• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

A question for distortion users

C

Chris M

Oct 23, 2005
93
0
54
Littleton, CO
#1
This thread is inspired by the 'Post your pedal board' thread...

The one thing I've noticed in that thread is that many of you have multiple distortion pedals on your board. I doubt you use them all at the same time (although some may mix a couple I'm sure) so I'd imagine your going for a particular sound with each pedal..

I've been playing for about 16 years now and I used distortion in the beginning mainly because I loved Cliff Burton and wanted to learn 'Anesthesia/Pulling Teeth', but after that looked to find the best possible clean tone I could find and my distortion pedal began to collect dust..

I know that some players (Larry Graham in particular) use distortion to create some pretty killer stuff, but I didn't know it was quite so prevalent..

So, not only what sounds are you guys going for, but what players inspired you to find these sounds? I guess I've spent most of my life in a proverbial bubble so I didn't see some of this stuff. Open my eyes...
 
#4
Listen to Dan Maines' (Clutch) intro for the live version of Spacegrass. :bassist: I love how the bass and drums take care of the verses and the guitar is adding the little nuances over the top of them. Sweeeeeeet. :bassist:

That is what I call phat distortion and is what I have been trying to recreate myself.
 
#7
Chris M said:
This thread is inspired by the 'Post your pedal board' thread...

The one thing I've noticed in that thread is that many of you have multiple distortion pedals on your board. I doubt you use them all at the same time (although some may mix a couple I'm sure) so I'd imagine your going for a particular sound with each pedal..

I've been playing for about 16 years now and I used distortion in the beginning mainly because I loved Cliff Burton and wanted to learn 'Anesthesia/Pulling Teeth', but after that looked to find the best possible clean tone I could find and my distortion pedal began to collect dust..

I know that some players (Larry Graham in particular) use distortion to create some pretty killer stuff, but I didn't know it was quite so prevalent..

So, not only what sounds are you guys going for, but what players inspired you to find these sounds? I guess I've spent most of my life in a proverbial bubble so I didn't see some of this stuff. Open my eyes...
Click to expand...

First, I don't want to get the concepts of fuzz and distortion mixed. In have a fuzz pedal (Black Cat Bass Octave Fuzz) and a distortion pedal (MXR M-80 Bass D.I.+).

That said, the aforemention Cliff Burton was a huge reason for me to start using these pedals. It also helped me come to the realization that the majority of his fuzz tone was with his use of the Morley wahs. Another big inspiration is the player for Rage Against The Machine/Audio Slave, Tim Commerford. I use the Black Cat not so much to cop his sound as much as his vibe- a monsterous face melting fuzz tone that fills in the gaps while maintaining the low end. People know when I stomp that pedal.
 
#10
+1 for Lemmy and Saint Cliff, but later on I was also inspired by Chris Wolstenholme of MUSE. The philosophy there is that bass + distortion/overdrive/fuzz + drums can be enough to make a song, leaving the guitar to add embellishments and texture.

chris/bass/idoru
 
#14
well i got my Boss HM-2 after being inspired by Rhonda Smith/Larry Graham...if youve seen Prince live at the alladdin, or rave un2 the yr 2000 dvdshow larry and rhonda both use fuzz when the play fills or little riffs for that purpose....and i use my ibanez ts10 tube screamer for some tube od when playing rockier stuff or with a pick..i wouldnt mind trying a dan electro bacon n eggs pedal as well, just for a different od texture...i like my fuzz
 
#15
A lot of people know that I got into playing because of Jason Newsted, loved his tone, and there's always at least a subtle overdrive going on. Go back to Cliff, or any of the metalheads its there. Those are my roots.

I've carried my distorted tendencies over to other styles, and yes, I even have worked a Big Muff into jazz and blues.
 
#17
Honestly I bought my first big muff to get a sound like Cliff's but it failed terribly and I gave up on all effects for a long time. Then I decided that I could use a little distortion every now and then in certain parts of songs. Went through alot of pedals, racks, etc... But I started using it alot when I moved to a 3 piece instrumental band, I found with the dist going whenever the guitar had dist made everything sound alot fuller. And now I cannot stop.....
 
#18
It's funny everyone mentions metal players because that's mainly what I play.. Metal/Hard rock.. I've played thrash, death, technical speed metal (a la Helloween/Gamma Ray), everything except nu metal. I'm really trying to broaden my horizons though and, while metal is still a mainstay of my musical diet, my life doesn't revolve around it anymore..

Most of the guys I was influneced by in my heaviest of metal days were guys like DD Verni of Overkill, Markus Grosskopf of Helloween, and of course Steve Harris.. Guys who really didn't use distortion or fuzz all that much. At least I never heard it...

Thanks for the examples though. I'm going to hunt a few of these guys' recordings down and take a listen to them. This should be interesting. Maybe I'll dust that thing off and use it, you never know. You guys also may have started me back on having G.A.S. as well. :cool:
 
#20
With Teeth!!!

Reznor has made overdriven bass a part of his signature for most of his body of work. What's nice is that since he does most of work in the studio you can really get a different flavor for each song.

Listen to "The Collector" "The Hand that Feeds," "Only"

Sure they are a bit crazier in the terms of distortions but they are awesome.

When I listen to Only - it's almost like I can hear the room the bass recorded in - so cool.

~M
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back