Effect for Growl -Swollen Pickle?

[WilliamSandoval]

What pedal would be best suited for adding growl to my tone?

I've been looking at the Swollen Pickle. Would it be possible to turn down the fuzz enough to add gain to the clean signal, but not add distortion?

Sorry if that's confusing...

[HolmeBass]

Not with a Swollen Pickle, it's a bit of a beast even on the lowest gain settings. It's a very fuzzy, angry thing. In a good way- I love mine. But growl isn't what I'd call it, more like a deranged anguished snarl from a 200 lb bumblebee.

Maybe some overdrive is what you want, but I associate the term "growl" usually with a clean but aggressive tone, like a jazz bass played hard, both pups wide open, or perhaps neck favored slightly, maybe even with a pick, with lots of low mids and a bit of high-end clank thrown in. Of course these terms are all extremely subjective.

In terms of overdrive there are many to chose from, I am finding that something with a clean blend allows for a subtle amount of drive and attack definition. I just got a Sparkledrive and really like it. Other possibilities: Pork Loin, Green Rhino, Darkglass B3K, Rusty Box, maybe even a Tone Hammer or a SansAmp BDDI, or SansAmp VT Bass (the SansAmp stuff sort of all sounds a bit like Ampeg emulation to me- and that is a very popular sound). And there are many, many other possibilities, search for OD.

[spaz21387]

you want overdrive an ibanez tubescreamer would be a good choice too.

[jgroh]

Pork Loin is my choice. I love mine and Ive been through a bunch of OD pedals. It adds growl and doesnt change the tone of my bass.

[bassybeenz]

Big plus 1 to the pork loin. I've had mine over a year and it's not going anywhere

[gjbassist]

Digitech Bad Monkey Tube OD. It will give you a nice fat warm growl without heavy distortion.

[The Lemon]

If growl is what you're looking for, maybe you should look for an EQ pedal to boost your low mids.

Aside from that, make sure you're using the ideal strings for that and try favoring your neck pickup.

[steelbed45]

My FEA Growler pedal works great for me. I like the dual channels; I have channel one set on a higher setting with the distortion on. With channel two, I have the setting at 250 MHz with the effect added to taste; this to me seems to fit a basic "growl" tone.
I've read nothing but good things about the Pork Loin and the posts here doesn't surprise me.

[RootNoteRadical]

+1 for the PORK LOIN. Great pedal......

[caeman]

I think an octave pedal at lower settings will give you that low gain growl.

The FEA Growler is not discontinued, but is fantastic at add Growl, as it adds a even order harmonic to the signal. The FEA Dual Band Distortion can accomplish a similar feat.

[Crystalman85]

If you want a pedal that can give you a growl, a preamp pedal would be much better solution. preamp pedals like the hartke bass attack pedal and the Xotic bb preamp can easily give you a low-end growl.

[mouthmw]

Sounds like a tube screamer pedal would be great for that since it really angries up the mids. Green Rhino is a growling machine. A lot of people said Pork Loin but that sounds too warm and subtle to me and too smooth.

[loopee]

Xotic BB for sure

[KurtInTheDirt]

Anyone try a Markbass Distortsore? Just curious cuz it has a tube and claims to not take good things away like many pedals are notorious for . I've bought a few pedals , but I eventually upgraded everything to get my desired growl. Out of all the things I purchased for my new rig it was the wood and the pickups that provided a good base for growl then the amp and cab pushed it further. Someone posted a link on a previous thread with a few samples of the Pork Loin, its at least worth checking out. Way Huge Pork Loin - Folder Shared from Box.

[dwh87]

The Ibanez bass tubescreamer should do the trick, it is a little more than a normal one but apparently handles bass better. I have a swollen pickle and it can get pretty wild if you don't keep the settings under control.