Akai SB1 Deep Impact Bass Synth Processor

Its pretty simple to use. The manual easily explains to few knobs and functions of the unit. Even though you can control several parameters of each preset, the range of control is not very large. normally this would be a bummer, but luckily they made the presets sound good so you dont need to tweak too much. having no save function is quite convienient too. however, you can only go up through the patches. to go down, you need to hook up an external trigger pedal. bummer.

I have a rather large rig, especialyl when it comes to pedals. I also use an EH microsynth and a Korg G5 Bass Synth. This is similar to the Korg in its function; 9 editable presets, similar kinds of waves. the akai sounds better than the korg in its different presets and waveforms, but the korg has more variation in editing. kind of a trade off. thats why i still use both. both have crappy tracking if you play more than one note, which is a bummer. the akai can sound super funky if you want it to, which is major fun at shows.

the box itself is nice and meaty metal. solid feeling knobs and footswitches too. the power cord doesnt feel very secure when inserted though. ive had it pull out at shows a few times.

i play in a jam band with progressive roots. this thing fits in well. definately different than my other synths too. if i want huge atmospheric sweeping synths or big housy stabs, i use the EH. if i want growly vowel like weirdness, i use the korg. if i want phat phunk in your phace style i use the akai. last show i threw it on with chorus and just got the meatiest phunk bass. the whole band went into this awesome groove cuz of it. lovin it! i have foudn my favorite presets, modified of course, are 1 and 3, but i wish i didnt have to scroll all the way through 4-9 to get back to 1. all in all, a good buy and a fun product. a pedal should inspire and suggest without being overbearing. this does that well.

Ease of Use -
This unit sounds great right out of the box. It was a no-brainer to set up and start tweaking. It did take a little time to find out that there is no real way to control the individual voices (volume of the sub-octave voice vs volume of triangle-wave voice). I was under the impression that there were four oscillators in the unit, but it appears that it is really a digital sample of some amazing synth sounds. I could be wrong here, but not having the ability to control the individual voices could mean that. The thing that sets this unit apart from the EH or the Boss synths is that it can store 9 different presets, so patches can be selected and played without tweaking in between - very nice when gigging.

Sound-
This thing sounds way, way rich. It has a great, full sound right from the start. Mixing in various amounts of the original bass sound thicken it up even more. Most sounds were warm and vowel-like. Some of the patches had a synth-snake sound to them. Versitile, as all of the sounds that came standard are all useable. It sounds analog to me, and if it isn't, it doesn't matter because that's what it sounds like. Funky sounds from the Gap Band to Parliament to Earth Wind and Fire are all right there.

I've had this unit for a few months and it looks like there has been no problems so far. It is built like a tank.

Not used thus far

Overall I feel great about this unit. It does thunder some groovy funk through my Dave Eden rig. I would replace it if it was stolen. Unlike the Boss unit, it didn't take any time at all to get it sounding great and tracking great. I think that I'll buy another one just because.

This is definitely the best feature of the SB-1. It is easy to use right out of the box. There are 9 different sounds and you tailor them to your playing style and you can change the sound some, but it is all very easy to use. Editing the 9 different sounds is basically picking what you want and turning a knob to change the settinga and it automatically remembers the setting. NO FORGETTING TO PUT IT IN MEMORY. Do not think this is a multi-effect unit though, it is definitely not. The settings that you can change are as follows:1. Note Off Level: sets the sensitivity for triggering the end of the effect. this setting doesn't change between presets.

2. Note On Level: sets the sensitivty for triggering the start of the effect. This is setting doesn't change between presets.

3. Preset: There are 9 different synth sounds in this pedal, but if you only like 4 of them...you can program each sound twice with different settings. Like progam one may have synth sound one, and program two can have synth sound #one.

4. Attack: Sets how fast the sound sounds.

5. Decay: Sets how fast the sound diminishes.

6. Envelope depth: set the amount of change the effect sound makes.

7. Dynamics: Sets the sensitivity of the tone variation dependant on how hard or soft you hit the string.

8. Cutoff: Sets the brightness of the effect sound.

9. Resonance: Adjusts how much the effect sound characterized by synthesizer sound.

10. Balance: Sets the balance between the original bass sound and the synthesized sound.

11. Level: Sets the loudness of each program.

You basically have these settings for all nine different synth sounds. The manual is piece of paper (actually about 5 pieces of paper, but one page per language), but it is all it needs because it is that easy to use. It also has input and output levels so you don't have to change you playing style to make the pedal work well. You do have to play more consistently to make the pedal work better, but that will make you play better...and that's a good thing to me.

I am using a Musicman Stingray and a nemesis 210 combo amp and am very pleased with the sound. This has True Bypass so the signal when the pedal is off is completely silent, and that is really cool. It shows how much other pedals without the bypass color your sound. The effects sound very good once you have tweaked them to fit your playing style, and some of the synth sounds aren't meant to be played at super fast speeds. I haven't tried this out with other pedals, because I can't imagine it sounding good with other stuff. It gets a nine because it does take some time to get used to knowing what it likes and doesn't like to make a perfect synth bassline, it really likes consistent bass playing to sound excellent.

The pedal is really, really solid. I definitely would use it without a backup, besides the fact I can't afford another. It seems to be built about as solid as a pedal can be, something you will see once you see one.

I know I won't have a problem with this pedal because I take really good care of my stuff, and I think I could kick this pedal around a bit and it would be great for the next gig.

I play this with a funk/fusion kinda music and am very happy with the pedal I got, It's a good match for me because the sounds are good and it is sooooooo very easy to use...and I am somebody who really appreciates user-friendly items. I have been playing 10 years and own an octave pedal, chorus pedal, compressor pedal, and an eq pedal. If it were lost, I think I would buy a new one as long as I start the band that I want and start using this pedal. That's the important thing about this pedal, it's too expensive for a toy...make sure you are going to use it. I really enjoy this pedal and I think I would like it over the EH microsynth because of user friendliness and the only 2 q-Trons I've tried both had something wrong with them. that doesn't say much for Electro-Harmonix besides there product is SH*T in my book. A company that doesn't have good quality control is somebody I don't want to buy from. This is a great bass-synth pedal for somebody looking for a easy to use, ready to gig, pro-sounding synth pedal.

Very easy to use, even if you have never used effects before. The manual is very basic but adequate. There are 9 presets/user memories, which means if you want to edit the sounds, you will be changing the presets. I tried this out in the shop for about 45 mins. You can edit each of the presets to your own taste. It's very simple, no going into edit menus, no saving. Turn knobs for everything. You can edit the attack, decay, envelope depth, dynamic sensitivity, filter cutoff, filter resonance, synthesiser and direct balance, program level. Each parameter can only be changed from 1-9, but this still gives you a wide variety of sounds. What each parameter does is explained clearly in the manual, sorry I can't remember them.

I tried this out with a Warwick Streamer LX 4 string through a Peavey amp. I didn't think it was noisy at all. This has true bypass. All the sounds are really cool, if you're into that kind of thing. It's definitely very different and probably should be used sparingly. There's an octaver in the sixth program I think, and it tracks all the way down to my E string and beyond (I tuned my E string lower to see how far it could go) I would like to see if it would track all the way to a low B string. Nevertheless I was very impressed. And it sounds wicked. Lots of really great sounds. Warning! Don't play more than two notes at once!! It starts freaking out. Good effect though! It can keep up with pretty fast playing, but you have to make sure you pluck every note clearly. (no gentle playing!) I reckon it tracks better than the Boss SYB.

I only played with it for about 45 mins, but the casing is made of metal so that's reassuring. I own an Akai headrush and it started making crackling noises after I'd had it for about 3 months, but they gave me a new one. So I'm not too sure. I'd use it on a gig without a backup, but hey, I'd love to own two if I had the money!

When I went back to the store about the crackling noise on my Headrush (NOT the bass synth), they called me up and told me there was no crackling noise when they tested it. But they gave me a new one anyway so I'm pleased with that. Very helpful. (note: I've never dealt with Akai directly)

I play all kinds of music and I was trying this out to try and get some weird/different sounds, not really to emulate anything. And it has lots of really cool and way out sounds. I've been playing for 7 years. One feature that is good about this is that you can change the program but keep playing on the program you were on before. When you are ready to change to the new program, press the on/off switch. But there is a slight break in the sound, minor problem to me though. You can adjust the input and the output levels. Everything on this is very simply laid out. This is the bass synth to get if you're on the market, it's much cheaper than the EH bass microsynth (in Australia anyway) and it is the only one I know of that has presets. (If there is something else would someone please let me know!) The EH has a wider range of sounds but this is way easier to use. Fantastic fun machine, but make sure you have a practical application for this before you buy!! It lost one point because it's a leeetle bit pricey. Loads of fun.