Bass Distortion???

jjnelson · Post by **jjnelson** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 5:40 am

Hi Im trying to find a bass distrotion pedal. Im after a smooth tone, yet one that does not thin out my sound.... clarity and a distict colorisation is the goal ( Sorry Im choosey ). Any help would be great....

jj

Katsu · Post by **Katsu** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 6:02 am

I would always recommend having bass effects running parallel to the straight bass sound, instead of in-line.

I used to run my bass into a pre-amp, and take one output to the main bass amp and speakers. Also take a second out to my pedals, and the out from that into a small amp, that would just run effects. Use two Di's, one after the Pre-amp, one after the FX pedal.

Sounded great, and engineers liked the fact they could balance the FX to the pure bass, and you don't lose bass tone when you kick in the FX.

Try it and see.

K

penrithmatt · Post by **penrithmatt** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 6:14 am

well,i have a couple of big muff pedals,an original and a re-issue.don't like the re-issue on guitars but really like what it does to the bass.......

XXGABEXX · Post by **XXGABEXX** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 6:19 am

I second the big green Big Muff re-issue for bass distortion suggestion. So does Robert Sledge of Ben Folds Five fame.

-GABE

Oliver Straus/Mission · Post by **Oliver Straus/Mission** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 6:32 am

Hey,
Depends on the fuzz tone your looking for...

I like either the green or silver Big Muff for real fuzz Bass with tons of compression.
But I got to put a bid in for the bass Sans Amp... Lots of different tones.

Also, I hate to admit it but a guy brought a Bass Pod into the studio and it really did sound quite good.

Cheers

JES · Post by **JES** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 7:27 am

Been seeing this thread a lot lately here. THat's cool.

For overdrive sounds:

Fulltone Bassdrive
Analogman modded Tube Screamer
Tech 21 Bass Sansamp
Ampeg SVP preamp
other tube preamps (I've even used the PAiA Tubehead with good results)

For Fuzz:

Big Muff
Z. Vex Wooly Mammoth
Prescription Electronics Depth Charge

Actually, I've found you can also get a killer bass fuzz sound through the original (not bass) Pod. At least for recording.

For a sound inbetween overdrive and fuzz (it has ONE sound), old Bass Rockmans have a "distortion" channel that has amazing enhanced harmonics. Not all Bass Rockmans have it, and not all those that do sound equally good -- I guess quality control wasn't that great. The good news is that you can get them pretty cheap -- $50 for a distortion sound that is absolutely out of this world. I've used it in performance and in recording with great results.

Best,
--JES

Rodgre · Post by **Rodgre** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 7:34 am

JES wrote:Been seeing this thread a lot lately here. THat's cool.

For overdrive sounds:

Fulltone Bassdrive
Analogman modded Tube Screamer
Tech 21 Bass Sansamp
Ampeg SVP preamp
other tube preamps (I've even used the PAiA Tubehead with good results)

The Fulltone Bassdrive is pretty good. It's kind of a modified Tube Screamer circuit. It and the Analog Man Tube Screamer will sound best through a tube amp with a little edge on it already (SVT).

I Love the Sansamp Bass Driver, but I hate the drive on it. It's just transistory clipping to me. The bass player in my band uses a pedal I built for him, which is probably similar to the Bassdrive. it's a Tube Screamer with a bit of a low end push and more gain if you want it.

You might also want to try a Reverend Overdrive. It's a tube screamer with a ton of low end.

JES wrote: For Fuzz:

Big Muff
Z. Vex Wooly Mammoth
Prescription Electronics Depth Charge

All are very cool. The Big Muff will have the most traditional and versatile tone, as the Z-Vex and the Prescription pedals are very over-the-top.

If I may suggest, stay far far away from the Boss Bass Overdrive, and maybe even the Ibanez Bass Distortion.

Roger

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 9:05 am

I've liked the Voodoo Labs Sparkledrive (blendable distortion and clean) and the SIB Varidrive (when I did the side by side with the aforementioned Sparkledrive, the best Sparkledrive setting sounded like the Varidrive).

I've also tried the Fulltone Distortion, and cranking the "Resonance" knob helps a lot. It still can sound a bit fizzy, though.

deadair · Post by **deadair** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 9:20 am

apparently i'm not alone, but i've just gotta say, the big muff rocks on bass.

tube screamer can sound cool for a mellower drive effect, but doesnt really do the heavy duty distortion.

cornsound · Post by **cornsound** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 9:29 am

here's one not mentioned:

electro harmonix micro bass synthesizer pedal.

this has some killer square wave distortion capabilities on it. I believe you can mix in the dry signal and you can dial in the sub octave as well.

and of course it turns a bass into a micromoog....

stapes · Post by **stapes** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 9:44 am

I've recorded two bass players in the past that I've had pretty considerable trouble with their distortion sounds getting too mushy and fake sounding. Both of them have recently switched to some Hughes and Kettner tube distortion box, and the difference is unbelievable. The tone is huge, and they are very responsive. They still let the subtleties of the bass player come through, but just puts things over the top. Since they've started using those boxes, alot of the problems I had with trying to mix their bass correctly was solved. I'm not too sure what model they used, but I'm pretty sure it only had like two swithces and three knobs. I can vouch for all of Hughes and Kettner's other tube pedals being very top nothch, and extremely useful for direct guitar as well.

Erik Wofford
Stapes Audio

JES · Post by **JES** » Mon Jun 02, 2003 8:29 pm

To add on to what Erik said, I had great luck with the middle channel of a Mesa V-Twin pedal. Might have been just that pedal, but a great, ringing, slightly overdriven tone.

Less us not forget that one of the most evil distorted tones of all time is a fuzz with just a touch of ring modulator. Ouch.

Also, anyone tried one of those Jimi Hendrix-style "octave up" distortion pedals? Any good on bass? Sometimes I run an octaver before distortion, if I want to go totally over the top.

Best,
--JES, who *loves* bass distortion threads

tiger vomitt · Post by **tiger vomitt** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 1:45 am

it's not a pedal and it's not something most people would take to a show, but i have this great river mercenary thing. bass thru it is really amazing. super fuzz, very thick. ive never tried it thru an amp. it's a recording suggestion i guess.

oh yeah and the silver big muff gets my vote. or a frantone peachfuzz

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 8:16 am

I recently switched from 70s Big Muff to a Rat for bass fuzz. For now it seems less grainy and more fuzzy, but really I just enjoy switching pedals semi-randomly.

I'm a big proponent of the Boss "Fuzz" also. It's good in a terrible-crapping-out kind of way. Oh! I think I have an mp3 somewhere of a quick demo with blatant boss fuzz (I think it was Fender Musicmaster > fuzz > Fender "Studio Bass" amp > R121/PL20 > RNP > MS-16). If anyone wants to hear it, email me.

Rick Hunter · Post by **Rick Hunter** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 8:57 am

I have a silver big muff and I like it but I think its a little much at times. I usually go with the boss bass overdrive. Its cool, kind of subtle, dosent sound like a monster. But if you want it to sound like a monster get the muff.

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