Drive/Fuzzzzz/Dist

[MBRVMasterTone4]

Hey... I'm planning to buy:

Boss ODB-3 Bass overdrive
MXR El Grande Bass Fuzz
Electro Harmonics Big Muff (Russian)

Can anybody tell me something of this 3 pedals in a chain?
Can anyone find some replacements maybe?

[Jared Lash]

Have you tried a Boss ODB-3 or at least heard some representative samples? (Most online samples I've heard were fairly different from what I experienced with it).

I try to avoid comments like "it's awesome, buy one" or "that sucks, you should be pedal X" since there are so many factors that go into whether a pedal works for you - bass, amp and especially style of music.

But the Boss has a very industrial sound to my ears. I've heard it works better going into a tube amp, but with my gear I didn't like it all. What kind of music do you play?

[scotch]

Originally Posted by MBRVMasterTone4

Can anybody tell me something of this 3 pedals in a chain?

Dude it's a Haiku!

Can anybody
tell me something of this 3
pedals in a chain?

Like most poetry, it's up to interpretation what the hell it means....

[MBRVMasterTone4]

Scotch don't spam please... Don't try to be a smartass...

[NKUSigEp]

Originally Posted by MBRVMasterTone4

Can anybody tell me something of this 3 pedals in a chain?
Can anyone find some replacements maybe?

Are you looking for 3 seperate distorted sounds or do you want to have more than one on at the same time? Why not get a Programmable Bass Driver DI? It's capable of getting three seperate overdrives but with better bass response and less hiss.

OR

Get an Aguilar Agro. You can only dial in one sound at a time but for my money, it's the best bass distortion/overdrive/fuzz on the market. There are some tracks up on my band's myspace if you wanna listen to it in a full band setting - and those are just two of the countless usable tones you can get out of it.

Either way, the Sansamp and the Agro will probably be cheaper than buying all 3 of the ones you mentioned.

[Jared Lash]

To add to my first post, without filling out your profile, giving links to the sounds you are looking to approximate or being specific about the music you play and the tones you want, all you're going to get in a thread like this is people naming off their favorite gear.

[bongomania]

True, there are so many OD's, distortions, and fuzzes out there, at every price point and for every flavor, that the only way to get a useful suggestion is to be very very specific about the sounds you are trying to achieve. Maybe post some MP3 or Youtube links to recordings of the tones you want. Also mention your budget!

[scotch]

Originally Posted by MBRVMasterTone4

Scotch don't spam please... Don't try to be a smartass...

Geeeez,.... touchy! (I did insert a wink)

Anyway, we'd love to help you out if you could be a little more specific about what you want and are asking.

[Swimming Bird]

I do love haiku. Welcome to Talk Bass MBRV.

I don't know why nobody's pointed this out, but two fuzzes and an OD all on in the same chain is gonna give you tons of buzz and massive feedback of slightly different flavors depending on the order.

That said, I also have no idea what you actually meant, so that's the answer to what I think you were asking.

[JanusZarate]

I'm confused by what you're looking for, MBRV. You just listed three pedals, and you don't appear to have done any research on what any of them sound like, or what user reviews have to say about it.

The ODB-3 and Russian Big Muff are WIDELY talked about, since so many bassists use or have used those pedals. It'd be worth taking a few moments to read what they have to say about them, and even listen to some sound clips.

The MXR El Grande isn't even released yet. There's a video from this year's Winter NAMM if you're interested in seeing it in action: MXR el grande bass fuzz (video)

We can't help you without clarity. If you know what you're looking for, please enlighten us. If you're not sure, please let us know, and tell us if there's a song or band which captures that overdriven/distorted/fuzzy tone you're seeking.

As Swimming Bird pointed out, firing up all three at the same time is going to be really messy and mostly unusable. So... I hope you meant you're using them each separately.

[DosiYanarchy]

theres loadsa info on the forum about these pedals (especially the boss and the EHX) and im unsure of how much u know already, but i'll just point out a few things as i understand them which might help you:

Boss ODB-3: it has a clean blend and 2-band EQ, is built sturdily and does fuzz very well, but i found that after a while i got a bit bored of the tone, but hey thats just me, my opinion is that its the standard in bass fuzz/distortion but theres so many more bass distortions/fuzzes that just sound more interresting.

this is all purely subjective, but this is my experience.

ive never tried the russian muff, but i owned the little Big Muff briefly and its smaller than the russian and can take mains power and i believe its true bypass too, ALTHOUGH as it is technically a guitar pedal, its best to be aware that turning the 'tone' control past 11 o'clock will mean that you will significantly loose your lows(unless you have a clean blend)

i found that the tone i wanted from my little big muff was actually with the tone cranked to maxx to get a really searing fuzz, but even with a clean blend, it just never cut through so i got rid of it.


the El Grande sounds pretty interresting, and id be lying if i said i wasnt gonna get one, but i belive the release date is june, but i need to double check, the word is that they're gonna be well priced (IE under $100) which is a godsend, as i personally thought the video clip looked awesome.



if your planning to buy all these pedals i would say this: you might find yourself trying to choose between them, and realising you only need one: you've picked 3 un-subltle (is that even a word?) fuzz boxes, and i think only the boss has a clean blend, which could make it more versatile than the muff.
All three pedals are very aggressive, but its important to remember that the Boss and the MXR are bass-specific pedals and you shouldn't loose your lows.

i have a 3-tier system of distortion - a blues driver for a bit of tubey O/D, a Metalzone for some distortion and an MXR blowtorch for when i forget what subtle means (altho its a great and very versatile pedal in my opinion)



id say that ur choises are only limited by the fact that you seem to have picked 3 fuzz pedals - get the MXR and maybe that could be an 'insane fuzz' and the Boss u could set it up mostly clean, just to dirty up ur tone a bit, and maybe the muff could fit somewhere in the middle, but without a bit more info on your setup and what you were looking for, its kinda hard to help.

[Joe P]

Originally Posted by scotch

Dude it's a Haiku!

Can anybody
tell me something of this 3
pedals in a chain?

Cool. It is.

I have something to say:
The ODB gets so much badmouthing, and I agree that they don't cut-the-mustard all by themselves.

But I can't find anything better as the LAST member of my distortion chain. Right now for my high-gain distortion I'm using minimum of Boss Mega Distotion to Boss PQ-4 (or is that "PEQ-4"?) parametric to ODB-3 (it's not too bad without the parametric, actually). Else, my real fav is GK Diesel Dawg to CEB-3 to ODB-3. Otherwise, just a CS-3 to ODB-3 sounds good, or even Aphex Xciter (Big Bottom cranked-up pretty good) to ODB-3.

My point is that I have many ways to a killer high-gain sound, but it GOTS'TA have the ODB at the end. (now it's not really at the END-end, when I include the RE-20 Space Echo). On the same token, though, The ODB is fairly horrendous all-by-itself.

Oh - and also: all that ('cept the RE-20) has to be in the loop of an NS-2 remote-triggered expander, for killer-tight, noise-free performance. In fact - it looks to me like the NS-2 is going to me mandatory for YOU too - with my buzzsaw setup, if I turn off the NS-2, it's unuseable: nothing but constant noise and shreaking pickup squeel; WITH the NS-2 - perfect, noiseless, squeeless operation.

Joe

[assboglin]

One man's trash is another man's treasure... I guess that applies to tone as well as pedals.

[MBRVMasterTone4]

Ok... I'll try this way...

I need these sounds, so if some machine (sans, aguilar or 1 pedal )) can do it you tell me:

1. For a fuzz tone i was blown away when i heard Big John's Hairy Balls Look at the part when the bass is played http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASuUQ13xXoo

2. For a distorsion tone i want cliffs anesthesia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm02dZdF76g

3. For an overdrive i want example 1 of the:
http://www.bosscorp.co.jp/demos/en/O...ound/demo.html

So is there a 1 machine on a market that can give me all these sounds?
Reading your posts i realized that if i buy 3 pedals it will be messy (lots of noise, so little that i can do with it).
So what to do as a compromise?

[Swimming Bird]

The only one I know off the top of my head that might be able to do all three (and save them as presets) would be the Line 6 DM4, but I have no real experience with it and don't know if it has a gated fuzz.

One fuzz will probably take care of the BMP & gated fuzz, so I'd go for a V.Zex Fuzz Factory. You're not gonna get Cliff's tone without a wah (even when it isn't wahing, it's still filtering), so you may want to consider getting one.

Overdrive, might as well go for the ODB-3 if you like the sound of it. Nothing replaces actually trying something though.

Okay, it's fine to have three of these boxes, I just wanted you to know before you got them that having them all on would be a generally terrifying experience, say, if you misstep live. Which I've done. Luckily at a noise show

[Mark Olson]

Originally Posted by MBRVMasterTone4

Ok... I'll try this way...

I need these sounds, so if some machine (sans, aguilar or 1 pedal )) can do it you tell me:

1. For a fuzz tone i was blown away when i heard Big John's Hairy Balls Look at the part when the bass is played http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASuUQ13xXoo

2. For a distorsion tone i want cliffs anesthesia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm02dZdF76g

3. For an overdrive i want example 1 of the:
http://www.bosscorp.co.jp/demos/en/O...ound/demo.html

So is there a 1 machine on a market that can give me all these sounds?
Reading your posts i realized that if i buy 3 pedals it will be messy (lots of noise, so little that i can do with it).
So what to do as a compromise?

I don't think you're going to get those three very different tones out of one pedal. By the way, Cliff Burton used a Big Muff Pi Fuzz pedal, not a distortion, it's in the FAQ. But don't think that running those three pedals will be that messy or noisy, it won't. Lots of us here run a lot more than three pedals. I don't think you need to make that compromise at all.

[CliffD]

I OWN THESE GUYS, CHECK THESE OUT BEFORE YOU BUY A FUZZ FOR BASS:

FENDER BLENDER
DEATH BY AUDIO SUPER SONIC FUZZ GUN
FULLTONE BASS DRIVE
COLORSOUND TONEBENDER

[NKUSigEp]

Originally Posted by MBRVMasterTone4

Ok... I'll try this way...

I need these sounds, so if some machine (sans, aguilar or 1 pedal )) can do it you tell me:

1. For a fuzz tone i was blown away when i heard Big John's Hairy Balls Look at the part when the bass is played http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASuUQ13xXoo

2. For a distorsion tone i want cliffs anesthesia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm02dZdF76g

3. For an overdrive i want example 1 of the:
http://www.bosscorp.co.jp/demos/en/O...ound/demo.html

So is there a 1 machine on a market that can give me all these sounds?
Reading your posts i realized that if i buy 3 pedals it will be messy (lots of noise, so little that i can do with it).
So what to do as a compromise?

I'm telling ya, go with the Agro!

[MBRVMasterTone4]

Is there a audio/video sample for Agro? I'm unable to find it on aguilar web...

[Rickett Customs]

Man, I hate to be the devils advocate, but why not go out and test some of the pedals/units that are being suggested, so you can decide what you want to achieve. IME it's your bass sound and your ears, ultimately....you will have to make the decision. The suggestions that are being posted are all good ideas, but you'll know it, once you hear it, is all i'm saying.

/Jason