Clean blend pedals

[fuzz_factor]

A lot of people mention clean blending when discussing bass overdrive, distortion, fuzz, etc.

I play a P Bass with flats and like a warm, fat, thumpy B-15 tone, but every now and then, I'd like to get some grind going. So far, using a VT Bass with the gain up, a Catalinbread SFT, 90's Rat and SUF Civil War Muff clone just don't sound right with my setup - a GK 700RB-II with a Raezer's Edge 15". Too... farty? Muffled? Unsatisfying?

I really like the tone of my amp, and I like the VT Bass set pretty clean. Things just sound 'meh' when I click on any overdrive/distortion/fuzz pedal (and I've tried a bunch, more than mentioned above because I'm mainly a guitar player and have too much dirt ). Like most of you, I dig the sound of a cranked Ampeg; I'm just not hearing it with the VT Bass (too crunchy) or the SFT (too muffled and middy).

I'd like to try a clean blend pedal that has an effects loop and ability to set the wet/dry blend (or just setting the 'effected' level is fine).

Doing some searching, I see the Radial BigShot MIX Effects Loop Mixer and the Boss LS-2. I'm leaning towards the Boss because, well, Boss pedals are great and have a good form factor. Are there any others I should check out? Any advice for getting the most out of these types of setups? Any tips for getting a good dirt sound with my rig? Thanks!

[bongomania]

I strongly recommend getting a blender with a phase-inversion switch. Wounded Paw and Xotic are the two brands I know of making those ATM (well, there are other related products by other brands, but I'm talking strictly blender loop pedals). I use the Xotic, but if it ever died (unlikely) I would want to try out the Wounded Paw.

Radial's a good brand, but that BigShot Mix is a dud because it only allows blending between 50% wet and 100%--nothing below 50%.

[fuzz_factor]

Thanks bongomania. The Wounded Paw looks good. Priced right and pedalboard friendly. I probably wouldn't have found that one on my own, nor would I have thought about phase issues.

[bongomania]

Yeah when blending dirt pedals, it's common to have problems with low-end loss due to phase cancellation.

[kevteop]

As a cheap solution I would suggest a Boss LS-2 with a Digitech Bad Monkey in one of the loops. You won't get any phase issues with that setup.

I can appreciate where Bongo is coming from though, it's frustrating when you try to blend a sound from a pedal that flips the signal phase, and you would be surprised how many do it. I wish they would just ****ing fix that before they declare their pedals market-ready, it really messes with bass players.

[reddi]

Originally Posted by kevteop

As a cheap solution I would suggest a Boss LS-2 with a Digitech Bad Monkey in one of the loops. You won't get any phase issues with that setup.

I can appreciate where Bongo is coming from though, it's frustrating when you try to blend a sound from a pedal that flips the signal phase, and you would be surprised how many do it. I wish they would just ****ing fix that before they declare their pedals market-ready, it really messes with bass players.

Agreed, it's a pet peeve of mine as well.

[Mr.Hat]

Anybody know if the ebs unidrive flips the phase ?

[mozarwasagenius]

These pedals have built in blends of clean and distortion/fuzz:

MXR M80
Tech21 Bass driver di
Tech21 para driver di

All of them are great pedals

[BassBrass]

Originally Posted by mozarwasagenius

These pedals have built in blends of clean and distortion/fuzz:

MXR M80
Tech21 Bass driver di
Tech21 para driver di

All of them are great pedals

as do MXR/Dunlop Bass Blowtorch, Wounded Paw Attack Goat, Take Flight Pedals The Goose, Team Awesome Fuzz etc., Iron Ether Oxcide, Chuck Brown Dog, Source Audio Multiwave, Crowther Prunes & Custard, OXfuzz Bass, and ProCo Rat bass Juggernaught. I'm sure there are more.
I use my Xotic blender mostly for a DE Ruiner; sounds so good that way it's worth the board space. (Ruiner, being 2 darkboosts, does not invert phase. One Dark boost does...)