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A very natural, rich sounding, subtle overdrive.

#21
My votes are:

Fairfield Barbershop
Bearfoot Blueberry Bass Overdrive
Creation Audio Grizzly Bass

Doner Designs said:
One thing I would like is a drive knob that is very insensitive - starting with almost no drive and maxing out with a still fairly subtle effect - so that the knob range/travel is very forgiving. My son's tube screamer (for guitar) is along those lines.
Click to expand...

Fairfield Barbershop fits that description. It's a very low gain drive and sounds excellent.
 
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#22
I use the TC Electronic Mojomojo, $50.00 , I love it you can make it very smooth low gain and then add a fair amount of overdrive if you want. Its not a metal pedal at all. And I don't seem to lose any bottom end are I can't tell it. At church I use it on a SWR 350 head and SWR410 cab, my rig is a Markbass Jeff Berlin combo and I use another 210 cab when needed. It sound great on both rigs and like I said 50 bucks.
 
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#25
Of the two that I have on my board right now, the JHS Morning Glory might fit your needs. It doesn't have a blend knob, or any other bass-specific functionality, but it works great with either bass or guitar. The newest version also has a jack for an external foot switch that adds a very mild second gain stage. It can add anything from a slight boost to mild-medium overdrive.

I also have a Danelectro Cool Cat Drive. It's basically a GREAT sounding OCD clone, that can be had for >$30. At the price, it's definitely worth a look even if you'd only be using the first quarter of the gain knob.
 
#27
Plenty of higher end suggestions already, so I'll suggest something a bit cheaper if you don't mind.

Joyo American sound. Goes for $35ish new. Very versatile, but does great at low gain tube warmth. I also second the Pork Loin, but have also done the cap mod to brighten it up. Either way, it's a fantastic pedal. It's a little pricier than the American, but can be had used for $80-100 most of the time.
 
#29
i was on the same search for the last couple years ... trying many of what has been mentioned , mostly units that have a Clean blend ... to mix in just the right amount of both ... and another rather important feature is a filter control for the dirt .. !! to minimize the rasp/fart freqs and keep it warmer ...

i have 3 that do that fairly well , ... after my searches ...

stage 1 - Eden GlowPlug tube warmer - w/lower gain tube ... set for very mild tube warmth ( which you'll never find in vid demos - which all suck .. ! ) guess i should do some audio demos , since no one else ever talks about this pedal .. !?!?

stage 2 - Dr Scientist ' the elements ' ... it'll do about anything you'd want ... really ... and has a vol pedal jack for the wet/dry Mix = cool

stage 3 - Way Huge Pork Loin - soft clip w/johnK mod ... newest toy , seems like it does about whatever you'd want once you get the internal/external knobs set for your needs ...


i've stopped searching at this point ... but the next on my list was the grizzly ..
 
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#31
DavC said:
and i forgot ... in front of those i have a DarkGlass Super Symmetry ... which has a nice tubey warm voice .. !
Click to expand...

Yeah it does. I don't like the Darkglass VMT nor BxK pedals. I do really like the Symmetry. The Fairfield Accountant comp also seems like an option as it actually distorts.

The Wren & Cuff Suppa Phat Phuk. It's got a germanium sound, but not crazy fuzzy. It's intended to excite and warm up the sound a little.
 
#33
Fairfield Barbershop or BearFoot FX Blueberry Bass Overdrive. I've had both, and kept the Barbershop. The Blueberry sounded great, but was a little too dark and colored for me. The Barbershop fits my needs perfectly. It's a mild and transparent overdrive. I set it to where it emulates a slight tube saturation, and only use it on particular songs.
 
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#34
jmjbassplayer said:
I've been following recent, similar threads...
I'm looking for some more subtle overdrive flavors, more on the warm side of things, and not particularly gain-y.
Tone controls would be great, and I'm always down if it has a blend, though that's not mandatory. The best pedal I already have that do what I'm after are the Xotic BB Preamp and the Solid Gold Beta.
Also maybe the Tronographic Rusty Box, and the old Tubeworks Blue Tube.
Those are all cool, I'm just always looking for other similar flavors to those.

Any recommends?

Thanks,
Justin
Click to expand...
Hi Justin, I was the OP on a similar thread earlier this week.

Looking for a dynamic, uncompressed, mild overdrive...
So here's a rundown of what I've tried and what I thought:
I bought/sold the Tech 21 VT Bass; it was too scooped and compressed for my taste.

I bought/sold a Rusty Box and liked it a lot, but it reminded me of the pushed sound of my GK700RB-II, so it was kinda redundant for my purposes.

For a few months, I used an Aguilar Tone Hammer and it was VERY close -- I wish the pedal had a separate drive control like the heads.

Next up was a Tech 21 Leeds pedal; this one was super cool, but still a bit too compressed and processed sounding.

So, I tried a Way Huge Pork Loin and did the JohnK capactitor mod to open up the high end, which it did, but the pedal never cleaned up enough for my taste.

Next was the TC Spark booster -- which sounded really great, but had some "clicky" artifacts when transitioning between clean and mild overdrive.

So then I posted my thread and started demo'ing a lot of pedals...

I tried the Xotic BB and didn't like the midrange voicing; something sounded pinched in there...tough to describe, but it didn't grab me the right way.

Next up was a TubeWorks Blue Tube -- this was REALLY close to what I was looking for, but I was using 100% of the EQ's range to counteract it's natural tendency to scoop the mids, and the transition from clean to drive was too abrupt.

So I followed the advice of MANY people in my thread and picked up the Fairfield Barbershop. This is a REALLY great pedal, but deceptively complex in that you have to really optimize the ratio of "Drive" and "Sag" (which should be labeled "Headroom" for bassist usage). But it's clear, honest, and uncompressed sounding. When driven more heavily, I don't care for the sound, but as a low-gain option, it might be the one.

Still, I got a lot of great recommendations and wanted to try some more.

So yesterday I tried out the Eden Glowplug, and while it was decent, the drive sounded too much like exactly what it is; preamp tube drive. So while I can't fault it for that, what I'm after is the grunt of a driven tube POWER stage -- and that's not what it delivered.

The other pedal I tried out yesterday was the Electro Harmonix Bass Soul Food, and that one came home with me. It's a subtle pedal; you barely notice the overdrive until it's about 75% of the way up, and then there's a treble rolloff on the distortion side which lets you can keep the spitty highs out of your signal, so you can have a mild, mellow-sounding overdrive and then blend it with your full-range clean signal.

Another good feature on the Bass Soul Food is that is has a -10db pad, so that higher output basses don't clip the front end of the pedal more than you intend them to.

I'm going to compare that one and the Barbershop, but I'm guessing that they both might have a place based on how different they sound.

I hope that helps...
 
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#37
gary mitchell said:
I use the TC Electronic Mojomojo, $50.00 , I love it you can make it very smooth low gain and then add a fair amount of overdrive if you want. Its not a metal pedal at all. And I don't seem to lose any bottom end are I can't tell it. At church I use it on a SWR 350 head and SWR410 cab, my rig is a Markbass Jeff Berlin combo and I use another 210 cab when needed. It sound great on both rigs and like I said 50 bucks.
Click to expand...
I use it its really good. The Sparkdrive its pretty god also. I combine both. I can go from tubey to fuzz and everything in between.
 
#39
rafitoprtx said:
Whats is your set up?
Click to expand...

Stingray or Jazz bass into BBE Opto Comp (old one) into sparkbooster, into Mooer octave and Chorus into Eden WT550 (old one) and Audiokinesis 112x2. Killer Killer setup. I just bought an Empress compressor that will replace the BBE. The BBE and TC pedal really combine to give Tubey warmth and sustain that feels more like a Tube amp being pushed. I also on a passive bass often use the TC as an EQ-boost only with no gain. Very flexible little pedal.
 
#40
jmjbassplayer said:
Hi all,

I've been following recent, similar threads and thought I'd ask for more specific recommendations as it pertains to me.

I'm looking for some more subtle overdrive flavors, more on the warm side of things, and not particularly gain-y. Tone controls would be great, and I'm always down if it has a blend, though that's not mandatory. The best pedal I already have that do what I'm after are the Xotic BB Preamp and the Solid Gold Beta. Also maybe the Tronographic Rusty Box, and the old Tubeworks Blue Tube. Those are all cool, I'm just always looking for other similar flavors to those.

Any recommends?

Thanks,
Justin
Click to expand...

Hey Justin. Since you mentioned the Solid Gold Beta I'd definitely recommend the Bearfoot Blueberry. It's got color in the same way the Beta does with the tone knob to the left hand side but also gets a bit sharper with the tone to the right of noon. Definitely not high gain but it's got this great dark, grunty sound that to me is just perfect. Now, I've actually never had the Bearfoot version (I had a BJFE back when Bjorn made them and a custom version from johnk_10 here on TB) but my understanding is that the circuit is the same. My custom box combines a BJFE Blueberry and an Electronix Submarine and it covers the full gamut from fat, old school OD to stuff I used to use a Darkglass B3K or Aguilar Agro for. Here's a vid of the Bearfoot version.



Based on what I've heard the Azure Drive cleans up the Blueberry a bit and adds more gain. If that's the case I'm guessing it's also awesome.

The Fairfield Barbershop is very cool, but it doesn't add any color. It's essentially a totally transparent sound that just sounds like a tube amp starting to be pushed when you dig in. Just adds some excitement/vibe to your sound that is subtle but awesome. It can sometimes get buzzy/kazoo-like when used with hot, active basses and especially five strings but of course that's not really an issue for you other than maybe with your Wal.

The Wren & Cuff Supa Phat Phuk is also worth checking out as a dirty boost which I think would be right up your alley with the grit it adds.



The Creation Audio Grizzly Bass or Holy Fire 9 (which is exactly the same other than better aesthetics IMO and lacking the midscoop knob) are very transparent with a very round, vintage tube-like overdrive. The ability to blend in the distortion circuit gives a range of gains but at the high end of the knob the distortion gets compressed and kind of synthetic sounding. Nice headroom on these. They aren't aggressive or colored dirt, but very smooth, transparent, round and natural, at least on the OD side.

Not every YouTube clip seems to represent the pedal accurately. I think because it sounds different with active basses - more buzzy. These clips from Creation Audio are a pretty good representation of what I heard when I had my Grizzly Bass and the original Holy Fire with the 48 V wall wart for all the LEDs. I know you'll be most excited by the "Slap Bass" setting just using the midscoop knob. . . ;)





Good luck.
 
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