Bias Distortion Pedal Review (New Thread)

    You wanted a full review? The verdict is in...


    First impressions


    My Bias Distortion pedal arrived courtesy of my long time friend and super Sweetwater sales rep Mike Soper at the end of January. Unboxing revealed a very pretty, solidly built pedal and all the necessary power goodies to make it light up. Very nice packaging and a very road worthy enclosure. I was a little concerned about the controls looking a bit sketchy in the pictures and vids but, I assure you, they are top quality and have a very positive and solid feel. They operate in a very smooth, linear fashion with no shaky play at either end of the range. The three way toggle for the boost circuit is located where it can't be damaged by a clumsy foot and is as solid as the rest of the build. The jacks feel good and the fit in all three is nice and tight with a nice solid click and no play. The LEDs are plenty bright with out being distracting and the model select LEDs change from red to a rich blue when the knob is pressed. The Bluetooth activation button on the back pulses a diffused blue. The whole pedal looks too good to step on but it'll take a pounding. They don't call me Fats for nothing, at 300 pounds I can definitely destroy a cheap switch or a lightweight enclosure. I've had it on a small diner stage with sit-ins coming up and kicking around and it still looks like it came off the shelf today. I'm confident that this a pedal that will last for a long time without any mechanical issues. Nice...


    Operation


    Powering Bias Distortion is straightforward. A wall wart with both US and international options built into a nifty mechanical slide switch is provided along with a USB cable. The pedal can also be powered with a standard center negative 9V pedalboard brick and will run on USB power when using it with the Bias Pedal software. There is no need, and I'm sure that it would be ill advised, to use external power while plugged into a USB port. Some of the early pics and vids showed stereo ins and outs but the shipping version has a standard mono set. Makes sense. The expression pedal jack accepts a TRS configuration. Expression behavior is linear and smooth.


    Connecting to a computer is as expected. Be sure you have installed the Bias Pedal software first and the OS will find the drivers when you plug it in. I haven't experienced any unexpected quirks in connection. Have the pedal plugged in before you call up the program and everything works just fine. I've tried it with iPad, OS X and Winblows 10. It works equally well on all three but the iPad's touch screen is my favorite for tweaking.
    If you have any experience with Positive Grid's Bias pedal software you know how deep you can dive. If you're not, the software controls every aspect of the pedal design. The clipping module allows control of a pre Hi and Low cut circuit ahead of gain, distortion and bias level controls. The clipping topology has five voices from germaniun to tube and that circuit is followed by a second set of Hi and Low cut faders. The gain control also features a Vintage/Modern toggle with a very nice change in midrange voicing. The output module starts with another set of Hi and Low cut faders ahead of an output distortion control. Think OP Amp distortion... A Set of EQ controls follows with Low, Mid and High controls, a tone control with a Tilt/Resonate switch (great option for the behavior of the tone control), output control and a mix (blend) control. If you've never had a blend control on a drive pedal you'll learn to love it in about 30 seconds. The Low, Mid, High and Blend controls are mirrored on the hardware. The Power Module features 3 speeds for attack and release for a nice compressor with an intensity control. Ratios are selected at 1:1, 2:1, 4:1 and 8:1. The compressor is invaluable! An overall output control is included as well as voltage selections from 6 to 18 volts. 2 EQ modules are also included with 8 band graphic, parametric and 4 band studio options. The EQ modules can be moved anywhere but after the Tone Match module. With all this control the gain, EQ and feel are infinitely tweakable.


    Sound


    My first reaction to the sound and feel, although it was a tiny bit generic and suffered from a very slight case of the "digitals", was that it it was still addictive and very satisfying to play through. I made friends with the playing response quickly and comfortably. The more I played with it the more I liked it. The compressor was particularly helpful for adjusting the feel and dynamics. The factory pedals sounded fairly accurate to their real life counterparts. Overdrives were responsive, distortion varied nicely from gnarly to smooth and silky and fuzzes behaved like they should. I think fuzz emulations are the measure of a modeled pedal. They're very organic and it's difficult to get that nasal, wobbling bias behavior to pop. The boost circuit can be used pre gain or at the end of the circuit and the Fat, Clean and Treble options work very well. Overall I was extremely happy but not overwhelmed. It was still a keeper. I found the dynamic response and range of factory presets to be more than usable and many were quite good. I play a lot of different styles. A typical week for me ranges from high gain rock to a fully populated Big Band to a Friday night Nashville chicken' pickin' gig at a local diner... Bias Distortion covers everything I need.


    Problems


    I had only one issue. Most of the pedals that I downloaded from the ToneCloud worked just fine. The exception were the majority of pedals that uploaders had created with Tone Match. I experienced a very bad digital overload in the output section with the usual whistling/ring mod that it generates. It made those pedals unusable with the Tone Match module engaged, thus defeating the purpose of sharing your matches. I was still happy with what I could do on my own so I considered that and decided to keep the pedal and contact Positive Grid. Glad I did. I had an answer to my inquiry almost immediately and the communication with the company was terrific. I gave them a very detailed explantation of the issue (go figure) and, at their request, sent them an audio example and the log files from both my Mac and PC. I've since learned that my issue was not unique. After my initial back and forth I was even contacted without further inquiry to let me know that they were working the issue. Yesterday they let me know that a new software version and firmware update that included the bug fix and been released. I updated today and checked every pedal from the factory models to the complete listing on the cloud. Problem solved!! Also... The new version is a HUGE improvement over the initial release. The tones, response and dynamics are born again awesome! The overall tone is sweeter with much more pronounced even harmonics (it really sings now), the touch is very analog, dynamics are improved and I now have a wonderfully organic, programmable drive pedal with 20 MIDI slots to integrate into any of my rigs.


    MIDI Control and Final Thoughts


    MIDI control is straightforward. 20 recall slots are available and preset programming is cake. MIDI CC is also available for more parameters than you'll probably need. The expression control is more than enough for me. Easy to use... Calibrate, set your heel parameters, toe down and set the top of the range, save and go!
    After this first update from Positive Grid (it really sounds and feels fantastic now) and the quality of personal service I've received (thanks Ben!), I'm extremely pleased with my choice. I highly recommend you snag one of these!


    Now... Does anyone have an original Klon I can borrow for a few days? I'll rent it... I'll paint your house... Anything... Anyone?

    Fats


    Art is not a competition

    Edited 2 times, last by Vaughnfats ().

    Like 1

    My pedal came in a few weeks ago and I had high hopes for it, but it's now gathering dust. The primary issue was that the pedal was having difficulty reliably connecting to the USB port on my motherboard (both in Win 7 & Win 10) and after multiple escalations BIAS's engineering staff had to admit that they're aware of this and don't have a fix. And unlike other products, the BIAS Pedal is -really- USB dependent; if you can't drive it with the app, 90% of the functionality is lost. So, there's that.


    The other beefs I had with the pedal were:


    1) The knobs aren't road-worthy IMHO. Particularly the rotating selector knob - I feel it's just a matter of time before the thing breaks or snaps off. Actually, for a pedal of its size it's light and hollow-sounding - I imagine it's mostly air inside, but it's got security screws all over and I couldn't take it apart (even with my security Torx set.)
    2) It's freakin' huge. And if my suspicions are true (that it's mostly empty) there isn't much reason for it.
    3) The "tone match" functionality, which I was able to get to work on a couple of the occasions where it did succesfully connect, is nothing more than an EQ matcher - with low accuracy, at that. Really, I wasn't impressed at all.
    4) There's no way to easily resell the pedal. Once the software is registered, it's tied to your computer and unlike with iLok plugs you can't pay the vendor something to transfer the license to a new owner. They'd have to purchase the app from scratch.


    Everything said, the functionality - as far as the app goes (and the plugin, which is identical) appears like a real problem solver that could replace 3-5 pedals in some setups. It's just feels like something that was released too early, and at the moment is something like a beta product. I ended up swapping it for an Elektron Analog Drive, which is another large pedal but lived up to its promise and I'm very happy with.


    Quote from Vaughnfats

    Sound


    My first reaction to the sound and feel, although it was a tiny bit generic and suffered from a very slight case of the "digitals", was that it it was still addictive and very satisfying to play through. I made friends with the playing response quickly and comfortably. The more I played with it the more I liked it. The compressor was particularly helpful for adjusting the feel and dynamics. The factory pedals sounded fairly accurate to their real life counterparts. Overdrives were responsive, distortion varied nicely from gnarly to smooth and silky and fuzzes behaved like they should. I think fuzz emulations are the measure of a modeled pedal. They're very organic and it's difficult to get that nasal, wobbling bias behavior to pop. The boost circuit can be used pre gain or at the end of the circuit and the Fat, Clean and Treble options work very well. Overall I was extremely happy but not overwhelmed. It was still a keeper. I found the dynamic response and range of factory presets to be more than usable and many were quite good. I play a lot of different styles. A typical week for me ranges from high gain rock to a fully populated Big Band to a Friday night Nashville chicken' pickin' gig at a local diner... Bias Distortion covers everything I need

    THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME FOR SUCH AN INDEPTH REVIEW. STILL WOULD LIKE TO TRY ONE BUT HAVENT PULLED THE TRIGGER YET! WHEN OTHER PRIORITIES EASE OFF PERHAPS!

    i preordered it but then cancelled my order and bought two real pedals ... i still don't know if my choice was the right one :D on day i have to check that pedal out :D