Darkglass Microtubes B7K v2 Bass Overdr.

modern versatile overdrive, no tubes

very good modern bass overdrive that can go from a little crunch to heavy distortion. main point: it does not kill your low frequencies. lots of options which is good because different bass guitars deliver very different things and i could adjust anything from a p-bass with flatwound strings to a BEAD-tuned modern heavy bass. i particularly like that you can blend distorted and clean signal, extremely useful when playing together with high gain guitars. this is most probably the best overdrive i've come across in more than 20 years of playing electric basses. haven't had it long enough to judge sturdiness, but the quality seems good.

reason i gave it four stars overall is because there is one thing it can not do: despite the name, there is no tube in it, therefore you will not get tube saturation/sound. you can of course add just a little dirt to your tone and most people in the audience will never even think of the difference, but if you are looking for tube sounds, this is not your gadget. buy something with a tube in it, the darkglass has it's strength elsewhere.

Trying not to be too enthusiastic here...

...but d@@@@mn how this B7K is good.

I've been using it for over a year now and it really does the job.

The preamp is really top notch and really helps finding the wanted tune if, like me, you've always been struggling going for a compressor.

I'm no specialist of EQs so I'll let others detail their experience with this 4 bands one : overall, this v2 of the B7K brought some low and high-mids filters that are quite impressive but, yet again, not the best to talk here.

Now - let's talk overdrive, 'cause that's where this Darkglass stuff is masterpiece. Let me get this straight, I have no use of big fat distortions in the genre I'm playing so I was looking for a sweet growl-y and polyvalent sound to add to my clear tune and it all comes to one word : BLEND

This function is magic and allows to find EXACTLY what you want by blending you clear sound to the overdrive. Magic.

I could recommend this Microtubes only for its high manoeuvrability and for the quality of the sound all over its range.

You don't need a tube amp

After a lot of consideration I got this pedal to dial in some warmth into my sound. And it really does the trick. You can go for a more aggressive sound (if that's your thing) and shape it to your heart's content. I combine my amp's EQ settings with the EQ from the B7K, then you can blend how much 'dirt' you want (basically mix the clean and distorted signal).

You can shape it to be subtle but the warmth and that classic gritty tube sound is noticeable and really lovely - you don't need a tube amp. It's also silent and feels smooth. I'm skeptical when it comes to distortion and was extra wary due to Darkglass' 'metal' reputation but the quality sound you can get from the B7K is genial. Not cheap but I think you get what you pay for.

Excelent bass pedal

If you are looking into a insane bass distortion, well look no further, this product does deliver all the value per money invested since it is a monster tone.

I bought this for my live and studio recording performances and the constructions is solid and sturdy, it survived already several travels with heavy conditions and some falls. About the sound like said previously it is a monster tone, it just delivers the most heavy tones to moderate ones in a quality that is overwhelming good.

Strongly recommend it to everyone that is looking for the next heavy tone and bass distortion, nothing can go wrong with this piece of equipment.

This is a terrific pedal , wide tone range from a mild to a more heavy overdrive. Very nice build quality and a lot of options for sound optimization. It really does not compromise the sound of the instrument, rather than add taste to it. Unfortunately does not support the Darkglass Suite. I would really appreciate the feature since this is not a cheap pedal..