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Hey guys,

Got my Algal Bloom (the tiny one) from Eric! today in the mail. I read some ancient review of the Algal Bloom and it said the AB comes with a pamphlet from Tom. I was wondering if that is available online somewhere?

Also, what's your favorite settings? Mine right now are Starve at 0% (7 o'clock?), Bloom and Trim around noon. This is a humbucker SG into a little solid state practice amp powering a Weber 8". Huge tone.

Also also, treble booster, OD, or a darker booster in front of it?

More to report: Strumming behind the bridge on my SG makes plinky little fuzzy angels appear out my amp. I'm probably going to use this sound in a song we're making for a promo video, actually.

The AB works great by itself or with an OD in front of it. It's great by itself before a delay or as a cutting lead tone with an OD before it. It's just a very solid sound.

I love the AB. It may kick the Devi Ever VFM off my board. The VFM compresses everything to the point that it has no dynamics. The AB has nice responsive dynamics and AWESOME note decay. I keep the Bloom up to keep the "pulse" in the note decay. I don't have a very large amp but I'm guesting I could get some very controllable feedback through my SG with the Bloom up.

(I did try cascading the VFM->AB to see what it did but the VFM makes everything before and after it sound pretty much like a VFM.)

Really enjoying my Sparkle Drive, set sort of dark and gritty, into the AB for solos. Huge sustain.

Lower gain overdrive (Singing Tree is my favorite) into the Algal Bloom = winning

I got this with AB#003...if it's faded it's because jizzed all over it the first time I plugged in my AB.

typical Algal Bloom settings:

Starve 11:45
Bloom 3:00
Trim 1:30

that's my base point, which gives me a nice dense angry Rat kind of sound that cleans up into Distortion+ territory if the Bloom is turned down. from there if i want buzzzzzzz i can turn the Starve down (counterclockwise) and if i want MOAR GAIN i can turn up the Trim and turn down the Level. i don't usually use the extremes of the gain spectrum, though, because i have a Distortion+ which i use for the low/medium gain thing and a 3-knob Great Wall that i use for the Muff-Killing Roar Of Doom.

So the starve is essentially a voltage starve, but it doesn't seem to work linearly with the circuit -- there's certain areas where I get this washy-noise sound. I think the circuit is rebiasing itself or something? There's some play around that spot on the Starve knob for any given washy-noise/rebiasing. I've been leaving my Starve up, that is, at 0%.

I'm more after that sputtery old-fuzz sound with blooming chords than WALL OF NOISE CRUSHES EVERYTHING.

I think of the AB as if it were a multi-stage guitar preamp in terms of some of my adjustments...i think of Bloom and Trim as two gain stages and use Trim to control how crazy the Bloom setting gets as if i were using an old Boogie amp with the cascaded volume controls. i use the Starve to achieve a greater/lesser degree of buzz or fuzziness; more voltage = less fuzziness roughly speaking. i think of the controls as Starve = fuzz/buzz, Bloom = distortion, and Trim = size/roar. for the goal you're describing i would roll off the Starve and push the amount of Bloom relative to the Trim setting, and suggest Starve = 10:00 and Bloom = 2:00 as a starting point. the AB is very sensitive and has a lot of range of adjustment; small knob movements can make big differences, and the settings are very interactive.

I've noticed. I like how Bloom and Trim interact. It's more fun than just having one gain or fuzz knob, for sure!

This thread makes me happy!

Gunner Recall wrote:

I got this with AB#003...if it's faded it's because jizzed all over it the first time I plugged in my AB.

That manual's an oldie, too! Still has the correct "home setting" controls noted.

I haven't been including pamphlets since really early on...saves paper, and I kind of like the idea of people exploring the pedal for themselves. I'm working on new manuals, though.

All come set like this:
--Gain: hard right (full)
--Bloom: 12 o'clock
--Starve: hard left (full)

^I think that's a great home setting, or place to adjust from.

Thanks Tom! I appreciate not making more paper waste

Tom Dalton wrote:
That manual's an oldie, too! Still has the correct "home setting" controls noted.

All come set like this:
--Gain: hard right (full)
--Bloom: 12 o'clock
--Starve: hard left (full)

^I think that's a great home setting, or place to adjust from.

...I hadn't looked at that sheet in years, but looking at my algal bloom right now it's set pretty damn close to that
A bit more on the bloom, a bit less gain.

Wow good thoughts there dubkitty... I have two Algal's in different parts of my chain and the first one is always set straight up noon all the way... I always thought the starve was full right full signal but I was bass ackwards... Are the knobs on the XS the same as the larger one, just squished together.?. Algal Algal Algal...

It's like the left and right knobs (Level and Gain, respectively) were moved in under the two middle knobs, instead of the arch shape they're in on the larger case.