Darkglass Alpha Omega

fretmeister

Anyone got one?

I'm mightily tempted despite the silly price. And I know from experience that the DG pedals play nicely in Helix fx loops. 

guitarfishbay

I've put one in my basket and bailed on it more than once.  What's stopping me is I'd prefer either an Ultra, or a cheaper B3K sized version without the EQs or DI.  Thing is the Ultras sound different, well my B7KU doesn't sound the same as my B3K and I've ended up keeping both because they suit different basses.

I saw this on Talkbass which seems to show a smaller one is on the way, no idea on price.

digitalscream

Our bassist has one as part of his new rig...we spent an evening at the rehearsal room tweaking it, and I've got to say that it's a vast improvement over his MXR M80 (no surprise there). I'm not entirely what you'd gain over what you've got in the Helix, though.

fretmeister

I saw that - that's likely to be north of £200 Maybe even £250 considering the price difference between the B7K and the AO

I know we disagreed in the past on the gain levels in the B3K and the 7, but I just remembered that I had the Mk2 that had an additional gain boost rather than Cut!

fretmeister

digitalscream said:

Our bassist has one as part of his new rig...we spent an evening at the rehearsal room tweaking it, and I've got to say that it's a vast improvement over his MXR M80 (no surprise there). I'm not entirely what you'd gain over what you've got in the Helix, though.

Easy transport on a mini board.

The rack helix and controller is a big bastard. Sometimes I wish I went for the floor unit instead.

guitarfishbay

digitalscream said:

Our bassist has one as part of his new rig...we spent an evening at the rehearsal room tweaking it, and I've got to say that it's a vast improvement over his MXR M80 (no surprise there). I'm not entirely what you'd gain over what you've got in the Helix, though.

What bass does he use?  I only found I liked the M80 distortion with a P bass.  Where the mids sit with the distortion really brought out the honky resonances in a Jazz bass with both pickups on, at the amounts of gain I wanted to use.  The clean side of the pedal is really nice though.  Regardless I prefer Darkglass for distortion.

fretmeister said:

I saw that - that's likely to be north of £200 Maybe even £250 considering the price difference between the B7K and the AO

I know we disagreed in the past on the gain levels in the B3K and the 7, but I just remembered that I had the Mk2 that had an additional gain boost rather than Cut!

Yeah it won't be cheap.

Makes sense re: comparison, however the B3K and B7KU I have do sound different, where I'm sure the B3K and B7K I had sounded essentially identical.  I think @Drew_TNBD found the same comparing his B7KU to his band's bassist's B3K.  They do sound very similar, but the B3K is more aggressive in comparison and it's not something you can compensate for with the Ultra's EQ.

If I hadn't owned both at the same time I wouldn't have cared though.  If I do get an AO I only want to buy one and then hope DG don't release any more cool distortion pedals for a long time hah.

sgosden

not heard one in the flesh but it sounds ace in videos.

saying that I hardly use B7K now, so really can't justify expense.

fretmeister

I sold my B7K and VMTD when I got my M900 amp. It's got the circuits built in.

I actually tend to use the amp (when not using Helix) with the B3K sound on all the time - but at a low gain level. It adds something lovely to the sound.

It sits so well in a big band mix!!

Drew_TNBD

guitarfishbay said:

digitalscream said:

Our bassist has one as part of his new rig...we spent an evening at the rehearsal room tweaking it, and I've got to say that it's a vast improvement over his MXR M80 (no surprise there). I'm not entirely what you'd gain over what you've got in the Helix, though.

What bass does he use?  I only found I liked the M80 distortion with a P bass.  Where the mids sit with the distortion really brought out the honky resonances in a Jazz bass with both pickups on, at the amounts of gain I wanted to use.  The clean side of the pedal is really nice though.  Regardless I prefer Darkglass for distortion.

fretmeister said:

I saw that - that's likely to be north of £200 Maybe even £250 considering the price difference between the B7K and the AO

I know we disagreed in the past on the gain levels in the B3K and the 7, but I just remembered that I had the Mk2 that had an additional gain boost rather than Cut!

Yeah it won't be cheap.

Makes sense re: comparison, however the B3K and B7KU I have do sound different, where I'm sure the B3K and B7K I had sounded essentially identical.  I think @Drew_TNBD found the same comparing his B7KU to his band's bassist's B3K.  They do sound very similar, but the B3K is more aggressive in comparison and it's not something you can compensate for with the Ultra's EQ.

If I hadn't owned both at the same time I wouldn't have cared though.  If I do get an AO I only want to buy one and then hope DG don't release any more cool distortion pedals for a long time hah.

Yeah my findings were that the B7KU was not as aggressive sounding as the B3K, and the Helix B7KU isn't as aggressive sounding as the real pedal either.

guitarfishbay

That's also my finding with the Helix B7KU, but I expected that anyway going back to that blind test you sent me a few months back where I was confident I could say which was which.

However playing the model in Helix Native I like it more than I thought I would.  It certainly sounds like a B7KU and it works well for the intended purpose of getting a gritty/distorted bass sound.

Sporky

fretmeister said:

The rack helix and controller is a big bastard. Sometimes I wish I went for the floor unit instead.

Swapsies?

I'm too old to sit on the floor twiddling knobs.

fretmeister

Sporky said:

fretmeister said:

The rack helix and controller is a big bastard. Sometimes I wish I went for the floor unit instead.

Swapsies?

I'm too old to sit on the floor twiddling knobs.

I think that might arse up Native?

fretmeister

I am weak.

I've ordered the AO from my favourite emporium. 

And because I'm a compression junkie, I've ordered a new compressor as well.

guitarfishbay

Cool. Will be interested in your thoughts when you've had a proper go on it. 

guitarfishbay

Which comp did you get? 

fretmeister

Origin Cali76 Compact Bass

guitarfishbay

Sweet. Those look great. 

fretmeister

I've got the DG one, and I like it. But it has a flavour - vintage and warm.

I fancied having the option of a more modern one too.