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I've got a DHA (can't remember the exact name). Dual Custom possibly?

It's awesome. It's got two valve gain stages and stage 1 drives stage 2. It also has a nifty level control which means you can get any valve overdrive or distortion sound without necessarily having a jump in volume from your clean sound. I can't recommend it enough. Don't forget to ask for the discount!

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[quote name='Finbar' post='46889' date='Aug 17 2007, 04:04 PM']I've actually been looking at some of the DHA pedals today. Not sure if one of them will do both the Overdrive and Distortion sounds I'm looking for, thinking about it. Any experience with these? Might still want to try and blend this with my clean tone though.[/quote]

I've got a VT-2 Dual Bass Custom on the way (with a custom paint job - cheers Dave!). A bit annoying as I'm going off on holiday before it arrives but I'll have plenty fun when I get back. But from what I gather it's incredibly versatile :)

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I think that's the one I'd be looking at - about £230 if I remember? Something like that.

I want to geta kind of gritty overdrive - a bit like Chris Wolstenholme's non full-on distortion from the Showbiz/OOS days, as well as a high gain 'guitary' kind of distortion. I think the dual channel of the DHA might work well for this... When I have the cash, I might experiment. Does this sound better/different with active/passive basses though? Does it generate a lot of noise?

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I'm by no means an effects expert (and I could be talking bollocks for your needs :)) but I use a ToneFactor Copperhead which is a 2 channel boost pedal which gived you plenty of overdrive when you use both channels together. It does the job for me. Tayste has posted a sample - and more details - of the pedal [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=670"]here[/url]. Hope this helps.

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I really need to get some speakers for my PC, I need more soundclips of things ¬_¬

I don't want a Hysteria-ish sound btw necessarily :) I think whenever anyone mentions Muse distortion, that springs to mind automatically. The distortion tone on the early Muse stuff was always much more of a dirty gritty sound than a synthy one.

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my fave bass distortion is either my ehx little big muff or my award session sp75...

i have just got hold of a 70s guyatone tube distortion td-1, which sadly is a bit too higher gain for me, but i'm waiting for a lower gain valve to see how that sounds

edit: well, my electro harmonix 12AT7 arrived today...just before i had to head into work...i'll let you guys know how i get on :)


(bloody working on a saturday !!!)

Edited by ahpook
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[quote name='tayste_2000' post='47020' date='Aug 17 2007, 11:03 PM']You all need to go out and buy a Danelectro French Toast for Muse sounds[/quote]
Very good suggestion!!! Seriously.


I used to use my ODB-3 for a slightly dirty gritty Showbiz like tone. On low gain settings, it's a very useful pedal. It has a mix function, so you don't have to loose any low end.


Now, for those Showbiz kind of sounds, I mix clean, and low gain OD on my Zoom B2.1U through an LS-2. When I want extra low end power, I kick in the ODB-3 on the clean channel. When I want extra fuzz or just dirty gain, I use another patch on the Zoom, or my Ibanes SS10.

If I want a very mental high gain distortion, or a synthy type distortion, I use my French toast. It does both very well.

I think the DHA pedals look good, and I wish I could afford one, but, you can probably get the sounds you're after for less money.

Another point is that you don't necessarily need two sounds, because of the difference in sound on your strings. Maybe you need some multi-band compression!

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  • 2 months later...

So after a little experimentation I've still drawn blanks on this ¬_¬

I've found that shops just don't carry any of the things people suggest, or I've seen elsewhere, so I have no way to test stuff. Buh. Are there any shops/places that people know with any of this kind of stuff around? Near Sheffield would be awesome... :)

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According to the Bass Player [url="http://www.bassplayer.com/article/chris-wolstenholme/sep-06/23332"]interview[/url] last year, Chris also has a EH BassBalls bass synth in there - not sure where it's used, though. Next time I'm in London, I need to go effects shopping, I think.

Edited by bnt
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I don't know of any shops with a good selection of bass pedals. I guess that's why I have a lot of guitar pedals! Most shops should have boss ODB-3 and MT-2 (and ML-2!!!) for you to try. The sound control in stoke has tech21 stuff in at the moment, so maybe try your local SC?

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Soundcontrol Sheffield has Boss, or Boss :) That's the only stuff I've been able to try out in any length and detail!

One more thing to consider - will an active/passive bass make a difference to distortion? I've only ever used Actives (except my first Squier which I never used with effects), though I'm getting a passive either late December or in January, so is it worth holding off trying many more distortions until I have a passive instrument to try them with seeing as it will be my main bass?

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I migh have been mentioned before but Bass Player reviewed some overdrives pedals a while ago:

[url="http://www.bassplayer.com/story.aspx?content_id=24670"]http://www.bassplayer.com/story.aspx?content_id=24670[/url]

This is the list of the pedals reviewed:

[list]
[*]Ashdown Drive Plus
[*]Boss ODB-3 Bass Overdrive
[*]Bixonic Expandora Exp-2000R
[*]Chunk Systems Brown Dog
[*]Digitech Bass Driver
[*]DNA Analogic Bd-1 Bass Dragger
[*]EBS ValveDrive
[*]Frantone Electronics Bassweet
[*]Fulltone Bass-Drive Mosfet
[*]Gallien-Krueger Diesel Dawg
[*]HAO RR-1 Rust Ride Bass Driver
[*]Homebrew Electronics Hematoma
[*]Ibanez Phat-Hed PD7
[*]MXR Bass Blow Torch
[*]Nobels ODR-B Bass Overdrive
[*]Prescription Electronics Depth Charge
[*]Roger Mayer Voodoo-Bass
[*]Tech 21 XXL Bass Edition
[*]T. Rex Bass Juice
[*]T.C.Electronic Vintage Bass Distortion
[*]Z.Vex Woolly Mammoth
[/list]

Silent Fly

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I have read that some dirt boxes don't mix well with actives. When I made the switch from passive to active, it didn't seem to make any difference, other than the tone of the bass, obviously. If you're getting a new bass and it will be your main bass, then I would probably wait.

Your local SC should also have the Zoom B2.1U which has some good distortions and a lot of extra options too, for not much money.

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I know it's a cheapie, but I keep going back to my Ibanez Phathead - great range of tones from clean to death metal and it has EQ so you can retain low end. It works nicely for high register noodling too.

Guitar pedal wise, the Boss DS1 still takes some beating but would need blending with a clean signal as it does steal your low end somewhat.

Cheers,
Alun

PS The Ibanez works fine with actives too :)

Edited by Alun
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"For a rhythm sound, I was thinking of splitting my signal before the overdrive pedal, and combining it again after it, so I get my clean tone coming through as well as the distortion, keeping some clarity and low end in it all."

Sorry for the thread hijack, but how would you go about doing this?

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By using a blender - it puts the pedals you want to mix with your clean signal in a separate loop, and then controls the amount of signal from the loop and the amount of clean signal to give you your blended one :)

Silent Fly - I'll have a look through all that article and see if I can glean anything from it. Otherwise though, I think I'm going to wait until my Shuker is finished and in my hands before I hunt for more distortions. Thanks guys :huh: You know I'll bring this thread back sometime ¬_¬ Buh.

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[quote name='EskimoBassist' post='89565' date='Nov 16 2007, 07:01 PM']Wolstenholme used to use a Boss ODB-3 quite extensively actually. Check "Hyper Music" for a demonstration of this. I quite like the pedal, but theres so many haters!![/quote]
Where did you get that info? I'm not into them much these days, but i'm always on the muse gear msg board and no-one has ever said that.

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I think a Crowther Hotcake XLF for the Chord stuff and a Catalinbread Hyperpak or Mojohand Mule for the Lead but all 3 will work for all of it.

But when you start hunting I've used/owned the following distortion/overdrive and fuzz pedals :) so if you want any reviews just let me know

Crowther Hotcake Bluesberry
Crowther Hotcake Bluesberry XLF
Tech21 XXL Bass
Tech21 Programmable Sansamp
MXR M-80
Tone Factor/Mojo Hand Mule
Catalinbread Hyperpak
Catalinbread V8 Fuzz
Barber LTD
Dod 250
Custom Guitar Noise Dirtbox
Tone Factor/Mojo Hand Huckleberry
Prescription Electronics Depth Charge
Ibanez PD-7
Boss ODB-3
EHX Big Muff USA
EHX Big Muff Russian
EHX Double Muff
Bixonic Expandora Exp-2000R
Zvex Wooly Mammoth
Zvex Fuzz Factory
Zvex Machine
Digitech Bass Overdrive
Tone Factor Copperhead
Tone Factor Cream Pie
Tone Factor Hellbaby
Catalinbread Serrano
Digitech Bad Monkey
Guyatone FZ-2
Guyatone OD-2
Guyatone HD-2
DHA (Can't remember the name of it but it had all 3 modes)
Crowther Prunes & Custard
Moolon Bass Drive
Fulltone Bassdrive
Fulltone Fat Boost
Zoom Ultra Fuzz
Zoom Power Drive
Zoom Hyper Lead
Line 6 DM4
DOD FX10 Bi Fet
Catalinbread Teaser Stallion

There is prolly more but if you don't find a pedal you like in there :huh:

Edited by tayste_2000
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