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New guitar and bass effects pedals - without batteries or power! Cave Passive Pedals

AussieMark

By AussieMark
in Effects and Processors

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AussieMark Newbie

AussieMark

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There's been some discussion about these new effects pedals on other forums, not to mention some scepticism about the lack of batteries or other source of power, so I've got my hands on one of these pedals and have given it a thorough test drive. Here's my review .....

 

Review: Cave Passive Pedals - Grunt boost/overdrive

 

Recently, I came across the some interesting eBay listings for guitar and bass effects pedals that operated without batteries, or for that matter, external power either. The seller, an Australian company called Cave Passive Pedals, describe their range of pedals as totally passive - no power source required.

 

I frequent several guitar and bass related online forums on a daily basis, and at two popular Australian-based forums interesting discussions began to develop about these pedals, so I decided to contact Cave Passive Pedals myself and find out more about their products. At that point in time there were no audio samples available on the Cave Passive website (unlike now, where there are numerous sound files demonstrating how these pedals perform), so I asked if it would be possible to hear audio samples. I explained that I was aware of the pedals generating a lot of discussion among the potential audience for this type of product, but in the absence of audio samples many guitarists remained skeptical.

 

I immediately received an email reply from Heath Cave himself, who provided some background on himself and his business, explaining that he is "a professional musician and electronics engineer so I combined the two as I found a definite need for good sounding pedals without the hassle of a power source". Heath said he would mail me an audio CD with sound samples. The day the audio CD arrived, Heath emailed me to let me know that he had also posted me a "Grunt" pedal for me to review.

 

The samples on the CD that have since been uploaded to the Cave website ( http://www.cavepassivepedals.com.au ) were enough to tell me that the Grunt pedal was not a gimmick, so I was looking forward to test driving one in the flesh.

 

The Grunt pedal arrived in a very nice hand made MDF box with a sliding lid, which Heath explained was normally used for the deluxe pedals in the range. The box itself gives the product the type of boutique look that appeals to pedal geeks, and would be a useful marketing tool.

 

The Grunt pedal for bass is a boost/overdrive effect in a small aluminum Hammond kit box, finished in thick glossy white duco. Initial impression is that the pedal is solid enough for professional use and looks the part as well. The Grunt is a very simple pedal, with a two position selector pot in addition to the footswitch and input/output sockets. I did sneak a look inside and saw that the main circuitry is fully enclosed in silicone, presumably to make reverse engineering difficult, but would also mean that troubleshooting and repair (if needed) might be just as difficult.

 

The two positions on the selector knob are labeled "Clean" and "Dirty", so you need to choose the setting you want before stomping on the footswitch to engage the effect. It really is a simple pedal, that performs in a slightly different way depending on how hot the signal level is that you are feeding it with.

 

For review purposes I tested the Grunt pedal on several different basses with the volume control on each bass set at maximum, and with my bass rig's preamp (Alembic F-1X) tone controls set flat. The basses I used were a Nash PB63 Precision with vintage spec Lollar pickup, a Nash 51P with a high output Duncan single coil, a Musicman Stingray with the standard active humbucker, and a Gibson SG Reissue with the beefy TB Plus humbucker.

 

Results with the Grunt pedal varied quite a bit from bass to bass, but not in an unsatisfactory way at all.

 

Let's start with the Nash Precision, which has a pickup output that I'd class as "standard" in terms of passive basses. With this bass, the Grunt pedal operated exactly as advertised - virtually identical to the audio samples on the Cave website. With the selector on the "Clean" setting, kicking in the foot switch gives a warm and full boost to the signal, with overtones of an old school tube amp. With a Precision, Jazz or most other passive basses equipped with standard output pickups you could use this setting as either a boost for solos, or leave it on all the time to give your tone some warmth through a solid state amp.

 

Switch to the "Dirty" setting, and you get a slightly fuzzy, overdriven sound reminiscent of a lot of records you listened to when you were a kid in the 1960s. On the Precision the Dirty setting is the same volume as the "Clean" boost (ie. there is no volume drop that I could detect at all), but the Dirty setting isn't as full and warm as the Clean boost, so at first listening it does sound thinner (bear in mind that this review was conducted at living room volume, not gig volume).

 

Each of the other 3 basses I used while I test drove the Grunt pedal have higher output pickups than the Precision, so the Grunt pedal performed differently with them - in a good way. With a stronger signal going to the Grunt's input jack, the Grunt's output was transformed into a pretty good approximation of an overdriven Ampeg SVT, which is the bass tone that a lot of bass players have inside their brain as the sound they desire. Don't get me wrong, this pedal certainly doesn't have the nuances and flexibility (or price tag) of say, a Sansamp Bass Driver pedal or a Line 6 VT Bass pedal - both of which can carbon copy an overdriven SVT - but the Grunt is pretty close, especially if you are giving it a hotter signal from your bass (or other pedals in your signal chain). With the Gibson SG Reissue, Musicman Stingray and the single coil '51 Fender style bass the tone while on the "Clean" setting was classic creamy Ampeg tube amp, and when the Grunt's knob was flicked to the right the "Dirty" setting resulted in the instantly recognizable crunchy overdriven SVT sound that will make many bass players, both young and old, salivate.

 

With the higher output basses the "Dirty" sound was fuller than it had been with the Precision, but was never harsh or biting. Both the Clean and Dirty tones are very usable, whether for a solo boost or left on all the time, depending on the style of music and your preference for getting dirty.

 

The Cave Passive Grunt pedal is well suited for bassists who play classic rock, blues, grunge, punk and, I dare say, even metal. At well less than half the price of a Sansamp BDDI, VT-Bass or other similar sounding overdrives and having a smaller footprint too, the Grunt represents great value, and the fact that no battery or external power source is required means that it's a very portable and quick to set up piece of gear to enhance your live or recorded tone.

 

The idea of powerless effects pedals is a good one, especially for musicians who regularly find themselves on small stages where running power to effects is cumbersome, or for bands playing a multi band night where fast changeovers between acts is the name of the game. A pedal such as the Cave Passive Grunt would also be an asset on a pedal board where real estate is at a premium, given that no power lead is required and the pedal itself has a small footprint.

 

There is a downside to passive pedals though - there is no LED to show when the footswitch is on. Many gigging musicians tend to rely on LEDs on pedal boards to know which effects are engaged, especially when multiple effects are being used at the same time. The lack of an LED would certainly be inconvenient for some guitarists and bass players, however this is the only negative I can find with the Grunt pedal.

 

All in all, the Cave Passive Grunt pedal is a nice looking, quality built overdrive pedal in a sturdy road-worthy enclosure, with boost/overdrive tones that are extremely usable for gigging and recording purposes. If you are looking for the classic sound of an overdriven tube bass amp, the Grunt can do this for you, although you will need to be content with having just two settings at your disposal, and be able to survive without an LED to indicate when the foot switch is on. Of course, you won't ever have to buy batteries again nor need to connect the Grunt to your pedal board power supply, and it takes up no room at all on the board. On balance, the pros outweighs any cons with this pedal, especially at the very reasonable retail price.

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AussieMark Newbie

AussieMark

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do you work for them?

 

 

 

No, I don't - if I did I would clearly state that fact. Did you bother to read the first couple of paragraphs? I contacted the company, and they sent me a pedal to test drive, and here's my review. Simple as that.

 

Given that this product is rather innovative in the effects world, I thought it might be of relevance to let people know about it at a forum populated by guitarists and bass players.

 

I'm new at Harmony Central, but I am well known under this user name at a number of other bass forums, so please don't automatically assume I am spamming.

 

Thanks.

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BHz_econo Newbie

BHz_econo

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From the clips it sounds like you would need to run a boost with some of these. I notice a considerable amount of volume drop when they were engaged.

 

I'm assuming the drives are Schottky diode based like the black ice thing that came out a couple years back. They don't need a lot of power and I remember people putting them in their guitars post pickups as a little drive, using a tone knob (strat).

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AussieMark Newbie

AussieMark

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From the clips it sounds like you would need to run a boost with some of these. I notice a considerable amount of volume drop when they were engaged.

 

 

I noticed that from the clips too, with some of the pedals for sure. There is no volume drop with the Grunt though, I can vouch for that. I'm getting one of the Octavers next week to see what that's like as well.

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AussieMark Newbie

AussieMark

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Long post is long, but yeah I'd assume you'd need a boost pedal to correct the volume loss issue?

 

 

 

As mentioned a couple of times in the thread already there is NO volume loss with the Grunt pedal (in fact, there's a boost).

 

There may be with some other pedals in the product range for which there are volume losses, judging by the audio samples on the website, but I have yet to try any of the other pedals, so like you I'd only be guessing.

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AussieMark Newbie

AussieMark

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Probably would help your cause AussieMark if you had more then handful of posts
(or a third of your posts in one thread)
.
:)



Thanks mate, I guess we all have to start somewhere.

I have ....

4806 posts under this user name at the Ernie Ball Musicman bass forum
543 posts under this user name at Talk Bass
1810 posts under this user name at BABP

and, since you're Australian too ...

1050 at Oz Bass Forum
480 at Australian Guitar Gear Heads

plus, a few hundred posts in total at some other forums as well - Tokai Registry, Ric Resource Forum, Fender Forum, The Last Bass Outpost, to name a few.

Oh, and 3000+ at the now defunct Dudeput Vintage Bass Forum.

So, I'm hardly an anonymous spammer as far as the online bass guitar world is concerned.

:thu:

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cmog Newbie

cmog

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Damn guys, ease up on Aussie Mark!

I can vouch for AM from the AGGH forum.

 

I can see that it does read as spam considering the review post, title and low post count. But AM has explained that it is not spam, it is a thorough review, so let's get back to the pedal, not the dude.

 

FWIW, an effect being powerless isn't a priority of mine but as long as the tones are as new/innovative as the principle, I'm definitely interested.

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