Yes, for the price you get excellent pedals. My favorite of the bunch is the B85 germanium overdrive. I love how it sounds at mid gain. It certainly offers something unique. I also love the FET, one of my first pedals and I thought the Echidna sounded great in this shootout.
1) substance 2) critical theory 3) germanium drive. The substance was a star!
Cool!
El primero azul creo que es el que me gusta más
Hola! Mola mucho si! Dime dos más para elegir los 3 que pasarían a la siguiente ronda según tu.
B85 AUDIO HROM
FTELETTRONICA CRITICAL THEORY
TRITONLAB FET OVERDRIVE
Perfect!
1)One Control Hookers Green, sonido gordo y tamaño pequeño la verdad me gusta hacia donde va esta marca
2)FT Critical Theory, tipo sonido B3K, aunque soy mas de AO y microtubes
3)B85 Hrom
The Bass *Expletive* drive is gonna be popular soon!
The hooker's green is an ace little unit that may be priced out of reach for what it is.
Hi! The bass fuckin’ drive right? I love it! The green hooker can be found new at a reasonable price, around 125€, at least here in Europe. Is there a third you like?
@@thewetterbass Hey, Wetter!
That thing is killer indeed. I have just watched some more videos on it.
The Hooker's Green, I could pick up here in AU for $150 used. It's just under double that new. Our dollar sucks.
Hmm. The germanium overdrive from B58 piqued me also. Very simple, very effective.
The germanium overdrive was originally designed for guitar but it turned even better for bass 😉. Thanks for clarifying your choices!
1. Substance
2. Echidna
3. TritonLab FET
Nice!
B85 germanium overdrive
Ftelettronica Critical theory
Amianto Bass distortion
Awesome!
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
1. FTelettronica Substance 2. Tritonlab Corsair 3. DPFX Archeron
Great!
1 FTELETTRONICA BASS FUCKIN DRIVE
2 ONE CONTROL HOOKER'S GREEN BASS MACHINE 4K
ONE CONTROL HOOKER'S GREEN, B85 AUDIO GERMANIUM OVERDRIVE and FTELETTRONICA CRITICAL THEORY.
I have to say I’m pretty taken with that Aminato! I used to have a clone of the Human Gear Animato but it didn’t have a clean blend and actually kinda suffered because of that.
2 more you enjoy after the Amianto?
B85 hrom!!!
Perfect!
1. B85 AUDIO - HROM
2. TRITONLAB - FET OVERDRIVE
3. FTELETTRONICA - BASS FUCKIN DRIVE
Awesome!
dpfx acheron, tritonlab corsair, and the substance.
bass fucking drive / critical theory / substance. all of the fteletteonica pedals sounded great that is a hard choice between them.
Hard choice yeah… 😅 FT all sound pretty good for sure! Thanks!
Amianto, Substance, and Bass F*cking Drive
Brilliant! Thanks.
Can't help but feel that not one of them sounded better than the clean example. I mean just listen to the clean tone in the Mid Gain section. That's the sound. Clean bass is all powerful.
True, the clean signal already sounds good, but extra grit does help for more thickness.
And be more present in the mix. Some of the most classic bass tones were recorded on B-15s breaking up.@@thewetterbass
@hyper-sloth that’s exactly what the dpfx Acheron is all about. 😉
@@hyper-sloth The clean sounds more present to me here. You can really hear the notes. Drive makes it less distinct. Those old B-15's were driving a LOT less than most drive pedals do, even at low gain. If you listen to those tracks it's not even what you'd call overdrive in most cases. It's just the peaks driving a little bit. It's not really accurate to cite that as a validation of bass players' current day fixation on drive pedals. My point is that bass players have largely forgotten how powerful their instrument is completely clean. It's been demonized as bland and "sterile", and there seems to be an assumption that some amount of drive is pretty much always warranted. As if completely clean is somehow not finished and "needs a little hair on it" in order to be done. We've forsaken the simplicity we once enjoyed and joined guitar players on their materialistic fool's errand of trying to find the perfect drive sound. It's all just cooked up to sell products. I'm not saying there's no place for drive at all. I use it from time to time. But clean is king. None of this is a slight against @thewetterbass btw. This is a good video.
B85 AUDIO GERMANIUM OVERDRIVE, FTELETTRONICA SUBSTANCE AND ONE CONTROL HOOKER'S GREEN BASS MACHINE 4K 😍
🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻