BearFoot FX presents the BJF-designed
One Control Hooker’s Green Bassmachine!
Demos
Takamune Negishi
Jake Cloudchair
Hooker’s Green Bass Machine. Our first bass effects pedal was very difficult to produce. Development was slow and we were very close to giving up. We were desperate. Yet, thanks to advice and feedback from BJF and all the people involved, we were able to complete the product.
The biggest challenge to overcome was the fact that guitarists and bassists feel things differently. While they pursue the best sound on the same ground, they do it in different ways. Understanding what they visualize was the toughest challenge for us. This pedal can intuitively reproduce the sound that bassists feel and imagine in their heads. When our indefatigable brain incorporated the sound created by the final prototype, there was no doubt that we had experienced something precious. This pedal is a milestone for One Control. It is a turning point for us.
The tone you imagine manifests itself in this pedal.
What does “distortion effect” mean for bassists? They naturally have different ideas depending on their playing styles and genre. Yet, bass distortion effects pedals…especially overdrive pedals… are thought to be an extension of amp simulator/preamp or on-board active preamps.
In order to fulfill the functions of both an amp and a bass, bass overdrive pedals tend to be multi-functional and are large in size due to an increased number of knobs and terminals.
Pedalboards are getting larger, even more so recently. Distortion and various other effects can be used effectively to add color to music. Now, more than ever, bass overdrive pedals need casual usability like a guitar overdrive.
One Control Hooker’s Green Bassmachine embodies everything bassists need in its small body from the bass amp features to tone and deep feelings.
Bass tube amps are essential for an old school rock sound. Nothing can beat the controllable tones and feelings they create.
Moreover, old SUNN bass transistor amps are able to create high-level distortion that modern bass amps cannot achieve and that many professional bassists wouldn’t think of replacing.
Hooker’s Green Bassmachine gives you the tone and feeling of bass tube amps and old transistor amps when used with a modern bass transistor amp that is common in many music venues and studios. When Hooker’s Green Bassmachine is turned off, you can get a modern transistor amp sound.
By combining a modern transistor amp that is most commonly used by contemporary bassists and this small Hooker’s Green Bassmachine, you can cover all the bass amp sounds that many bassists seek.
Hooker’s Green Bassmachine has a dynamic range as wide as a bass tube amp and picks up all the subtle expressions that bassists create with their fingers. Transitions between clean and distorted sounds are smooth and it creates a gorgeous but stable compression tone like an old transistor amp when you increase the distortion. You can control your bass in any way you like.
It won’t miss any finger touches and accurately produces any groove from blues, fusion, or hard rock to metal. Its moderately sharp attack and clear-sounding keys do not decrease the speed realized by picking. Slapping, percussive chunks of sound by thumb popping, and sound created by pulling can be maintained and kept stable. The ability to freely control distortion enables you to play in a relaxed and comfortable way.
For heavy tracks using a multi-string bass, the Low trim pot on the side does its job. Hooker’s Green Bassmachine has enough low-end, but if it’s not enough for you, try turning the trim pot.
Hooker’s Green Bassmachine’s TREBLE knob has limited range to allow subtle adjustment. Many music venues and studios have modern bass amps equipped with powerful EQ and basic bass sound is created using that. What is required for an overdrive pedal is delicate sensory adjustment that is impossible with amp EQ.
While a number of bass effects pedals have knobs for blending and mixing, Hooker’s Green Bassmachine does not have them. The distortion circuit sometimes narrows the dynamic range and as a result creates a “coreless” sound. “Blend” is effective for giving “sound variation” in fuzz and space effects, but blending in bass overdrive pedals is only supplementary to dynamic range. Hooker’s Green Bassmachine introduced a dynamic amplifier circuit that handles bass signals fully. Thus, it does not create any coreless sound that is impossible to distort and therefore the blend knob is unnecessary. It also helped reduce the size of the product.
Hooker’s Green Bassmachine is compact not because it has fewer functions. It is designed to realize the maximum potential to create great sound with minimum body size.
If you absolutely need to blend for sound variation, use our One Control Mosquite Blender for blending any effects.
Hooker’s Green Bassmachine does not have a balanced out connector. You can create a lively bass sound with a line connector if you connect it to a mixing board directly and use it as a DI pedal.
● As a guitar overdrive pedal
Hooker’s Green Bassmachine was originally designed to be a bass overdrive pedal but can function as a guitar overdrive pedal as well.
Its wide dynamic range covers the full range of the guitar frequency and creates various sounds from a clean sound (after applying the highest quality compression available) to a thicker medium overdrive sound. It’s highly responsive and its ability to express various distortions with the guitar’s volume control is beyond many guitar overdrive pedals. Its response is comparable with our One Control Strawberry Red Overdrive and Anodized Brown Distortion that have the highest response level.
Hooker’s Green Bassmachine creates BJF’s “trademark” unique, solid dark European tones when it is used as a guitar overdrive pedal.
The frequency range that also supports multi-string bass is ideal for guitars tuned low as well as seven, eight, and nine-string modern guitars.
● High-voltage operation
Hooker’s Green Bassmachine operates under high voltage when used with up to an 18V adapter. With higher voltage, headroom is increased to allow even richer expression while reducing the gain slightly.
Although it’s most effective for solo bass or guitar, 9V operation might give a stronger core when used in ensemble or guitar riffs. You can change the voltage according to your needs.
“Hooker’s Green Bassmachine (HGB) is an all-purpose bass machine for any genre after the 1950’s. The impression I get when I increase DRIVE to full is like the bass sound that Lemmy of Motörhead made.
I tested it with a guitar, both with transistor and tube amps. It worked well with any guitar amps and pickups. It could be a great trick to improve your sound.”
— Björn Juhl
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