MXR Bass Fuzz Deluxe vs. Fulltone Bass Drive

[ctbass]

Any A/B's out there yet or thoughts?

[vegas532]

Never A/B'd them per se, but I've owned a Bass-Drive and now have the Bass Fuzz Deluxe. The Bass Fuzz Deluxe has more low mids on tap and, obviously, more gain and saturation.

[MingusBass]

Apples/Oranges. One is more of an overdrive, one is a fuzz. For what it's worth, I sold my Bass Drive it lost too much low end when engaged. The BFD is sweet!

[ctbass]

THanks guys. How does the the deluxe differ from the el grande

[Laurent]

A point of detail perhpas but to me the Fulltone Bass Drive is a distortion pedal; it's hotter than an overdrive. The early version of the Bass-Drive were tamer but the later, MOSFET version is more aggressive. The circuit is a tube-screamer.

So the main difference is fuzz versus distortion. If we were talking speed: overdrive = 50 miles an hour, distortion 80 miles and fuzz, 120 miles per hour.

When it comes to the El Grande and the Bass Drive Deluxe, the El Grande has a lot more gain than the Bass Fuzz Deluxe. For this reason I expect the Bass Fuzz Deluxe to be a lot more usable throughout the range of distortion the pedal offers. The other big difference is the Bass Fuzz Deluxe offers a blend between the clean and distorted signal. The El Grande attacks the issue of bass retention with a different angle. It works through it via EQ.

Ultimately I think the El Grande is more modern souding meanwhile the Bass Fuzz Deluxe has more of a vintage, old school character. Old school with the twist of the blend that is. Old meets new if you will.

Ultimately one needs different fuzzes to cover different styles. I have not found the pedal that can do it all and that's why I probably have 13 or 14 different fuzz pedals currently.

[vegas532]

The El Grande has almost too much gain and is a much harsher sounding fuzz than the Bass Fuzz Deluxe.

[ctbass]

Again....Thanks very much!!!

[Laurent]

Originally Posted by vegas532

The El Grande has almost too much gain and is a much harsher sounding fuzz than the Bass Fuzz Deluxe.

Is there anything such as too gainy?
Isn't that the equivalent of saying she's too busty?!

In all seriousness I agree, only the first half of the gain is usable IMHO.

[bassburton]

I own the El Grande... And yes... I rarely, if ever turn up the gain past halfway. It gets pretty hairy early on. About the bass retention, it has the deep switch, which actually adds quite a bit of low end even on the lowest settings.

[rob_thebassman]

I have the El Grande Bass Fuzz which I'll soon be replacing with the Bass Fuzz Deluxe, I've always found that the natural sound of the bass gets lost even with the deep switch on, the BFD looks and sounds way more versatile

[PawleeP]

have read other threads that several guys say that the fuzz sound isn't that great on the mxr bass fuzz deluxe.. although i liked the idea of a wet and dry knob for gigs where i can only use one amp.. it sounds as if it is a little weak in the fuzz quality..
any other thoughts? how about a bass big muff deluxe? has anyone tried one of these? and is the fuzz better on it than the mxr bassfuzz deluxe?

[morrisonhendrix]

Originally Posted by rob_thebassman

I have the El Grande Bass Fuzz which I'll soon be replacing with the Bass Fuzz Deluxe, I've always found that the natural sound of the bass gets lost even with the deep switch on, the BFD looks and sounds way more versatile

I used to have the El Grande and just got the Deluxe. I completely agree with your comments.

[PawleeP]

Originally Posted by morrisonhendrix

I used to have the El Grande and just got the Deluxe. I completely agree with your comments.

Morrison, When said u got the deluxe, are u talking about the Deluxe Bass Big Muff? or mxr?
Thanx P

[morrisonhendrix]

Originally Posted by PawleeP

Morrison, When said u got the deluxe, are u talking about the Deluxe Bass Big Muff? or mxr?
Thanx P

Sorry, I meant the MXR Bass Fuzz Deluxe.

[Chaddycakes]

I find that the BFD has two uses for me: when the tone is around 3, it gets that Larry Graham-type fuzz when he was with the Family Stone and when the tone is around 8 (plus appropriate wet/dry) it gets me a nice solo boost like on MXR's demo video on youtube.

[TorontoAlex]

Originally Posted by PawleeP

have read other threads that several guys say that the fuzz sound isn't that great on the mxr bass fuzz deluxe.. although i liked the idea of a wet and dry knob for gigs where i can only use one amp.. it sounds as if it is a little weak in the fuzz quality..
any other thoughts? how about a bass big muff deluxe? has anyone tried one of these? and is the fuzz better on it than the mxr bassfuzz deluxe?

I think from what I've seen, most of the guys that don't like the BFD were looking for a heavier fuzz with more gain. Like others have said, its more of a vintage style fuzz that a heavy, high-gain fuzz. Also, the controls are interactive with each other I find, and it takes awhile to dial in. I will say that it is a bit of a pain to dial in without an overall volume control, but it is worth the time to get it sounding good. I've had mine for over a year, and I'm still tweaking it. Really love the sound of it, and when I want more gain, I step on my Woolly Mammoth.
I haven't tried the the Muff Deluxe, but I'd like too. I had the BBM for a brief while and thought it was crap, couldn't get a sound out of it I liked. To each their own though.

[Chaddycakes]

Originally Posted by TorontoAlex

the [MXR Bass Fuzz Deluxe's] controls are interactive with each other I find, and it takes awhile to dial in. I will say that it is a bit of a pain to dial in without an overall volume control, but it is worth the time to get it sounding good. I've had mine for over a year, and I'm still tweaking it.

Yeah, I find this too. The pedal is somewhat difficult to use, and on the fly changes are not as simple as with other pedals, requiring two knob turns instead of just one. The cons and pros of dry/wet vs blend/vol are a thread unto itself.

[PawleeP]

Thanx Chaddy.. curious to know some of the pros and cons of the wet/dry vs blend vol?

[Chaddycakes]

Originally Posted by PawleeP

Thanx Chaddy.. curious to know some of the pros and cons of the wet/dry vs blend vol?

Here's a con of wet/dry from my gig tonight. I tend to have three or four tones I use throughout the night that I change to in between songs. Often though, the bandleader will kick into a song with only five seconds to get everything correct, and that includes getting a pick, putting a sponge under the strings, adjusting any effects and getting ready to play. A wet/dry pedal takes three knob turns (plus fuzz) instead of just (two) on a blend/vol. A blend/vol will have a more consistent volume when you change tones in between songs like I just described.

A wet/dry can let you to do things like fuzz swells, where you hit a clean chord and then you bring up the volume on the wet, making it sound like you have two amplifiers or something. But how often are ya gonna do that?

[Chaddycakes]

Originally Posted by Chaddycakes

Here's a con of wet/dry from my gig tonight. I tend to have three or four tones I use throughout the night that I change to in between songs. Often though, the bandleader will kick into a song with only five seconds to get everything correct, and that includes getting a pick, putting a sponge under the strings, adjusting any effects and getting ready to play. A wet/dry pedal takes three knob turns (plus fuzz) instead of just (two) on a blend/vol. A blend/vol will have a more consistent volume when you change tones in between songs like I just described.

A wet/dry can let you to do things like fuzz swells, where you hit a clean chord and then you bring up the volume on the wet, making it sound like you have two amplifiers or something. But how often are ya gonna do that?

I guess I jut elaborated on what I previously said, Lol.