The Darkglass Vintage Microtubes is the essence of great rock bass tones put in a single drive pedal. With a simple 4 knob control setup this powerful not overly saturated bass overdrive can go from a very light boost to heavy rock bass with the thundering lows of an array of 8×10″ cabs.
70’s, 80’s, or 90’s
One of the things that makes this pedal a great choice is the use of the Era control. When dialed down you get the sound of the 70’s with a bit lower output. Turn it up and you start to fill a bit more of the heat as you go through the 80’s and 90’s with more agressive bass styles coming through. Overdriven bass can be used for almost any style so having a pedal that can dial in the perfect amount at a moments notice is a great option for those who are not set in one style.
Four Simple Controls
With a bass overdrive like this you don’t want anything too complicated. You already have a great clean tone you love, you just a way of getting that supper powerful low end thunder out of what you currently have. So that is why DarkGlass kept this nice and simple with just level, drive, blend and era controls. The Era control we explained above and it is fairly simple to work out the rest.
The interesting part is the use of a Level and Blend control which lets you set the output level of the pedal and also how that blends in with the clean signal. This is for that extra level of control that is really hard to get with a single volume or blend control set up and is perfect for making sure everything sits in the mix perfectly.
Here’s what Darkglass say about the VIntage Microtubes
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.
Specifications
- 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. The clean signal remains at unity gain while the volume of the overdriven signal is set by the Level knob, allowing for fine control of the blend ratio.
- 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.
- Dimensions: 11.3×7.5 cm (4.45×2.95 in)
