dannybuoy Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 (edited) [quote name='blue' timestamp='1497291865' post='3317115'] Yeah, so is price my answer. I should by a more expensive OD pedal? Blue [/quote] Not necessarily, there are plenty of decent cheap options out there. Try the Joyo American Sound or Orange Juice out for example. There are many flavours of overdrive and what works well for some might not work for others. For example I often see recommendations for the EHX Bass Soul Food or Source Audio Aftershock, but they both sounded like cr4p to me! I'll just describe my two faves: Bearfoot Blueberry - thick and warm with a rolled off top end. Compresses and reacts rather like a tube amp. Dig in as hard as you can and it will just growl more rather than hitting a wall and sounding harsh. Great for old school Motown and soul when set to low gain for just a bit of flavour. Pike Vulcan - similar to the Darkglass Vintage but brighter and more upper mids, and blendable between two different overdrive tones, one mid-heavy and one mid-scooped. Has a clean blend and an open uncompressed sound that sounds like running an overdriven guitar amp in parallel with your clean bass. Adds a sheen to the sound like an exciter, which makes darker passive basses like Precisions and T-Birds sound orgasmic. Keep an eye out on the Talkbass classifieds and Reverb.com, buy used and you won't take much of a hit if you sell them on, or just buy new from a store with a good return policy! Edited June 12, 2017 by dannybuoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0175westwood29 Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 [quote name='blue' timestamp='1497233310' post='3316700'] No matter how I tweak them, when I'm gigging and engage OD the signal drops and I get a lot of harsh high end. And as I said it doesn't happen with any of my other pedals. I'll use my MXR M-85 Bass Distortion for OD. I can get plenty of sustain from my TC Electronics Chorus (Corona). Blue [/quote] i always find its super easy to perceive the od/drive sound too loud and turn them down hence live you drop in volume, massive pain but i love all my pedals to much not to deal with the pain however i for the most part just trust ive set them right lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Wishbone Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 [quote name='0175westwood29' timestamp='1497295085' post='3317156'] i always find its super easy to perceive the od/drive sound too loud and turn them down hence live you drop in volume, massive pain but i love all my pedals to much not to deal with the pain however i for the most part just trust ive set them right lol [/quote] Same here - played solo it sounds like a massive jump in volume between my clean sound and my distortions, but in a full band mix the levels are pretty much bang on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted June 12, 2017 Author Share Posted June 12, 2017 [quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1497293145' post='3317132'] the same applies to demo clips as applies to playing bass on your own through headphones, it will sound totally different in a gigging environment, we've all been there, sounds great at home, sh*t at a gig [/quote] Agreed Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted June 12, 2017 Author Share Posted June 12, 2017 (edited) I still contend for guys doing bar gigs pedals are still extremely relevant. Multi-Effects units are a better fit for recording. Granted some of the very expensive high end units might be awesome. But for bar band guys, we don't need to access 50 million amp heads and cabs.The other thing is the learning curve for those units is really high. Way past my IQ. Push the button, I can handle that.😁 Blue Edited June 12, 2017 by blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 I'm with you. Multis are great if you need a lot of fx on a small budget or have a use a lot of sounds and need instant patch recall, or as a one stop shop IF such a unit were to exist that could compete with the tones you get from analog separates. Maybe such a thing exists, I've not tried the latest top tier models like the Helix, Axe-Fx, etc, but I could never find an agreeable drive, wah or phaser tone out of any of the Zoom units I've tried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuzzie Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 As Danny said, expensive is not necessarily better, for example Billy Duffy of the Cult uses real standard Biss type pedals for his live rig, no boutiques, why? If he is on the road and a pedal goes he can buy a new one and not interrupt the sound he has balanced. Tweaking in the bedroom is dangerous (!) I often tweak it so it sounds a bit wrong on its own, and not very nice with the guitar sound in mind so they can blend when I mix them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost_Bass Posted June 14, 2017 Share Posted June 14, 2017 B3K is still my weapon of choice for OD. The blend keeps the low end and the level adjusts volume so there's no drops or bumps in my signal when i stomp on the damn thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jus Lukin Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 (edited) - Edited March 1, 2022 by Jus Lukin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Japhet Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 Just picked up a SolidGold FX Beta from the forum. I think my search is over. Gives just the right amount of growl to be an always on pedal near the start of my signal chain. Warm and fat sounding like a germanium pedal should be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.