Gear Reviews
Review – Darkglass Electronics Vintage Microtubes
Review – Darkglass Electronics Vintage Microtubes…
Full Disclosure: I am a Darkglass Endorsee, but clearly for matters of journalistic integrity for our readers as well as consumers, I am giving an objective analysis of the Vintage Microtubes, the good and the bad.
The Vintage Microtubes Pedal is the brainchild of Finnish bassist and audio engineer Douglas Castro. The Founder and CEO of Darkglass Electronics based out of Helsinki, Finland. Darkglass has been quickly moving up in the ranks as a formidable name in boutique bass pedals that has seen their artist roster grow with the likes of Alex Webster from Cannibal Corpse and Billy Gould from Faith No More among many others.
The Vintage Micotubes pedal is described by Darkglass, as “The Microtubes Vintage is our tribute to some of the most legendary sounds in rock history. It provides warm tube-like tones with a natural dynamic response that echoes the organic compression of old tube amps and reel-to-reel tape machines.”
The pedal came to me shipped directly from Helsinki and came with a nice little box for easy storage which came with a magnetic latch for easy access.
The solid steel chassis of the pedal was what I would expect from a pedal at this price point (retails at $250). The construction was that of a professional level hand made product for a working musician, with all the knobs feeling solid and well attached. It came included with 4 rubbed grippers to add on as an option, which was a nice touch considering that pedals rarely stay in one place without them on stage. The lettering was very well designed and there was nothing amiss or faulty when it came to assembly or construction (which should always be the case in this price point.)
You can definitely tell that these are given a little extra TLC for the fact that each are individually hand signed to assure that they were inspected and tested before shipment. Certain models have Douglas Castro’s signature on the back to show that he individually made your respective pedal.
Features: the Vintage Microtubes includes four knobs with four respective functions.
LEVEL: Sets the volume of the overdriven signal
DRIVE: Sets the amount of saturation in the overdriven signal.
BLEND: Mixes the clean input signal with the overdriven signal gain while the Level knob, allowing for fine control of the blend ratio, sets the volume of the overdriven signal.
ERA: Interacts with the Drive knob to shape the character of the pedal. Dial it down to get the warm midrange tones of the 70s or crank it up to get the punchy metallic tones of 80s and 90s rock.
Also, an important note about the wattage, this does not run on batteries (which I personally do not mind as it is better for the environment).
WARNING: The Vintage Microtubes has a current draw of 20mA. Only use a regulated 9V DC adapter with a center-negative plug. Due to ecological reasons it does not accept batteries. Unregulated power supplies and/or higher voltages may result in suboptimal noise performance and even damage your unit, voiding the warranty.
One slight bummer is the lack of a 9 volt adapter for the pedal included, which unfortunately is very common in the more high end pedal world, so while it is a bit of a hassle it is the norm in that market.
Overview: I decided to test try out the VMT with my Marcus Miller Sire V7 4 string, my Kiesel/Carvin JB 5 and my Ibanez Soundgear SR1806. I was able to do a little bit of recording, jam out with it in a band setting, as well as in the enjoyment of my own home. While the pedal clearly sounded more at home on the more traditional sounding Sire Jazz Bass, it gave a very interesting and warm option to some of my more modern basses. I found the “ERA” knob to be the most important as it acted as a kind of tone knob that shaped the sound in how we would associate the contrast between darker 60’s sounds and brighter, barkier 80’/90’s tones.
I see a lot of online examples of people utilizing the pedal in more modern scenarios, and while that works well, I think this pedals strong suit is in more classic heavy bass scenarios. The way the pedal gives some grit to the bass for me screams more punk rock/classic rock than Djent per say, but one could utilize this if the sound was to give a warmer vibe to a modern sound. Their B7K model has been described as “A T-Rex eating cars”, I would describe the Vintage Microtunes as a “T-rex wearing sunglasses driving a convertible”. Still badass, just more mellow and for the old school rocker guy.
One awesome thing I did enjoy about the pedal was how well it was wired and did not produce excess unwanted noise. Pedals many times get thrown out of the option by producers because they are honestly too annoying to mix or just cause way too much noise or unnecessary sound clutter when mixing. The VMT was studio capable and tracked incredibly well, the blend knob worked well in that it allowed me to balance the natural bass tone with the pedals to a perfectly desirable balance. Pick style playing as well as finger style both came out very clearly with both styles. Though a not to the wise, in 60’s mode it will round out your tone, as it was common at the time to sound, so expect some low end boost there. I personally found my favorite setting to be the more modern tones, with the gain cranked, gave me a very punchy and aggressive pick style tone that worked very well with my single coiled jazz bass.
The cool thing as well is that with the ERA option all the way “60’s” and the Drive cranked to 10 it could pass for a pretty sweet, cleaner FUZZ pedal.
In the Audio examples below, I go from “60’s”, to “70’s” to modern with the blend nearly all the way up and the Drive substantially pushed as well. I felt that while you will obviously want to vary it on your own, I owed it to you so that you could hear the “Overdrive” part of the VMT to its full potential and how the ERA’s were the coolest thing to check out.
Overall I give the Darkglass Vintage MicroTubes a 4.7 out of 5.
The strongest areas being value and construction. You could tell it was assembled well with no corners being cut and attention to detail set as a priority.
The Value for me is what makes this pedal a worthy buy, in one pedal you basically can model a variety of tones that you could only once get by purchasing thousands of dollars in vintage amplifiers. While $250 does seem steep for a simple overdrive pedal, I think if you are looking for a pro piece of gear that at the end of the day will save you on trying to EBAY some 70’s 100 lb amps and cabs it is definitely a steal. The noise, even when cranked was at a minimum and when tweaked you could get some really, really cool tones for rocking out. I would def put this in your favorite pick style players birthday wish list.
More audio examples for the pedal:
Visit online at www.darkglass.com
Gear
New Joe Dart Bass From Sterling By Music Man
Sterling by Music Man introduces the Joe Dart Artist Series Bass (“Joe Dart”), named after and designed in collaboration with the celebrated Vulfpeck bassist.
Above photo credit: JORDAN THIBEAUX
This highly-anticipated model marks the debut of the Dart bass in the Sterling by Music Man lineup, paying homage to the Ernie Ball Music Man original that all funk players know and love. The bass embodies many of the original model’s distinctive features, from its iconic minimalist design to the passive electronics.
The design process prioritized reliability, playability, and accessibility at the forefront. Constructed from the timeless Sterling body, the Dart features a slightly smaller neck profile, offering a clean tone within a comfortable package. The body is crafted from soft maple wood for clarity and warmth while the natural finish emphasizes the simple yet unique look.
Engineered for straightforward performance, this passive bass features a ceramic humbucking bridge pickup and a single ‘toaster’ knob for volume control. Reliable with a classic tone, it’s perfect for playing in the pocket. The Dart is strung with the all-new Ernie Ball Stainless Steel Flatwound Electric Bass Strings for the smoothest feel and a mellow sound.
The Sterling by Music Man Joe Dart Bass is a special “Timed Edition” release, exclusively available for order on the Sterling by Music Man website for just one month. Each bass is made to order, with the window closing on May 31st and shipping starting in November. A dedicated countdown timer will indicate the remaining time for purchase on the product page. Additionally, the back of the headstock will be marked with a “2024 Crop” stamp to commemorate the harvest year for this special, one-of-a-kind release.
The Joe Dart Bass is priced at $399.99 (MAP) and can be ordered globally at https://sterlingbymusicman.com/products/joe-dart.
To learn more about Joe Dart, visit the official Vulfpeck artist site here https://www.vulfpeck.com/.
Gear Reviews
The Frank Brocklehurst 6-String Fretless Bass Build
A few months ago, my Ken Bebensee 6-string fretted bass needed some TLC. You know, the one rocking those Pink Neon strings! I scoured my Connecticut neighborhood for a top-notch luthier and got pointed to Frank Brocklehurst, F Brock Music. He swung by my place, scooped up the bass, and boom, returned it the next day, good as new. Not only that, he showed up with a custom 5-string fretted bass that blew me away. I couldn’t resist asking if he could whip up a 6-string fretless for me.
Alright, let’s break down the process here. We’ve got our raw materials: Mahogany, Maple, and Holly. Fun fact – the Mahogany and Maple have been chilling in the wood vault for a solid 13 years. Frank is serious about his wood; they buy it, stash it away, and keep an eye on it to make sure it’s stable.
First up, they’re tackling the Mahogany. Frank glues it together, then lets it sit for a few days to let everything settle and the glue to fully dry. After that, it’s onto the thickness planer and sander to get it nice and flat for the CNC machine. The CNC machine’s the real star here – it’s gonna carve out the body chambers and volume control cavity like a pro.
While the Mahogany’s doing its thing, Frank goes onto the neck core. Three pieces of quartersawn maple are coming together for this bad boy. Quartersawn means the grain’s going vertical. He is also sneaking in some graphite rods under the fingerboard for stability and to avoid any dead spots. The truss rod is going to be two-way adjustable, and the CNC machine’s doing its magic to make sure everything’s just right.
Now, onto the design phase. Frank uses CAD software to plan out the body shape, neck pocket, chambering, and those cool f-holes. I had this idea for trapezoid F-holes, just to do something different. The CAD software also helps us map out the neck shape, graphite channels, and truss-rod channel with pinpoint accuracy.
Once everything’s planned out, it’s CNC time again. Frank cuts out the body outline, neck pocket, and the trapezoid F-holes. Then it’s a mix of hand sanding and power tools to get that neck just how we like it. Oh, and those f holes? We’re going for trapezoids of different sizes – gotta keep things interesting.
Next step: gluing that neck into the pocket with some old-school hide glue. It’s got great tonal transfer and can be taken apart later if needed. Then it’s onto hand-carving that neck-body transition.
For the custom-made bridge, Frank uses brass for definition and Ebony for tonal transfer and that warm, woody sound.
BTW, for tunes, Frank went with Hipshot Ultralights with a D Tuner on the low B. This way I can drop to a low A which is a wonderful tone particularly if you are doing any demolition around your house!
Now it’s time for the side dots. Typically, on most basses, these dots sit right in the middle of the frets. But with this bass, they’re placed around the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 12th frets.
Frank’s got his pickup hookup. Since the pickup he was building wasn’t ready, he popped in a Nordstrand blade to give it a whirl.
It sounded good, but I was itching for that single-coil vibe! And speaking of pickups, Frank showed me the Holly cover he was cutting to match, along with all the pink wire – talk about attention to detail!
A couple of things, while it is important for me to go passive, it is equally important for me to just go with a volume knob. Tone knobs are really just low-pass filters and the less in the way of a pure sound for me, the better.
Finally, it’s string time! As usual, I went for the DR Pink Neon strings. Hey, I even have matching pink Cons…Both low tops and high!
Once we’ve got everything tuned up and settled, we’ll give it a day or two and then tweak that truss rod as needed. And voila, we’ve got ourselves a custom-made bass ready to rock and roll.
I want to thank Frank Brocklehurst for creating this 6 string beast for me.
Gear Reviews
Review Transcript: BITE Custom Bass – The Black Knight PP Bass
This is a written transcript of our video review of the BITE Custom Bass Black Knight PP Bass originally published on March 4, 2024
BITE Custom Bass – The Black Knight PP Bass Review…
Bass Musician Magazine did a review on a Steampunk bass from BITE Guitars about three years ago, it was an amazing instrument, and we were very impressed. Now we’re happy to bring you another BITE bass, the Black Knight PP.
Everybody needs a P-type bass, it’s the standard of bass. If you’re recording, they want you to have a P bass. So why not have something that gives you a little more by having two instead of one P pickup. That’s the idea of this bass, it’s the first thing that leaps out: the double P pickup configuration.
Installing two of their 1000 millivolt split-coil pickups, BITE then went one step further and wired them up in a 4-way parallel/series circuit, a look at the controls reveal a 4-way rotary selector:
The first position, marked “B”, gives you the bridge pickup by itself.
The second position, marked “P”, gives you the bridge and neck pickups in parallel mode, that’s the traditional J-type circuit, it reduces output due to the physical law of parallel circuits.
Position number 3 is marked “N”, it gives you the neck pickup by itself.
And finally, number 4, marked “S”, gives your bridge and neck in a series (humbucking) mode which adds up resistances and thus boosts output. The other two controls are master volume and master tone.
What’s more, like every BITE bass, this one also has a reinforced headstock heel designed to give it extra output and sustain. The BITE website features a graph and explanation of what they have done to the heel, as compared to traditional headstocks.
A look at the body reveals a beautiful Black Blast body finish and underneath that we have alder wood. The bass has a matching headstock with a 4-in-line tuner setup and the traditional bite out of it, so everybody will know what kind of bass you’re playing. The pickguard is 3-ply black, the neck is vintage tinted hard maple and it has a satin speed finish at the back which keeps your thumb from sticking.
On top of that, there’s a clear-coated roasted black locust fretboard with black blocks marking the frets. The nut is a black Graph Tec nut, we’ve got diamond dome control knobs, and the tuners are lightweight compacts with cloverleaf buttons and a 1:17 ratio precision gear. The bridge is a Gotoh brass bridge with 19-millimeter string spacing.
Overall measurements: we’ve got a standard 34″ scale, a 1.65″ width nut and a C neck profile. This bass weighs 8.2 pounds, or 3,7 kilograms for our metric friends, and it uses standard 18% nickel silver frets.
Taking a closer look at the sound, this bass is a joy to play. The BITE proprietary 1000 millivolt pickups deliver an extraordinary amount of output which is surprising considering this is a passive instrument. You may even want to set your amp to active mode because of all of the juice you’re getting out of this guy.
The tonal possibilities are very versatile, it’s a straight P if you want but also much more with those different arrangements of the circuitry. So why have multiple basses when you’ve got one that can give you your basic P plus a lot more?
To sum it up, the Black Knight PP is an amazing instrument. The attention to detail that BITE puts into their basses is second to none. This bass is also amazingly balanced and gorgeous to hold and feel with the satin neck finish.
For more information, visit online at bite.guitars/product/black-knight-pp
Bass Videos
Reviews: Phil Jones Bass Compact Plus 450 and Bass Engine 17
Phil Jones Bass Compact Plus 450 and Bass Engine 17 Reviews…
In this issue, we take an in-depth look at two new amps from Phil Jones Bass, the Compact Plus 450 and Bass Engine 17.
For more information, visit online at pjbworld.com
Bass Videos
Video Review: BITE Custom Bass – The Black Knight PP Bass
BITE Custom Bass – The Black Knight PP Bass Review…
I am sure many of you saw my review of the Snobby Steampunk Bass from BITE Guitars back in February of 2021 and will remember what a remarkable bass it was. BITE has been building custom basses since 2019 and has a unique custom approach where you can configure your bass to your specs.
I am very excited to have another Bass From BITE Guitars in my hands, The Black Knight PP Bass!
The need for a P-Bass in one’s armamentarium is pretty standard for bass players and I recall chatting about this with Marty O’Brien about a year ago. It turns out that Marty and BITE Guitars got together and came up with this excellent configuration that gives you a P-Bass with a whole lot more. Marty even played his own Black Knight PP bass at the 2024 NAMM show. You can see his review here.
Join me as I take an in-depth look at this very cool instrument and share all the details.
Here is The Black Knight Bass from BITE Guitars!
For more information, visit online at bite.guitars/product/black-knight-pp
Preparing for Performance with Dr. Randy Kertz
Interview With Bassist Erick “Jesus” Coomes
Working-Class Zeros: Episode #2 – Financial Elements of Working Musicians
Tour Touch Base (Bass) with Ian Allison
New Gear: Spector Woodstock Custom Collection Volume II
Preparing for Performance with Dr. Randy Kertz
This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
The Frank Brocklehurst 6-String Fretless Bass Build
Guy Pratt, Not Your Average Guy – May 2024 Issue
