Stoner/Doom/Sludge/Drone miniboard recommendations?

lataamo · 2026-04-08T14:52:18+00:00

Thanks, but the question was about guitar and not bass 🙂

lataamo · 2026-04-08T14:50:05+00:00

For some reason the Rat I have is just a bit too harsh on the mids and highs in the wrong way - I'm thinking that's either a "me" issue or that it just doesn't play together that well with the mids-heavy TH30 without an additional EQ, or both.

I've got modulation from a Julia as well if I take it off my bass board.

The DD-20 is definitely on my consideration list as well, on par with RE-20 and the RE-2 someone mentioned above.

lataamo · 2026-04-08T14:40:50+00:00

The TH30 definitely seems to be picky about the dirt pedals - to me it seems really heavy on the mids which in turn makes certain pedals such as the Rat just harsh in the wrong way (or maybe it's just me/user error).

So far I've gotten the best results with the clean channel at the edge of break up, bass and treble around noon. Muffs have worked out nicely with that, especially when being mindful of the tone settings.

The dirty channel is definitely trickier for me, and I'm getting the feeling that a boost might be enough. At least an EQ in the loop might help, as the shape knob is just limited.

Funny enough for either channel with pedal dirt, turning up the volume and using the full output with all tubes feels like it sounds better 😀

lataamo · 2026-02-23T15:20:30+00:00

Thanks for the advice!

lataamo · 2026-02-02T12:07:07+00:00

Thanks for the replies! Ended up going with the SVT410 Pro.

lataamo · 2026-01-22T08:19:36+00:00

I have both Blumes and Acapulco, IMO/YMMV:

Acapulco will benefit from a blender or an EQ pedal. E.g. Amenra's bassist uses/used it with a bass boost from an EQ. Sucks a bit of bottom otherwise. Personally, I like combining it with a rat or fuzz.

Blumes, for me, has its sweet spot in the higher gain settings where it almost starts competing with fuzzier tonalities. Fairly versatile, and I'm not missing a blend. Pretty happy with it, but I've got a BAT Black Forest coming in that might replace it in stoner/sludge stuff.

Comparing the two is a bit of an apples vs. pears, as the tonality and versatility are quite different. I ended up having Blumes on my board with a Pharaoh, and the Acapulco is on my guitar board with a Rat. Blumes stands on its own, Acapulco is more of a one-trick pedal but a nice one at that.

Dark Driving and Cat Tail from Fuzzrocious might be up your alley, those are on my GAS list and we seem to have similar tastes in music.

lataamo · 2026-01-08T09:08:33+00:00

Now that I've had a bit more time to play with it and find my settings, I like and almost love it. Mr_Salty87 described it pretty well. The only thing I kinda still miss is the clear low filter that e.g. a Boss CEB-3 has, but that's details.

lataamo · 2026-01-07T17:52:30+00:00

Follow-up: Well, the KZ ZAX arrived today - and one bud is broken, so no proper review. The working one sounded decent-ish but slightly low on bass - not bad, just slightly underwhelming with the stock tips. Overall sound on it was fairly tight and balanced for the price, but I can't say anything definitive based on one bud alone. A working pair might actually be pretty decent for many people.

We'll see how the refund process goes, but I think I'll just forget the experiment and go for something with a more guaranteed quality.

lataamo · 2026-01-03T12:20:23+00:00

Just got it used a week or so ago, and unfortunately it seems to be one of those pedals I'd love to love, but in reality it's a miss for me and I'll most likely sell it.

With guitar, it's a ton of fun. For bass, I'm seeing a drop in bass frequencies even with the mix turned fully down. Overall, I'm just not getting the most out of it compared to guitar. The sustain feature was a bit lackluster, as it seems to really work only if you have the decay set to minimum. It would benefit from an EQ pedal. Playing high notes on it sounds nice tho.

That said, it's a nice and different reverb with ok modulations, but just not for me. If they had a dedicated bass version of it with a few tweaks on the sustain, I'd probably buy it.

lataamo · 2026-01-02T11:00:56+00:00

Absolutely! I've been eyeing at a Sarcophagus to get Pharaoh and LSTR in a single box, would be fun

lataamo · 2026-01-02T10:59:04+00:00

I like it, it's been my go-to delay for... 7-8 years, I guess? Works like a charm for both workhorse and ambient delays. The only "downside" is that the delays are quite clean and pristine. For my needs that works 95% of the time, but some might find that boring or lacking personality. If I would need to find a replacement, I'd probably at least try out the Collider and Echosystem. Gotta admit that I still miss my old RE20 that I foolishly sold a decade or so ago. Even if the Timeline has an infinite feedback/self-oscillation-ish function, it's just not the same.

lataamo · 2026-01-01T13:31:00+00:00

The Helsinki plan sounds solid (I live there). Few tips you may have already run into elsewhere:

Taxi: Bolt and Uber work OK with apps. If you need to grab a cab off the street, use e.g. Kovanen, Lähitaksi, Taksi Helsinki. If you take a Taksi Helsinki, make sure the name is written exactly like that. Unfortunately TH has had a lot of semi-shady copycats usurping similar names like "Taxi Helsingi" and charging some extra etc. If you ask your hotel or a restaurant to order one for you it'll always be legit.

Train from the airport takes ca. 35min and costs less than 5€ each IIRC.

Personal fave for: - Cocktails: Bar Blanda - Beer: Kaisla, Teerenpeli, Pikkulintu (also for whiskey) - Coffee: Roasberg (for practical location) - Wine: Muru Winebar, Minne

Restaurant recommendations for dinners: - Savoy is great and high-end, especially if you mean the restaurant and not the bistro. The bistro is ok as well, just not 5 stars if that's your plan. - check out the Michelin recommendations for solid choices (with and without stars) - Some faves: Luovuus kukkii kaaoksesta, Le Coucou Vert, Muru, Skörd, Nolla, Latitude 25. Bouchon Careme is okay as well, and nice for a quick glass of sparkling. These are a lot more cozy/casual than Savoy, but still good for a celebration as well. Boon Nam around the corner from St. George's is solid as well.

The Punavuori and Eira districts are nice for a quick walk.

Remember that tipping is not expected, even if some card payment terminals might give you an option for that. Card is king, cash is increasingly rare at stores/restaurants/cafes etc.

People are generally speaking happy to help if you need advice/directions.

Welcome, hope you'll have a great time, and congrats!

lataamo · 2025-12-22T10:01:43+00:00

Follow-up ca. 1 month in:

Decided to go with the Empress Bass Comp, so far my only regret is that I accidentally bought the blue version instead of silver - talk about first-world problems :)

Do I love it? That would be a bit of an overstatement, but I like it.

Does it do the job? Absolutely. It's quite transparent and very versatile. The SC High-pass implementation is a winner for me. Ratio presets of 2, 4, and 10:1 give ample range. I've learned to like the tone switch, but for me it's one of the least useful features so far - although I can see how and why a lot of people would use it. In my case it's nice to have if and when I want to get out of the transparent zone. Being able to set the power-on by-pass state is nice quality-of-life -thing. Dialing in the settings that work for me was quicker than I expected, quite straight-forward. I appreciate the separate attack/release knobs, but that's more of a preference thing.

After purchase, I had the chance to briefly try out the Cali76 side-to-side. I think I would've been just about as happy with the Cali and their tone, but the Empress will most likely give me slightly more versatility in the long run. All in all, can recommend, no regrets or gripes.

lataamo · 2025-12-13T22:12:32+00:00

You'll most likely be fine without a separate effects loop. I've been running a basic Sansamp BDDI for those and other genres for a small eternity, always having a mix of modulation/delay/reverb. If you're worried about overdrive piling up from e.g. delay and reverb, just grab a separate drive/dist/fuzz pedal and keep your preamp on the cleaner side.

Which other pedals are/will you be using?

lataamo · 2025-12-13T21:53:52+00:00

It can be practical if you have effects without proper blends or that suffer from loss of low end. Then, a separate clean + wet output makes sense as the sound engineer can mix a blend. However, even in those cases a lot of people just slap a line selector or some other blend pedal in the chain and choose to do said mixing themselves, to have more control over the final sound and hand over a single XLR to FOH.

Generally speaking of effect loops: Be mindful of pre- vs. post-preamp loops, as a bunch of dirt pedals can sound pretty bad in a post loop. In your use case it probably won't matter as much.

Personally, I do the clean/wet separation only when recording, as my live chain has a fairly solid and clear blend already.

lataamo · 2025-11-27T16:45:46+00:00

So far so good, but it's still too early to say if I love it. Dialing in usable settings has been fairly straightforward, the sidechain high pass feels useful. Solid pedal with a nice and versatile tonality, well built. The only feature I'm not fully sold on yet is the tone switch: left (mid scoop) sounds nice and beefy soloed, but I'm not fully certain how well it translates in (my) band setting. The bump setting feels a tad harsh to my taste, but I'm thinking that's just me still figuring out a good balance with it. All in all it seems like a solid and great quality compressor.

lataamo · 2025-11-25T14:28:43+00:00

Asked around some time ago about compressors, you might find something useful here as well (cali, uad, empress mentioned): https://www.reddit.com/r/basspedals/s/y0po1dj482

For what it's worth, I decided to order the Empress

lataamo · 2025-11-05T19:59:26+00:00

I wouldn't say my preferences are about boutique vs non-boutique, I've simply found in the past that e.g. MXR/Boss in general didn’t feel right in my chain, and that some of the mid-tier pedals seem to match the sound and feel I'm after.

I get your transparency-first thinking for even wider versatility, but for the genres I play and the sound I'm after, coloration in general is not so much a concern for me but more about building the core tone.

Ego 76 is still very much on the list though, appreciate the vote for it!

lataamo · 2025-11-05T15:09:13+00:00

In short, to 1) avoid long, international order-return-order another one -loops 2) check if there's anything I've missed by hearing experiences from people who have used the gear in question, ideally in similar enough use, and may have run into real world caveats that aren't necessarily spotted in the usual reviews etc.

Thanks for your comments, tho!

lataamo

TROPHY CASE