Overdrive For Active Bass

[Supernaut]

I am after an overdrive pedal that gives me a little more grunt than my TC Spark Booster.

I play a Sandberg TM4 primarily. I know some ODs don't work so well with active bass and just end up 'bottoming' out. 

I'm not after a fuzz or anything like that, more of a valves being pushed into regular overdrive territory. 

Cheers! 

[Bass Culture]

5 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

I am after an overdrive pedal that gives me a little more grunt than my TC Spark Booster.

I play a Sandberg TM4 primarily. I know some ODs don't work so well with active bass and just end up 'bottoming' out. 

I'm not after a fuzz or anything like that, more of a valves being pushed into regular overdrive territory. 

Cheers! 

On advice from the Forum I just picked up a Joyo American Sounds pedal.  Cheap as chips and sounds good to my ears: https://www.joyoaudio.co.uk/JOYO-JF-14-american-sound-effect-pedal

[Supernaut]

9 minutes ago, Bass Culture said:

On advice from the Forum I just picked up a Joyo American Sounds pedal.  Cheap as chips and sounds good to my ears: https://www.joyoaudio.co.uk/JOYO-JF-14-american-sound-effect-pedal

Does it retain the lows? Is the original signal left alone?

A lot of cheaper pedals I've found seem to have a nasty habit of cutting the lows... 

[MichaelDean]

I'm a big fan of my Joyo Ultimate Drive for not a lot of money. It plays really nicely with my Dingwall and Mustang alike and seems to keep the low end intact. It's a Fulltone OCD clone. You can keep it low and have a really mild break up or whack it up and it'll give you some welly! Sometimes I wonder about buying a second to have as an always on pedal...

https://www.joyoaudio.co.uk/jf-original-series-pedals/JOYO-JF-02-ultimate-overdrive-pedal

[dannybuoy]

I thought the Ultimate Drive dropped the lows quite a bit unless you set the tone control really low to the point of it being too muffled. The American Sound has more low end for sure.

It's the low end hitting the circuit that tends to 'bottom out' overdrives, I find the Tech21 VTDI and YYZ have good features to counter this. The VTDI character control is a high mid boost before the clipping stage; so crank that up and compensate by backing off the blend and adjusting the EQ. The YYZ has a button to lop off the deep lows going into the drive section, which you compensate for by blending in clean low end (the clean channel is EQ'd to boost the lows and roll off the mids/highs). The Amptweaker Tight Drive does something similar too.

[Supernaut]

On 05/03/2021 at 17:03, dannybuoy said:

I thought the Ultimate Drive dropped the lows quite a bit unless you set the tone control really low to the point of it being too muffled. The American Sound has more low end for sure.

It's the low end hitting the circuit that tends to 'bottom out' overdrives, I find the Tech21 VTDI and YYZ have good features to counter this. The VTDI character control is a high mid boost before the clipping stage; so crank that up and compensate by backing off the blend and adjusting the EQ. The YYZ has a button to lop off the deep lows going into the drive section, which you compensate for by blending in clean low end (the clean channel is EQ'd to boost the lows and roll off the mids/highs). The Amptweaker Tight Drive does something similar too.

How does the VTDI and YYZ differ? Are they similar circuits? 

[ezbass]

2 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

How does the VTDI and YYZ differ? Are they similar circuits? 

Calling @Tech21NYC

[Tech21NYC]

The VT Bass DI is based on Ampeg style tones. It is also a DI box. The YYZ is a stripped down stompbox version of our GED-2112.

[dannybuoy]

6 hours ago, Supernaut said:

How does the VTDI and YYZ differ? Are they similar circuits? 

Similar yet different - researching YouTube demos would give you a better idea than me trying to convey it in words.

[Supernaut]

Has anyone tried the Darkglass Vintage Microtubes?

[thodrik]

The Aguilar Agro worked great with my Sadowsky Metro. It worked great on low gain settings. It does seem to lack (in my opinion) a bit of low end 'oomph' compared to the Darkglass pedals, so I used to run the Aguilar with my old Tech 21 Sansamp Bass Driver. That was a great mix. 

However to my ears the Aguilar has a much more natural and less fizzy sound than the Darkglass, despite it not having a blend control. On low gain settings the Agro does a terrific 'clank' as if you are driving an amp to breaking point.

I have a Darkglass B3K at the minute, which definitely delivers more low end grunt than the Agro. It is fairly fizzy, even on low gain settings but it most definitely works with active basses.
 

[dannybuoy]

Yeah, I've had the original Vintage and the Ultra. It doesn't react like tubes or compress like the Spark, it's more like it keeps your dynamics intact and adds a layer of mild fuzzy harmonics on top. Also quite wooly sounding unless you get the newer Ultra with the attack switch which kicks in a high mid boost before the clipping. It might work out for you!

Edited March 11, 2021 by dannybuoy

[dannybuoy]

The Agro is more tube amp like, it also sounds like it has a built in speaker sim that adds a lot of 70s Geezer Butler if that's your bag! Can't say I've tried it with an active bass though but it works well with a high output passive BB1025X.

[thodrik]

There is also the English Muff'n and EBS Valvedrive, both of which actually have valves. 

I have both and confirm that they work well with active basses. Both take up a lot of pedalboard real estate though!