BJFE / BearFoot fx Guitar Effects Community

....would you rather have more clean available on the low end of the drive pot and give up the uppermost level of distortion ?

I think you already know my answer.

Yes, I think the H's best tones are just below the current minimum gain setting on the BF model.

Yes. Or at least I think so. I'm likely to mostly use mine with the gain set below 12:00. Of course, the wonderful guitar volume knob clean-up of the Model H makes this aspect less black & white than with most dirt box fx.

yes.

Yes the MH was designed to be used like a raging amp - where you set the amp to the max distortion you would use it and use your guitars volume control to back it down to lighter distortion levels.....

But today I think many people want a fixed distortion level to stomp reliaby stomp between, rather than the imprecise volume knob method ???

Donner wrote:Yes the MH was designed to be used like a raging amp - where you set the amp to the max distortion you would use it and use your guitars volume control to back it down to lighter distortion levels.....

But today I think many people want a fixed distortion level to stomp reliaby stomp between, rather than the imprecise volume knob method ???

That's not me. I would not want you to change the basic character of the Model H at all.

Perhaps if the taper of the drive/gain control were a bit different so that the lower gain settings weren't sort of crammed into the 1st 1/4 of the pot's travel? If this isn't possible without altering the basic feel and character of the Model H, I'd say leave it alone. I really have no complaints as it is, but I can see it perhaps being more user friendly (for my purposes) with "more clean available on the low end".

Hmmm..... That's a good point to raise. What's the trade off for getting the lower gain settings? I'd hate to have the character of the pedal lost. I can easily create my own "fixed low gain" Model H right now by simply running my SBEQ into it at just below unity. This is even better in my opinion because it's like having a Master volume and EQ built into my Model H.

It might actually be more simple for you to just add the SBEQ to your Bearfoot line and then promote the SBEQ -> H stack as the low gain H solution than to have to redesign a fantastic pedal. Even though I'm in the low gain camp, I don't think I'd swap mine for a new one. I'd just keep using the SBEQ with it instead.

Just my opinion.

I am using the model HvT and if I want to get wild and crazy I might turn it up to one o'clock on the Drive. Usually I run between 10 and 12 and if more gain is needed I hit it with my compressor or the Scream, or boost with HBOD or SBEQ. See chain in sig below.

I use my volume and tone knobs all the time on my guitars which is why I love my BJFE designed effects because they change the way an amp would so I don't have to change the way I have been playing for 30+ years. I learned a lot about guitar from watching Jimmy Page at the midnight movies and I noticed how he got so many textures and tones just from his guitar. Later I saw Rory Gallagher open for Rush and he got so much from just the guitar that, except for a short time in the mid 80s, I didn't use effects until about 5 years ago. I just had a vintage style Strat > 30' cord > Mesa Boogie MKIIB and if I had to tune I turned the amp to standby and plugged into a Boss or Korg tuner sitting on my amp.

Ok, back on topic. I don't know if there is much benefit to changing the MH until you did a wider poll from more users as I suspect the group he are a bit more likely to stack to get higher gain since we tend to have a lot of pedals

That said, a SBEQ with a built in Purple Humper would be an amazing addition to the BF line!

thesjkexperience wrote: Purple Humper would be an amazing addition to the BF line!

Would this MH mod be something you are able to do to existing pedals or are you redesigning the circuit altogether? (I really want to get the custom shop "need" version but it would be spectacular if it had the mod for a different flavor/purpose).

thesjkexperience wrote:That said, a SBEQ with a built in Purple Humper would be an amazing addition to the BF line!

Yeah, a SBEQ with mid control would be fantastic. Might even knock my Shape EQ from my board. It's the last Fromel remaining. BF/BJFE have replaced the rest.