Review of DDyna Music’s Bass 10 Compressor/Overdrive

I was contact by Dan from DDyna Music to see if I would be interested to put EffectsBay.com on the list for the Bass 10 Compressor/Overdrive tour box, and I was very much interested. I really like the ‘tour box’ concept where a builder sends it out for review, and then each reviewer passes it to the next on the list. Who know how many miles this compressor will travel before it arrives back home.

The DDyna Bass 10 is a great compressor Overdrive, primarily for bass players, but has a spot for the guitarists out there. I don’t have a bass, and wouldn’t be qualified to do any demos regarding bass, so this demos is purely a guitar oriented review. Again, for this review, I enlisted help from Jimmy Rolle.

The layout of the pedal is broken down into three sections – EQ, Overdrive and Compression. The Bass10 has 4 Bandpass filters (Bass, Mid Low, Mid High and Treble) in the EQ section. The Overdrive section has Overdrive Volume, Depth and Drive. The Compressor side has Compressor Volume, Compression Ratio and Sustain.

There are two footswitches – one that enables the pedal and another that turns the Overdrive section on and off. The pedal operates from 12 to 18VDC so no battery option.

For the first clip, Jimmy is playing a American Fender Stratocaster into his Rivera Knucklehead (clean channel). This review will focus on various settings (playing a similar line between on and off) and finally into using the Bass 10’s overdrive section.

Also available is a high quality MP3 clip at SoundCloud

This second clip is Jimmy playing on the Gain Channel of the Rivera Knucklehead. He is also playing a Les Paul Custom Shop Elegant guitar for this clip. The concept here is to see how the compressor affects lead playing on the gain side. Also he engages the Overdrive as well to see how it sounds with amp distortion and overdrive combined.

Also available is a high quality MP3 clip at SoundCloud

Both audio recordings were recorded with a AKG Solidtube and Shure SM57 microphones.

The DDyna Bass 10 is a very versatile compressor with the ability to dial in various tones. The low and high mid bandpass filters offer some very specific shaping which is nice. I can really see how bass players could really benefit using a compressor to focus their sound, and the option for overdrive is a nice as well.

The Bass 10 is available directly from DDyna Music for $289.00. Additionally, you should check out their other pedals (Thinman Overdrive, Charlie Special and the Narlie! Dude).