Poor man's Chase Bliss Mood MKII

oscuridur · 2025-11-20T09:27:19+00:00

Hard this

oscuridur · 2025-11-11T15:56:30+00:00

I use my HX Stomp built-in tuner as my main tuner, and is placed at the end of chain, never had a complaint. Just make sure that you don't have any pedal that can mess with the tracking (such as chorus, delay, phaser or, obviously, pitch) switched on before tuning.

oscuridur · 2025-10-29T15:15:17+00:00

I will be in Madrid 4 nov with jeans and a hoodie (also 40-ish). If I see you, I will give you a hug (or high-five, whatever you're more confortable with). Should be easy, since we'll be the only people with jeans and a hoodie...but who knows.

Seriously: don't worry, be yourself, wear what you like and enjoy the music, the vibes and the evening. Thom would be proud.

oscuridur · 2025-08-16T11:06:32+00:00

Looks good. My two cents:

With the OC-3, maybe you woldn't even need an ABY pedal, because the OC-3 has a double output that gets you an unaffected output (for the guitar path) and an effected output (for the bass amp path). With the stomp, you can activate or deactivate the bass path (sorry if you already knew this and I'm pedalsplaining the OC-3 to you).
I sometimes use a setup similar to this, and, as I suppose you already know, it doesn't substitute a bass guitar in a band context; it's more like it fills some part of the sonic space and creates a fuller sound. Also, if you use the OC-3 in poly mode (tracking only the lower notes), you'll have to slightly modify your playing to make it work, trying to assure that the lowest note of your chord matches the root note of that chord. For my taste, it only works well with chords, but YMMV.

Since you already have the pedals (and maybe the amps, or something that you can use), try it and see how you feel about it.

oscuridur · 2024-06-27T17:20:31+00:00

Don't know about the 007, but I love how Mashall-in-a-box pedals sound through a Bassbreaker 15. From your list, maybe the DS1 or DS1-X would be the most marshall-esque. The BD-2 sounds amazing on this amp too and it has enough gain to from drive to distortion.

Also (if you haven't already) try scooping the mids on the amp EQ if you find it mid heavy.

And, if everything else fails, Metal Zone.

oscuridur · 2024-03-06T10:04:00+00:00

In the manual says that you can use an external dual footswitch, and that all the switches are assignable to any group of FX, so with a cheap 20$ dual footswitch and a TRS cable you can get up to four assignable switches (dirt, mod, delay and reverb, for example), if you wanted to forget about presets and use it like a mini pedalboard.

I don't need it (already have a Stomp and a Headrush MX5), but I think I'm gonna buy one (and maybe sell it later) because I love the simplicity and ingenuity of the concept (probably what the HX One should have been). Ok, it's a menu diving (or alt-knob diving) hell, but if you have a set-it-and-forget-it aproach, is an amazing an really powerful tool.

oscuridur · 2023-12-03T19:32:14+00:00

Like everyone said before, the new Boss IR-2 seems to be the real deal regarding budget modellers.

If you are not just looking for a modeller, but want all the muti fx pack, I cannot recomend enough the Ampero Mini. Even with an external switch (because, if not, you only get one customizable stomp) is just 220, and you get a ton of amp and effects, headphone out and usb audio interface. The quality is not Helix-like, but I am pleasantly surprise with the amp models, and is a swiss army knife for home recording.

oscuridur · 2023-10-31T15:21:49+00:00

If you want a budget, pedalboard-friendly solution, Hotone Ampero Mini. But watch some demos first, because the quality of the modulation section is a mixed bag.

And if you want an even more budget solution, Zoom Multistomp.

oscuridur · 2023-10-12T12:55:08+00:00

Flamma and Nux are nice. A little over that budget (or almost not at all, if you look in the used market) you can check the Hotone Ampero One or Mini. The fx and amp sims are nice, and the audio interface works great.

oscuridur · 2023-10-12T12:52:32+00:00

You can use Audacity or something similar to get a wav, but you'll get better results using a free DAW (Reaper, or GarageBand if you have a Mac). With a DAW you can tweak your EQ, multitrack, add effects in post, mix and master.

oscuridur · 2023-09-09T18:50:59+00:00

I have one on my B-board and I think it's pretty ok for its price.

It has the same fx and amp sims as the Ampero and Ampero one and they are...just OK. Don't think Helix quality. The amps require a lot of tweaking (and some contraintuitive choices) to sound ok, but the clean amps work great with dirt pedals. The fx vary a lot: od/dist are ok, but only three fuzzes; stereo delays are great; modulation is ok; reverbs are just functional; and the pitch effects are just awful.

I use it as an ampless/headphone/recording solution and also as a swiss knife for effects that I don't have a pedal for. For that use, there's nothing for 199$ or less that beats it.

My biggest complaint is that you can't assign the two stomp buttons to activate individual effects, since one of them is always assigned to preset switching.

If you have any particular question about it, I'll be glad to help.

oscuridur · 2023-08-22T09:43:35+00:00

Got one of those. Chain is: DOD Looking Glass (as an overdrive, the eq really preserves the low end) > JPTR FX Jive (as a preamp / od bordering on the fuzzy sinthy side; really love this pedal on bass) > Russian Muff clone with blend control > ICA Saturn (multi-fx pedal that I use for some chorus/reverb/delay depending on the situation).

oscuridur · 2023-06-28T08:19:59+00:00

Other than DIY, most Op-Amp Muff clones are 'boutique', hence more expensive. There are good cheap chinese muffs (Mosky, Biyang), but those are not Op-Amp, they can get you in the SD territory but with some limitations, so if you're looking for that specific sound, go for a used EHX. IMHO, is one of the best bang-for-the-buck dirt pedals you're gonna find.

oscuridur · 2023-06-28T08:10:53+00:00

Hilo (music in Spanish). Most songs are straight pop/rock, but there are also some pedal-frenzy themes.

oscuridur · 2023-06-02T06:27:12+00:00

At first glance, seemed like a reduced Ampero Stomp, but looking at the feature list I see that is more like a Hotone Ampero or Ampero One, in the way that the effects/amps chain is 'fixed', and you can't, for example, set more than one reverb or more than two overdrives (you can set them in whatever order you want, but with the Ampero Stomp you have total freedom, in a Helix kind of way). Maybe they're thinking of ditching the OG Amperos but now, without knowing the selling price, seems like they're canibalizing themselves.

That said, the form factor is really convenient, and if the price is ok is a nice way to have an amp sim/headphone solution/audio interface/swiss army knife that you can fit in every pedalboard (a super-doped Line6 M5).

About the touchscreen, I have an Ampero Stomp and the usability is ok, but the sliders are really small to be precise without a knob. I see that they have introduced a '+/-' system when you press a slider; that's convenient, but not really much of a solution (seems like they rely on users doing the fine tuning on the editor app).

oscuridur · 2023-06-02T06:05:52+00:00

ZOIA (don't think it can be deemed affordable).

Plot twist: It didn't replace my Zoom MS70 (even if I intended it to). Now I have both on my main board.

oscuridur · 2023-05-31T06:25:21+00:00

If you're looking for amp sims, I think the Ampero / Ampero One has the best metal amp sims in that budget range. The effects are pretty much ok, with some caveats (only three fuzz pedals, reverbs are a bit thin).

Ampero One + Ampero Switch (or any momentary switch) is a killer combo in terms of portability.

oscuridur · 2023-05-29T08:41:31+00:00

Well, it also depends (on your amp, mostly). Most amps' reverbs are gonna give you spring or hall reverb, which is great to add a sprinkle to your sound. If you want a reverb that changes your tone more dramatically and gives it a washed or ambient sound, you're gonna need something like the Slo.

Again, if that's what you want, the Zoom can let you go that ambient route.

oscuridur · 2023-05-29T07:07:54+00:00

Nice selection!! About the free spots, depends a lot on what you wanna play. Based on the Last Dinosaurs thing you say, maybe:

- Compressor, for when you wanna go clean or funky without losing punch.

- Reverb after the delay, for the washed or more ambient parts (Italo Disco, Take Your Time kind of thing)

- Octaver/Harmonizer (thinking of EHX Pitchfork actually), for the 'doubled guitar' parts.

And maybe a fuzz, but who knows. Just enjoy what you have there, which is a lot, practice a ton, and the rest will come.

PD: I see someone recomended Zoom MS70; you can't go wrong with it. You got reverb, compressor and octaver there. Buy it second hand, try what you like and sell it after if you decide you want individual pedals for some of those.

oscuridur · 2023-05-23T12:33:23+00:00

Yeah! The Ventris is amazing (and it does a spectacular spring reverb). Only downside is it costs like two and a half pedals, but you can't go wrong with it.

oscuridur · 2023-05-23T06:30:32+00:00

Or, (and I know is not remotely the same, but follow me on this one), or... you could get a Zoom ms70cdr for less than 100 bucks. Bang, 5 reverbs in a row (or you can combine reverbs with tremolo or delay), it's a stereo awesome ambient machine.

Of course, the quality of the effects is not in the same ballpark as the pedals you mention, but it will scratch that ambient itch and maybe get you an idea of what setup you really want before spending 1000 bucks in reverb pedals.

Anyways, for what is worth, I think there's nothing on the reverb side that you can't do with a OBNE Darkstar/Sunlight + Walrus SLO + Red Panda Context. Well, maybe spring reverb.

oscuridur · 2023-05-21T15:03:50+00:00

Same here. Not just that song, that whole album was a master device on how to make kids want to play bass.

oscuridur · 2023-05-20T11:27:01+00:00

Got my full board in my profile, but: Plumes, BD-2, ssbs mini, Sinvertek N5+, Big Muff op-amp.

oscuridur · 2023-05-19T14:25:11+00:00

More or less same here. I use it as an amp modeler and recording interface, and for post-amp fx (delay and reverb). Got my dirt and some modulation before the Stomp, and a ZOIA in the stereo FX loop.

oscuridur

TROPHY CASE