brassmaster/b:assmaster owners

[deadbeatriot]

how tame can a brassmaster get? can it get overdrive-like?

[jrmy]

For the silicon one, no. At least, not in my experience. I've heard that the Germanium version is "mellower" or "smoother," but the silicon version is best at chewing through mixes like a thousand rabid angry robot bees. And that's what I love about it.

Edit: actually, I suppose that if you mixed the "ass" or affected level way down, you might be able to get a tamer, overdrivey sort of sound. But I dunno - I'm guessing there would still be a bit of octavey madness in there.

[Joe Gress]

Super short answer: No.


Short and sweet answer: Not really. Its a wild fuzz with so much gain on tap, and it doesn't clean up well at all. Turn down the sensitivity and the ass volume, and the volume on your instrument, and all it does is get sputtery.

[elbandito]

I'm gonna have to agree with the boys. I've got a GGG Brassmaster and there's really no way to tame this beast. But if you want to make it even wilder (why not, right? if you can't go one way, go twice as far the other way to compensate!), stick it in the loop of an Utter Stutter.

[McSpunckle]

Yeah, you can't tame them. It'd gate off before the signal got low enough to be clean.

[aussy]

Agreed
My B:assmaster did not "clean up", just got sputtery
Awesome fuzz though
Really why I sold it, such a great old sound

[deadbeatriot]

thanks fellas!

[randel_07]

i've got an additional question too.

do you guys think that the pedal was well worth the money?

[jrmy]

i've got an additional question too.

do you guys think that the pedal was well worth the money?

For me, yes. It is one of my essential fuzz flavors.

EDIT: the VFM can get close to the Brassmaster sound in certain settings, but there's this raspy, nasty, circuits-frying buzz that I can only get from my B:assmaster. I did an inventory of my band's set recently, and realized that I use it on about five of our songs (either alone or combined with other pedals/patches). Of course, this is one of those very subjective things - it's such a distinctive tone that I could see some people just plain not being into it. Also, there's a huge difference between the germanium and silicon versions. To my ears, the germanium version sounds more "polite." I also prefer the germanium version on guitar, and the silicon on bass.