Darkglass Electronics quickly became a big player in the world of bass guitar equipment. The brand was acquired by Korg in 2022, but co‑founder Doug Castro was already working on a further business venture in Neural DSP. Neural have experienced an equally rapid rise to prominence, and the absolutely A‑list of guitarists and bands they’ve worked with over the last few years is remarkable. However, their first product was Darkglass Ultra, a digital emulation based on two of the most popular hardware bass preamps in the Darkglass range: the B7K Ultra and Vintage Ultra. The plug‑in was a very impressive debut and, for those with an interest in rock or metal genres, has become something of a ‘go‑to’ option.
Multiple plug‑ins later, Neural DSP have updated Darkglass Ultra to give us Darkglass Ultimate. While the modelling algorithms will undoubtedly have been refined, at its core, it’s the same bass preamp hardware that’s emulated. But in line with the ‘full rig’ approach of Neural’s guitar‑focused plug‑ins, Darkglass Ultimate now gives you that full bass‑rig experience. So, while the preamp emulation is still very much centre‑stage, there are processing sections for pre‑effects, post‑effects, cab emulation, a nine‑band graphic EQ and a range of additional functions including transpose, a tuner, a metronome and an expanded collection of mix‑ready presets.
If you have a DI’ed bass, this plug‑in can make it sound better, regardless of what direction ‘better’ might lie in.
It’s easy to appreciate why rock or metal musicians embraced the original plug‑in. Like the hardware, you get to shape and blend both a clean and overdriven bass tone. You can dial in any kind of rock/metal tone but, frankly, it’s also a no‑brainer for almost any musical genre — if you have a DI’ed bass, this plug‑in can make it sound better, regardless of what direction ‘better’ might lie in. The preamp control set has always been amazingly flexible and, with its distinct B7K and Vintage flavours (the Vintage Ultra model is shown in the screenshot), that remains the case.
Expanded Options
However, the new Ultimate version expands your options further. With the preamp section providing all the overdrive options you could ever need, the pre‑effects section adds four stompbox‑style effects: Compressor, Auto‑Wah, Octaver and Fuzz. The Compressor is a great corrective addition, while the rest bring all sorts of creative options, although do watch your speaker cones if you dial in a lot of the ‑2 octave knob on the Octaver! The Fuzz is glorious in moderation, and killer when pushed a little harder.
The Cab section offers the kinds of features that will be familiar to users of Neural’s guitar plug‑ins, with 2x10 and 8x10 cab options available by default, multiple choices for twin mics and control over their position, and the option to load your own IRs. Alongside the nine‑band EQ section (11 bands if you include the high‑ and low‑pass filters), it provides considerable additional control over your tone. The post‑effects section provides a very tasty Chorus and an impressive stereo delay, with both tape saturation and modulation.
The original Darkglass Ultra plug‑in quickly became my personal first port of call for a DI’ed bass — this new Ultimate version makes a great plug‑in even better. And hats off to Neural DSP for ensuring that the new version installs alongside the original, rather than replacing it, so your older projects will load without any changes. Even better, Ultimate is a free update for existing Ultra owners. That’s a lovely gesture that will undoubtedly help cement an already loyal user‑base.
In conclusion, then, Neural’s new take on their Darkglass plug‑in fully justifies its ‘Ultimate’ label, and if you do any amount of DI bass recording and haven’t yet given Neural’s Darkglass plug‑ins a try it’d be well worth taking the free 14‑day trial for a spin.