Help with Distortion/Drive with Fuzz

[bassthunder100]

Hey

I've been thinking about putting a distortion pedal infront of (or behind) my coloursound tonebender fuzz or my recentley bought Sovtek black russian big muff. I was wondering what people thought about this and if they could help me with what i should use becuase i don't know if i should get a full blown distortion or just a crunchy valve drivey effect. I just need it to add that bitey edge to the fuzz. I kind of got the idea from Chris from Muse becuase he has his Animato infront of his muff. At the moment i use the distortion switch on my MXR bass di but want a seperate pedal to put in a effects loop behind or infront of the fuzz (advice on that would help too)

I was thinking about the Turbo RAT?
becuase i know it's the best rat for lows and it can sort of sound like the Animato but yer i just need some help


Ohh and my budget is £100

[gnasher1993]

What sort of sound do you want?

I think you'd cover more ground with a light/med overdrive.

Oh and the black russian muff sounds really good with overdrive before it. I like the Boss ODB-3 for that, though I don't like the ODB-3 on it's own. Even just a dirty booster can add some edge to your fuzz. I use a Fulltone Fatboost (v1) for this.

EDIT: As for order, I run my dirt pedals in order of gain. i.e. overdrive, distortion, fuzz

[MrTAteMyBalls]

Originally Posted by gnasher1993

EDIT: As for order, I run my dirt pedals in order of gain. i.e. overdrive, distortion, fuzz

hehe. i do this also....it's more of an OCD thing than anything for me. i just feel the need to have my dirt pedals in this order. ARGH! SOMETIMES I will put my homemade od 250 at the end of the chain because my homemade big muff into the OD-250 sounds heavenly for electric guitar.

[gnasher1993]

Originally Posted by MrTAteMyBalls

hehe. i do this also....it's more of an OCD thing than anything for me. i just feel the need to have my dirt pedals in this order. ARGH! SOMETIMES I will put my homemade od 250 at the end of the chain because my homemade big muff into the OD-250 sounds heavenly for electric guitar.

It's not so much that I feel the need but I think it sounds better that way. If I have an envelope filter in the signal chain then it's different:

Fuzz - Filter - OD

Again, just sonic preference

[bassthunder100]

For the moment I was going to have an effects loop with fuzz, Distortion and my whammy.. waht order would you put that in?
I was thinking Whammy, Distortion then fuzz

Also im unsure wether to go with a distortion pedal or a booster because i know some can create a mild like drive anyway. I was thinking that this may not be enough for what i want although a distortion could be too much.. i'm a little stuck :P

[gnasher1993]

Originally Posted by bassthunder100

For the moment I was going to have an effects loop with fuzz, Distortion and my whammy.. waht order would you put that in?
I was thinking Whammy, Distortion then fuzz

Also im unsure wether to go with a distortion pedal or a booster because i know some can create a mild like drive anyway. I was thinking that this may not be enough for what i want although a distortion could be too much.. i'm a little stuck :P

Yes, Whammy -> Distortion -> Fuzz would be my choice.

I honestly think you'd be better off with an overdrive than a distortion. Overdrive covers alot of ground, everything from clean boost, light grit or lots of gain.

[bassthunder100]

Originally Posted by gnasher1993

Yes, Whammy -> Distortion -> Fuzz would be my choice.

I honestly think you'd be better off with an overdrive than a distortion. Overdrive covers alot of ground, everything from clean boost, light grit or lots of gain.

ok cool what overdrive pedal would you recommend?

[gnasher1993]

I think the Ashdown Hyperdrive is an awesome sounding pedal. They're pretty readily available in the UK as well.

The clean blend and frequency controls make it really versatile. You can add a tiny bit of grit to your clean signal or a heavier distortion-type tone. Sounds great before the Black Russian big muff too. There's alot of gain on tap and can be used as a clean boost as well.

[bassthunder100]

Originally Posted by gnasher1993

I think the Ashdown Hyperdrive is an awesome sounding pedal. They're pretty readily available in the UK as well.

The clean blend and frequency controls make it really versatile. You can add a tiny bit of grit to your clean signal or a heavier distortion-type tone. Sounds great before the Black Russian big muff too. There's alot of gain on tap and can be used as a clean boost as well.

Cool cheers man. I was looking at the Ashdown drive plus is that bassically the same? it looks it.

Have you tried out a hyperdrive then?

and i was wondering (if it's not too much to ask)
you could name a few other pedals so i could maybe compare

[bassthunder100]

Also forgot to mention if this is important to what i choose, I play fingerstyle

[DosiYanarchy]

mike, The Hyperdrive is totally different, alot more controls its meant to be very vesatile. apparently the regualr ashdown drive sucks balls.

for drive im using an OLC flipster, i've used an Xotic Bass BB in the past too. I'm also a MASSIVE fan of running octave pedals into fuzz for a heavier-than heavy tone. Currently using a Foxrox Octron for that.

The Fulltone OCD is meant to be great also. I suppose if its to drive a fuzz, then you'd want something with some extra bite and grit - and I think AJ hit the nail on the head with the BOSS ODB3 - if theres one thing it does to quite well, its Crunch - although keep the balance low so that you're essentially using it as a crunchy clean boost with some fuzz comming through. Send him a PM, I think he's got one for sale dirt cheap.

[theunknowndude]

Originally Posted by bassthunder100

Also forgot to mention if this is important to what i choose, I play fingerstyle

not overly... it will change the tone a bit cos of the attack that a pick has but alot of bass reviews on youtube etc show pick and fingers...

FWIW I like the turbo rat, it can be very dry and agressive but I like that sort of tone (the dry/dark sound could also be cos I use fingers) only doesnt fit my band so use that on the home board now

my usual source of OD/distortion is the Ibanez PD7, it won't sound tubey or anything like that but is good for adding an increased tone with 'hair around the edges' can get very low 'low's added to the sound in OD mode, sounds deeper than my clean tone

I use a super collider for my fuzz (which has even more low end than the PD7) so I rarely use them both at once but it does bring out a bit of 'edge' to the sound the few times I have done it,... I also like using the PD7 into my wah cos it keeps a very nice tone most the way through except it has cliff burton screams on the treble side (not that that's a bad thing in my books!)

I never liked the ODB3 and have mainly spent the last year or so only buying fuzz pedals looking for 'that fuzz' so this is the small info I can give you

[bassthunder100]

I really appriciate all this help guys honestley

I think iv'e narrowed it down to:

Ashdown Hyperdrive (for value)
Boss ODB-3 (for all the good thinkgs said about it's crunchyness)
fulltone OCD (for the i would liek to know more about this pedal becuase what i have heard is some great things with it on bass but i know it's a guitar pedal and would like some more info)

Bassically for now what i want to do is... have my bass go into my tuner then into a little black box looper which will have an effects loops consisding of (in order) xp100 whammy/wah, Overdrive, Fuzzes and then maybe at some point a compressor im not bothered just for the moment then back round into the little black box. That will then go into my MXR Bass Di + which i mainly use as a pre amp and have the colour switch turned on because i like what it adds to the tone.
Like i said before i want the overdrive/distortion to add that crunch or bite to the tone and not take any low end away and not give anymore really becuase with the coloursound tonebender on it gives of fattttt bottom end lows and that mixed in with the MXR bass Di colour switch on it can get fatter :P
So yer theres a little info on what im trying to do for the moment and liek i said a little bit more info on the OCD would be awesome

[gnasher1993]

Originally Posted by bassthunder100

Cool cheers man. I was looking at the Ashdown drive plus is that bassically the same? it looks it.

Have you tried out a hyperdrive then?

and i was wondering (if it's not too much to ask)
you could name a few other pedals so i could maybe compare

Yeah, I used to have a Hyperdrive. Sold it because I went through a phase where I didn't use dirt pedals, kind of regret getting rid. It's a lot different to the standard Ashdown drive. The standard one isn't great to be honest, the hyperdrive is alot more versatile.

The Boss ODB-3 is worth checking out, I quite like it in certain situations (and mine's for sale ). The Barber LTD sounds pretty good from clips I've heard and I've got one on the way so will be able to comment first hand before too long.

Valerus on here has got an OCD I think, hopefully he'll chime in before too long.

[bassthunder100]

Originally Posted by gnasher1993

The Boss ODB-3 is worth checking out, I quite like it in certain situations (and mine's for sale ).

Valerus on here has got an OCD I think, hopefully he'll chime in before too long.

Cool how much you selling the ODB-3 for?
and yer i'd liek to know more about the OCD

did you look at my previous comment addressed to all of you guys ^^^^^ explaining what im doing with my signal chain atm. what do you think?

[gnasher1993]

Are you going to be using the XP100 as a pitch-shifter or a wah? Or both? If you're using it as a pitch-shifter I'd go:

XP100 -> Overdrive -> Fuzz -> Compressor after the effects loop.

If you're using it as a wah, I'd go:

Fuzz -> XP100 -> (compressor) -> Overdrive

Which pedals do you have at the moment? I'll draw you a routing diagram of how I would do it.

[bassthunder100]

Originally Posted by gnasher1993

Are you going to be using the XP100 as a pitch-shifter or a wah? Or both?

Which pedals do you have at the moment? I'll draw you a routing diagram of how I would do it.

I use it for both a pitch-shifter and a wah. but mostly for octaves and pitch shifting rarley wah so i think il go whammy.. overdrive...fuzz then compressor.

the pedals i have at the moment are:

Yamaha Tuner
XP100 whammy/wah
Coloursound Tonebender
Mxr Bass Di+

And by the end of the month (my birthday) should hopefully have:

EHX Russian Black big muff pi
EHX Octave Multiplexer
Some form of overdrive pedal (hence the thread )
and a little black box effects looper

hope that helps

[bassthunder100]

a routing diagram would be awesome btw man

[DrSmaggs]

I use the natural drive from my Sansamp RBI and I also have an MXR/Dunlop Blowtorch bass distortion/D.I. when I want to crank it up a little more than that.

[rr5025]

I've been curious about this for awhile does the Turbo RAT do a passable Animato?