Bit Commander Pedal Questions

[BornToRock]

1- I have a Blackstar 20 Watt tube guitar amplifier. Is it safe for me to play with this pedal through my amplifier? There are a lot of low octaves and suboctaves on the pedal and I do not want to damage my guitar amplifier because I have heard if you play bass sounds through a guitar amplifier it can damage it.
2- I know that the pedal is supposed to make unusual glitchy noises and things like that but it will not hold a note for more than a second or two without cutting out. I read the manual and fiddled with the knobs but despite whatever I do it makes really amazing noises but if I try to bend a string and hold a note it just cuts out after a second or two. Is there anything you can suggest?

[indianDYsummer]

1. The amp will be fine. The pedal will not hurt it. Your speakers could be at risk though, depending on the volume and their wattage rating.

2. Stop bending notes.

[backwardsvoyager]

Use the neck pickup with the tone rolled off a bit, make sure your guitar is tuned and slide between notes instead of bending and you should have no problems with tracking. IMO it's one of the better tracking analog octavers out there.

And don't worry about your amp but I've found the subs usually sound shit through smaller guitar amps so only using the octave down might work better.

[HanFastolfe]

I just got my Bit Commander, and I came to ask the same question. It's not a matter of pitch tracking, it does that quite well even with bending.

It's a matter of the Down 1 and Sub circuits seeming heavily gated. My guitar doesn't have the best sustain, but these octaves cut to silence disappointingly soon! The Base and Up 1 are unaffected by this, and it's my understanding that the pedal is part analog and part digi, the issue seems to be with the ?analog? low octave circuits.

I read a different review of the pedal saying it was noisy and the reviewer had to put a gate pedal before it in the chain. Maybe they mod'd the noisier low octave circuits to prevent this? If so, they may have taken it a bit too far. I would love to get the full effect of the signal breaking down into static, I can't think of a musical use of the hard drop to silence. Maybe add trim pots for the gating, if that's what's going on? Maybe there's a lower value capacitor I could swap in somewhere? I know just enough to be dangerous, and don't wanna ruin my shiny new pedal.

I have a Philosopher's Tone coming, and I'm hoping the subtle compression/sustain I want out of it is sufficient to overcome the gating on the Bit Commander. It might let the notes ring longer, but it won't let them decay past a certain point.

I will put some potato recordings on soundcloud or something when I get home tonight, (clean tone) vs (BASE + UP 1) vs (Down 1 + Sub)

[spawnofthesith]

I like combining mine with a compressor and the depths. Comp smooths things out, and the depths adds an incredible hifi trippy twist to it. Really killer synth sound

[1009]

What you really want to get out of the BC is this sound.

The analog octave is gated by nature. If you've ever used an MXR Blue Box, it's the same thing. That said, putting a boost of some kind before it (a compressor would do this too, I think) would extend the length of time the notes ring out.

[HanFastolfe]

I have a Philosopher's Tone coming, which I can use as a boost (as well as a comp) if need be. I'll put it before the Bit Commander in the chain when it gets here.

I'd still gladly trade a bit of noise for a less abrupt cutoff.

[Eric!]

It will work fine. And you will love it. Insta-synth!

[ThorZ]

Necromancy is a foot!

Just got one of these from a friend but not really sure where to put it in my chain before fuzz? After but before modulation or right at the very end? I know it's all subject to taste but and idea about where it should go would be helpful here