Amps that go dirty

[martyy]

We got a desk recording from a recent gig, and when listening back I realised just how much I had the gain cranked on my tech21 VT bass head, it was much more apparent in the recording than it was on-stage. I really liked the overdriven sound and it made me consider deliberately going for more saturation in future.

 

It also made me think about how few bass amps are designed with overdrive as a feature. The VT bass head can get very dirty, but what other amps are out there that are good at letting bassists crank up the dirt without messing about with pedals? It seems clean-only is the design goal of the vast majority of bass amps.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Any that have a gain and a master volume.

[Musicman20]

The Orange AD200b is an absolute monster for this. Too big and heavy for me nowadays though. Wonderful sound. 

[Beedster]

12 minutes ago, martyy said:

It seems clean-only is the design goal of the vast majority of bass amps

 

I'd not have said that, I guess it's which amps you're used to, as @Bill Fitzmaurice says, if it has independent gain and master you can usually get dirt, I guess it might be you're looking for uber-dirt?

[martyy]

56 minutes ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

Any that have a gain and a master volume.

Yes I suppose that is true, however whether it is musically pleasing is a different story. Valve amps will sound good, but solid state don't tend to sound too nice with gain cranked, unless they are designed to (at least in my experience). My tech 21 amp is basically VT bass pedal with a power amp, and its circuit is designed to simulate valves. My TC amp sounds terrible with the gain too high, and my warwick  amp just won't clip at all.

[Paul C]

Orange Terror Bass I think does that pretty well, and for a reasonable price

[Dan Dare]

Leave any amp out in the garden at this time of year and it will go dirty 😀

[Beedster]

1 hour ago, martyy said:

Yes I suppose that is true, however whether it is musically pleasing is a different story. Valve amps will sound good, but solid state don't tend to sound too nice with gain cranked, unless they are designed to (at least in my experience). My tech 21 amp is basically VT bass pedal with a power amp, and its circuit is designed to simulate valves. My TC amp sounds terrible with the gain too high, and my warwick  amp just won't clip at all.

Not if you put a VT pre in front of them which us to all intents all your current amp is doing. If you want that sound ‘naturally’ it’s large all tube units, or a good compromise is SS amps with tube pres. Seems if you got the tone you want from the VT you should simply stick with it? 

[Lozz196]

Aguilar Tonehammer does dirty

[BassmanPaul]

1 hour ago, Dan Dare said:

Leave any amp out in the garden at this time of year and it will go dirty 😀

Here they go white! LOL

[martyy]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

Not if you put a VT pre in front of them which us to all intents all your current amp is doing. If you want that sound ‘naturally’ it’s large all tube units, or a good compromise is SS amps with tube pres. Seems if you got the tone you want from the VT you should simply stick with it? 

I am happy with the sound I'm getting. Not really looking to change, just idly curious about what else is out there that can do similar, and why nearly every pre-amp and amp sim pedal out there goes big into overdrive and sometimes fuzz territory despite the fact that many real amps don't tend to bother so much with that.

I think that maybe I just have it wrong and plenty of bassists are getting drive straight from their amps!

[martyy]

2 hours ago, Paul C said:

Orange Terror Bass I think does that pretty well, and for a reasonable price

I've never had the chance to play through one of them but I have used the guitar version and it could barely clean up at all! Would love to check one out.

[Beedster]

Well I’ve got four heads here, Mesa M-Pulse, Ashdown Drophead 200, Ampeg PF50-T, and Musicman HD-500, the first three can go very dirty, the latter more grit than dirt. Probably a case if which amps you choose really?

[martyy]

4 hours ago, Musicman20 said:

The Orange AD200b is an absolute monster for this. Too big and heavy for me nowadays though. Wonderful sound. 

I've never had the opportunity, bet it would be fun though. The only time I've had a chance to play through an all-valve amp was in the studio. I don't think anyone wants to move them anymore

[martyy]

5 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Probably a case if which amps you choose really

Yeah that'll be it. Some other amps I've played, Markbass doesn't really drive, and an old Ashdown ABM that has a drive knob that doesn't seem to drive a whole lot. 

[David Morison]

19 minutes ago, martyy said:

 and why nearly every pre-amp and amp sim pedal out there goes big into overdrive and sometimes fuzz territory despite the fact that many real amps don't tend to bother so much with that.

 

 

You've more or less answered your own question - there are so many pedals that do drive/dirt precisely because lots of amps don't.

Given that lots of styles of music work fine with clean sounding bass, it's logical that a big chunk of the amp market doesn't go there.

Couple that with the fact that lots* of dirt/drive type sounds can relatively easily be created without designing & building a whole amp, it's logical too that that sector of the tonal spectrum finds more expression in pedals than amps.

 

* Obviously, there will always be those purists that aren't happy with anything other than output valve distortion & even transformer saturation, so I don't think SVT's are going away any time soon, but even they are just a subset of the overall drive/dirt spectrum of preferences.

[BassmanPaul]

Looking back over the last 60 odd years as a bass player with an engineering education I muse at the time I spent getting distortion out of my signal chain. Now folks are deliberately adding it. Who knew? LOL

 

Edited January 23 by BassmanPaul

[MichaelDean]

My Laney Digbeth can go very dirty if you want it to. And blending in the clean channel doesn't sound like having two separate signals, it sounds more integrated than that. 

[Bolo]

Doesn't Darkglass do amps with an elaborate dirt section?

[Stub Mandrel]

6 hours ago, Paul C said:

Orange Terror Bass I think does that pretty well, and for a reasonable price

+1 for Orange Terror, lovely and controllable, you can play clean then dig in for dirt.

 

The Trace Elliot Elf too.

 

Best bass amp overdrive Ixve heard is the (sadly only 50W) Joyo Badass hybrid.

[Minininjarob]

Any GK amp with a drive and master volume will go dirty, or as they call it “growl”. I absolutely love it as it’s controlled as it’s built in. 

[itu]

Glockenklang amps can do dirt. On the other hand, very clean, too.

[Count Bassy]

On 23/01/2025 at 17:37, Dan Dare said:

Leave any amp out in the garden at this time of year and it will go dirty 😀

Would this work for Mrs CB? 😮

[2elliot]

Any Orange bass amp or GK with do that. I assume it was D.I. to desk from the head and not a cab and mic. That gives you a very different sound, possibly not something you have heard in rehearsal if you are just playing through the head and cab. A cab will alter the sound of the head.

[maidens97]

Terror bass