DBA Robot, how do *you* use it?

[rustywire]

Just got one in a trade but I'm having trouble dialing-in usable sounds with my guitar rig.

The volume knob has "deadspot" gaps throughout it, mixed in with TOO LOUD, settings even at the minimum when signal just begins to pass, WAY TOO LOUD around 10o'clock, YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING THIS IS NUTS LOUD at 2o'clock...and I dont want to kill my amp so I haven't gone past that...as this is all with with my non-master amp on 1.

The dead spots are just a bit sputtery-gated but very low. It's like dialing in a shitty setting with EHX micro synth/bass micro synth...
Is this by design?

Also is there supposed to be subtle arpeggiation in the down octave mode?

Next-to-zero dynamics in general?

And I cant make the arpeggiator sound like the PGS demo.
Instead it sounds like the same pitches arping regardless of whether I'm hitting low or high strings, depending on how I adjust the control knob.

I've tried with and without a buffer in front. Seems to hate buffers.


I've been alerted to the internal Gain trimpot which is fully CCW, or at minimum.
At this point I'm apprehensive about turning it up.

This is my first DBA pedal and I've heard they're loud but this is ridiculous.

Lil help plz?

[01010111]

My experience with DBA has been the opposite. I've had a supersonic fuzz gun and a KKF, and neither get loud enough for my tastes. It seems that my taste in pedals and amps is odd when it comes to volume, very few fuzzes have the volume I need. I'm wondering if maybe your unit is defective? That's another DBA thing I've heard a lot.

I would try turning up the internal gain. It's possible the incoming signal's not hot enough for it to track it well or give you good dynamics.

[Tristan]

From what I know DBA stuff is usually stupidly loud.
I mean, they used to even not put a volume knob on the Soundwave Breakdown and it was stupidly loud in a ridiculous way.
As for the KKF everybody complains about it not having enough volume without turning the gain up, which I also find to be true (for me it works fine with volume maxed and the gain turned up a little bit anyway, it doesn't really give much gain at all).
Back to the Robot, I think I had the volume on it at about 9 o clock or something, which was about unity gain, so yeah, it's loud, I couldn't get the arpeggiation to work like the PGS video either.
I ended up not buying it.

[Holy Schnikes]

DBA stuff USED to be stupidly loud but newer offerings like the 3-knob Soundwave Breakdown and KKF don't pack nearly as much volume as the rest.

As for the Robot, I use the arpeggiation frequently as mine sounds very similar to the PGS demo. I also use the octave settings mixed with a looper for background noise tracks. Beyond that, it's not the most versatile or useful pedal in their lineup. Can do some cool stuff but pretty limited all around.