Gritty, deep, bass distortion

[l Asator l]

Hello,

I'm looking for a distortion pedal that will give a gritty sound, while sounding deep and retaining the low end. I currently have a Boss ODB-3 and, while good, I can't seem to get the sound that I'm looking for. It just sounds too fuzzy/farty.

The sound I'm looking for is something like this, at the beginning of the song:
http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/As+Rome+Burns/1cKscC?src=5

Any help would be much appreciated.

[HunterBurgan4Me]

It's expensive but if I were you i'd go for the B3K Darkglass if you can afford it

It's expensive but absolutely top of the line for bass distortion.

If you have a good enough rig though you could get a distortion as good as that with a few other pedals with your rig compensating.

[HunterBurgan4Me]

I don't really like ODB-3 either but I got a secondhand SD-1 for £10 and it works great as a crunch with only a little loss of end. I'd write off any Boss bass distortions but it might be worth trying out some guitar ones

[Josh Pelican]

A B3K could definitely do that. A nice Rat (or clone) could do it as well if you don't want to drop the cash on a B3K.

There's actually a handful of pedals that can achieve that tone. A bright string, or a little added treble, would help.

[l Asator l]

Thanks for the reply.
I did some research on the B3K and thought it sounded really great. Would I have to change everything to get the tone that I'm looking for, what has the most affect on the sound? The bass, amp, pedal, etc.?

[Crystalman85]

a darkglass electronics microtubes b3k would definitely give you that sound. it's a little pricey, but it's worth it to get a killer bass distortion sound. the digitech hardwire sc-2 valve distortion pedal might also get you that sound if you happen to be on a tight budget. here's a youtube clip I found of someone demoing the digitech hardwire sc-2 valve distortion pedal on bass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhS4D8umJLU

I can honestly say it sounds awesome on bass. it has such a killer sound. I might get that for my bass.

[Josh Pelican]

Originally Posted by l Asator l

Thanks for the reply.
I did some research on the B3K and thought it sounded really great. Would I have to change everything to get the tone that I'm looking for, what has the most affect on the sound? The bass, amp, pedal, etc.?

Your current setup is more than likely fine, whatever it may be, but in order to get that sound you'll have to tweak your EQ a little. That tone isn't anything out of the ordinary, so you certainly don't have to buy/sell anything to achieve it.

What bass and amp are you using? If it's something I've used before (or currently have), I could probably help dial something in for you.

[l Asator l]

My current bass is an Ibanez sr505 and my current amp is a Roland Cube-30:
http://www.roland.com/products/en/CUBE-30_BASS/

For pedals I'm using a BOSS ODB-3, BOSS CEB-3, and a BOSS GEB-7.

[mjac28]

Prymaxe has the B3K and B7K on sale $30.00 off

[Josh Pelican]

Unfortunately I've never used any Cubes so I cannot help you dial anything in. Regardless of the pedal you purchase, it shouldn't be hard.

[Venom of God]

It may be your amp, I have one of the bass MicroCubes that I use as a practice amp when my Ampeg is away and I can't get a nice, deep distortion out of it no matter what I try! Yours does have a bigger speaker though so I imagine you could probably get closer..

[HunterBurgan4Me]

I used to have the same amp I always used to use the setting (don't remember the name) just to the left of the middle. I'd recommend upgrading the amp sometime, i'm not a big fan of Roland anymore.

[HunterBurgan4Me]

sorry just to the right of the middle*

[l Asator l]

Yeah, I'm gonna need to upgrade the amp some time soon, especially if I find another band.
Anyways, thanks for the help everyone.

[keiththebassist]

Originally Posted by l Asator l

My current bass is an Ibanez sr505 and my current amp is a Roland Cube-30:
http://www.roland.com/products/en/CUBE-30_BASS/

For pedals I'm using a BOSS ODB-3, BOSS CEB-3, and a BOSS GEB-7.

Coupla things here. That Roland Cube is probably not gonna give you deep full rich sound no matter what comes in front of it. Also, you may want to consider ditching the EQ pedal. This may seem weird but I just found that my boss EQ choked off my natural tone too much, as soon as I removed it from the chain I was like "oooohh that's better". Also, play gently with the eq and gain and wet/dry controls on the ODB-3. I have the same pedal and have no problem dialing in a gritty crunch while keeping all the low end I want. The knob controls are very sensitive, adjust slowly...

[Laurent]

The MXR Blowtorch should be able to hit this tone.