Blackbox X-ray Bass Fuzz

very straight forward - when I tried it out in the shop, I didn't think there was that much of a range of tones, but once you get it cranked up in a rehearsal/gig setting, it blows you away. the notes that come with it are very sensible and straight forward

stunning - very clean sound. I use it with a Squier P Bass Special, and through whatever is in the rehearsal room, from an old Carlsboro solid state combo to a nice Trace head and cab and it works well with everything (except the evil Ashdown combos which I don't personally like). I play in a 3 piece indie combo, and use it to act as a surrogate third guitar (lots of noise and volume boost), to a more low key bit of fuzz - it does everything I need perfectly, and maintains the essential 'bass-ness' which other pedals I've tried don't...

I have a had a problem with batteries - I think it eats them reletively quickly, and when it died on me, the clean signal went, tho the distorted/boosted signal remained. weird. that said, I haven't been able to replicate the problem, so maybe just a bad night

haven't contacted them myself, but the shop I bought it from were glowing about how great and human (!) Blackbox are

perfect - despite my niggles with the battery, I'd recommend this for any bassist, given the range of tones available, I'm sure you could use it from blues to metal to pop for filling out the bass. I love this, and if my pedal gets knacked, I'll buy another...

Three knobs, very easy

I've played bass for 20 years, & this is the first Bass Fuzz that actually sounds great, even Amazing. I have tried every guitar & Bass fuzz, overdrive & distortion box that has ever came out, & the all SUCK! The Blackbox X-Ray Bass Fuzz never farts out, the sound is even, and uncompressed. I'll never play without this box. I've sold all my other crap!

Built like a brick house.

This is a Boutique pedal, I've spoken to the owner/builder/designer of this pedal & he's a great guy!

I'll definitely replace this if I ever lose it!

It's simple but it does take a little getting used to. It seems like each knob's effect is a little different depending on where the others are set. The instructions that come with the pedal are a good start.

I use a P-bass and a Danelectro Rumor (don't laugh!) into a 1972 Bassman 100 all-tube head and matching 4 x 12 cabinet. When switched off, the X-Ray has no effect at all on sound, being having real bypass wiring. It's darned quiet when it's on, too. With twiddling, I was able to get the sound I wanted pretty quickly: a gritty, slightly fuzzed Jesus Lizard sort of sound that sounds a little over-the-top alone but really cuts through the mix. It's possible to get a really fuzzed sound or have the pedal act as an almost-clean boost as well. What impresses me the most though is that there is no loss of bottom-end sound quality. Imagine your lowest frequencies coming through completely unaffected but the mids and highs getting a nice distortion. Other pedals I've played with seem to sap the clarity or definition of the lowsm but not this one.

It is simple and it comes in a metal box. The wiring looks good inside. Everything appears sturdy. I don't abuse stuff but I definitely use it, so I am confident of its reliablility.

I play sort of avant power-pop emo-indie whatever rock. But I'm pretty particular about my sound, having played for about 13 or 14 years, touring, recording, and trying a lot of gear. I like an old-school bass sound as a rule, which is why I use such simple, retro gear. But I needed an edge for some songs and this box does the job. Nothing is perfect, and I'd prefer a little more transition between the almost clean and the seriously fuzzed settings, but this is the box I had been looking for.

This pedal is quite easy to use and is alot of fun. There are only three knobs which list as following: MORE,DRIVE,LOUDER. MORE,and LOUDER, how cool is that?

I haven't heard a distortion pedal oriented for bass that sounds better. The sound is incredibly warm and fuzzy. You can go from a little grit to full on crunch. This thing is so much better than the Boss Bass Overdrive which has no dynamic and is basically full on to super full on. This pedal never sacrifices low end and is quite dynamic. The MORE switch could be a little bit more dynamic because past half way there doesn't seem to be a noticeable change but that really isn't a big deal to me. It is very very quiet, and you can definetly get that SVT grunt and a vintage fart. I couldn't imagine a better pedal unless maybe it had tubes.

This is a list of equipment that I use with this pedal: a Ray Rogers 4 string bass with a HAZ lab 3 band pre-amp(same as the old Foderas) with Bartolini Jazz pickups. I know many people haven't heard of Ray's basses but it is a really awesome instrument that is basically a better built Fodera for less money. My amp rig is the Kern IP-777 tube bass pre-amp, a Stewart 1.6 1600 watt power amp,Crest Audio 7001 Professional Series 1700 watt power amp. I run the Crest and Stewart into a Nady Crossover with the Crest getting the highs and the Stewart getting the lows. The Crest goes into a Bergantino Audio 3x10 cabinet(the best!) and the Stewart goes into a Epifani 4x10 and an Acme Low B 4x10. The other pedals I have are an EBS Multi-Comp compressor,an old Ibanez AD-9 Analog Delay, an MXR -117 Flanger,an Electro-Harmonix Q-Tron+, and I have an Akai Deep Impact Synth Bass pedal that I am waiting patiently for because someone stole the UPS package that it was in off my doorstep the day it came.

Havn't used it on a gig yet but I would certainly trust it to go without backup.

Haven't had to deal with Blackbox.

I play bebop jazz, funk, heavy rock,blues pseudo-latin, and 70's style progressive rock.
I have been playing 6 years. I currently study at the Players School of Music with Jeff Berlin. If this pedal were stolen I would definitely replace it with another X-Ray pedal. I like everything about it, ESPECIALLY THE HAND MARKER PAINTED LOGO.SOMEONE DREW THE LOGO AND SWIRL DESIGN ON THE PEDAL BY HAND WITH A PAINT MARKER. THAT JUST PLAIN ROCKS! When compared to the Boss Bass Overdrive there really is no comparison. The Blackbox X-ray Bass Fuzz wins hands down. Also, sounds tons better than the Big Muff pi. I basically chose this pedal because I saw it advertised in Bass Player magazine and was a bass distortion pedal that I had never heard of. I went to the Blackbox website which listed Blackbox dealers. I clicked on MusicToyz.com,saw that they had one and bought it. I have no regrets about my purchase. A distortion pedal thats works good for bass is hard to find, even most distorion pedals which are supposedly voiced for bass seem to suck. This pedals is the opposite, It is awesome and I would recommend it to anyone.