Valeton Dapper Bass Effect Strip

The Boost/Comp/Tuner switch was a bit finicky at the start, but I was able to loosen the bolt on it, move it around, blow some air through the gap to maybe dislodge some dust, find where it likes to sit, tighten it down, and it's working reliably again.

I got the Dapper Bass to get a tuner, a preamp, and a DI for the bass so I can record with it easily, but as it turns out the other effects on it are pretty useful and great.

The Boost/Comp on this has a lot of oomph in it, and even with both the boost and comp all the way down it's basically a "make my bass feel better" switch. Probably my favorite effect on the whole strip if I'm honest. I'll probably end up using this more than the premp section of the bass.

The tuner is good, not great. Not the most precise, but it works well enough and is easy to use.

Dirty Q is fun and easy to play around with, but hard to find practical uses for. It's a very sensitive envelope filter, and the fuzz effect, while also fun, makes it a bit goofy sounding.

The preamp section is Sans Amp-ish and gives a good amount of EQ control with a nice warm gain sound (like a wool sweater that's a bit itchy). With everything at noon, there does seem to be a bit of a volume drop off, but there's more than enough in both the volume knob and gain knob to make up for that. With all the tone flat, it has a noticable effect on the tone, making it a good bit darker, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The bass I got, the Harley Benton MB-4 Deluxe, is a bright bass on its own, and the premp section here helps tame it a bit for when that birghtness is not wanted as much.

The octave really makes it rumble when turned up, but I wish it were one octave down and one octave up instead of two octaves down.

The chorus only has a depth knob, but it has a great range on that one knob. It goes from nice and subtle to a big smooth wavey sound. Definitely useful, if only a bit of a one trick pony.

I bought this with the intention of using it live as a multi-effects pedal and DI box. it's very sturdy and easy to use. the sounds were a little dissapointing though.

The chorus effect is fine, nothing fancy but it's oke.
The octave effect is unusable. it doesn't sound good and there are some weird sounds due to certain octave notes randomly dissapearing and reappearing, kind of like a stutter.
The bass amp section is actually rather nice.
The equalisation isn't very effective but I'm very happy with the gain function. It sounds good specially when used just a little bit.
The enveloppe filter is cool, nothing to complain about here but I personally just don't use it.
The boost/compressor section is what I use the most often. works well, it is what it should be.
The tuner is good, accurate, easy to use. I love that it mutes the sound when you activate it. Having an option to mute your sound is in my opinion one of the most practical things in live situations.

Overall I'm a little dissapointed with some of the sounds in this pedal. I use it currently mostly as a DI box and to tune or mute my bass when I'm playing live and in church, but some of the effects are definately decent enough to use in certain situations...