Overdrive or distortion pedal for mild distortion

[superhand]

First of all, I know that I should use the search function and that we don't need another thread for this and blah blah blah.

Now that I got that out of the way, I am looking for suggestions for a distortion or overdrive (different names for the same thing as far as I am concerned) that can give me a nice mild distortion that still allows my bass to sound like my bass and just gives me a little hair on my tone, without filtering out my low frequencies.

I am going to use the search function too by the way, but there is always new stuff coming out.

[Crystalman85]

If you play hard rock and heavy metal. but prefer mild distortion sounds, the digitech xbd bass overdrive/distortion pedal can deliver that sound for you. you can get a mild distortion sound without obliterating low ends with that pedal.

[tobie]

Nothing wrong with the Boss OC-3 Super Octave pedal's Drive feature to obtain distortion of any level...

[orestes71]

Maybe the Fulltone Bass Driver might help, it's really not a distortion per se but you can dial it to sound like one, plus the booster gives alot of grit.

[Mark Olson]

There is an inexactly defined line between overdrive and distortion. Overdrive has less clipping than distortion, where distortion has more extreme clipping. So mild distortion is a bit of an oxymoron that's just confusing people because what you're actually looking for is an overdrive.

You haven't given us much about your desired tone to go off from, so any suggestion I could make would be pretty meaningless.

[superhand]

Well I play mostly rock, which is a pretty vague term these days, but I just started with a new band and I'm not really sure what we sound like yet, but I want to be able to dial in some dirt to my tone sometimes, nothing too extreme. Just enough to give it some edge without losing my lows. A blend knob might help.

[rratajski]

Go w/ the Fulltone Bass Drive w/ MOSFET. It definitely sounds like what you want/need. Run it at 18V.

[Queg]

I've been considering the same.. borrowed some pedals from our guitarist but they all sounded too thin or WAY distorted. I thought a VT Bass might be the ticket?

[Pilgrim]

I went to the Digitech Bad Monkey with the Humphreys mod, sold on Ebay. Not radical but definitely more on the OD than the distortion side.

[Touch]

Originally Posted by rratajski

Go w/ the Fulltone Bass Drive w/ MOSFET. It definitely sounds like what you want/need. Run it at 18V.

+1

Very happy with my Fulltone Bass Drive w/ MOSFET running at 18V!

[megadan]

The Polish Love pedal is the best natural overdrive I've ever heard. It's the exact sound of your bass - every other pedal I've used, even the Fulltone, changes the tone slightly when engaged. This just adds hair, more the harder you play. You can also crank it up into huge distortion sounds.
It's a Red Llama clone and based on the Craig Anderton Tube Sound Fuzz, google those things and you should find something.

[Matt Dean]

There are a LOT of options... with everyone having their own favorites. Mine are the C-bread SFT for an Ampeg B15 type of coloring and the Xotic Bass BB pre for a more transparent OD. The SFT is especially touch sensitive, e.g., the harder you play the more driven the signal sounds.

[Jared Lash]

The Polish Love (or other clone), Creation Audio Holy Fire, Barber LTD SR, and Way Huge Pork Loin would be my picks for transparent ODs that add grit while letting your tone through.

[ga_edwards]

+1 to the Bad Monkey (even stock like mine). Capable of adding the Sheehan-esque grind whilst retaining clarity and low end.

[superhand]

Thanks for the suggestions so far, I should have added that even though I am not set to a particular budget, I just can't seem to spend more than $100 on a pedal. I just don't think that they could possibly be worth that much.

I have heard some boutique pedals that sound kinda meh to me and some dirt dirt cheap Danelectro price range kind of stuff that sounds great.

I also play guitar so something that would sound good for both would be a bonus, but for right now I am mainly concerned with getting my bass tone dialed in.

[mgauge]

Originally Posted by superhand

First of all, I know that I should use the search function and that we don't need another thread for this and blah blah blah.

LOL!!!!!! This made my day.

[sutarappa]

FuzzHugger Effects pedals. the Groundswell or Arcflash might suit your current goal. there's a two-knob Groundswell on sale for $85. i love the od/dist./fuzz tones, the builds, and Tom Dalton's customer service is second to none!

Devi Ever Electric Brown. i have other Devi Ever effects, and if i was looking for an overdrive, the Electric Brown would be a top contender. the control knob functions as sort of a gain+tone+texture... pretty cool stuff happening in a small footprint.

Boss ODB-3. i would guess most bassists who like it dirty have used this pedal at some point. it's a rite of passage! i still have mine and record with it every once in a while. good overdrive/distortion and has that blend knob you mentioned. can usually be found used for cheap here on TB or eB.

Digitech Bass Driver. cool, versatile pedal. it can take some time to get to know how the controls affect your tone and affect each other. i continue to use one live and in studio... the blend control seems to have a "sweet spot" you have to hunt down... too much wet blended causes a loss in lows and punch.

[K2000]

The DOD 250 is a good budget overdrive (30-40 bucks used, I think?). Sounds good IMO, especially with a tube amp. The Prescription Electronics Hematoma is a good, more-expensive OD (110-120 bucks used, I think) that gives you more tone control than the DOD 250.

You have so many options... dozens of potential choices, if not hundreds.

[Kromwarp]

Tech 21 VT Bass gives you plenty of options
Tech 21 BDDI is a good distortion along with an XLR output
Pro Co Rat for hotter distortion
Hartke Bass Attack for a good 'rock' and 'metal' tone
Boss ODB-3
OLC Flipster for a B-15 type drive

[crapusername]

Ashdown LoMenzo hyperdrive might be worth a try.
there are some great milder tones available here thanks to the blend knob. it has a sweepable mid control to control where the drive sits.
well worth a try.