XO Variable Crossover

[@EversonBernardes]

A good tip for whenever you're doing any kind of split signal processing, is to have some form of very light saturation _after_ the signal is recombined. It helps gluing the two signals together and makes them feel more like a single instrument. Easiest way to do it is driving the amp slightly.

[@jwal1992]

This

[@shadyganley8877]

​@@jwal1992 that

[@Funkbass85]

Nah man, proper compression is what’s best for glueing signals together.

[@EversonBernardes]

@@Funkbass85 Saturation is effectively ultrafast attack and release compression.

[@rjbrando9616]

Combine and send through your Preamp before the FOH DI.

[@jdshort6503]

I have one… such a great pedal. It basically makes every pedal a bass pedal. I’ve used a crossover for years, but this solves a lot of issues and it being pedalboard friendly makes a massive difference in my setup. The XO really opens up creative possibilities. I absolutely love it.

[@j.juarez9526]

Agreed. Distortion is the primary bennificiary of this pedal, but in my opinion, Reveb where only the high end is processed is a game changer.

[@LMaia14]

Every time I hear a Rush line I just have to smile, Geddy is such an incredible musician. Also, this seems like a really useful pedal, definitely will try one out.

[@Toastrodamus]

This is definitely a pedal for people who want to experiment with ideas like how Billy Sheehan does things. He's got a mudbucker pickup that has its own signal path, he runs that clean and focused on low end. The signal path coming from his P pickup runs to an overdrive that is phase inverted 180 degrees. I think the phase inversion is intended to cancel out any midrange overlap between the two, so you hear two very distinctive bass tones.

[@lummond]

Brilliant pedal, I've been looking for something like this for years. For those with LS-2s, Tri-Parallel Mixers, and Switchblade Pros that want this concept on the cheap, consider tossing an EHX Knockout on one loop - the low knob is a steep LPF at around 89Hz.

[@jasondoe2596]

Oh, very cool tip! Although the EHX website says it's been discontinued...

[@lummond]

@@jasondoe2596 Yep, but they're cheap and plentiful on Reverb, etc. The frequency of the Knockout lows is that it's basically the fundamental of the E string of a guitar and below, so you can use any guitar pedal you want and let the Knockout fill in the rest!

[@FooVines]

Are you kidding me?? I was thinking about exactly this type of pedal this morning! Great from you to review this and make it more widely known!👍👍

[@18JR78]

3:18 So fresh and so cleannn Clean

[@JoshZanders]

One thing I don't see people talk about very often with this kind of thing is that it's amazing for super-low tunings. I play a multiscale bass dropped to F0 and tuned in fifths, and I *neeed* something like this! When you get down below a low B, it really helps to be able to layer an octave-up pedal on the lows to boost the midrange pitch definition without shifting the higher strings into the guitar/vocals range (which also tends to sound janky and artificial). Leaving the higher-end tone mostly dry while enhancing the midrange beef on the lows would be KILLER.

[@bassjane1732]

I use the Taylor by KMA for years. Same concept but more flexible cause you can choose the splittfrequency and have volumecontroll on each signal.

[@aschneider8912]

Damn, this is why I've been loving fiddling around with Bias FX2 for the past 2 years, and now it comes in a neat little package, nice

[@lmackenzie89]

I've got the bass line from this demo stuck in my head. Well done!

[@nephilymbass1]

The biamping feature at the end is what’s appealing to me. Just what I’ve been looking for.

[@danielcorrigan8805]

The Darkglass X also functions like this but here you can use any type of distortion, not just Darkglass.

[@KaltOhm]

Game changer? The Tyler and Tyler deluxe from KMA machines have been doing this for quite some time.

[@XChristianNoirX]

BOREDBRAIN TRANSMUTRON crushes the Tyler to smithereens. ;)

[@KaltOhm]

@@XChristianNoirX i don’t think so. Same features and the tyler offers more control.

[@jnsy617]

Hx stomp can also do this which I already have but seeing this I n pedal form and your examples helped me to see a better way to use that function.

[@pauldestefano7073]

I got rid of my Tyler, the frequency splitter because it was two big. Seems like this does the same thing in a smaller form factor. Very exciting.

[@RandomTuber782]

This would be perfect for something crazy I'd like to try. Near the end you mention using it like a Rickenbacker to send highs to a guitar amp and the full sound to a bass amp. I'd love to do that with the new line6 express and express bass (or pick your flavor or modelers) to make a cool small and affordable old school rick rig with essentially any bass.

[@deangullberry5148]

You can do that a lot cheaper with any A/B-Y and a +octave pedal, I would think.

[@1234drums]

This one rocks ❤❤❤❤

[@rdvgrd6]

Regular blend don’t sound "unnatural" if you play it through a good amp or a preamp after. For example I played my distortion blend through a tech 21 vt bass and loved it

[@mauricemusician7636]

I've been saying this for years! Bought an FEA Labs Dual-band Distortion just for this

[@The_Metal_Mechanic]

I definitely love that this option now exists, especially if you don't want to shell out for a Darkglass Microtubes X pedal. I personally run a Microtubes X Ultra, so this is not necessary in my setup. That being said, I've always wanted to try splitting my signal and have the highs run into an Octave Pedal that has an Octave Up option, run that through a Guitar distortion, and then into a Guitar amp to see if shredding on bass near the 17th-24th frets would sound good in the Guitar range. Doubt it will be as awesome as I'm thinking in my head, but one can dream.

[@zulu5157]

Oh a new holy grail. Great demo.

[@Spaldino85]

KMA Audio Machines Tyler Deluxe is this on steroids. Highly recommend it.

[@Dougal78]

The KMA Tyler / Tyler Deluxe has done this for ages has it not?

[@nsalaza]

Correct! The GFI Systems Duophony also does this but with WAY more options!

[@kanesmith4961]

KMA and this pedal are priced similarly after shipping and import taxes, and I think I like KMA's control layout better if board space isn't an issue. Duophony doesn't do crossover, does it? You can sort of hack it, but no better than you could with an LS-2.

[@devlintaylor9520]

They seem expensive when you could get a ls2 or switchblade, and a eq pedal for cheaper

[@pianotorious47]

Ah, so I wasn't the first to notice that ;). The KMA Tyler gives you a bit more flexibility at the expense of being more complicated -- instead of a single crossover you have separate high cut and low cut controls. This gives you the ability to scoop out the mids a bit, or have more overlap between the clean low/dirty high. But for practical purposes I tend to just turn them both to the same setting, and the crossover control on this pedal or the Sugar Britches accomplishes that with a single knob. The Tyler is also rather large, this looks to be about half the size.

[@pianotorious47]

@@nsalaza I don't think the Duophony has a crossover though? Looks really nifty in its own right...

[@LeftHandedRightHanded]

This is exactly what i need

[@NaEBassist]

to send high and low to different compressor pedals is my wet dream!

[@ImYourOverlord]

Very easily done without this particular piece of gear. I use a Rolls SX21 Tiny Crossover box to split bass signal at 150 Hz. High an low output each go into a separate MXR Bass Compressor. Hith signal then goes through effects and into an Ampeg head, while low signal goes through a clean boost and into a Hartke head. Highs come out a 4x10 cab, lows out a 1x15.

[@NaEBassist]

@@ImYourOverlord SX21 looks very good for my board, exceptionally under the board, it is now on my shopping list! Thank you!

[@abouc]

This is amazing

[@staringatrudeboys]

Always liked Rat distortion but hate the low end suck, even with clean blends. This pedal might tempt me to get another Rat pedal

[@XChristianNoirX]

BOREDBRAIN TRANSMUTRON If you can find (and afford) one, it will slay all crossover pedals and has way more features.

[@johannagy124]

Great reveiw!

[@CoolGuyAtlas]

Very helpful and informative video. Great job

[@CeoTHULHU]

How do you feel this compares to the KMA Tyler (or Tyler Deluxe)?

[@greateasternfx]

The main difference is that the Tyler Deluxe gives you two independent loops, one with a HPF and one with a LPF, while the XO uses a crossover so the two filters are tied together. That means that, as you move one filter up or down on one side, the rest of the signal moves over to fill the space. We've tried to make the XO as compact and intuitive to use as possible. The Tyler is a cool pedal though!

[@lucasgoncalvesdefaria7121]

This isvery useful pedal, but people should know most multi-fx units, even old ones like the Boss-GT100 or the HX Stomp let you do this too. If you have one that splits the signal you can do this with EQ blocks in case you want to xp before comitting to a pedal.

[@SeverinoSE]

Please explain. You say when you blend the clean along with the distorted signal, you also get the clean on the top end which usually makes for an "artificial and unnatural" sounding tone, if I understood you well. In my case, when I split the signal on my set up... and put low end with compression and high end with distortion... because the distortion automatically cuts off the low end, I end up with a very thin upper string distorted signal that is also lower in volume, and a beefy lower string tone with compression that is louder. So it's a must that I blend the clean with the distorted signal for the upper strings. I may be doing something wrong here. I'd love to hear your opinion, thanks!

[@TheBassChannel]

The clean support across all the strings is helpful, but when the upper *frequencies* of the clean get into the mix with the distortion it can sound weirdly "pingy" and/or audibly separated. Your mileage may vary, of course, as there are so many dirt types and they all react in their own ways, but I hope that helps clarify the gist of what was said a little bit more.

[@SeverinoSE]

@@TheBassChannel Thanks!

[@hillblocksview]

*Where do we buy in the USA!*

[@mechart87]

Kinda cool, price is steep. For Bi-Amping, the Yamaha PB-1 will probably never be beaten

[@khalylehagood3222]

Omg was that archival footage of Will from Bassic Gear Reviews??

[@TheBassChannel]

😱

[@MrVyrtuoso]

Would've been helpful if the frequency knob had frequencies marked every octave or other octave.

[@gatinho6248]

I'd use a 5153 head as a dist for bass with this

[@Sklrrtle]

Would love to see a comparison to the Damnation Audio Dirt Mixer/Fixer

[@alexfeatherstone8854]

I'm a noob, does this help w tone suck that you get from things like a whammy pedal?

[@evildemonllama]

This is just a good amp sound with extra steps. The world's most complicated analog plugin. This would be so much more interesting with time based effects or modulation. I can't believe they over-explained using a RAT and a compressor for like 16 minutes.

[@ileutur6863]

That's quite literally not what this is

[@pianotorious47]

Err... y'all know about the KMA Tyler, Byte Heaven Sugar Britches, and others right? :) All that being said this looks like a great take on the idea.

[@TheBassChannel]

Couple of us are marginally familiar with KMA pedals like the Tyler but not too many of the others. Dave specifically had an HX Effects unit, with a crossover loop set up for many of the effects to sit on the highs. Same deal, just doesn't show up in boatloads of standalone stomps... but yes there are a few out there.

[@220_hz4]

⁠@@TheBassChannelDamnation audio Dirt Fixer/Dirt Mixer is my fave

[@kevinrothney519]

Great video.

[@idiotburns]

I have this on the output of my amp in a sense, Hartke Bi-Amp

[@simaojoseph]

AH LE LU IA!

[@kevmac1230]

KMA Machines Tyler has offered these options for a while.

[@Naniamania3]

Biamp in a box!

[@SkiingAintCrime]

damn, I just came from spending money on an expensive stereo EQ to split my signal to according bandwiths just to find out this exists to replace my LS-2 & the EQ pedal at the same time... shame.

[@jasondoe2596]

The XO is quite expensive itself...

[@SkiingAintCrime]

I mean yeah, but its still an awesome pedal if you want a biamp setup or distortion etc simpler than an eq, ls2, etc

[@FamilyTreeRG]

wao!!! i need it

[@timgruber5594]

So it’s like a KMA Tyler

[@flogginga_dead_horse4022]

nice phallus I mean bass :P

[@flipper2gv]

My god 229£ is a lot of money for this.

[@VikingVertigo]

I was made for looving you baby, you were made for loving meeee!!!

[@markbass354]

COOL

[@redcomn]

Well not like I need this things. With gt1000 I can spilt the signal and put a limiter to choose which frequency pass thru and I can even flip the phase

[@Rick-pi9zn]

sh*t thats actually true

[@RJ_HTx]

I didn’t see or hear anything especially for the asking price. It’d be better to get a distortion made for bass with a clean mix knob

[@gtirard]

That's so easy to do with an HX Stomp… it seems strange to buy a pedal for this…

[@Bobby_Uterus]

Man, there have been a lot of “game changing” devices on this channel. It’s left me confused about what the game is and how it’s being changed.

[@TheBassChannel]

Is that so? I’ve made every video and I don’t remember that phrase being used. But your memory is probably better than mine.

[@Bobby_Uterus]

@@TheBassChannel You’ve single-handedly made every video? Well I know that’s not true either, There are clearly multiple people in your videos lol. I’m just here for more Josh.

[@zackstewart4109]

It's a game changer because bass and guitar players don't know a basic technology like crossover exists unless it's in stomp box? That's probably sadly accurate.

[@followingnazarene]

I‘m a simple man, it seems.

[@mehAudio]

Somebody has JHS money… 😂

[@greedygringoprospecting6941]

can you run to different cabs. like using a hartke (aluminum cone). and a EV. speaker. or what you desire for the tone you want. distortion. 👎👎👎

[@deangullberry5148]

I'm old. Technology isn't my thing. What's the advantage of this dohickey over what I've been doing? My current pedal board goes: Tuner -- EQ -- A/B-Y Channel A: +Octave -- Distortion -- Gate -- Line Mixer Channel B: Compressor-- Chorus -- Line Mixer Line Mixer -- Volume Pedal -- Amp

[@Thor20100]

Unless Your A/B-Y pedal is buffered on the outputs you get signal degradation from splitting them. You can also have phase overlap that further degrades your signal, so what this pedal does is keep your signal strong and give you the ability to invert the phase on one of the loops. In every category except price this is superior to an A/B-Y box.

[@deangullberry5148]

@Thor20100 thanks for the info. I'll definitely look into it. Another question: does this pedal allow you to turn off one loop? If I don't want distortion I currently just turn off channel A.

[@deangullberry5148]

Oh yeah, I've never noticed any signal degradation, but my tuner has a built-in buffer.

[@Thor20100]

@@deangullberry5148 Not with this pedal. It sounds like you have your rig figured out though. One thing I would look into is a High Pass Filter pedal on Channel A so you don't distort your low end,. The input buffer on the Boss Tuner is decent but the output buffer is pretty bad. What I have seen musicians of multiple genres use instead is a TC Electronics Polytune 3. It uses their BonaFide Buffer circuit which superior to the Boss buffer. You can use this information to search around if you want to change things up, but it does sound like you just need an active A/B-Y box and a High Pass Filter.

[@deangullberry5148]

@@Thor20100 polytune 3 is what I use. My A/B is the MXR

[@Infectedbyevil]

I say if you don't have ls2 , go and get this one! Because ls2 works perfectly for blend

[@paulnicolosi4792]

Just seems to make the bass sound as if it’s being played through a cheap broken amplifier… Get the same sound by picking up an old crappy peavy bass amp With a ripped speaker cone… Just my opinion-