to fuzz or not

[varunkapahi]

hey!
so i have been thinking about getting a fuzz pedal. i've had a distortion pedal before and a sansamp vt bass which i can crank up for some mild od to distortion again. from whatever experience i've had they sound good and useful while playing along with drums.
ENTER GUITARS!
and there you go... it all sucks in the band mix. either you are lost or the bottom in the mix is lost and the bass sounds like a tiny horrid hairy high mid rangey screams you might otherwise expect from animals being tortured
so if its gonna be like this with a fuzz say EHX big bass muff then i might as well not get one down to this country where i am pretty sure i can sell one incase i dont like it.

so do i have alien ears or you guys are able to really use a lot of fuzz in real band situations often without having to have a whole lot of bi-amping and what not being done?

blending sounds like an option but hmmmm dunno man its not just happening for me until now. especially in bands with two guitar players. but i love how the bass muff sounds!

what to do? do you face the same situation? anything?

[kaputsport]

Yes. Always fuzz... Get a versetile one and you will learn when to use it and when not to...

[Bassenstien]

MUST HAVE FUZZ
Seriously though once you learn to use fuzz right and get one worth havin it is very hard to do without.

[Snakeman1066]

The Bass Big muff is a good choice for the ability to blend both the clean and fuzz tones, however if you have a Sansamp---there is a blend feature there as well

there is a difference in distortion, OD, and Fuzz they all have the uses and applications....personally i don't care for true distortion on bass, but love Fuzz and OD....

I have a Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive pushed into a Boomstick Bottom Feeder and then into the Bass Big Muff...the sound IMHO is just absolutely evil...but that is my experience....and depending on the song i use them all at one or a variation of the set up...and i cut through just fine...

guess it all depends on what equipment the guitards are using and what kind of music you are playing.....

[4stringmangler]

Originally Posted by Bassenstien

MUST HAVE FUZZ
Seriously though once you learn to use fuzz right and get one worth havin it is very hard to do without.

yep

[katri]

Originally Posted by Bassenstien

MUST HAVE FUZZ
Seriously though once you learn to use fuzz right and get one worth havin it is very hard to do without.

pretty much

[RickenBoogie]

Some distortion units are capable of a mild fuzz, unless you want all the fur.

[Bassenstien]

Originally Posted by RickenBoogie

Some distortion units are capable of a mild fuzz, unless you want all the fur.

Ive said it before and Ill say it again... "I want more fuzz than a peach"

[kevteop]

Nothing says "I am going to play a song and you are going to listen" like switching a fuzz on.

[grygrx]

My general rules of fuzz:

1) If the guitar's have fuzz, I don't.
2) If they don't have fuzz, I can.
3) Know when to break rules.

[markjazzbassist]

i love fuzz for bass

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Most of my favorite rock bands use fuzz with bass at least once in a while, and it almost always sounds great. I have two fuzzes on my board right now.

[rratajski]

You came to effects forum...so you already knew the answer!

[Jared Lash]

Originally Posted by grygrx

My general rules of fuzz:

1) If the guitar's have fuzz, I don't.
2) If they don't have fuzz, I can.
3) Know when to break rules.

Pretty much the general rules I go by. You can have dirty guitars and dirty bass, but it definitely takes some work to have them sound good. King's X do a good job of this by ensuring they EQ properly to give both instruments space.

And I've used bass fuzz when my guitarist is using his Little Big Muff, but in that case it's more of a Curtis Mayfield thing where I'm just fuzzing around the edges of the bass tone and he's playing single note lines.

But if you have a guitar player chunking out distorted or fuzzed out chords, it's usually a good idea to keep the bass clean so you'll cut through better. It seems counter intuitive but adding dirt to the bass when the guitars are heavy makes the sound weaker than just bumping your mids and playing clean.

And likewise, a big fuzzed out bassline sounds best with clean or semi-clean guitars. Like McFearless by Kings of Leon or when the guitar is not playing or fairly minimal like Sabotage by the Beastie Boys.

Personally, I really like fuzz as a change of pace when played against acoustic guitar or piano. I owe a lot of my use of fuzz in my gig with a pianist/singer and a drummer to Robert Sledge like in the chorus of Battle of Who Could Care Less by Ben Folds Five.

Hope that helps.

[varunkapahi]

errr so i decided to get the bass muff and dropped the plans for the 105q. but i am getting a digitech BSW too. tell me that envelop filters and down octaves sound good with fuzz. 105q crybaby can come in later perhaps?

[nad]

Originally Posted by grygrx

My general rules of fuzz:

1) If the guitar's have fuzz, I don't.
2) If they don't have fuzz, I can.
3) Know when to break rules.

Originally Posted by TheBigO

Pretty much the general rules I go by. You can have dirty guitars and dirty bass, but it definitely takes some work to have them sound good. King's X do a good job of this by ensuring they EQ properly to give both instruments space.

Yep. My guitarist moves back and forth between clean and distorted tones a lot, so even while I do employ Rule #3 quite often, I understand the importance of the first two.

This song exemplifies the perfect reason to use dirt on bass. Anyone who disagrees likely has no soul.

[Nick Kay]

I find a lot more uses for fuzz than distortion or milder overdrive on bass. Especially paired with an envelope filter. Unfortunately, it does indeed work better with cleaner guitars, or guitars playing higher up on the neck with less-dense chords and tone.

A great example of this is Fear of a Blank Planet by Porcupine Tree, and you can really see how dirty bass disappears amongst a wall of dirty guitar, but stands out great against cleaner guitars.