blackcat bass octave vs. budda phatbass

[easternbull]

These pedals have got my interrest,not sure if the budda phatbass is still in production, but the black cat is available.

Looking for warm overdirve/distortion/growl, ala Geddy Lee signals era.

Any other pedals you prefer over these two?

[bongomania]

The Blackcat is an extreme harsh distortion/fuzz. There are lots of other options than the Buddha, for warm dirt/growl. Try the EBS Valvedrive.

[Mark Olson]

The Black Cat Bass Octave Fuzz (yes I've owned it) is really an octave fuzz, it doesn't do nicely overdriven tube tones, a la Geddy Lee or what have you.

As far as I know the Phatbass is not in production and has not been for quite some time. If there's any Rush fans who are more familiar with the eras of Geddy's tone, perhaps they can chime in with a useful suggestion, but as far is stuff that you can find available, I've found that with an Electro Harmonix English Muff'n if I were to play a Jazz Bass (or Rickenbacker, depending on the era) and if I were to want to sound something like Geddy Lee, it'd be possible.

But in all honesty, I've found tube preamp distortion pedals, like the Phatbass or English Muff'n, to get rather buzzy in an unpleasant way when not running them through an all tube amp (they've sounded fine into an all tuber though, even at higher gain settings where they'd normally get very buzzy). Something to consider if your amp is solid state and you'd like a good deal of gain out of one of these monsters before you take the plunge and purchase.

[easternbull]

thanx for the feedback guys,

I'm using an ashdown lb30 alltube head through a ampeg micro 2x10 svtcab, so maybe the english muffin would be ok with this setup. Already growls a bit but it just needs a little bit more to nail the tone I'm after.

just to calirify things I'm not after "fuzz" just a tad bit more overdrive/growl, and would like to use analog/point to point gear, keeping the signal chain as warm as possible before recording.

[Mark Olson]

Cool! That's cool setup. I'll bet you'd do well with the English Muff'n or EBS ValveDrive. I'm partial to the English Muff'n myself. Here is a soundclips of it with my setup (Gibson SG Bass):

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9818972

[easternbull]

The Muffin sounds just like what I'm after no fuzz, just more growl. One of my favourite bassplayers Larry Lalli, uses SG's and he has a gorgeous tone check out fatso jetson's "toasted" album for proof. Might be right up your ally,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj5BZ...eature=related

Thanks, for the complement on my rig, will post a full review with pics once I get a new camera. So stoked to finally get close to the tone I've been searching for since I started playing 13 years ago.

[Mark Olson]

Thanks for the link, very cool! I hadn't heard of those guys (but to be honest I don't know a lot about the music of the last 30 years or so).

And I would appreciate it if you would post a review of your rig sometime on the amps forum! I think those Ashdowns are really cool amps but unfortunately they're really uncommon over here, which is a shame. One other thing that might be worth considering (although it is a non tube option) would be just a regular clean booster, I play a small tube amp, a Marshall 2061X, and when I hit it with my Homebrew Electronics Bajo Mos mosfet clean booster I can easily get a tone like this:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9729337

I bet something like that would do wonders with your amp too! But the English Muff'n makes a good all tube boost too, I can get a sound like this with it as a booster (no drive from the pedal) and with flats on my bass:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9844761

That is a little extreme and fuzzy though, though it is amp fuzz. Anyways cheers and good luck!

[easternbull]

The Bajo Mos sounds good, a bit cheaper than the EH English Muffin if I can find it hear in Europe, shipping+import tax(27%) can even out those prices.

The EBS valvedrive costs 260€ (made in China)! Ouch, thats almost half of what I paid for my hand made UK ashdown little bastard head!

I've already forked out on an expensive meistersinger analog chorus, but I' think I wont need anymore pedals after adding an overdive, and my partner in crime could beef up some of his guitar parts with it also.

Any other recomendations apart from these three:

EBS valvedrive
EH english Muffin
Bajo Mos

Cheers,

[easternbull]

Have done some searching and found a few other options,

-microtubes B3K

-tronographic rusty box

-catalinbread SFT

Like I said I've got my mind set on analog pedals no simulators like tech 21 VT bass.

[bongomania]

The VT is also analog. And the Rusty Box, though very cool, was designed to emulate a solid-state amp clipping. It might sound great with your rig, but it is not meant to sound like tubes.

[easternbull]

thanx for the info, love this site.

List is narrowing, think I'm down to:

EH English Muffin vs. Microtubes B3K or B7K.

Not much difference in price, 198€(muffin) and 220€(B3K).


Stil very interested in the Bajo Mos, Mark that clip you made is pretty much spot on for the overdrive tone I'm looking. Wonder how much of the tone is due to your beautiful SG. Have to read up on boosters, not sure if they would be of use for my buddy and his tele+twin deluxe reverb.

Guess it's down to taste/preference.

[judas jedermann]

Originally Posted by easternbull

List is narrowing, think I'm down to:
EH English Muffin vs. Microtubes B3K or B7K.
Not much difference in price, 198€(muffin) and 220€(B3K).

Why did you rule out Catalinbread SFT? It is really good pedal for tube growl and cheaper than Muffin or B3K (159€ or so). IMO SFT is very versatile and 9-18 volts makes a big difference. I considered buying one although I already have Cream Pie.

[Mark Olson]

That's one of the good things about a tube amp and just using a booster, the difference in guitars does make a big difference in tone. Here is my current amp fuzz tone with my SG and the Bajo Mos:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9963807

That's with a new mudbucker in my SG, and the strings are kind of dead.

[easternbull]

Originally Posted by judas jedermann

Why did you rule out Catalinbread SFT? It is really good pedal for tube growl and cheaper than Muffin or B3K (159€ or so). IMO SFT is very versatile and 9-18 volts makes a big difference. I considered buying one although I already have Cream Pie.

good point, kids have been sick wich means no sleep so I forgot to include the SFT. very good price indeed.

Just got back from 2h in the studio while the kids were sleeping, the tone I get from my active ATK is very clear and transparent that's one of the reasons it handles my low C tuning so well, never muddy, but this might also be the reason why my lb30 doesn't break up/distort as easily as with a passive bass(would love to try your SG).

here is a clip of what it sounds like with a passive:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg04AoqeX-4

Another option apart from getting a pedal might be to swap a few tubes..

[gregoryisrael]

easternbull:
I owned a Black Cat Bass Octave Fuzz, and got rid of it because it was too "A.D.H.D. Robot" (if that even makes any sense, haha). Not that I couldn't do cool stuff with it; it was just insane fuzz and not "warm/growly/tubey" at all.

I'm surprised that nobody has suggested the Fulltone Bass-Drive (now updated as Bass Drive MOSFET). It's about $180 new, all analog, I think American made. It's capable of having 2 drive settings that can be recalled instantly, so you can have everything from some dirt to feedback-inducing saturation. It's been my primary overdrive for the past 2 years, and I must say it's very sensitive and tastefully-voiced.

That's my suggestion. And it's no one-trick pony.

[easternbull]

Have been reading up on SFT and the reviews on this forum have not been so good, especially with active basses. So I'm dropping the SFT and the Bajo Mos due to my active ATK with blue steel strings.Not sure a booster will give enough growl with this type of transparent bass/string set up.

Will look up the fulltone bass drive next.

Blending a clean(sunn) and dirty(ampeg) rig combined with his fingers and the middy rick, was Geddys way of getting that growly tone.

[easternbull]

Fulltone bassdrive has had some pretty good reviews on this forum and the clips I've been listening too sound closer to what I'm after compared to the B3K. which is reported to be more modern sounding and not colouring the sound too much.

Think my active bass and bluesteel strings will need more dirt/growl from the pedal than a passive bass would.

I'm rely starting to lean towards the fulltone bassdrive, there are no good clips of the EH english Muffin on the net. And it is designed mainly for guitars right?

One more thing, what kind of set up do you need to be able to mix dry/clean signal and a wet/dirty tone? can this bee done with just one pedal and one amp? I think some OD pedals have this option built in mixing the two signals.

Getting tired of reading reviews and listening to clips. Help me decide, No difference in price between these two.

fulltone bassdrive vs. microtubes B3K

[judas jedermann]

Originally Posted by easternbull

I'm rely starting to lean towards the fulltone bassdrive, there are no good clips of the EH english Muffin on the net.

Have you checked the clips from TB wiki?

http://www.talkbass.com/wiki/index.p...p_Database#EHX

Edit: Or maybe Crowther Hot cake or EHX Germanium OD? Clips in TB Wiki.

[gregoryisrael]

Originally Posted by easternbull

One more thing, what kind of set up do you need to be able to mix dry/clean signal and a wet/dirty tone? can this bee done with just one pedal and one amp? I think some OD pedals have this option built in mixing the two signals.

Getting tired of reading reviews and listening to clips. Help me decide, No difference in price between these two.

fulltone bassdrive vs. microtubes B3K

Looks like the B3K has a blend control, so there you go for the clean singal thing.
The Fulltone does not, so if you wanted clean signal you might have to split it or blend it using a parallel effects loop.

[easternbull]

Originally Posted by gregoryisrael

Looks like the B3K has a blend control, so there you go for the clean singal thing.
The Fulltone does not, so if you wanted clean signal you might have to split it or blend it using a parallel effects loop.

Thanx for the info, was aware that the B3K had the blend option, was not sure regarding the fulltone. Good to know that the clean/dirty can be acheiwed with a splitter/parrallel effects loop.

After much thought and listening I'm going with the fulltone. Even though the B3K has the blend option, out of all the hundred clips I've watched/listened to the bassdriver was/is the closest to the tone in my head.

Thank you sooooo much to everyone who took time to chime in and help out. Will try to post a review of the ashdown lb30(UK version)head and the mesistersinger analogchorus this weekend.

Cheers, guys