Oooooooh I learned a new trick today!!!

[Joe Gress]

So today while playing with my Jazz bass and my favorite fuzz pedals I noticed something pretty spiffy. Turn down the volume of my bass and the character of the fuzz changes drastically. With my Pickle Pie it became a much smoother and dynamic fuzz. More like a creamy overdrive at max. With my B:assmaster it became a sputter fest, and with the right amount of control playing dynamics from me, and the right amount of volume adjustment on my bass, I got a sound like this.

Great fun stuff, thought I would share.

[john turner]

i get that on the mastotron too. i'm trying to set it up through one of the channels on my switchblade so that a pedal tied into one of the expression inputs on the switchblade will control both the input level into the mastotron and the output level from it, so i can drive it harder or ease up on it without changing the volume too much.

[Joe Gress]

Yeah a mastotron I bet would be a lot of fun to mess with the levels.


What other pedals respond well to backing off the volume knob?

[TheMutt]

Not trying to knock you, but guitarists have been playing around with this for quite a while through their gain pedals. That's where you generally see the "cleans up very well" comment about certain pedals.

That being said... I'd think that this should work well with just about any gain pedal or touch sensitive pedal such as an envelope filter.

Also, I'm totally going to try that out with my B:Assmaster as I honestly never thought to do that.

[nad]

Fuzz Face type pedals are great for doing this, but depending on the fuzz it can be hit or miss. I do believe the term is known as "clean up" and guitarists have been doing it for decades. I just learned about it recently myself, been trying to incorporate better dynamics into my playing over the last few years and this is just one more method.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I did a clean up clip recently of a Ghost Fuzz modified for bass. In A Nadfuzz Way is what I so clevArly titled it.

[FreaqyFrequency]

If effects experimentation has done anything for me, it has made me value the volume knob on my bass. Gain pedals turn it into such a usable "tone" control.

[JES]

I've been having fun with volume knobs and self oscillation on my mf low pass filter and lal super oscillo fuzz. Everything from moaning dubsteppy bass drops to howls.

[1009]

Related but few more steps:

I run my Geddy Lee J through an OCD, 105Q, and a VT Bass (as always-on preamp). If I back off the neck pickup a bit while the OCD is on & then engage the wah a bit I can get some crazy pitched theremin-style feedback. Not sure if this is a peculiarity of my rig, but every time I've tried it since it works like a charm.

[CamiloDíaz]

I've been doing something similar, but boosting/cutting the active lows on my Schecter thru my TS9. I've found out it loves when I set the bass flat. since my bass hasn't one volume knob, but one for each pickup, I'll have to manage something. Say, would a volume pedal before the OD work the same way? Hmm...

[Swimming Bird]

I've been using a compressor set to a clean boost (with a little comp) to push my dirt pedals. It's especially nice with my BYOC Armstrong Twin.

Heh, maybe it's actually worth it to buy an EHX Signal Pad.

[paulygonemad]

The magic of the volume knob. Love it!

Devi Ever fuzz pedals react to that in a very yummy way, I think most others will as well.