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What's a good bass distortion pedal?


prowla

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7 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

I just noticed there is a new version of the Mojomojo out, which has a switch marked ‘11’ 😁

 

https://www.andertons.co.uk/tc-electronic-mojomojo-paul-gilbert-overdrive-pedal?fbclid=IwAR1fAYijz1wxD4kNYEEh_SHA96kykNX2OX0SsZ7KK17bRBqQVV1F6kvn5a0

£20 for an extra switch - it’ll just be a change of resistor to set the minimum gain of the overdrive loop.

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4 minutes ago, paul_5 said:

£20 for an extra switch - it’ll just be a change of resistor to set the minimum gain of the overdrive loop.

More headroom is good though isnt it?

Still waaaaaaay cheaper than the Darkglass etc stuff.

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27 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

More headroom is good though isnt it?

Still waaaaaaay cheaper than the Darkglass etc stuff.

I think there’ll be less headroom one the resistor value increases. Of course, this is all conjecture, that’s just the simplest way to fit a ‘make it filthier’ switch!

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2 minutes ago, paul_5 said:

I think there’ll be less headroom one the resistor value increases. Of course, this is all conjecture, that’s just the simplest way to fit a ‘make it filthier’ switch!

Yeah, but at least it doesn't look like a turd sitting on the floor 😂

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13 minutes ago, paul_5 said:

I think there’ll be less headroom one the resistor value increases. Of course, this is all conjecture, that’s just the simplest way to fit a ‘make it filthier’ switch!

" Increased circuit board voltage gives dramatically more headroom and dynamics for an incredibly "alive" overdrive sound. "

Not that I am entirely convinced that headroom makes any real difference, any (amp head) preamp that can't boost a lower headroom pedal past a useful input level isn't doing its job.

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The "11" switch seems to have replaced the Voice switch - I'm struggling to remember whether that did anything much from the days I had a Mojomojo. Be interesting to see what this new switch is doing differently.

I've recently come across this, which has taken me by surprise as to how good it is:

image.png.feade0cc2a9f1f2f0f3a61d74dd1260f.png

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24 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

The "11" switch seems to have replaced the Voice switch - I'm struggling to remember whether that did anything much from the days I had a Mojomojo. Be interesting to see what this new switch is doing differently.

I've recently come across this, which has taken me by surprise as to how good it is:

 

The description says it’s a gain switch. The voice switch in the original changes the tone. 
I think the voice switch is crucial for bass players with that pedal. Obviously the new one isn’t aimed at bass, but I don’t think it will be as popular with bass players 

Edited by dave_bass5
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Flattley Bass Poison Ivy

Everything from a just breaking drive, to full on death metal/industrial nastiness, including nice synthy fuzziness.

The blend is particularly awesome, with no loss of bottom end - if you want.

Boutique pedal and price but worth it.

 

image.jpeg.b1ab8f4da39466d4dead7bcab10cf2b7.jpeg

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46 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Cheers - so effectively an HPF in Voice down position on Mojomojo?

I wouldn't go that far.

Manual says

Quote

With the switch in “down” position, the low-end frequencies are naturally boosted. This is excellent
where the guitar is allowed to take up a great portion of the sonic spectrum. E.g. for rhythm guitar in a
trio.

To me it sounds more like mid boost with the switch up.

Edited by Stub Mandrel
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1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Cheers - so effectively an HPF in Voice down position on Mojomojo?

It will be an EQ curve of some sort, but not a HPF.

From the manual.

Two Voice types are available. With the switch in “up” position, the frequency response is true to the input signal.
With the switch in “down” position, the low-end frequencies are naturally boosted. This is excellent where the guitar is allowed to take up a great portion of the sonic spectrum. E.g. for rhythm guitar in a trio.

 

Edited by dave_bass5
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2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Makes the sound  'fatter' in the up position.

10 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

It will be an EQ curve of some sort, but not a HPF.

From the manual.

Two Voice types are available. With the switch in “up” position, the frequency response is true to the input signal.
With the switch in “down” position, the low-end frequencies are naturally boosted. This is excellent where the guitar is allowed to take up a great portion of the sonic spectrum. E.g. for rhythm guitar in a trio.

Sounds like it's "fatter" in the down position rather than the up position then?

No worries, just curious as to what the changes are and how they're justifying a 50% price hike from £40 to £60 for the pedal. But still pretty good value as you say.

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5 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Sounds like it's "fatter" in the down position rather than the up position then?

No worries, just curious as to what the changes are and how they're justifying a 50% price hike from £40 to £60 for the pedal. But still pretty good value as you say.

I think the main reason it costs more is it has a signature on it. Thats a always a sure way to make more money 😮

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8 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Sounds like it's "fatter" in the down position rather than the up position then?

No worries, just curious as to what the changes are and how they're justifying a 50% price hike from £40 to £60 for the pedal. But still pretty good value as you say.

The original Mojo Mojo switch does very little. This from talkbass:

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/tc-mojomojo-bargain-for-bass.1347512/page-3

Screenshot_20210604-145718_Chrome.jpg

Edited by SumOne
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14 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

@SumOne funny you should say that: my query was prompted by this YT clip which I had a listen to earlier and I couldn't hear any real difference between up and down positions! 😁

Yeah I had real trouble noticing any difference so was quite pleased when it was confirmed I wasn't losing my hearing! 

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Depends on what kind of distortion your are going for, but something like the Boss LS-2 or EHX Switchblade Pro Deluxe will help making just about any dirt effect suitable for bass, both units allowing for blending in clean signal to retain proper low end and definition of your signal. 

The Joyo Orange Juice excels in grinding biting low gain overdrive to kind of medium gain distortion,  and personally I use one set to a low gain overdrive mixed with clean signal via one of my LS-2 pedals for my basic "clean" tone.

For high gain heavy (as in weight, not the musical genre), gutsy and monstrous ballsy fuzz-esque distortion I can warmly recomend some kind of RAT clone that is capable of both regular vintage RAT germanium or silicon diode clipping and LED diode clipping, the latter most often used by bass players as the LED clipping mode tends to retain low end of the signal it is fed with better than the germanium or silicon diode clipping mode, I can warmly recommend the dirt cheap Mosky Black Rat as it seems to retain low end a bit better in both modes than most other RAT based pedals, though the bit more expensive Mooer Black Secret is also an excellent option for this, the latter sounding pretty much identical to respectively the regular Proco RAT and the Turbo RAT, depending on which mode it is set to, again this is assuming you blend in some clean signal via something like the Boss LS-2 or the EHX Switchblade Pro Deluxe to retain proper low end and definition of your tone. 

Another option is getting the MXR M85 Bass Distortion, which is also a RAT based pedal with both a silicon diode clipping mode and a LED clipping Turbo RAT mode, as well as this pedal got a build in clean signal mix control, making the use of an external effects loop/mixer pedal like the Boos or EHX ones mentioned redundant. 

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I was looking for something to give me that “Ace of Spades” sound on a budget. Tried a Behringer for £21. Incredibly good. It is a bit noisy if it does not have a decent power supply (silent with a good supply). Lots of negative comments about it being plastic but I cannot imagine it breaking in normal use unless you drove a tank over it. I still find it hard to believe that you can get such a great pedal for the price of a takeaway.

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Well today I went out and I came home with a Dean Markley Overlord tube pedal; it sounded pretty decent in the shop, so I'll be trying it out in my board.

It's got an ECC83 valve in it.

It neatly sidesteps the power supply question by having a captive mains lead - yep, a wire with a UK 13A plug on the end!

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