Best Distortion to use?

[frogsand]

what is a good distortion to use for Rock/Pop style music. It wouldn't be something that will be used in every song. Just some little part here and there. If you want an example of what i'm talking about go to myspace.com/chrisbiano and listen to the song Better Way. wanting something to play the distorted bass part at the beginning of the song.

I have had recommendations for the ProCo Rat distortion and for an overdrive sound. would these be good?

[vegas532]

For that tone, EHX Bass Big Muff.

[palm grease]

have you tried the ProCo? How do you like it?

have you tried any at all? or do you trust us enough to tell you how to spend your cash?

try some, find which ones you like and report back! half the fun in finding effects is discovering what YOU like!!!!

happy hunting!

[frogsand]

yes i have tried the proco and had problems with it limiting my volume when turned on. i am considering buying it and getting it modded.

[EclecticElectrk]

i see what your looking for, same as me. not obnoxious always distorted bass, but a little touch here and there adds something great.
its a difficult question, i suggest you look into bassfuzz.com
there are literally hundreds of pedals out there that all do different things.
you cant go wrong with the EHX bass big muff, its a good pedal from what ive seen. whats your price range?

[EricF]

Skip the Rat. Unless you're using it with a blend loop, the low end loss will make it pretty lousy for bass.

[Jared Lash]

Originally Posted by frogsand

what is a good distortion to use for Rock/Pop style music. It wouldn't be something that will be used in every song. Just some little part here and there. If you want an example of what i'm talking about go to myspace.com/chrisbiano and listen to the song Better Way. wanting something to play the distorted bass part at the beginning of the song.

I have had recommendations for the ProCo Rat distortion and for an overdrive sound. would these be good?

That sounds very much to me like a blended fuzz with a lot of clean signal. The Blowtorch has a blend, but that sound has fuzz on the bottom end which the MXR doesn't do. I did get a VERY similar sound playing around with the Chunk Brown Dog, but that's a fairly expensive option.

A big muff (or clone) in a blend loop might do it for you, though something with a bit more of a gated sound in a loop would probably be better. Maybe either the Devi Ever bass fuzz or a Subdecay Flying Tomato cranked with a healthy amount of clean signal.

[tomvelsor]

sansamp it up.

[SpankyPants]

The Bass Fuzz and a clean blend would be VERY close.

[frogsand]

what is a blend loop and how do i achieve that?

[Jared Lash]

A blender is a pedal that allows you to put one or more pedals in its loop and has a control for the level of effected (wet) vs clean signal (dry) allowing you to control the level of the effect and to prevent bottom end loss.

Three options:

Xotic X-Blender

Barge Concepts VB-jr

The Boss LS-2 can also do this though I find it more useful for other things.

Hope that helps.

[KPAX]

I use a SansAmp Bass DI, MXR M80 and a Marshall Guv'nor.
The Sansamp distortion is very controllable and the tone is quite good. Very much like an overdriven tube amp. The eq is quite good also. This is the best overall pedal I've used for distortion. It really sounds like a nicely distorted tube amp and your bass won't disappear in the mix.

The MXR M80 is also quite good but different from the SansAmp. The M80 is good for Tool (Justin Chancellor) type tones. It's hard to describe the M80 blend but I actually hear two sounds - a clean and a distorted sound together whereas with the SansAmp it sounds like one overdriven signal (overdriven to the degree that you set). The M80 distortion is also different. Not an overdriven tube sound like the SansAmp. More of a fuzzy distortion but with the clean signal mixed in it sounds good, and clear. It's more of a grind sound.

I use the Marshall Guv'nor for super distorted sounds and long sustain/feedback. My band has only one guitar player so there are intros/parts where I'll cover guitar parts with a more guitar-like tone. I don't use this pedal for whole songs because there's not much bottom. It's great for feedback though!

[JanusZarate]

Just to add some info... some fuzz pedals have built-in blend circuits, so no blend loop pedal is needed for those.

Examples include the Malekko B:Assmaster, EHX Bass Big Muff (although it's a non-traditional, unconventional setup), MXR Blowtorch, and others.

[EricF]

Originally Posted by MysticBoo

Just to add some info... some fuzz pedals have built-in blend circuits, so no blend loop pedal is needed for those.

Examples include the Malekko B:Assmaster, EHX Bass Big Muff (although it's a non-traditional, unconventional setup), MXR Blowtorch, and others.

And my personal fav...

Prescription Electronics Depth Charge

[JanusZarate]

Yeah, I forgot a few.

Doesn't the Wounded Paw Attack Goat have a blend, too?

EDIT: Yep, it does.

[bobunit]

Originally Posted by palm grease

have you tried the ProCo? How do you like it?

have you tried any at all? or do you trust us enough to tell you how to spend your cash?

try some, find which ones you like and report back! half the fun in finding effects is discovering what YOU like!!!!

happy hunting!

+1

[theunknowndude]

just for info, it seems to me that the TURBO rat holds the lows a lot better than the normal version? I use the ibby PD7 (mostly for overdrive), turbo rat and the devi ever bass fuzz,... only thing is sometimes the bass fuzz is too overwhelming but im not going to go to the point of having another fuzz just cos I can!

(the devi ever bass fuzz is awesome for NIN destroy all type sounds tho!)

[wizay]

maybe a voodoo lab sparkle drive? Its got clean blend