Experience using guitar distortion pedals?

[PortableMadness]

Who's using one without loss of bass? I've seen a couple of videos using one and it's looks promising. Can't seem to find a bass pedal to get me that certain metal distortion for my band.

[rratajski]

You've come to the right place. I play heavier music and there are lots of dudes on here who play heavier music than me.

Do you want a Guitar Center/Sam Ash-type pedal or are you looking for something boutique?
Budget?
Set up?


PS - to everyone who reads this thread: please don't give him a friggin' list of what pedal you like...let the dude answer my questions before we blow this thread up haha . k luv u

[s_mcsleazy]

ds1 and hothead are great for the dfa1979 tone

[Audiophage]

If you're talking about using one specifically for a loud band then you probably shouldn't go with anything that doesn't have a clean blend or some way to retain your lows or else you'll disappear.

[rratajski]

...and they're off! hahahaha

[chaosMK]

I used an MXR pedal for a horrible sounding scratchy no-low end sound.

[runmikeyrun]

There's really not much for bass that retains the low end and doesn't get farty or mushy. A clean blend is the way to do it. That really opens things up, you can use basically ANY distortion pedal and not lose bottom end. It's well worth the investment to get a blend pedal.

[PortableMadness]

Originally Posted by rratajski

You've come to the right place. I play heavier music and there are lots of dudes on here who play heavier music than me.

Do you want a Guitar Center/Sam Ash-type pedal or are you looking for something boutique?
Budget?
Set up?


PS - to everyone who reads this thread: please don't give him a friggin' list of what pedal you like...let the dude answer my questions before we blow this thread up haha . k luv u

At this point anything, it doesn't matter if it's boutique or mass produced. I just need something to give me certain kind of distortion. For reference, here is a close sample of what I'm looking for, maybe a tad bit more distortion, but you get the idea:

http://www.tonefinder.com/files/73-BASSonly.mp3

The rig I'm using is a 5 string Schecter Omen w/EMG 40dc pickups, Mesa M6 and Ampeg 8x10. I already tried using the sansamp bddi, but it didn't quite cut it.

[RGSA]

I have and use one of the simple orange Boss boxes, and there isn't that much of a loss of low end, at least in my experience.

[rratajski]

Originally Posted by PortableMadness

At this point anything, it doesn't matter if it's boutique or mass produced. I just need something to give me certain kind of distortion. For reference, here is a close sample of what I'm looking for, maybe a tad bit more distortion, but you get the idea:

http://www.tonefinder.com/files/73-BASSonly.mp3

The rig I'm using is a 5 string Schecter Omen w/EMG 40dc pickups, Mesa M6 and Ampeg 8x10. I already tried using the sansamp bddi, but it didn't quite cut it.

The clip you included had some bass loss, but it almost sounds like a musicman stingray. You can get there with a RAT/RAT clone with the double resistor mod or OCD/OCD clone since the bddi didn't do it for you. That clip also sounds like a direct line.

Originally Posted by runmikeyrun

There's really not much for bass that retains the low end and doesn't get farty or mushy. A clean blend is the way to do it. That really opens things up, you can use basically ANY distortion pedal and not lose bottom end. It's well worth the investment to get a blend pedal.

I beg to differ. In the boutique world, there are maaaaaaaany options for guitar pedals that are bass-friendly. For some, a clean blend kills the distorted tone...it just depends on the band and the mix/eq. I do agree a blend is a good investment though! The boss ls-2 is a safe staring point!

[PortableMadness]

Originally Posted by rratajski

The clip you included had some bass loss, but it almost sounds like a musicman stingray. You can get there with a RAT/RAT clone with the double resistor mod or OCD/OCD clone since the bddi didn't do it for you. That clip also sounds like a direct line.

That clip was recorded using a Line 6 POD. I believe the patch was ENGL Powerball and 4x12 cab sim. That's the sort of tone I'm going for and yeah, ideally my live tone will have more bass.

[rratajski]

You could try to biamp and buy a engl powerball head hahhaha

Start with my pedal suggestions above. Also fresh roundwound strings (dr hi beams) while favoring your bridge pickup would play a big role in that sound!

[moles]

Check out the Boss MD-2 - they have clips with bass on the website.
I have no experience with it, but it sounds better in the clip, than my (original) DS-1 did with my rig - too much low end loss to be really useable on that one.

[winterburn69]

The stuff I play is in no way heavy. But for distortiony distortion I use a BOSS MT-2, lots of people here don't like it, but it's fine for me, might be for you too. It takes some tweaking of the knobs and playing around with though.