overdrive for bass and electric guitar

chung3j · #1 10-19-2011, 12:26 AM

I'm building my pedalboard for guitar and bass together, so I want to have them share as many pieces as possible. I'm looking for an overdrive that would work well for both, mostly for CCM. I want to have subtle overdrive for bass ala Hillsong United as well as a versatile, maybe TS type sound for EG. I've had good luck with a friend's EBS Valvedrive, but its hard to find one secondhand and annoyingly runs on 12vac.

Any and all help is much appreciated.

bongomania · #2 10-19-2011, 12:42 AM

Most "bass" OD's also work fine on guitar. They tend to just have more low end openness, rather than any loss of highs, or any other anti-guitar issue. So just read through the forum for OD recommendations, and figure that 99.9% of the time what's good for bass is also good for gtar.

BigBassBob · #3 10-19-2011, 03:07 AM

I've found that most bass overdrives work on guitar to an extent but more often than not the low end on the guitar doesn't feel "tight" as it's not restricted as much.

FreshTrooperXBL · #4 10-19-2011, 03:48 AM

Go with a unit that cuts the lows, and chops off the top. Signal degradation is best. Buy pre-made instrument cables too. Solid state distortion

mouthmw · #5 10-19-2011, 04:51 AM

Way Huge pedals come to mind. They work great for bass and guitar. Swollen Pickle for your fuzz needs, Green Rhino for your TS needs and Pork Loin for a warm light OD.

WinstonNilesRum · #6 10-19-2011, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mouthmw

Way Huge pedals come to mind. They work great for bass and guitar. Swollen Pickle for your fuzz needs, Green Rhino for your TS needs and Pork Loin for a warm light OD.

+1 on the Green Rhino. Great TS sound and you have great control of the lows with the "100hz" knob which can boost or cut 12db. Most Muff variants work quite well on both bass and guitar as well. My guitarist is currently using my old EHX BBM as his lead tone.

String Theory · #7 10-19-2011, 09:59 AM

I use the Boss odb-3. For bass I turn the gain way down and mix mostly the dry signal. On guitar I turn the gain up and set the mix knob so that there is no dry signal.

G.Bisson · #8 10-19-2011, 10:06 AM

Digitech/Hardwire CM2 does TS tones well on both guitar and bass.

Laurent · #9 10-19-2011, 10:25 AM

+1 on these 3 pedals. Loin = mild, Rhino = medium, Pickle = hot. Your pick depending on how much (heat) distortion you are looking for.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mouthmw

Way Huge pedals come to mind. They work great for bass and guitar. Swollen Pickle for your fuzz needs, Green Rhino for your TS needs and Pork Loin for a warm light OD.

cnltb · #10 10-19-2011, 10:30 AM

Musician Sound Design

One of the very best I have tried,in both built quality and sounds available and quality there of.

caeman · #11 10-19-2011, 10:45 AM

Here is a possibility for ya:
- Source Audio Multiwave Bass Distortion Pro
- Source Audio Bass Envelope Filter Pro

Between those two, you have multiple presets you can program, graphic EQ that works for bass and guitar alike and a multitude of tonal options from clean to distorted, fuzzy filtery sounds. The BEFPro even has two phaser settings should you need it for a Hillsong tune.

crguti · #12 10-19-2011, 07:08 PM

Ebs Multidrive works great for guitar and bass

Charley Umbria · #13 10-19-2011, 08:13 PM

Try the Ibanez TS-9DX Turbo Tube Screamer. In TS9 mode, it sounds like a regular tube screamer. The other three modes add bottom end and are good for bass.

The DX in Turbo mode is one of my favorite bass OD sounds and the TS9 is a classic guitar effect. I've used both the True Vintage- and Silver-modded tube screamers from Analogman.com. The pedal sounds good stock but, IMHO, the Silver TS9-DX is hard to beat.

You might also look at the Catalinbread SFT. It does a nice, Ampeg-y, tubey, warm OD on bass, plus it'll do a good Stones-y, Vox-ish guitar distortion.

Both pedals are good at 9 VDC. I've tried running both at higher voltages, but the noise floor goes up much more than I like.

chung3j · #14 10-20-2011, 04:07 AM

between the price, true bypass and guitar tone, i'm leaning towards the hardwire, though it would be nice to be able to find some bass clips. i found a few good guitar ones on the ebs multidrive, but it is a significant bit pricier.

man am i going to miss the warm glowy thing on the ground when he asks for it back...

Charley Umbria · #15 10-20-2011, 12:22 PM

If true bypass is a must-have, you can always install a http://www.jackdeville.com/clickless_switch.phpJack DeVille relay-based true bypass unit for about $25.00. I use one on an Ibanez pedal and it works beautifully.

chung3j · #16 10-20-2011, 02:30 PM

well, i don't exactly mind a good buffer in the chain, but thanks for the link though.