Darkglass Electronics Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine & Alpha·Omega Φoton Comparison

[@brunocruzsanchez2356]

You are a Saint for making this

[@erikarko]

😇 Thanks!!

[@sir.shreddington]

Fantastic review man! I’m a guitar player looking for something for my recorded bass tracks. I was using the classic sansamp but want to try something new and I was having a hard time deciding between the darkglass stuff, but I was really liking the alpha omega.

[@erikarko]

Glad to be of service! 🙏

[@MurdaMetz]

Aop at 19:00 sounds great Adam sounds great all around with the blend dialed back to let the low end breath .

[@erikarko]

👍👍👍

[@RealBassist]

great comparison, good job! my pick is AOP

[@erikarko]

Thank You!!

[@akkunzero]

12:23 holysht that switch to studio rig. definitely will buy Photon

[@erikarko]

🔥🔥🔥

[@j.juarez9526]

Thank you. I had them both in my cart and couldn't make a decision. The studio switch made it a clear choice for me. The A/O Photon it is.

[@erikarko]

Awesome!!

[@normsmith7898]

Thank you for the head to head comparison...brilliant! Was leaning ADAM but after listening to them side by side, the Photon makes more sense for what I do. Thanks again!

[@erikarko]

Thank you for watching and commenting!! Glad to be of service! :)

[@bruno.tangioni]

Thanks for that video! Im thinking about buy one of those pedals, and this video show me the way... ADAM is my favorite! Next month that "green monster" will be mine! Thanks again!

[@erikarko]

Happy to be of service!!

[@tonysmith.bassguitar]

Great comparison! To me, the ADAM sounds better with an IR where the AOP has this rounder, cleaner tone that stands out more w/o an IR. The ADAM sounds ready to record direct out of the box more than the AOP, UNTIL you select the "Studio" preset, which shines.

[@erikarko]

My thoughts exactly :)

[@voujouhihi728]

To the clean sounds on ADAM - you can clearly hear the Nolly multiband compressor on the clean channel. When one sets up the clean sound, can mix in parallel, where surprisingly the "distorted" branch with distortion and IR turned off will give a crystal clear sound (like AOP). It's also good for live acoustic instrument sound, where one mixes a multiband branch with the IR of the double bass, which gives unexpectedly good results.

[@erikarko]

👍👍👍

[@Nebvin]

Thanks for making this! I have both of those pedals as well, and I've found that I prefer the ADAM as a standalone unit, and the Photon on my pedalboard. The ADAM sounds great going direct with a good cabsim, so I use it as a portable interface (would be great if it could be bus powered), while I find the Photon a better match for combining with other effects and going into my amp/cab. And that "Studio Rig" mode just makes the blend knob useless on the Photon, it sounds great!

[@erikarko]

Totally agree with you!

[@rodrigocmusic]

Awesome review! I Have one ADAM and I'm in love with this Tool

[@erikarko]

🙏🙏🙏

[@victorstewart395]

Honestly can’t wait for a feature full version like these ones for the Microtubes X. That would basically be THE bass pedal. For now, I think ADAM is the way to go

[@erikarko]

ADAM is awesome!!

[@bobisadrummer]

If you haven't seen/heard, the waits over. Microtubes Infinity.

[@erikarko]

@@bobisadrummer Got one coming in :)

[@victorstewart395]

@@bobisadrummer hahahaa yup trust me. I’m aware lml holly grail of bass pedals is here!

[@mark6302]

both pedals are versatile as hell I got the photon because i like the color better.

[@erikarko]

Played through just my Photon today! Great piece of gear!!

[@mgsblackhawk]

This is a masterpiece of a review! I think you are the first one to put them side by side. You sold me to AOP until you dialed up the tones, from there on was ADAM al the way till the end.... Donno, AOP sounded less punchy to my ears Either way.. Amazing content! Keep going with the good work and see you on the next video!

[@erikarko]

Thank You so much! Glad you enjoyed the video!!

[@erikarko]

@Andrew 92HT They both ended up with pretty similar EQ settings in the end, though 😅

[@mgsblackhawk]

Watched this a second time and now I’m thinking on getting both units but doing Bass > AOP > ADAM > DAW How crazy am I on doing this 😅😅

[@erikarko]

@@mgsblackhawk Do it! 😁😁😁

[@bobisadrummer]

The 5th dirt type on the Photon was killer. By far the best sounding of all 10 between the two channels. Looking at the manual it says it's the Alpha/Omega + Growl + Bite with "Studio Rig" whatever that means.

[@erikarko]

Means that the lows stay clean and the top gets distortion! :)

[@bobisadrummer]

@@erikarko Ah, so the Crossover stuff like in the Microtubes X. Neat!

[@erikarko]

@@bobisadrummer Exactly :)

[@HintiMaschu]

Crossover at 150Hz (Clean + Compressed and Clean LPF 150Hz + Compressed + Distortion HPF @150Hz). Pls correc me if i am wrong. That is whatr i know so far. I have both Adam and AOP and both are awesome in their own right.

[@AlexandruPreoteasa]

I have both pedals as well. ADAM seems more flexible, found some nice settings with lower gains and almost clean sounds. That's not the say the ADAM can't do mean distortion, cause that's exactly what it's built to do. But the AOP feels more RAW. You feel like playing a mean machine that's chugging along through everything.

[@erikarko]

Yeah, they’re both great - and I’m having a hard time picking just one 😅

[@잊지못할선물같아]

Thanks for great review

[@erikarko]

Thank you for watching!!

[@joconnorwi]

thank you! the most extensive video!!!

[@erikarko]

🙏🙏🙏

[@cheepi]

For the distortion demo I would recommend playing simple slow moving basslines instead of the fast paced runs. I couldn’t really tell the difference between them. Maybe some Helmet / Sound garden type of riffs?

[@erikarko]

Noted :)

[@PkkSpiral]

Man, I love the AOP! That ADAM IR at the end, though...👀

[@erikarko]

It’s pretty darn hard to chose one 😂

[@stasbassist7662]

Thank you! Great comparison 👍🏻 I've always been a fan of alpha omega, but in this comparison I liked the ADAM.

[@erikarko]

ADAM has really grown on me tbh! Great piece of gear!

[@MurdaMetz]

The Adam seems to have more lows imo While the alpha omega has more articulation to the tone in the mids . I don’t really like the nasal tones the Adam produces , but I do like how the compression is easy to dial in and how it has a full sound . I think I’m going to need both ! Lol

[@erikarko]

More is more!!

[@sendalunar2974]

Thanks for the review comparison . I own the alpha Omega 900 . Would you say that with the ADAM going into the AO amp you could get the benefits of both distortions? Also would you plug it into the input of the one fx return/loop? These to pedals are amazing!

[@erikarko]

Thanks! Well, yes and no. With that setup You’d get access to most tones - but not the “studio setting” of the Alpha Omega Photon :) I’d run it INTO the amps input (if I’d wanted to access the AO-distortion etc) :)

[@sendalunar2974]

@@erikarko sweet. I think its hard to go wrong with either the photon or Adam. It's super portable and in most huge gigs it could be the only pedal i use!

[@erikarko]

Agreed!! :)

[@mikefredbass]

Might have to say the ADAM. But they’re both great. Need to run the Attitude split into both of them. Woofer pickup through one and P pickup through the other…..a Darkglass Sheehan tone. ;)

[@erikarko]

You’re the third one to suggest that… I guess I’ll have to do try it ;)

[@matthewharcourt8439]

I love that photon! Just ordered it. Lol!

[@erikarko]

Nice!!

[@eskilseter]

Great comparison and video. The bass tones are low in the mix though, so I keep having to turn up when you're playing and turn down when you're talking :)

[@erikarko]

Sorry! I didn’t want to do any post processing and this tarnish the demonstration 😅

[@howler9171]

I like the clean tone of the adam more but I like the distortion of the photon more. But it seems like the adam is a lot more versatile with the amount of different tones you can dial in. The photon sounds better by itself, but I would imagine the adam would sound better in a full band mix

[@erikarko]

The clean tone of the Adam is more of a “nice studio DI” (which is what Nolly wanted, essentially) whereas the Photon is much more of a transparent one in that case :) Hands down, both units are great and you can’t really go wrong with either one of them IMHO! :)

[@howler9171]

@@erikarko Yeah they did a really good job with these. Just the fact that it has a built in tuner, compressor, and noise gate definitely make it worth the extra money to get either of these over a b7ku or AOU. And it also lets you set custom presets, AND doubles as its own audio interface. One of these could literally replace my entire rig, lol

[@erikarko]

@@howler9171 Agreed!! 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼

[@CarlosKTCosta]

Honestly I’m kind of stumped here… they both have nice sounds and while I prefere the topology of the ADAM, the Alpha Omega has the two tones… I would have to try them both and see what’s the one that I can reach a nice tone fastest or which gives me more usable tones

[@erikarko]

Yeah, I’m with you on that - can’t really go wrong with either one TBH :)

[@zordosway3846]

I don’t own either of these and don’t know which one is on at a given time, which one is more beefy sounding?

[@erikarko]

Alpha Omega Photon :)

[@eidam8249]

Hello, great video thanks for making it! I just want to know if anyone have experience with both of these pedals with another pedals, i have Bass cry baby and TC electronic reverb and i want have only these 3 on my pedal board, thanks for responding and sorry for bad English

[@erikarko]

Well, both pedals will work great with those other two! It’s up to you! :)

[@arsenije_wav8620]

I'm not sure if its your recording setup or my listening setup, but these all sound scooped and fizzy. The foton had some better rounded tones, but the adam just sounded like the same distortion with slightly different saturation. I also don't like how they don't clean up when the distortion is all the way down

[@erikarko]

Dunno why it sounds thin to you.. Sad to hear it, tho 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@MurdaMetz]

It’s kinda hard telling which pedals which because it doesn’t show which is Engaged at any giving time . It would be nice to be aware of which pedal is being used , instead of speculating?

[@erikarko]

Good point. I’ll keep that in mind for future videos :)

[@Mattseak]

I'm drawn to the brutality of the AO, but honestly ADAM would probably be a better choice for me overall. Great demo/comparison, though I wish you would have kept at least some kind of IR on while demoing the distortions, because I think that would have given a better "real world" example of the tones you can get.

[@erikarko]

Thanks for watching and commenting, man! :) I do try the different presets with the same IR at the end of the video, which hopefully gives you at least SOME idea of said examples :)

[@Mattseak]

@@erikarko oh for sure and thank you for including those tone clips with the IR towards the end too :)

[@roxans12]

Adam for me

[@erikarko]

👍👍👍

[@trfmusic902]

ADAM sounds better to my ears 💯

[@erikarko]

Hands down, I’m having a hard time picking a favourite 😅😁

[@matthewconner7800]

When ADAM first came out, my reaction was something like “wow, this looks really cool. Wish it had the Alpha Omega distortion sounds.” So, when the AOPh came out, I ordered it promptly. Love it. I am really tempted to add an ADAM and a MIDI controller to manage them both, though.

[@erikarko]

Awesome!! 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼

[@arsenije_wav8620]

Don't you think its a bit shitty we can't have both? These are digital pedals, the algorhythms exist for both of them.

[@WintermintP]

Now what's next on the list is getting metal *guitar* tones out of these units (read: GUITAR, NOT BASS!).

[@erikarko]

I’ll see what I can do 😅

[@WintermintP]

@@erikarko FYI, metal guitar tone with ADAM was done already. :3 Now it's just AO Photon and the new Microtubes X Infinity.

[@johnpaul5664]

I believe that the PHOTON is a tad better... That's because the PHOTON is around 100 bucks more... But for that extra 100 your getting that extra bite that the Adam doesn't have..

[@erikarko]

Myself, I really enjoy the ADAM tbh :)