Electronix Messdrive Bass Fuzz

shoegazebass · #1 08-19-2007, 07:28 PM

Anyone try one of these out yet? I'm curious about how it sounds or what it compares to, but I can't find a review of it anywhere.

For the other curious folks, check it out at http://cgi.ebay.com/ElectroniX-MessD...QQcmdZViewItem

If I take the plunge, I'll certainly report back

bongomania · #2 08-19-2007, 07:36 PM

Hmm, intriguing. For the price, it looks to be worth the gamble!

The BurgerMeister · #3 08-19-2007, 10:45 PM

i had the privilege of testing out Os's prototype for the Messdrive. it needed a few tweaks (which Os has done, as far as i know), but it had a great, raw, powerful fuzz and a fantastic gritty drive. the fuzz is seriously ballsy and bassy. if Os kept the tone control the same, the range on that thing is amazing! it'll go from veryVERY bassy to icepick-to-the-ear trebly.

my only niggle is the lack of a gain knob... but it reacts quite well to the dynamics of your playing, as well as the volume knob of your bass, and it is like having two pedals in one.

i'll be getting one soon....

shoegazebass · #4 08-20-2007, 10:21 PM

Interesting...any other fuzz/OD pedal that you could compare it to?

The BurgerMeister · #5 08-21-2007, 01:54 AM

hmmm.... nothing that i can think of really sounds like it. of course, there a millionbillion overdrive/distortion/fuzz pedals out there, and i haven't tried all of them... but the Messdrive sounded great in a new way, to me.

sorry i can't be more helpful... like i said, i only got to try the prototype. Os's tweaks may have changed the sound a little....

smo · #6 08-21-2007, 05:31 AM

Looks simple enough.....I'm always a fan of simple designs;

Only question really - will this pedal need some kind of blend, like most other fuzz/overdrive/distortion pedals, to retain the fat low end?

Also - has anyone tried any of their other pedals - like the preamp?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll..._promot_widget

smo

shoegazebass · #7 08-21-2007, 08:09 AM

I haven't, but his submarine pedal is being used by a few on this board. It's gotten good reviews at HC and so forth.

musicelectronix · #8 08-22-2007, 03:16 AM

Hey there,

Since Jet tried the proto, I made a couple of changes.

1- He thought the volume was low, so I added a clean gain stage (buffer like) at the end. It also warmed the sound a little.

2- I kept the tone control style as is, though decreased the roll off frequency. Now, in my opinion it is more effective and has a better shape (at least in thoery)

3- The clipping point is a little bit higher, seemed more natural to me.

4- Moved to tone control before the second gain stack, in order to amplify the filtered signal.

5- Changed the gain control (in that case toggle) style of the circuit and also lowered the gain of mild mode.

I guess these are all. I might tweak it more in time based on feedbacks and responses. At the time being (and for another 6 months or so. I am just tired of prototyping while trying the catch up with orders), this is the messdrive. Hope you will like it.

OS
ElectroniX

Ps. I thought a lot about blend option. Then there need to be preamp section, phase correction, additional output buffers, effects loop, compresor and maybe even balanced output to make the device complete. I have a project in mind that includes all the above, and god knows when I will design and build it. I just wanted a simple yet effective bass overdrive solution to offer and here it is. Moreover, it doesn't kill the low end as much as many others do. Time will tell..

Nightsblood · #9 08-22-2007, 08:47 PM

This looks very interesting, and Im in the market for a fuzz type efffect. Any sound clips available?

markjazzbassist · #10 08-22-2007, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nightsblood

This looks very interesting, and Im in the market for a fuzz type efffect. Any sound clips available?

+1

musicelectronix · #11 08-23-2007, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nightsblood

This looks very interesting, and Im in the market for a fuzz type efffect. Any sound clips available?

Sorry, no clips available at the moment.

BassJunkie730 · #12 08-23-2007, 01:40 PM

I was wondering if you circuit is based off of if maybe only in part from AMZ's Bazz Fuss?

musicelectronix · #13 08-23-2007, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassJunkie730

I was wondering if you circuit is based off of if maybe only in part from AMZ's Bazz Fuss?

As far as I know, Bazz fuss is not a Jack Orman (AMZ) design. It is designed by Hemmo and its principle used by many others such as Tim Escobedo (Fulk Urban) or Gary Burchett (Run Off Groove).

That said, almost every distortion unit shares very similiar "base design". It doesn't matter how many gain stages there are or tone controls or buffers or whatever, the base of the musical distortion is diode clipping. Some based on ICs, some on FETs and some on Transistors, but again diode clipping is what distorts the sound.

I know the bazz fuss, it is a really simple circuit with one germanium transistor and diode clipping. Ofcourse, messdrive has diode clipping and transistor, it can not be said that it is partly based on Bazz Fuss. In other words; Big Muff Pi, Joe Davisson's easy drive, Fuzz Face (partly), Hemmo Christian's Bazz Fuss, messdrive, etc shares basic idea, but they are all different devices and the idea they are all based on is the idea behind creating the musical distortion.

Hope this is helpful

Ps. I applied the Jack Orman's transformer idea to my design, which is explained at his pickup simulation article, and I credited him on the auction page.

Edit: I wrote Bazz Fuss has a germanium transistor, but it should be darlington NPN small signal. I was thinking of darlington, but it seems I wrote germanium. Sorry for the false information.

musicelectronix · #14 08-30-2007, 03:26 AM

I looked deeper into bazz fuss and yes I can say that messdrive and bazz fuss has some similarities in clipping stage design. I built a Bazz Fuss for myself (Runoffgroove design, deluxe or something). It performed well with my guitar, but it wasn't suitable for bass. The sound was a little weak and I find the thickness control a bit cheesy and ineffective for bass (still good for guitar though).

I certainly recommend this fuzz for first built and it sounds far better then many concerning to its simplicity.

Just to clarify.

sonicvi · #15 08-30-2007, 04:14 AM

The first and simplest version of the Bazz Fuss could hardly be called weak on bass. The later versions were designed with guitar in mind. Give it a try.

musicelectronix · #16 08-30-2007, 01:29 PM

can you post its schematic if it is available? or a link maybe?

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonicvi

The first and simplest version of the Bazz Fuss could hardly be called weak on bass. The later versions were designed with guitar in mind. Give it a try.

Soma666 · #17 08-30-2007, 11:08 PM

this pedal sounds very interesting, i would love some soundclips also

sonicvi · #18 08-30-2007, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by musicelectronix

can you post its schematic if it is available? or a link maybe?

This one, from www.home-wrecker.com.

I haven't tried building any of the other versions, but I think this one has plenty of low end and thickness for bass.
This is what it sounds like (jazz bass w/SVT 3 Pro as a preamp):
http://homepage.mac.com/sonicvi/bazzfuzz.mp3

musicelectronix · #19 08-31-2007, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonicvi

This one, from www.home-wrecker.com.

I haven't tried building any of the other versions, but I think this one has plenty of low end and thickness for bass.
This is what it sounds like (jazz bass w/SVT 3 Pro as a preamp):
http://homepage.mac.com/sonicvi/bazzfuzz.mp3

Yes I built this one and yes it really is good. I especially like the synth like textures and note decays. It is very sensitive to dynamics, but not in a "fuzzy" way. When you finger it harder, the fuzz amount (gain) almost stays the same, but gives you different textures & clippings to crave.

I used 4.7uf elec. for both caps. Here is some adjustments to this circuit that I find useful and good. Use a trimmer where 100K collector resistor is, I find it better when it is set to 18.4K. Also I tried many NPNs with the circuit, I like the 2N3904 better, more gain, less synth-ish, a little bit noisy. With a npn germanium and schotky diode, the sound became less bright (in a good way) and compressed, which I also enjoyed in a different way. assymetric clipping is not good for this circuit, so one diode cliping is simpler and good.

Then I decided to complicate things a little, used a higher gain transistor and a lower gain one (didn't like the stock emmiting) connected to the emmiter of the designated 5088 (biased directly with ground). Still working on that one, I will let you know.

shoegazebass · #20 08-31-2007, 06:25 PM

Update: i picked up this pedal from Os earlier this week and had a chance to try it out. Given the right amount of volume it really can make a nice fuzz.

I tried it out first with a Squire short-scale and 15W amp and it sounded like poop (my wife's rig at home). When I took it to the practice space and put it between my Bass-Drive and Brown Dog it really shone. My knowledge of fuzzes is (wait for it) pretty fuzzy, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I think it will stay on my board. I recommend giving it a shot, esp. for the price!