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.

Given the price point, it really is a phenomenal pedal for people who either want to experiment with analog bass pedals and need a taste of what different effects do, or with gigging musicians that need a budget set up on the go.
The overall construction looks very durable, but it is difficult to see the indicators of the knobs and especially when their light is on. It is only possible to sit down and tinker with it.

Now, I will briefly go through each effect:

TUNER: Pretty accurate and effective, no complaints here. Although, when disengaging the compressor to activate it, sometimes a loud-ish clip can be heard.

COMPRESSOR: I have heard and read so many good inputs about the compressor, so I was excited to test it. Indeed, it does its job well, but it is very loud (I need to keep the gain knob way below 9 o'clock to not mess anything up).

DIRTY Q: I don't think it's as unusable as most people dishonor it for. Personally, it gave me some nice options to make tracks more "interesting". The fuzz switch is quite underwhelming tho, it would be so ideal if you could control it as a separate effect instead with the flick of the switch.

PREAMP: Very good quality for the price, you would expect to hear such sound at a 95eu preamp pedal, not a whole multieffect. I mostly use it as a second OD channel for my Hartke amp but it is very good as a standalone preamp pedal (I should also note here that my main bass is a Fender modern player jazz bass, the one with the humbucking pickups).

OCTAVE: I don't use it alone but as far as I have played with it, it tracks your signal pretty well.

CHORUS: Pretty basic with no-bells-and-whistles, just like the compressor. And, identically to the compressor: 1) it sounds great, 2) it gives gain to my signal even in the slightest of settings (not as bad as the comp tho).

Overall, I think it is worth it for its money. It can definitely tackle rehearsals and gigs, once you spend some time with it and find what works for you. The noise issues with some effects are easy to work around with, although you must have some patience. I was torn between this pedal and the sansamp bass strip, but I am very happy that I've chosen this one instead, since it's a fifth of the sansamp's price and the sonic result is quite good.