I think I've been fooled by Boss.

Incognitus · #1 11-26-2007, 06:19 PM

Well I am looking to get into the effects realm and have three in mind specifically. The Giga Delay, a good chorus, and a good SVT type overdrive. So I did my research and looked at the Boss ODB and listened to the soundclips they had online and the mild overdrive sounded great. Almost like an Ampeg SVT, basically just what I wanted. So I went to the local music store to try it out. To start off they had all the Boss bass pedals in a chain with the TU-2 tuner->Bass Synthesizer->Overdrive->Equalizer->Chorus->Roland 30 Bass Cube. I could not dial in that tone. No matter what I did I kept getting distortion, nothing but. I turned the gain all the way down but as soon as I started to even move the dry-OD knob it would just start distorting. No growl or overdriven sound at all, just distortion which I DON'T want.

So is this normal for this pedal?

RickenBoogie · #2 11-26-2007, 06:25 PM

Will the store let you try one outside the chain? Ask, cause for sure, all those pedals hooked together will alter the sound of the one you want to hear. Good luck.

TrevorOfDoom · #3 11-26-2007, 06:28 PM

IME, YES!!! i hate the ODB-3!! hate hate hate!! it's just not that great, IMO. i have owned one, so you know. it was a gift from a friend. the only "cool" thing about it was that i played with it enough to find a setting that sounded rather like a synth waveform. kinda cool. if that's what i wanted that pedal for, which it wasn't. for a good OD, look at the Fulltone Bassdrive, or better yet, build your own!! i did. it kills.

neatobassman · #4 11-26-2007, 06:30 PM

Go for the Fulltone.

BassJunkie730 · #5 11-26-2007, 06:44 PM

trevor - have you posted clips of your byoc bassdrive - I'm thinking about following the same route - and i have been reading through the threads about it - particularly the one with your pleas for circuit and mod clarity.

Let's hear it man!

Niff · #6 11-26-2007, 06:44 PM

fulltone and never look back

Toastfuzz · #7 11-26-2007, 07:11 PM

I had this same issue. I had my finger on the mouse ready to buy one off eBay, but thought to try it out in a store just in case, to which I am very thankful for.

I didnt have the funds for the Fulltone (which everyone recommends all the time, so if you can, then go for it) but I tried out the Ibanez Phat-HED bass overdrive, and I like it. I always have the Drive setting as low as it can go, and then through playing with my amp's EQ and the High and Low pedal settings I can get the Tim Commerford tone I was looking for perfectly, and in a cheapy pedal. With Drive anything higher, you get distortion; theres a switch between Overdrive and Distortion, but high Overdrive just sounds like bassy distortion while high Distortion sounds like trebbly distortion (phew!)

Give it a whirl. I've heard people liked Digitech's pedal too, but never tried it. I just assume since your looking at Boss, you may want some suggestions in that price range.

JanusZarate · #8 11-26-2007, 07:33 PM

Simply put: the official online audio samples of Boss pedals aren't very reliable indicators of what they really sound like.

They probably ran the ODB-3 through some sort of tube amp (dialed for a warm, thick fingerstyle tone) and drove it with a mild-output passive bass. That pedal sounds awful in reality, IMHO... although I bet it wouldn't sound bad through a tube amp, dialed for a warm, fingerstyle tone, driven by a mild-output passive bass...

fishtx · #9 11-26-2007, 07:48 PM

Boss pedals (IMO) are really hit and miss...Some sound pretty good and others just plain don't...(to be fair this is with most pedal builder's...again IMO)...but I don't think I've heard a Boss OD/Distortion pedal on Bass that really sounded good...

Now, I'm not a real fan of much distortion or fuzz on bass...just a very slight bit of OD once in a while is all I really ever use (and I get that from a Sansamp)...so I'm no expert by any stretch...But I think I would look at other pedal brands for a Bass OD/Distortion box.

TrevorOfDoom · #10 11-26-2007, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassJunkie730

trevor - have you posted clips of your byoc bassdrive - I'm thinking about following the same route - and i have been reading through the threads about it - particularly the one with your pleas for circuit and mod clarity.

Let's hear it man!

i'll try. i'm not very savvy with that whole recording thing, but i'll see what i can do.

EricF · #11 11-26-2007, 08:09 PM

For SVT tone - without an actual SVT - look at the SansAmp BDDI. It's designed to replicate the sound of a tube amp, and does so very convincingly. The manual includes a setting for "SVT" - crank the gain, and it roars pretty well.

Zappstorius · #12 11-26-2007, 08:14 PM

From my experience stay the **** away from Boss OD/Distortion pedals for bass! They have some other pedals that are cool (Flanger & Delay come to mind), but every OD pedal that I tried from them is atrocious.

bobbydiaz98 · #13 11-26-2007, 08:16 PM

try boss metal zone! i've hard some cats using it..

Incognitus · #14 11-26-2007, 08:53 PM

So the Fulltone, BDDI Sansamp Bass Driver (Is that the DI one or are they one and the same?), or Build my own?(Which sounds incredibly cool but I don't want to mess up and waste 60+ dollars)

EDIT: Oh Jeez I just looked at at the BDDI price...out of my price range the most I am willing to spend on a good OD is about 90 bucks. Man that build it yourself pedal is looking rather good now.

BigBassBob · #15 11-26-2007, 09:04 PM

That's normal of an ODB3. When I first looked at bass overdrive, I heard the soundclips of that on the Boss site and the clips of the Digitech bass overdrive.

I went with the Boss because I had a friend who offered one to me at a VERY reasonable price. I couldn't dial in grind or growl or warmth... just obnoxious distortion. I lie... I did manage to dial in a nice growly, not OTT distortion, but in a band setting, it got lost in the mix... turned up the volume a bit and guess what happened? Feedback. I DESPISE that pedal with a passion. Fortunately I managed to sell it to another friend who was after one. Funny how things work out.

BassJunkie730 · #16 11-26-2007, 09:26 PM

You know what I think everyone with an ODB-3 should do?

change the clipping diodes

I did a mod a while back to a DOD 250. Stock the think is great for light OD but once the thing goes into hard clipping - it sounded splatty and fizzy. I changed the diodes to LEDs and immediately got a beefy thick OD when clipped. It was still a bit unruly - but light years ahead of what the pedal sounded like stock. and the DOD250 circuit is as simple as they come - so right there a Diode swap can make a huge difference in tone. Why Boss doesn't do this right out of the box - I dunno.

If you look at many of the "mod gurus" changes to Boss pedals - they almost always change the clipping diodes.

You should try some LEDs or epoxy coated rectifier diodes (1N4001 or 2s I think)

I can almost guarantee the pedal's OD tonality will improve. Now I'm sure there are many other tweaks that can be done on this "bass oriented" OD pedal - but that's the first place I'd start.

I don't have a schem or access to a pic of the board - but if I saw one - i'd tell you exactly the diodes you need to change

Geddyfleaharris · #17 11-26-2007, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrevorOfDoom

IME, YES!!! i hate the ODB-3!! hate hate hate!! it's just not that great, IMO. i have owned one, so you know.

.

Amen to that! And I have owned one too.

ZGotts · #18 11-26-2007, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrevorOfDoom

for a good OD, look at the Fulltone Bassdrive, or better yet, build your own!! i did. it kills.

am I just retarded, or does there not seem to be a bassdrive anywhere on the BYOC page??

JanusZarate · #19 11-26-2007, 11:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZGotts

am I just retarded, or does there not seem to be a bassdrive anywhere on the BYOC page??

There is no BYOC Bassdrive (it's Fulltone's signature design...). However, you can build the pedal it's based on - the Tubescreamer.

K2000 · #20 11-26-2007, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MysticBoo

They probably ran the ODB-3 through some sort of tube amp (dialed for a warm, thick fingerstyle tone) and drove it with a mild-output passive bass. That pedal sounds awful in reality, IMHO... although I bet it wouldn't sound bad through a tube amp, dialed for a warm, fingerstyle tone, driven by a mild-output passive bass...

Well, that's a setup where I have liked the ODB-3: Fender Bass into ODB-3 into an Ampeg SVT and 8x10. That's a really popular setup, so I don't know why you're rolling your eyes...?

I doubt that there is such a thing as an overdrive pedal that always sounds great no matter what other gear is being used.