SB1 Deep Impact Bass Synth Processor

Aight...this is why people spend $500+ to get this pedal.  The sounds this thing makes are sooo ILL.  You can get so funky with the Deep Impact.  Every single person I've met who's heard the pedal is blown away by it, musicians or not...no lie.  I get so many compliments and questions about the pedal, and for good reason.  A few of the patches are a little corny in my opinion, but many more are just so dope sounding it doesn't matter, plus with 9 presets you can have a few variations of the same patch and not use the ones you don't care for.  The tracking is very good in my opinion.  However, it's completely dependent on your attack.  If you have an inconsistent or sloppy attack, you're gonna get inconsistent and sloppy tracking.  What you put in is what you get out.

I've had the pedal glitch on me a couple times.  I plug it in and it's locked in a mode and won't let me switch modes or adjust any perameters.  However, it's a quick fix.  I just unplug it and plug it back in and it's fine.  I've gigged with it and it's always sounded great.  I don't have a backup and can't afford one, but it seems durable enough. 

It's an extremely adjustable pedal.  There are about a dozen perameters, all of which can be set from 1-9.  It could take you awhile to get the sounds you want, but it's time well spent.  The versatility is great.

Never dealt with Akai.

I play in a funk/groove style jam band and the Deep Impact is an absolute god-send to my pedalboard.  There are so many sounds I can get from the pedal that sound so incredibly filthy in a funk jam.  It's an inspiring pedal, it makes everybody listening want to get down, and isn't that what music is all about?  I can't say enough about this pedal. it's pricey, but for the kind of music I play, I couldn't imagine playing without it.  

Sound quality is fabulous. My original bass tone comes through uncolored and the synths sound great. Tracking is great - very fast and accurate - doesn't like more than one note at a time though, as is usually the case for octavers and the like. I play drop-D a lot and it tracks at least that low with no problem. If run a guitar through it, somewhere around the 7th fret on the high E you'll hit the upper range of it's tracking abilities and it will freak out. No noise at all and it's also true bypass. If all you ever use is the octave effect (patch #6) then it's money well spent. Everything else is gravy. Every effect is good, but whether you can use a particular one is up to you - there's 2 or 3 different patches that I use regularly and a couple variations of the octaver. I play either a '78 P-bass w/EMGs, a Fretless Jazz Bass Special w/EMG P+J, or a Power Jazz Bass Special w/stock active electronics through a Sunn 1200S head and 410H cabinet. The cabinet doesn't like going much lower than the A string with the octaver patch. The percieved level of the effect on stage depends a lot on the level of your cabinet's horn, if it has one.

I've been gigging with it several times a month for a couple of years now with no problems. Seems solid enough - nothing rattles when you shake it, at least. I use it without a backup because I can't afford a backup but I have no reason to think it won't continue to work and should it fail, the show can go on.

Easy to get a good sound out of it - hard to not get a good sound out of it. In case you haven't figured it out from the other reviews, the Akai Deep Impact takes your bass signal and adds 1 of 9 different synth patches to it. Editing patches is simple - turn one knob to select which parameter to edit, another knob to modify it across a range of 1 to 9. Settings are automatically saved as you adjust them. There are 9 memory locations and 9 different patches. You can change which patch is used in each memory slot, they're not tied to a particular slot - you can have 9 variations of the same patch if you like. There's one footswitch to turn the effect on and off and another footswitch to scroll up through the memory slots. An external footswitch with a 1/4" plug (not included) can be connected to it to add the ability to scroll down through the memory. Unit runs of A/C adapter only - no batteries. The manual doesn't really explain very well what changing different parameters does to the sound - you have to just rely on your ears and experiment with what each does. I usually end up just changing each parameter one at a time form min to max to see what effect it has and then find some where in the middle where it sounds like I think it should - it takes a couple passes like this to zero in on the sound I want.

Never had any occasion to deal with Akai's customer support.

Very fat.Thick and richly textured synth sounds.Not as raw or aggressive as the Electo-Harmonix Bass Micro Synth but alot more "funky." When I began to make my own edits it really shines.Preset #6 can be edited to make the best octave effect I have ever heard.

I am reviewing this 2 years after purchase and I can attest this box is totally reliable.

Pretty easy.Manual is quite good.The factory presets are all useable.

Have never had to contact.AKAI no longer makes the SB-1.Tragic.

This is truly an awesome effect system.I have never before had as much fun with a device for electric bass.I had already owned an Electro Harmonix Bass Micro-Synth when I got the AKAI and the SB-1 is so much easier to use.The AKAI is not as "radical" as the EH but it tracks better with all my basses.(the EH specifies that it is to be used with single-coil pickups like on a Jazz bass)I play FENDER(USA)basses,both Precision and Jazz.The AKAI is well suited for both. I would also like to make another EH-AKAI comparison:The AKAI mixes well with other effects,especially overdrive/fuzz and wah/filter.The EH "freaks-out" when other effects are added.The EH only sounds good when used alone.