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Low gain overdrive

john keates

john keates

May 20, 2004
267
11
www.johnkeatesart.com
#1
I have searched and found a few options but I thought it would be good to compile a list of overdrives that are low gain, eg. you can set it to only overdrive when you dig in but otherwise sound transparent.

Here are some dirt boxes that I own which aren't quite doing it for me (at least for low gain):

Fulltone Bassdriver mosfet: The comp-cut mode looses bass and the highs have to be cut to prevent un-pleasant fizzing. The other modes are what I would regard as high-gain. Sounds pretty transparent though.

Hematoma: Can get a low gain mode by putting the Pre volume and the gain both to very low volumes but it looses treble and I feel I am not making good use of the pedal like this.

AMT Electronics Slap Bass: Pretty damn close, and cheap. No bass loss and two band EQ. Can set it to not distort much at all unless I dig in. There is a bit of wooly definition loss though and a slight nasal quality.

MXR el Grande: I know, it is a fuzz... but If I set the gain to minimum and lower my volume loads, I can get a really nice touch-responsiveness where it sounds pretty clear when I play quiet and pretty nasty when I dig in. Not a good option for live though as I would have to mess with my volume.


Pedals that take my interest:

Barber LTD SR: Low gain with internal bass and presence controls. Looks interesting but haven't heard clips on bass.

Voodoo Labs Sparkle drive: Does low gain and has a blend knob which is nice... although I would prefer to avoid the blend knob solution (any pedal can just be mixed with a blend loop, although that does take up space). There are some nice clips around here somewhere...

Pro Co Rat: Played one when I didn't know much about this stuff and liked it. Seem to be loads of clones/mods about.

Way Huge Pork Loin: Looks really interesting. Lots of options in there. Tried one briefly and liked it. Expensive though.

Xotic Bass BB pre amp. Looks nice! Goes from clean boost to drive, apparently and has an EQ. Small too. Expensive though.

Brown stone?


I am leaning towards the Xotic Bass BB pre. Does look nice but I don't know how touch responsive it is (Eg. only breaks up when you dig in).
 
#2
I just got the Roger Mayer Voodoo Bass, it seems to be act almost amp-like at low gain, but can get quite nasty when cranked.

you should also keep your eye out for the yet to be released SFT from Catalin bread.

The Catalin bread Super chili picosso has a nice soft clip when cranked in the FAT mode. you'll have to set the input gain on your amp to almost zero though.

The Zvex Distortron seems to clean up nicely too.
 
#4
I just picked up the Xotic Bass BB a few weeks ago, and I really dig it. The range of gain isn't quite as broad as I thought it would be based on previous reviews, but for a light OD, it's awesome! I wasn't too high on the idea of having bass and treble EQ on a pedal, but now I think it's a totally usable feature that I'd miss if I didn't have it.
 
#8
I've been buying/selling OD's like mad lately. My 2 favs are, without question, the Barber LTD SR, and the Sparkle Drive. I didn't like the Fulltone Bassdrive because I perceived a loss of low end, not so much at home, but big time in a stage mix. I also wasn't a huge fan of the Hematoma, because as the OP noted, there is a noticeable loss of treble. The most transparent, IMO, was definately the Barber LTD SR. I decided, however, that I liked the Sparkle Drive a little more. The blend keeps it from loosing low end that any Tubescreamer clone will suffer from.
 
#9
The Rat will be way too high gain, even on the minimum settings, for what you're looking for.

The ones I most recommend for low-gain OD is the EHX Germanium OD (which was my favorite for a year at least), and the DHA VT-1 (which replaced the EHX this year). Both of them can be set to just give a touch of hair, and get a little hairier on the harder notes.
 
#12
Hollow Man said:
I just picked up the Xotic Bass BB a few weeks ago, and I really dig it. The range of gain isn't quite as broad as I thought it would be based on previous reviews, but for a light OD, it's awesome! I wasn't too high on the idea of having bass and treble EQ on a pedal, but now I think it's a totally usable feature that I'd miss if I didn't have it.
Click to expand...

How touch responsive is it?
 
#15
john keates said:
the DHA VT-1 looks great and it is nice to buy locally (I live in England) but there are a hell of a lot of knobs on it. I would worry that something might go amiss without me noticing. How transparent is it?
Click to expand...

I was referring to the standard VT1 should only have 3 knobs and two flipswitches.

Link Removed

Anyways, it can be extremely transparent, adding only what is usually called warmth. Or it can go higher gain and get quite distorted. The Gain and I/P Pad knobs are very interactive in dialing this in, but it really only takes a couple knob turns to get it right where I want it. It's not hard to tweak on the fly; I actually end up changing its settings multiple times during a set because its so versatile.
 

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