Hartke VXL Bass Attack - Review
So there I was with a bit of an attack of G.A.S., and I decided what I really needed was a bass guitar pre-amp for going direct into my recording console (Tascam FW1082). I have my old and trusty ADA MB1 for live use, but I really can't be arsed lugging my rack upstairs and patching it all in whenever I feel the urge to lay down some chops.
The most well-known of this type of device is probably the Sansamp, so I'd been keeping an eye out on Ebay for a while in case one came up. Unfortunately their popularity seemed to command a premium, and I decided I didn't want to be paying that much! Anyway, up came this Hartke VXL Bass Attack pedal for 45 quid Buy It Now, so after a little web research I splashed the cash.
I won't bore you with the specs - that's what Google's for. Suffice to say I am really impressed. I have my Kubicki Factor going straight into the pedal and out through the balanced XLR into the desk. It runs off phantom power which is a great feature when all your pedals seem to be empty of batteries. Those PP3s aren't cheap!
The direct sound from the Kubicki really isn't bad. The onboard 18v preamp is pretty flexible, but I always end up using the first setting which can be a little middly when DI'd. I found that engaging the tone-shape on the pedal with a notch at a sweet-spot of around 340Hz gave a lovely hi-fi, deep, round sound. I have a tiny bit of bass boost and everything else at 12 o' clock. Just to add some polish I use some gentle multiband compression from a TC Electronics Triple-C which evens out some of the harsher transients when slapping and popping and that's it! The bass, treble and bright controls are active all the time, the bright control being very subtle in effect - you probably won't notice any change if you don't have tweeters in your rig. I must say I think a conventional 'mid' control would have been more useful, or at least a depth control for the tone shape facility. Trying the pedal with a Yamaha TRB6 wasn't so successful as my usual sound direct from the bass is so good already from the on-board mid-scooped preamp. Adding the Hartke tone shape on top of that overdid things rather, sucking too much lower-mids from the signal.
The 'harmonic' control is supposed to add a bit of valve-type distortion to the sound, and it does this pretty nicely delivering a warmer, thicker sound. I didn't like this for slapping, but for driving rock type stuff this would give a good full bass foundation to build upon. Unfortunately there is no independent level control for this feature, so if you have the drive level set quite high and hit the 'effect' pedal, your overall volume will increase. This could be a problem in a live environment. With moderate setting of the drive knob, however, you can add some good growl without dramatic volume change.
One feature you may see detailed in some publicity for this pedal is the abilty to insert effects in a loop between the line-out and the parallel-out. Beware, this doesn't work. Here's the explanation from Hartke:
Unfortunately there was a mistake made in the initial printing of the owner's manual (which has since been corrected). The connections on page 9 of the owner's manual will create a feedback loop.
They go on to explain how to use effects units with the VXL:
Bass - input of effects unit - output of effects unit - input of Bass Attack - output of Bass Attack - input of amplifier
Build-wise the pedal is very solid, though the battery cover was missing from the model I bought and apparently this is a common problem. Without this, the battery can float around inside the casing and actually knock some of the circuitry so beware. It shouldn't take too much ingenuity to secure it in place though.
I'm looking forward to trying turning up at a gig with just the pedal and no amp and plugging straight into the PA. My lower back will be so happy!
In conclusion, it's a lot cheaper than a Sansamp and while I can't directly compare the two it is capable of delivering some lovely and interesting sounds. I feel it would be most useful when used with a passive bass, or where the direct sound from the bass lacks a bit of punch. Drawbacks: no level control for harmonic effect, no depth control for tone shape. Oh yes, and the various knob setting are impossible to read from any further than 12" away!