Distortion Pot in bass?

[Hutzbordello]

I read that one of the bassists for king crimson has a distortion pot in his bass, and the guitarist for muse has a Fuzz Factory in his.

how does one go about doing this? and is it costly?

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Probably covered in the effects subforum, I wouldn't know I never go there, but a simple diode circuit might do the job.

Then there's a quite a few pre-amps (for guitar) that may offer the distortion You seek.

And then to the obvious question as to WHY?
Wouldn't a stomp box or a rack unit (both with a controller) be better?

Regards
Sam

[__HM__]

I dropped a Keely Boss DS-1 into an acoustic a while ago, along with a set of humbuckers.. Didn't sound half bad. lol. Cut a hole for the battery box, drill for 3 knobs, a toggle and an LED, and wire an SPDT switch to control it. Then take out the input jacks, and just run the pups straight through it. Instant distortion preamp.

[Beat Bass]

I've been thinkin of this for a while, there's a luthier in Barcelona who sells this little thing call black ice. They say that's tone cap size and uses a pot to control it, and it's passive, no batteries. I try to google it but i don't find any web in english, sorry, here's the link:

Productos > BLACK ICE -Distorsionador pasivo-

Ah!, price is 38 euro, about 54 dollars, not bad...

[Von Felgenhauer]

There are some on ebay. They might be cheaply built but thy are there. Just another pot it looks like

[C.Linton]

Didn't certain Hofner models have that?

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Originally Posted by Beat Bass

Productos > BLACK ICE -Distorsionador pasivo-

Ah!, price is 38 euro, about 54 dollars, not bad...

That's one of the gizmos I was thinking about but had forgotten the name.

38€ being bad is relative, IIRC there's just under .5€ worth of components on that blob of epoxy, two regular diodes to be exact .

OP, if Black Ice sounds like it's what You're after, please do google:

Black ice distortion
passive clipping
DIY Black ice distortion.


Regards
Sam

[FBB Custom]

Stew Mac sells Black Ice. I think you need a pretty hot signal to get it to clip.

[ctmullins]

Been there, done that. One Schotzky diode (I think I used BAT 10s) across each side. Just a basic fuzz tone, not really an overdriven sound. Two diodes removed too much low frequency signal, one was better, but the tone was rather underwhelming...

[Hutzbordello]

ah thanks, it sounded like something cool to do to add something new to bass but maybe its not worth my time.......thanks for all the info. guys in luthier know their stuff for sure

[Beauchene Implements]

Originally Posted by ctmullins

Been there, done that. One Schotzky diode (I think I used BAT 10s) across each side. Just a basic fuzz tone, not really an overdriven sound. Two diodes removed too much low frequency signal, one was better, but the tone was rather underwhelming...

This is a neat idea, just cut off half of the waveform with a diode. Shottky diodes would be interesting to try in that role, because of the low voltage drop across it. You'll get less output as you turn it up, but it would be much more attenuatd through something like a zener diode.

[Hutzbordello]

would this be better for a passive or active?

[jumbodbassman]

Originally Posted by C.Linton

Didn't certain Hofner models have that?

hofner deluxe (gold hardware beatle bass) and some vox sidewinders too!!!

[Beat Bass]

Originally Posted by T-Bird

Hi.



That's one of the gizmos I was thinking about but had forgotten the name.

38€ being bad is relative, IIRC there's just under .5€ worth of components on that blob of epoxy, two regular diodes to be exact .

OP, if Black Ice sounds like it's what You're after, please do google:

Black ice distortion
passive clipping
DIY Black ice distortion.


Regards
Sam

The price is always relative, how much is really the cost of any bass, any amp or pedal or whatever?, I mean the price of components.