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Overdrive/Distortion Pedals


MarshallBTB
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im looking for a new distortion pedal, at the momment im using a boss bass overdrive but i hate it, never seem to be able to get the sound i want out of it. The guitarist in my band uses a blackstar overdrive, i shoved one in and it sounded pretty good but still not enough bass. I'm looking for a kinda Damageplan kinda sound but a bit beefia, any ideas?

Edited by MarshallBTB
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There's a few threads on distortion and overdrive in this forum. Try this one out for some pedal suggestions:- [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=3009"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=3009[/url]

and this one : - [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=19643"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=19643[/url]

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i would thoroughly recommend tryin a bass juice before even considering buyin it, i personally found it to be the worst bass distortion iv ever tried, sounded thin and sounded like it would never cut through a mix, couldnt get a sound i liked, and the price finished the deal off for me, but then again i like the odb-3...

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If money is no option, I recommend a Sansamp GT2. It loses hardly any middle in the (IMO awesome) California setting, but it does lose some bass, at least according to this - [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4205301&postcount=11"]http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showpost.php...mp;postcount=11[/url] However, this is easily dealt with by cranking the bass knob. I have set the bass at around 3 o'clock and the treble at around 11 o'clock. Does a great job of cutting through the guitars in my band. But... there is a catch (this is where the money being no option part comes in). First of all I blend all my effects with a clean signal (around 70 effects 30 clean), using a Boss LS-2 Line Selector (cheap enough at only £55) and secondly, the GT2 feeds back like a bitch when you're not playing (at least with my active bass it does). I have to put it through the loop of a Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor (another £55), to cut out any unwanted "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee", though at the stomp of a switch you can have the "eeeeeeeeeeee" back if and when required. Some people slag off the NS-2, but for the purpose of just eliminating severe feedback without altering tone, it's perfect for me. Sure I could've searched around more for the perfect distortion pedal, but to me the GT2's tone was perfect, it just had to be tamed.

Cheaper options are the EHX English Muff'n, loses nothing but a smidge of mids, which can be boosted with the 3-band EQ. Does light warm very slight OD, all the way to nasty almost fuzz-like in yer face tube distortion (especially if you switch the two 12AY7 tubes for a couple of 12AX7's (about £8 each). This is all through a single channel with no blending what so ever, and I still found it to keep as much low-end as the clean signal.

To my knwledge there aren't too many distortion pedals (even those built specifically for bass), that won't lose low end and/or mids, unless you blend them with a clean signal. I went through my share of distortion pedals, before learning of the blending technique and in retrospect wish the LS-2 (or at least some other blender/looper had been the first thing I bought). My advice, get something like the LS-2 and take it with you whenever you go to try out a new effect. Hell, you might even like your ODB-3 through it, I stress the "might" :)

Off the top of my head, also the MXR Blowtorch doesn't seem to lose any mids or low end (to me), if properly adjusted though it wasn't quite the sound I wanted (your tastes may differ). However, if plain gritty OD, and not all out distortion is what you're after, I'd suggest trying the Sansamp Bass Drive or the MXR M80 DI+. Both of these have blend controls, which will mix your OD signal with your clean signal, if you find you're losing too much of anything. There's also the EBS Valve Drive II, that gets good reviews, though I've not actually tried one myself.

The very cheapest, yet I suppose still satisfying enough, option I've tried, would be running a Digitech Bad Monkey through a LS-2, but that set up will still knock you back around £90. Even then it wont get much past heavy OD, leaving you without the ballsy distortion that the GT2, English Muff'n and Blowtorch can deliver (IMO). At end of the day, finding good dirt with bass isn't going to be cheap. At least it hasn't been in my experience.

Edited by stug
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