Thanks, man
It's a pedal that clicked with me in a really neat way. Here's a bit I posted in the HC version of this thread to further explain things. A couple people (er, the only two to respond so far, since I posted this like an hour ago and extreme fuzz is a niche) mentioned they liked the sound and didn't really know why they hadn't already bought a Bit or something similar. I figure you can relate...
I think to a degree it's because there are so many Devi-Ever pedal options that it's a little overwhelming to try to figure out which one is the one you really want. I know I wanted a Bit and said I was going to get one forever, I finally called Devi and talked to her about it for awhile and so ceased the waffling and began the guitarsynth.
I guess I'd recommend if you're thinking about it, man, dive in. It gets along really nicely with all my coil positions, and it works well with a comp up front and in a fully buffered loop, and as y'all noted it's really pretty affordable relative to the small-builder market.
I like it best direct. Into an amp it sounds a little more conventional at higher "Control" settings, and as Devi put it, at lower "Control" settings it can be challenging to find a way for it to fit. There's a spot on the knob for your guitar/setup where it just clicks and the gate cuts things off exactly right while the fuzz circuit squares it out in a really cool way. Past that point, it's more conventionally high-gain fuzz lead tone; before that point, the sound chokes and sputters and you lose attack and sustain so it sounds super staccato. I actually think either side of the sweet spot for a given setup could be a pretty useful sound - or, rather, that they are sounds that could inspire some interesting uses in the right hands.
As far as effects on the track, by the way, I ran it through Amplitube 3 with the amp and cab bypassed. Normally I'd use Guitar Rig 4 just for effects, but I had something specific in mind that I knew exactly how to do in AT3 using its multi-tap delay. EHX phaser emulation up front, then a three-tap exactly the same volume delay (but "mix"ed just a bit lower to keep the primary signal clearer than the taps), and a very slow Flanger with low depth but moderate resonance after the delay. The result is a different modulation for the delay taps than the primary signal, so dual modulation in a predictable way that I thought went nicely with the way that the Bit affects the guitar sound.
I'd like to emphasize that I have tried other pedals direct and this is literally the only one I've ever cared for the sound of, ever. It really does something unique that I can't replicate with any of my more conventional fuzzes, or even my somewhat more out-there fuzzes. I wish I hadn't waited so long to get in touch with Devi and actually get one, because I'm really pleased with the results. There's more to it than this clip shows, but already it's got me doing something that I haven't done before and I personally think it sounds really cool.
I think the variety of options is something that a lot of small builders that have several different pedals in the same general idiom face. It does present a challenge to potential buyers, right, figuring out what's cool about this or that to make it THE pedal to buy. I'm really glad that I've got this, I definitely wish I had sought it out earlier. It's inspirational. That's the best thing a pedal can be. Makes me want to play - and to play differently than usual, to make the most of its unique flavor.
Devi-Ever's stuff is kind of a microcosm of the whole small-builder fuzz thing, I guess. A lot of guys have diverse product lines that don't make clear decisions for people. It's kind of the opposite of BOSS, if you think about it. What does that BOSS pedal do? Oh, it's a Distortion. Says so on the box. That other one's an Overdrive, that one's a Digital Delay, that one's a Chorus, that one's a Compressor. Not a lot of creativity in the naming, and less difference in the functionality of some of the dirts especially than you'd think given the naming scheme, but it is simple and conveys with a lot of guidance what the circuit inside is intended to do. It's at least mildly ironic that really creative designers in the small builder industry can be faced with the problem of potential customers being confused about what product to go with because they try to make sure they don't put out one-trick ponies. I worry that it sometimes leads people to think, incorrectly, that the underlying functionality is all basically identical and they can just buy one pedal and that's what the builder has to offer.
Anyway, enough of my jibber jabber. Thanks for the props on the clip, I'll definitely be working some of this into my material in the future, it's killer.
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