HBE Big D Overdrive/Distortion SOUNDCLIPS

[Mark Olson]

So I've got a couple of quick soundclips of this pedal, been playing with it for like 5 minutes, and these were recorded with my SG Bass with Fender FLATWOUND strings on it, so the lack of sustain is due to the strings, not the pedal. For these clips I'm using the third diode select, with the gain and tone at minimum, and the bigger switch on and maxed out (which also adds a lot of gain), which i find necessary to have that huge thump on there. You'll notice that even at these settings the pedal is quite distorted and raw with even my SG Bass with Fender Flats. Check it out, first is with the SG Bass with both pickups maxed out for a Gov't Mule tone:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=7452407

and then rolled over to the bridge pickup a little bit for an even more raw tone:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=7452414

Anyways, let me know what you think.

[Ryan Mohr]

The clips sound great Mark, really great distortion sound. To me the distortion is really big and gritty.

[jetofuj]

Second clip is great. I really like this torn sound. Especially that I'm a big fan of Neil Young and I am looking for "Hey Hey, My My" tone myself Which of your numerous dirt boxes do you find best for this song?

[Mark Olson]

Thanks guys, that "bigger" knob really enhances the sound and is what makes this pedal workable for bass I think. That additional gain stage really hugens up the sound. Got to listen to that first clip through a sub and it was pretty kickin' on the speaker setup I heard it through.

For the Hey Hey, My My sound, doing it on bass I like to do it a little different than Neil Young did, I like a pedal for that will not only have some sag, but also sound incredibly raw with nice ringing harmonics on those double stops, especially where I hit the open D and G double stop on the part of the riff that starts on C. On bass I'm kind of partial to my DHA VT2 Std Bass for that, obviously it excels at the tube preamp about to blow up sound, but I think this pedal can shine for that as well, and I'd bet it would sound fantastic on guitar. Of course I have the Gain knob at minimum for these clips, it can get even more saturated from there, haha. Crazy sounds. I'm trying flats again for awhile, but when I eventually put a new set of roundwounds on my guitar I'll have to see if I can rerecord that clip, it could probably get sickeningly raw.

[Ryan Mohr]

I've got a few questions for you Mark. How does it sound when the gain is cranked, but the bigger control is not on compared to how you have it set now? I'm not entirely sure how the bigger control works. Also, how does position 4 sound compared to position 3 from what you have gathered so far? Here's the manual for those who aren't familiar

Operation Instruction for BIG D
The BIG D is an extremely versatile overdrive/distortion capable of achieving many different
sounds ranging from light bluesy overdrive to modified hi-gain tube amp distortion.
Input-Instrument in. Unplug when not in use to conserve battery life.
Out-Out to amp
-9VDC jack-for use with -(Negative) center, 9VDC, filtered, and regulated power supply.
Gain control-Varies the amount of overdrive.
Level control-Varies the amount of output. Capable of driving an amp in to saturation.
Sounds best when ran a little above unity. (Louder with the pedal on)
Tone control-Works backwards from a traditional tone control. Increase the tone control for more
bass response.
Bigger-(footswitch) Switches in and out the "Bigger" control.
Bigger-(control) Variable boost gain stage, switchable with "Bigger" footswitch.
On/Off-True bypass of effect. (Note: a small pop may occur when effect is switched
on/off. This is normal and is a trait associated with true bypass.)
5-Way Diode Select: (left to right) 1. Classic overdrive-tight and controlled 2. More output and gain
than position one. 3. More output and gain than position two, increased bass response. 4. More
output than position three, less clipping, open sound. 5. Less output than positions one thru four
verging on fuzz with slight compression.
Clip: Changes the dynamic response of clipping section. Hard: Increased output, reduced clipping.
Soft: Less output, more clipping. (Will not function on diode select positions four and five.)

By the way, I think it sounds killer with flats. I think it suits the vibe of the SG Bass better.

[Mark Olson]

I didn't spend too much time with it, but I found mode 3 and 4 were quite similar at the settings I was using, the difference being mode 4 is a little less compressed I guess and seemed to have a little less bottom than mode 3, I went with mode 3 for the clips since it seemed the fattest. I'm going to plug in and test it out a little more tomorrow so I'll update this thread then. Because it's less compressed, I might think mode 4 would clean up a little better, allowing me to get a more moderately overdriven tone when rolling the guitar's volume down... I'll be checking that out.

Cranking the bigger control makes the sound of the guitar much "bigger" and "fatter", much more wide, and the pedal sounded pretty thin on bass without the bigger channel on. But it also adds a lot more distortion, as it is a separate fattening gain stage. It's possible to dial in a much less distorted tone without the bigger channel on, but like I said it's pretty thin without it. I think the bottom end I was getting with the bigger knob cranked was actually beyond the bottom of my regular clean signal though, even fatter and punchier than my clean tone, which I think is definitely a plus in a distorted tone.

Also, I should note I used the soft clipping mode for these clips. It's slightly more distorted, but more dynamic than the hard clipping mode I thought. It seemed to lend a little sag maybe to the sound too.

Also I ordered an HBE UFO today, and it's been shipped, so I should have that and hopefully do some clips later this week. I'm expecting it to be a lot like the Prescription Electronics Experience pedal I've got, supposedly both are clones of the Foxx Tone Machine, not sure if that's true or not but I'll see if they're similar.

[Crystalman85]

Originally Posted by Mark Olson

So I've got a couple of quick soundclips of this pedal, been playing with it for like 5 minutes, and these were recorded with my SG Bass with Fender FLATWOUND strings on it, so the lack of sustain is due to the strings, not the pedal. For these clips I'm using the third diode select, with the gain and tone at minimum, and the bigger switch on and maxed out (which also adds a lot of gain), which i find necessary to have that huge thump on there. You'll notice that even at these settings the pedal is quite distorted and raw with even my SG Bass with Fender Flats. Check it out, first is with the SG Bass with both pickups maxed out for a Gov't Mule tone:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=7452407

and then rolled over to the bridge pickup a little bit for an even more raw tone:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=7452414

Anyways, let me know what you think.

Awesome sound, dude. flatwound strings tend to lack sustain. roundwound strings on the other hand sustains a lot better than flatwound strings. I would recommend roundwound strings if you want your bass to sustain more better.

[Mark Olson]

Yes, I am aware thanks .

[4StringsEnough]

Both clips sound fantastic. Nice one!

[fightthepower]

Originally Posted by Mark Olson

Yes, I am aware thanks .

haha.. hey Mark, did you know 'Mark' is spelled M-a-r-k! Yep, with a K! Not a C. Just thought you should know.

Cool clips, these are the first distortion clips ive been into in a while. Thanks for contributing as always!

[Mark Olson]

Thanks guys, always happy to do some clips of some of the pedals I'm trying. I have another clip of the Big D with the Wilson Wah here:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=7456353

[Lynwood James]

Sorry if this is an obvious question, but...how similar is this to the HBE Hematoma? I loved the sound of your first clip, but does this pedal lose a lot of versatility from needing to use the 'fattening' gain stage? As in, does it do a pretty good less-overdriven sound as well (funny because you mentioned that gain was set pretty low)? I would really like only one overdrive on my board (mostly due to $$ reasons) and I *like* the Hematoma, but it doesn't seem to get the highs that this gets. And I want those highs from a cranked overdrive but also the lows of a mild overdrive. Recommendations?

[Mark Olson]

Well, this isn't going to retain your lows on the lower overdrive settings, that is the gain knob can be set at minimum but the bigger knob needs to be pretty cranked up to retain your bottom, and the bigger knob, being an additional gain stage, adds distortion. A lot of distortion. This won't get you the low gain overdrive tones unless you roll off your guitar's volume knob. I still need to experiment more with this pedal and my guitar's volume knob to really give you a good idea of how that will work though.

And for anyone who might be interested, I did get to play a gig with the HBE UFO, my new favorite pedal. That one cleans up amazingly for some really nice fat and warm tones. The fuzz is beefy with nice sustain and a little crunch, and the octave is fun but I haven't toyed with that much yet, seems voiced a little different than the octave on my Experience pedal. Soundclips are coming when I get the chance for that pedal.

Other than that my brother just got a Z. Vex Mastotron, and if there's any interest I might be able to get him to lend it to me to do some soundclips of it. I heard it on guitar and it sounded very sweet, with huge subs. From what I've heard, it would make an absolutely killer pedal on bass. Also for the Wooly Mammoth users with active basses, I do believe the Mastotron has an input impedence knob right on it to allow some of those different tones. Very cool.