# Darkglass ADAM (Nolly signature... lots-of-sh*t-in-a-box)



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Dec 8, 2020)

https://www.darkglass.com/creations...SOlVZR0GjSDSsebj2tdqTu3APUcvwZos55vuPyLM5tr08



Compressor, EQ, IR loader, MIDI, programmable presets, and can act as a USB-C interface. AND it has a tuner. 

EDIT: unrelated note but is it me or does the tone demo sound like a VST bass? Either that or Nolly's playing INSANELY precise and attack is extremely consistent.


----------



## I play music (Dec 8, 2020)

Yes, sounds like guitar pro /a VST bass. Do not want


----------



## BlackFalcon17 (Dec 8, 2020)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> Either that or Nolly's playing INSANELY precise and attack is extremely consistent.



It's Nolly lol, what else would you expect?


----------



## Dayn (Dec 9, 2020)

Nice.

I like the sound. He's just insane when it comes to tracking consistent metal bass.


----------



## Boofchuck (Dec 9, 2020)

That outro riff is fucking nasty. \m/


----------



## Brutal08 (Dec 9, 2020)

Pretty much my pedalboard in one box.... I need to justify that purchase!


----------



## Mwoit (Dec 9, 2020)

Looks like a cool pedal but the sound isn't what I'm after. Too... glassy, which seems to be getting more popular in modern metal!


----------



## lewis (Dec 9, 2020)

sounds identical to my Loki Bass plugin from Solemn Tones so I have no need for this. Especially as i have an X7 Ultra pedal anyway


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Dec 11, 2020)

Mwoit said:


> Looks like a cool pedal but the sound isn't what I'm after. Too... glassy, which seems to be getting more popular in modern metal!



Fwiw that's kind of seems like the signature Dingwall Combustion sound. That extremely extemely extremely glassy high end. I use the Darkglass sim on my Line 6 and I can make it sound dark and growly easily.


----------



## I play music (Dec 11, 2020)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> Fwiw that's kind of seems like the signature Dingwall Combustion sound. That extremely extemely extremely glassy high end. I use the Darkglass sim on my Line 6 and I can make it sound dark and growly easily.


I also don't like the sound but what exactly does the word glassy sound mean?


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Dec 11, 2020)

I play music said:


> I also don't like the sound but what exactly does the word glassy sound mean?



I'm assuming that very bright sparkly extreme top end. The same sound you get from Music Man humbuckers or EMG DC pickups.


----------



## I play music (Dec 11, 2020)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> I'm assuming that very bright sparkly extreme top end. The same sound you get from Music Man humbuckers or EMG DC pickups.


Maybe it's more the position of the pickup than the pickup itself. But I think I get what you mean


----------



## nickgray (Dec 11, 2020)

Sounds like tones you'd get out of a General MIDI rompler, picked bass or slap bass presets. It's incredibly on the grid, and it's super robotic sounding. I do like Nolly bass tones, but this is cranked to 11. Too much of everything really.


----------



## binz (Dec 11, 2020)

lewis said:


> sounds identical to my Loki Bass plugin from Solemn Tones so I have no need for this. Especially as i have an X7 Ultra pedal anyway


Didn't know about this product, good to know! Similar products that I know of require Kontakt so that one is actually quite interesting! 

Back to topic


----------



## Kaura (Dec 11, 2020)

Love that sound but it's slowly but surely becaming kind of stale being so overused. I miss metal bands playing with a clean sound. Like listen to Slipknot's self-titled. The bass is so chunky. <3


----------



## LordCashew (Dec 11, 2020)

Seems like a great "fly rig" type solution for metal players. I imagine the "glassy" sound is avoidable given different IR, EQ, and instrument choices.

A lot of DG stuff is more versatile than it's portrayed to be. The X7 for example can get some pretty meaty tones with just a touch of hair, but 95% of demos only showcase bright, grindy metal tones. I get that this is Nolly's signature pedal but if it can also get other types of sounds, I think it would be worth their time to showcase them at some point. There is a LOT of really appealing functionality here but I would need a wider variety of sounds than showcased in the demo.


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Dec 11, 2020)

I play music said:


> Maybe it's more the position of the pickup than the pickup itself. But I think I get what you mean



Yeah it's a mix of that, and I BELIEVE the pickups. I think those basses use neodymium magnet pickups, which can be very zingy and bright in my experience. It can sound like a Music Man on steroids, 

Plus as said before, the Darkglass shit is VERY versatile. More versatile than people give them credit for. They're great for getting something similar to an old dark Ampeg or Gallien Krueger 800RB-on-the-rails grind that I love to hear. Not fully distorted, but dark, pushed, and compressed.


----------



## TonyFlyingSquirrel (Dec 11, 2020)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> Yeah it's a mix of that, and I BELIEVE the pickups. I think those basses use neodymium magnet pickups, which can be very zingy and bright in my experience. It can sound like a Music Man on steroids,
> 
> Plus as said before, the Darkglass shit is VERY versatile. More versatile than people give them credit for. They're great for getting something similar to an old dark Ampeg or Gallien Krueger 800RB-on-the-rails grind that I love to hear. Not fully distorted, but dark, pushed, and compressed.



and don’t forget the influence of the tension on the tone as well. ERG instruments with fanned fret scales do indeed sound a bit different as such, definitely more percussive and snap on the attack than a standard 34 or 35” scale bass.


----------



## technomancer (Dec 11, 2020)

I am still killed by the best guitarist that was in Periphery being the bass player 

Much like his sig basses this looks awesome


----------



## HeHasTheJazzHands (Dec 11, 2020)




----------



## jephjacques (Dec 12, 2020)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> Plus as said before, the Darkglass shit is VERY versatile. More versatile than people give them credit for. They're great for getting something similar to an old dark Ampeg or Gallien Krueger 800RB-on-the-rails grind that I love to hear. Not fully distorted, but dark, pushed, and compressed.



Yeah I was shocked at how many different sounds I was able to get out of my alpha/omega! I found some tones I REALLY like that are basically nothing like the nolly/periphery sound.


----------



## thebeesknees22 (Dec 12, 2020)

I see that sound probably being pretty polarizing. You'll probably either love it or hate it. 

It's definitely not for me, but I'm sure it'll be fine for someone out there somewhere.


----------



## Bloody_Inferno (Dec 12, 2020)

Amp head version will be released in 5... 4...



HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> Plus as said before, the Darkglass shit is VERY versatile. More versatile than people give them credit for.



Definitely. Hell I've used my Microtubes head in all my recent country rock sessions and nobody batted an eye.


----------



## Hollowway (Dec 12, 2020)

Damn, I forget how good of a player he is until I watch this videos. And I am a fan of that tone. I love bright, rattly tones.


----------



## Hollowway (Dec 12, 2020)

Boofchuck said:


> That outro riff is fucking nasty. \m/



100%. I don't recognize it, though. That's not from an existing recording he's done, is it? I wouldn't mind learning that!


----------



## Boofchuck (Dec 13, 2020)

Hollowway said:


> 100%. I don't recognize it, though. That's not from an existing recording he's done, is it? I wouldn't mind learning that!


I rarely listen to Nolly so I don't know. I think I'll start getting into him more though, I really like his solo stuff.


----------



## LordCashew (Dec 13, 2020)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> Plus as said before, the Darkglass shit is VERY versatile. More versatile than people give them credit for. They're great for getting something similar to an old dark Ampeg or Gallien Krueger 800RB-on-the-rails grind that I love to hear. Not fully distorted, but dark, pushed, and compressed.



The more mid-centered distortions and additional cab sims in the guide video show a lot of potential for non-djent sounds. This pedal does the Dingwall trope thing well but I suspect it could sound killer with a P bass too.


----------



## broj15 (Dec 13, 2020)

Honestly I'm really not digging these kinds of tones. Any time I hear a bassist trying to go this direction tonally I wanna tell them to pick up a synth/keyboard since that's what they're trying to sound like.
Also that touch sensitive parameter stuff & the knob/footswitch combo looks very temperamental & (atleast in my mind) problematic in a live setting. Definitely a studio queen piece of gear 
I get that I'm definitely not in the target market for a piece of gear like this but I seriously wonder what they were thinking adding those design features.


----------



## TonyFlyingSquirrel (Dec 13, 2020)

To me, the more disto you add to bass, the more it has to be tightened up in the low end, and you end up getting the timbre of a low tuned guitar rather than a true bass tone. I’m old school about and feel like Geddy Lee and Justin Chancellor represent the best usage of disto on bass as they retain the true bass tone while mildly accenting it with some disto. Geddy representing the more subtle application, with Justin representing the most appropriate extreme example.


----------



## Veldar (Dec 14, 2020)

This would of destroyed the market if it came out 5 years ago. I feel like the Nolly P2 bass sound is pretty played out these days?


----------



## olejason (Dec 14, 2020)

Definitely played out


----------



## Masoo2 (Dec 14, 2020)

I'm honestly surprised that _this_ was the sound they ended up with because quite frankly it's nowhere close to what a mix-processed (or even live-processed in some cases) Darkglass djent tone ends up sounding like.

For a signature pedal I expected a bit more exaggeration to the sound, something more similar to these than what was demo'd:

Towards the very end of this video


Or maybe something like this


Because I really don't associate the Nolly sound with _just_ the Dingwall + Darkglass combo, cause that by itself is still rather weak sounding compared to what his post-processing style achieves both live and in the mix. It's the Dingwall + Darkglass + insanely heavy pre and post compression and EQ that results in his sound.

This pedal is cool, but definitely not as a one stop shop to instantly nail the powerful sound he has. It's very likely designed to be an uber versatile pedal like many have alluded to, the Darkglass stuff works great with P and J bass sounds in a variety of contexts. Not sure I'd buy this if I was trying to sound like Nolly though haha.

For all I know it may have just been intentionally demo'd in a way to sound darker and less clear than he usually opts for, but given what tone he became known for I'm surprised they didn't try to showcase it better.


----------



## Bassman1 (Dec 15, 2020)

Holy shit... Literally just got a BK7 Ultra haha. But, maybe down the line something like this would make sense, especially since I currently share a pedalboard between my bass and guitar. 

The foot switch knobs are a crazy cool innovation. 

Also, Nolly....damn.


----------



## cGoEcYk (Dec 15, 2020)

Nolly gets fantastic DG tones. I tried the B7K, couldnt get in the ballpark (his demo with it had to be super processed!). It was never tight however I dialed it in but cool pedal, thought it was great as a standalone preamp for a pushy rock tones. My bass has 18v active electronics and seems to push most fuzz pedals too hard so that could have been part.


----------



## Chanson (Dec 15, 2020)

The tones in the demo are a little too much for me mostly, but as others have said, I find darkglass pedals to be extremely versatile. They do their "signature" tone very well, and most people only demo them like that, but they can do so many tones between the EQ, blend, bright/grunt switch, multiple midrange frequencies, etc. Excited to see more of this pedal in someone else's hands. Nolly is going to sound like Nolly.


----------



## I play music (Dec 16, 2020)

So is this a fully digital bass multi fx or does it have an actual analog distortion circuit or something?


----------



## Avedas (Dec 16, 2020)

Geez I don't think I've ever seen Nolly play something so technical on bass before. I have zero use for this pedal but it does look pretty cool.

All these promo videos of course use the meme Dingwall+Darkglass tone because that's marketing, but it's all very versatile. I love my NG2 and it can do a huge array of sounds. I mostly don't use distortion on bass at all or at the most a very light amount of dirt just to give it some edge.


----------



## Hollowway (Dec 17, 2020)

Avedas said:


> Geez I don't think I've ever seen Nolly play something so technical on bass before.



Same. I could watch more of these. And I need to practice more.


----------



## DEUCE SLUICE (Dec 17, 2020)

Yeah, I've always kind of bagged on Nolly's actual bass chops but this was pretty impressive.

I'm not a super fan of the tone in the demo, but I don't like how Dingwalls sound in general - they sound like hitting a kickball with a paddle to me. However, I have a ton of personal experience with Darkglass distortion and know that it *really* works for me and my rig, and doesn't sound like a kickball being hit with a paddle. I have an X Ultra as the preamp / DI in my ampless rig, and I ordered an ADAM to see if it actually would fit better for me in that use case. Being able to have a clean & dirty preset with different EQ might be nice.


----------



## LordCashew (Dec 18, 2020)

This basically confirms the versatility some of us were anticipating.

Lots of non-Dingwall content but the Dingwall tone Patrick got is my favorite. Quite different from Nolly's sounds to my ears.

Well, off to practice lute, wishing I was rocking some distorted bass instead...


----------



## Hollowway (Dec 19, 2020)

I don’t know guys, I just love that Nolly/Darkglass/Dingwall tone. I have a NG2 tuned to F#, but now I want to get this pedal and make that tone that everyone else seems to hate, lol.


----------



## DEUCE SLUICE (Dec 19, 2020)

LordIronSpatula said:


> This basically confirms the versatility some of us were anticipating.



Yeah, hell yeah, HELL yeah. Sounds like it has similarly great non-distorted tone as my X Ultra. Can't wait to get it in my hands.

edit: Ha, finally got to see a demo of how the tuner works at 9:28, with the letter display split across the EQ sliders. I don't anticipate pulling the real tuner off the board for that.


----------



## Vyn (Dec 23, 2020)

Not surprised it sounded like a VST - Djinbass is everywhere and it's sampled off of a Dingwall/Darkglass rig.


----------



## Esp Griffyn (Dec 24, 2020)

Not the sort of thing I'd spend money on but for someone that wants that sound, it's probably not a bad option. The outro riff in that video is so heavily processed that it sounds like a Casio keyboard however. 

The name of the pedal is utterly cringeworthy though, I can't remember the last time I saw such a forced and inelegant acronym. I can just imagine metal kids talking to a bass player at a gig:

"Hey brah, sick tone, what's that pedal? It sounds gnarly"

"Oh, that's my Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine"


----------

