Darkglass. Iphone in the world of bass pedals
Any bass player who is not a stranger to the world of heavy music, or session musician, sooner or later faces the desire to add some “warm evil” to your sound. Although, in principle, in any genre sometimes a little overdrive or distortion effect would not hurt.
All the poison and all the cure – only the dosage is important. This is especially true for bass effects.
Of course there are many manufacturers of pedals and effects processors, including for bass guitars. Including very decent ones: BOSS, Electro Harmonix, MXR. But today I would like to talk about one player of the first echelon – Darkglass Electronics.
The history of Darkglass Electronics brand
Let me say right away that Darkglass is first of all the creator – Doug Castro. Incredibly passionate man. In this case perhaps it had something to do with mysticism, or the stars aligned in a certain way. Doug really loves both electronics, electrical engineering – and music, in particular heavy music, in particular bass guitar!
Doug Castro seriously considered a career as a musician when he was young, but in his own words he wasn’t talented enough, so he decided to pursue music through the development of electronics. Today, many celebrities use Darkglass pedals to make music, including some of Doug’s favorite musicians such as Meshuggah bassist Dick Lovgren.
One day I thought, “If no one is doing what I need, why not do it myself?”
Doug Castro, founder of Darkglass.
Doug Castro is a graduate in electrical engineering from Chile who ended up in his last year of college in Helsinki, Finland. It was here, very far from his homeland, that he decided to found a company to produce bass guitar pedals called Darkglass. This word is consonant with the name Doug and at one time was his creative pseudonym. The founder himself admits that the idea was quite crazy, but as we can see 10 years later, it was a success.
The company was founded in 2009, and now at the time of writing it is a little over 10 years old. The company participates in NAMM every year, and among the celebrities who collaborate with Darkglass are spotted:
- Adam Nolly Getgood of Periphery
- Tony Levin
- Alesssandro Venturella of Slipknot
- Dick Lovgren from Meshuggah
- Nate Mendell of the Foo Fighters
- And many others…
Model Lineup
Despite quite a lot of commercial success the company is still the same, a relatively small Finnish company. They keep their focus specifically on bass overdrives, and have a small lineup of pedals, including distortion, overdrive, fuzz, compressors, and preamps.
- Alpha-Omicron: preamp.
- Alpha-Omega: a complete preamp and a very variable distortion.
- Alpha-Omega Ultra.
- Duality Fuzz.
- Hyper Luminal: compressor.
- Microtubes B3K: overdrive.
- Microtubes B7K: preamp.
- Microtubes B7K Ultra.
- Microtubes X
- Microtubes X7
- Vintage Microtubes: traditional overdrive.
- Vintage Deluxe: preamp.
- Vintage Ultra.
In the memorable year 2020, Darkglass and Periphery bassist Adam Nolly released the obscenely stuffed Darkglass Adam.
In addition, the company makes specially designed amplifiers, preamps, and even belts for bass guitars.
Also, Mayones uses capsule preamp from our friends from Helsinki in some models of their bass guitars.
I’d also like to mention the impeccable design. These pedals really look like jewelry, but at the same time they don’t have pathos, there is even some minimalism (it’s the closeness of Scandinavia).
For some of their pedals we developed our own software – DARKGLASS SUITE, which is absolutely free.
And in conclusion about Darkglass
So, Darkglass Electronics is more like a small company of friends and like-minded people. The quality and reliability of their equipment is still at the top of the company’s agenda. Despite the rigid rules, which market dictate today, they are not torn between a hundred ideas, and do not chase a huge range of models. It is much better to be the best at one thing than to be mediocre at everything.
“Your vision – our gear.”
Darkglass slogan.
If you are looking for an overdrive, distortion, or preamp pedal, then you should definitely look into Darkglass.
Hey, fellow bassists and musicians overall!
I’m nothing more than just bass player and enthusiastic blogger. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments.
Huge thanks for all crazy people who supports this resource. Keep groovin’!
