Experienced Bassist, yet no clue about the gear!

[samboskull]

I've been playing bass for a solid 3 and a half years now, and not tooting my own horn but I am good. I recently bought a Trace Elliot half stack, a GP11, from the 80's. Kicks ass, no questions asked, I knew it would from other old Trace Elliots I'd played. However being one of the first bass amps made, I'm struggling with it's lack of features, mainly footswitchable overdrive.

I've been mooching around, and I'm in debate. I'm tempted to grab a Boss VF-1 for my rack mount (the GP11 head is rack-mountable) however I've also been looking at the EHX Big Muff Pi.

From my experience, Multi-FX that have more than one actually good usable effect are few and far between, however I hear the VF-1 is absolutely amazing. But I think thats a purchase regardless of the distortion stompbox, but if you have any experience or first-hand knowledge of it, please give me your feedback!

Shoop da Wooping around the Big Muff popped up a lot, so I checked it out and it seems pretty damn awesome. At the moment I'm playing in a.. well, dark-sexy-grunge kinda band, and I need some bass overdrive, it's only a three piece so I need those extra textures. I'm looking to spend £80 (about $140) and I know the Big Muff I can get for £66 and thats without searching for cheaper.

Are there any better distortion pedals for around that price? And also, is there any point in getting the VF-1 if I plan to build up a pedal board? Or is it diverse enough to go well even with a pedal board?

Bit of a long post, but when it comes to effects I've known too many people (albeit mostly gutiarists) buy effects and feel absolutely robbed for what they actually got, and I used to run a Line 6 Lowdown bass (I was naive) and it sucked, and the effects built into that blew big willies.

Go! :P

[Chris V.]

Try searching, brother. There's loads and loads of golden nuggets of posts here.

Hints -

HBE Hematoma
Big Muff
Cream Pie
Angler

&c. &c...

[Thunderscreech]

You should get a Tech 21 XXL Bass Edition, a Bass Big Muff, and a SansAmp VT Bass.

[The Lurker]

DOD 250.

Pretty much the same thing as a lot of boteek pedals like the Cream Pie, but cheaper.

[rratajski]

Talk to DosiYanarchy. He's thinking of selling his GREEN STACHE which is a GGG-tuned Big Muff clone.

[Thunderscreech]

Originally Posted by rratajski

Talk to DosiYanarchy. He's thinking of selling his GREEN STACHE which is a GGG-tuned Big Muff clone.

[samboskull]

I've looked up the Fuzzrocious Green Stache, and IMO, it sounds absolutely horrible haha. Like the exact kind of tone my Line6 lowdown had built in, that I'm desperately tryna escape. Thanks for some of the suggestions guys, but I think I'm gonna stay with the Big Muff, because it just seems to have a better rep, though the XXL also looks tempting.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by samboskull

I've looked up the Fuzzrocious Green Stache, and IMO, it sounds absolutely horrible haha. Like the exact kind of tone my Line6 lowdown had built in, that I'm desperately tryna escape. Thanks for some of the suggestions guys, but I think I'm gonna stay with the Big Muff, because it just seems to have a better rep, though the XXL also looks tempting.

If the Green Stache is a Muff clone, how would it sound horrible compared to the Muff?

[totalimmortal08]

you are looking for overdrive yet you keep saying you want a fuzz, which is it?

[bobulibobium]

big muff pi is a fuzz pedal, not an overdrive. if you wanna add some dirt to your clean signal, try a BOSS ODB-3. otherwise, if you wanna fuzz your signal, go for the big muff pi. i own both, and love both.

they really are two different effects, even though alot of noobs will tell you they are the same.

for the ODB-3, think fleas sound off around the world in live in hyde park.

[cheapbasslovin]

Step 1. Take all the money you're going to earn in the next year or so and prepare to flush it down the toilet.

Step 2. The Tech21 VT Bass is, IMO, the most versatile drive pedal available for bass in its price range. Were I you, I would start there. The only reason I don't have one is I bought an EHX English Muff'n that interacts amazingly well with my other pedals. My GAS for a Bass Micro Synth is also much stronger right now than my GAS for a drive pedal.

In short:

Money---> Pooper
VT Bass---> Good Start

[Snakeman1066]

overdrive and Fuzz are very differnt effects

That said the best OD i have tried is the Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive which is a highly modified TS808 that allows you to blend your clean and dirty signals so you lose no bottom end

My second choice would be the Sansamp VT Bass this will get you close to sounding like an old Ampeg SVT head......Driven hard

my third choice would be the MXR M-80 Bass DI. This pedal comes in handy in a lot of situations it has a three band eq, a noise gate, and a distortion channel, and also functions as a direct box.....you will find the color knob quite useable...and it has phantom power.

now for Fuzz I would suggest the EH BBM (Bass Big Muff) simply beacuse it is mass produced easy to replace and very inexpensive......runs about $80.00 american...it has three settings...bass boost, normal and dry.....the dry setting allows you to be able to blend the fuzz and the normal signal.....there are better fuzz boutique pedals out there, but honestly for the money this one cannot be beat....

I run both the BBM and the Voodoo Lab OD pedal combined with and envelope filter/follower.....called the Boomstick Bottom Feeder......this combination allows me to scare up a wide variety of tones that would make any Stoner band proud....

all four of these pedals can be had for under $150.00 give or take cheaper used....

[totalimmortal08]

Since you do not have to deal with the crappy euro to dollar ratio, check out some products from Dave Hall Amps. They should be right up your ally for overdrive.

.....And if you want a fuzz, check out what bassfuzz.com has to offer and go from there.

[whoatherechunk]

roar.

[samboskull]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

If the Green Stache is a Muff clone, how would it sound horrible compared to the Muff?

Squier and Epiphone = Fender and Gibson?

Did Dolly the Sheep give as much to the world as the sheep she was cloned from? No, she was plagued with problems then died prematurely. I stated my opinion, I didn't request my common sense be questioned.

I've bought a big muff after all and I can say that I am very satisfied, it's like a installed a V12 engine into my bass sound haha.

Sorry for noobing up between overdrive and fuzz! I should have just said growl. However my local music store is also waving a used boss ODB-3 pedal in my face. I know boss are good, but I've heard mixed views, like it plain old sucks ass, to it sounds good on one setting. I'm gonna try it but I have a feeling it'll be similar to the Line6 tone I had to deal with.

About the Bottom Feeder/muff combo.. Have you by any chance put a vid on youtube of that? Because I watched one and my jaw almost dropped (and thats through youtube's arena-quality sound )

I don't get the bottom feeder. I thought envelope filters made your sound do that like, "Wah-uh" sound (Like an auto-wah but not as... Well, wah) that if you play with more force increases the magnitude of the effect. However from the video it looks as if one knob controls the mix and the other controls the sound by like, "freezing" it at a certain part of the "wah-uh" effect.

Uhm, yeah. Also, are there any bass boost pedals and also octavers that are decent. (by bass boost I don't mean EQ, I only wanna boost the ass end :P)

Sorry to ask so much, but this is the first time I've come across a group of people who don't make root-note comments haha.

[RCCollins]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

If the Green Stache is a Muff clone, how would it sound horrible compared to the Muff?

'round these parts, "clone" is used really broadly. It's meaning ranges from "variation" to "imperfect copy" to "very different animal based on basic fuzz circuit"

[DosiYanarchy]

Yo, although im not selling the Stache - it is the the best muff (including variation/clones/sovtek and a number of more moden russian muffs) that i've played (and i've played quite a few), but hey, if its not your thing, thats cool, the Bass Big Muff can be had for a reasonable price, And will probably be alot more use to you than the regular USA muff (i assume that was the muff u were talking about)

look up the Sonny and Sanford Bluebeard fuzz - that gets supremo props from pretty much everyone ive every heard use on - its meant to be one of the most 'elite' muff clones about - mainly coz they're hard to come by. I know Troy from Mastadon bums it hard.

That is pretty much (but not exactly) a ggg-tuned big muff (a green stache). So instead of thinking of the Green Stache squier to electro-harmonix's fender, try thinking of it as the Lakland to EHX's Fender (its not a fender, but its possibly better)


sorry for the major Stache love, as i said, its cool if you dont like it. But its a muff like any other and it sounds just as good as the vintage Green Sovtek/EHX muff I had, its smaller, more sturdy with true bypass and i can use a power adaptor with it. Although TBH it'll cost more than your £80 to get one over here (unless you find one used)

unfortunately i cant give any info/opinions on the VF-1, but what i'd say (bearing in mind i have no experience with the VF-1) is that yeah it might have more useable sounds than most multi-fx, but after some time you might wanna replace the sounds you have on the multi with ones more specific eg: say you like the delay, and u use it, one day you might want a delay that does more, or less, or something more specific - which you'd probably end up buying a pedal for.

As far as octavers go, what do you really want from one?
Boss oc2/3's can be had at good prices, and is my 'phat' octaver of choice, but the Micropog is polyphonic and tracts perfectly and has an octave up as well as down - i use that for 12-string like sounds

[samboskull]

I wasn't saying it was the squier to fender, I was simply pointing out that clone doesn't mean exact.

I've been lookin at the microPOG, that thing looks dirty good, but I'm wondering how the Mole sounds on bass? I've tried searching the forums but ain't found much on it. The tech vid on the EHX website the guy only uses he treble equivalent, but when he ramps it up the treble goes absolutely apeshit, so I assume it would have the same power on the bass.

Also, is their any pedal that can in essence duplicate your signal so you can run a clean and distortion sound at the same time, (like many pros) but without the need for two amps? I've looked for them but I have no idea what one might be caled if it did exist.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by samboskull

Squier and Epiphone = Fender and Gibson?

Did Dolly the Sheep give as much to the world as the sheep she was cloned from? No, she was plagued with problems then died prematurely. I stated my opinion, I didn't request my common sense be questioned.

Man, you're a touchy dude. Cloned sheep aren't nearly the same as cloned pedals, and that was a ridiculous comment.

Geez, for someone looking for advice, you sure don't take it well. As a matter of fact, you seem pretty arrogant and full of yourself. Get over yourself a little. You're the one asking for advice, remember?

[samboskull]

I know I'm asking for advice but you basically spat on my opinion and said it was wrong, man.

Lets not argue about this, no good would come of it.

(And it's been a proper **** day. Nine inch nails tickets sold out the second they went on sale and I didn't get any, but I think more than half were bought by touts. I hope touts burn man. Burrrrn.)