Never used bass overdrive - questions from a virgin - Ronnie on bass w/ Beck tone

[Jim C]

I've played bass and engineered for many years
Lately, like a bit of "furr" on my bass tone and use either an SVT-CL or Walkabout; full range tone, still dynamic, and more of a warming / rounding effect
I do not like really distorted bass

The Jeff Beck album, Beck - Ola, has Ronnie Wood playing bass through what sounds like a small tube amp turned up until it distorts.
I understand that part of what you hear is the room, as it is not very close mic'd on the song Spanish Boots
I have the need to get close to this tone on 2 songs over the course of a night of playing and don't want to change my amp's settings for 2 out of approx. 40 songs
Looking for OD pedal suggestions; can't find the original version of Spanish Boot's on the interweb but Plynth is from the same record and is reasonably close

YouTube - Jeff Beck Group (Rod Stewart) - Plynth-water down the drain

[bassboysam]

The new Mad Professor Blueberry can really get a nice natural OD sound. I am really liking it with the drive set to just above minimum. When I don't want or can't turn up my amp for natural tube OD this pedal is as close as I have heard to the real thing.

[bigtexashonk]

Spanish Boots has some of the greatest bass snarl ever!

Ronnie's prescription was a Jazz Bass into a cranked Marshall Major Bass Amp.

[RickenBoogie]

I've been using an EBS Valve Drive for about 5 yrs now, and have tried MANY others. It can go from just a little extra "warmth" to balls out grind, and everything in between. It's especially good at providing that "little bit of hair" when you dig in, which is how I use it. Sounds like you're pushing a tube amp hard, more than like an fx pedal.

[Smurf-o-Deth]

Originally Posted by bassboysam

The new Mad Professor Blueberry can really get a nice natural OD sound. I am really liking it with the drive set to just above minimum. When I don't want or can't turn up my amp for natural tube OD this pedal is as close as I have heard to the real thing.

I would disagree completely with this. I find nothing about the MP 3BOD particularly "tubelike", and certainly nothing like pushed power tubes; it feels way more like a fuzz to me--way, way compressed at all settings, even at minimum gain.

[Hutzbordello]

Boss ODB-3 used or a Big Muff Pie with a Bass Vt for the Tube sound

cheap on talkbass and well worth the money.

[bassboysam]

Originally Posted by Smurf-o-Deth

I would disagree completely with this. I find nothing about the MP 3BOD particularly "tubelike", and certainly nothing like pushed power tubes; it feels way more like a fuzz to me--way, way compressed at all settings, even at minimum gain.

This is also true, however I don't find that's the case when I play with a lighter touch. It sounds a lot like my YBA-3 when it hits power tube breakup. I find your touch and attack will have a big impact on whether or not you get fuzz or a nice OD with this pedal.

[TheWoodShed]

Originally Posted by bassboysam

This is also true, however I don't find that's the case when I play with a lighter touch. It sounds a lot like my YBA-3 when it hits power tube breakup. I find your touch and attack will have a big impact on whether or not you get fuzz or a nice OD with this pedal.

Touch, attack, the bass you are playing as well a the amp.

Many time when people give advise here and have dissimilar experiences, it seems they fail to consider other factors that reside outside the pedal.

[JimmyM]

i'd get a vt but there are a handful of pedals that work great for that.

[Smurf-o-Deth]

I'm well aware of the concept and application of touch sensitivity, and I am speaking with experience with a plethora of drive pedals, as well as pushing power tubes (I own a low-power tube amp specifically for doing just that). I just find (or found, rather) the MP 3BOD to be lackluster in this area. Even with the gain at minimum, my volume on my bass (P Bass) rolled back, and me lightly attacking the strings, the signal was still clipped hard. And I bring up all of this, not because I'm trying to be a contrarian douche bag, but because I really feel the 3BOD would not give the results sought in the OP. The aforementioned EBS Valve Drive seems like a much better suggestion to me, and to add to that, I would also throw in one of the DHA valve-driven ODs for consideration.

[rosstanium]

under $200 range: SanSamp VT.

over $200: any DHA preamp or OD pedal.

[Jim C]

Thanks; very helpful information; completely forgot about the VT pedal which does seem to get a lot love around here

[Shegmaface]

I just got my Map Professor BOD and I'm really having fun with it. Fuzzy or subtle, I think it's a great bass overdrive. I'm waiting for my Catalinbread SFT to arrive. It will be interesting to compare the 2 pedals.

[iamthebassman]

Originally Posted by bigtexashonk

Spanish Boots has some of the greatest bass snarl ever!

Ronnie's prescription was a Jazz Bass into a cranked Marshall Major Bass Amp.

I've always seen him with a Telecaster Bass, live anyway, maybe that's the diff.

[cchorney]

I've had good luck in this regard with my Ibanez TS-9. It can be subtle or aggressive, or you can turn the gain down and use it as a volume stomp box.

[CaptainSir]

Originally Posted by Smurf-o-Deth

I'm well aware of the concept and application of touch sensitivity, and I am speaking with experience with a plethora of drive pedals, as well as pushing power tubes (I own a low-power tube amp specifically for doing just that). I just find (or found, rather) the MP 3BOD to be lackluster in this area. Even with the gain at minimum, my volume on my bass (P Bass) rolled back, and me lightly attacking the strings, the signal was still clipped hard. And I bring up all of this, not because I'm trying to be a contrarian douche bag, but because I really feel the 3BOD would not give the results sought in the OP. The aforementioned EBS Valve Drive seems like a much better suggestion to me, and to add to that, I would also throw in one of the DHA valve-driven ODs for consideration.

+1

in this case the MP 3BOD is a good pedal and you might find many uses for it personally but its is not a good suit for what the OP i looking for even though he might be able to manipulate this sound out of the pedal eventually after learning how to tweek all his settings
there are a lot of pedals more suited for what he is looking for such as the ones already listed DHA OD's, EBS valve drive, Ibanez especially KEELEY mod TS-9, VT Bass, and one i will add Budda PhatBass

[gard0300]

TBS9B tube screamer or Bad Monkey may get you there?