Recommendations for sub-£100 distortion pedal

[Bass Culture]

I'm putting a small pedal board together to use with my (very) old band - after a couple of decades of talking about 'getting the band back together' this Covid malarkey has actually galvanised us into action, and we're planning some virtual rehearsals.  The pedal board so far consists of a Boss OC-5 Octaver and EBS UniChorus.  I want to add a distortion pedal to complete the set up but the huge choice has left me a bit bewildered - to be honest, I don't really understand the distinction between overdrive and distortion though I sense there is one to players who are more au fait with effects generally.  I just want to add some dirt to passages of a few songs rather then use it to create 'my sound' or anything.  I don't want anything boutique or esoteric and don't want to spend more than £100.  Any suggestions for me to consider?  Thanks.

Edited February 16, 2021 by Bass Culture

[soldersqueeze]

Buy anything overdrivey/ distortiony you see in the for sale section for £40-£60, try it for a few weeks, flip it, keep going. You'll need to try a few things to get an idea of what you want. You'll only lose a few quid postage each time you roll the dice. Demo vids and other people's advice are nothing compared to giving stuff a bash with your equipment/ style/ technique/ ears.

Personally I love any generic tubescreamer style effect on bass, but it's not a very popular choice in general for bassists.

[dannybuoy]

Are you after a subtle overdrive or heavy distortion? Dark/fat/creamy or bright/brash/aggressive?

Joyo American Sound is dirt cheap and will cover most of the above. Probably the best starting point you can get and you can pick em up for £25 used!

Edited February 16, 2021 by dannybuoy

[Doddy]

I've been using the Earthquaker Devices Plumes a lot to get some drive. It's based on a Tubescreamer, but I think it's way better. They are only about £99 new.

[Bass Culture]

Thanks for the recommendations, folks.  Don't think I'm looking for a heavy distortion, so probably subtle to 'pronounced' but not so far as death metal territory.

 

[MartinB]

In addition to the Joyo American Sound already mentioned, the Joyo Ultimate Drive is a cheap-but-good Fulltone OCD clone.

Also worth a look (and frequently on sale for ~£40), the TC Electronic MojoMojo:

 

[Bass Culture]

Excellent - thanks.  I'm looking forward to doing some 'research'.

[paul_5]

Do you have a particular sound in mind?

[Bass Culture]

53 minutes ago, paul_5 said:

Do you have a particular sound in mind?

The trouble I don't really, except for not needing anything that approaches the mayhem end of the spectrum.  The context will be original rock/pop originals that combine different genres, some veering towards a reggae-ish sound and others being a bit more REM-alike.  It's really to add a bit of grit and dynamics on the odd chorus here and there.

[paul_5]

MojoJojo would be a good place to start then.

[skidder652003]

maybe the zoom multi effects route, loads of choices there?  

https://www.gak.co.uk/en/zoom-b1x-four-bass-multi-effects-pedal/924375

[Bass Culture]

8 minutes ago, skidder652003 said:

maybe the zoom multi effects route, loads of choices there?  

https://www.gak.co.uk/en/zoom-b1x-four-bass-multi-effects-pedal/924375

I respectfully refer the contributor to my recent Sale thread: 

😁

[skidder652003]

24 minutes ago, Bass Culture said:

I respectfully refer the contributor to my recent Sale thread: 

😁

ha ha. Ok put an offer on this then!

 

[andruca]

I own a SansAmp RBI but might get away with almost any OD pedal as long as it has a blend/mix (wet vs. dry) control. I also get SansAmp and many other preamp/dist/OD emulations from a variety of small Zoom multi-FX units. Emulations are decent and you have many different preamp/dist/OD models in there to decide what you prefer (also, Zooms are abundant in the 2nd. hand market for half your budget or less). I'd start there to get familiar with dist/OD/grit in general and what it can do for you, the different sounds and the different ways to obtain them, then eventually decide pursuing a particular dirt pedal if you feel the need and have found that's the one for you.

Edited February 18, 2021 by andruca

[CliveT]

The MXR bass overdrive is worth a look, and they come up used well under £100 

 

[Jack]

My favourite is the mojomojo. 

[dudewheresmybass]

The subject is so vast. 
it’s taken me close to 20 years to find something I’m really happy with. 
ive used / played

with most of the ones already mentioned and many more ( including some very pricey ones) after the honeymoon period with them, leave me itching for something. I have now settled on one of a couple for a light hair basic tone and a couple of options for another medium gain to stack with it.

I have found that it’s rare to find one singular pedal that works perfectly for me, and fit within the bands mixes
current favourites are for lower gain/ basic tone : ehx bass soul food, joyo orange juice, Palmer ubertreiber, Tc spark

and to add for ‘more’ - mosky b box, caline orange juice, ehx crayon

 

[Bass Culture]

Thanks all, I appreciate the comments, insights and recommendations.  Based on price and the demos I've seen online it's currently a toss-up between the Joyo American Sounds and TC Mojomojo I think.

[mcnach]

On 16/02/2021 at 14:04, Bass Culture said:

I'm putting a small pedal board together to use with my (very) old band - after a couple of decades of talking about 'getting the band back together' this Covid malarkey has actually galvanised us into action, and we're planning some virtual rehearsals.  The pedal board so far consists of a Boss OC-5 Octaver and EBS UniChorus.  I want to add a distortion pedal to complete the set up but the huge choice has left me a bit bewildered - to be honest, I don't really understand the distinction between overdrive and distortion though I sense there is one to players who are more au fait with effects generally.  I just want to add some dirt to passages of a few songs rather then use it to create 'my sound' or anything.  I don't want anything boutique or esoteric and don't want to spend more than £100.  Any suggestions for me to consider?  Thanks.

 

I haven't got enough positive words to say about the Joyo American Sound. 

It covers quite a wide range of tones with its 'voice' control, plus the 3-band EQ is handy. In addition it has some built-in speaker emulation circuitry which means if you DI your bass it will not sound like you are summonning a nest of angry wasps (great for recording too). It's really nice on guitar too (its primary purpose, I imagine), but there's no low end loss when used on bass (the EQ would take care of it anyway). And on top of that it's less than £40 new. 

I have an OmniCabSim (speaker simulator) that cost me a fair amount over £200 which I used  because I use a lot of distortion in one of my bands and that sounds terrible when DI'd live, but to be honest, since I got the Joyo I see no purpose for it. I often just set it clean and combine it with other overdrive/distortion pedals  just to get different sounds. It's really good. It does the low gain almost not distorted sounds very well and it goes into really raunchy distortion if you want it to. 

[mcnach]

Personally I didn't get along with the Mojo Mojo, it seemed to have a certain character that just wasn't to my liking. I've seen the Joyo Ultimate Drive being mentioned too and that's actually a pretty cool pedal, especially if you want higher gain sounds but it does low gain very well too. My only gripe with it was that gain/volume are very interactive and also a tiny turn of either knob will have strong effects, which made it a bit problematic live: I'd move one knob a bit by mistake and my volume will either jump or I'd disappear. Good sound 'tough, but I'd still choose the American Sound as a first pedal, that subtle speaker emulation is very handy.

[Al Krow]

On 19/02/2021 at 08:51, dudewheresmybass said:

The subject is so vast. 
it’s taken me close to 20 years to find something I’m really happy with. 
ive used / played

with most of the ones already mentioned and many more ( including some very pricey ones) after the honeymoon period with them, leave me itching for something. I have now settled on one of a couple for a light hair basic tone and a couple of options for another medium gain to stack with it.

I have found that it’s rare to find one singular pedal that works perfectly for me, and fit within the bands mixes
current favourites are for lower gain/ basic tone : ehx bass soul food, joyo orange juice, Palmer ubertreiber, Tc spark

and to add for ‘more’ - mosky b box, caline orange juice, ehx crayon

 

Worth also mentioning budget multi-fxs (e.g. the Zoom B1-4). I've got some very usable dirt settings on mine ranging from DG B7K through to decent RAT patch.