Achieving a clean bass distortion

[alland]

YouTube - Dark Tranquillity - Out of Nothing


It's right in the first :10 seconds. I need to know what pedal(s) will get me that tone, or as close to that tone as possible from my amp. I have a Rondo music Jazz clone bass, Ampeg B4R and I'm running a 4x10 cab. I'm new to bass distortion , all I know is that I'll need one with a blend knob, and I need a pedal that doesn't make a fuzzy farty tone a la Big Muff. Any help is appreciated.


Clips would be great!

 

[j.henderson7772]

Hey, you may want to try a nice overdrive pedal, there are several on here I have seen talked about alot, the Catalinbread SFT, the Sansamp bass driver, tech21, also JHS has a cool bass overdrive called the lowride.

 

[FuManChu]

Sounds like a tech 21 product.

 

[alland]

The Catalinbread seemed to have that really muddy fuzzy tone I don't enjoy, but the Sansamp BDDI seems pretty close! I'll look into that one.

 

[Marton]

The pick also have much to do in this tone.

 

[Smurf-o-Deth]

^ Yep.

 

[alland]

Yep, my bass player is a pick player, we have that down. I'm sure the bass' pickup configuration also has impact. Does this sound like a single/p/humbucker tone?

 

[Eric!]

New strings will help too! It's very bright.

 

[Crystalman85]

The darkglass electronics "microtubes" bk3 overdrive pedal can easily give you the sound you've just heard on that song.

 

[Kromwarp]

The darkglass electronics "microtubes" bk3 overdrive pedal can easily give you the sound you've just heard on that song.

+1 for Darkglass, the bk7 looked interesting as well

 

[crguti]

I listened the video... where is the 'clean' bass distortion?
I just listened a regular distorted bass... that's it.

 

[Bish42]

I listened the video... where is the 'clean' bass distortion?
I just listened a regular distorted bass... that's it.

I think when he says clean, he means bright.

The Tech 21 VT can definitely do that with the character and treble up. I haven't used my BDDI for a while and I never used to try to get that tone, but I'm sure it'd be pretty good at it also.

 

[Darkglass]

In distortions generally, how "clean" or "clear" is perceived, will depend on how much low end is being distorted.
My guess is that you mean by clean distortion, is one where the low end is present, but either totally clean, or mildly saturated?

Best Regards! -Doug.

 

[stflbn]

Voodoo Sparkle Drive or Way Huge Pork Loin do the clean overdrive very well, and both have blend knobs.

 

[Deluge Of Sound]

"Clean bass distortion..."

Invalid Link Removed

 

[karter2000]

The darkglass electronics "microtubes" bk3 overdrive pedal can easily give you the sound you've just heard on that song.

A big +1 to that. I just got mine and it does that and everything more.

 

[blastjv]

I think it sounds like a nice Solid State rig pushed hard. I used to get those type of sounds a lot with SS amps. I don't know that I hear any real distortion or overdrive effect there. I think your rig, LOUD with the right EQ'ing will get you there. I had a B4R for a while and it was a very good sounding SS amp. I'd suggest monkeying with the Graphic EQ and scooping the mids to get there...

-JV

 

[alland]

I listened the video... where is the 'clean' bass distortion?
I just listened a regular distorted bass... that's it.

Clean as in doesn't have a fuzzy or farty character. The low is untouched, the high end is distorted and compressed without a fuzzy or fizzy top end. Just a very clear tight distortion.

In distortions generally, how "clean" or "clear" is perceived, will depend on how much low end is being distorted.
My guess is that you mean by clean distortion, is one where the low end is present, but either totally clean, or mildly saturated?

Best Regards! -Doug.

You've got the idea!

"Clean bass distortion..."

Listen to the Pulling Teeth solo and then listen to the clip I posted. Which one would make you think clean by default? The low end is turned to pure mud because it has been way too saturated. A lot of bass overdrives pedals make the same effect, which is what I'm trying to avoid. This tone is very dependent on the amount of high mids and treble as compared to the low mids and bass frequencies.

In fact, I don't even think the high end is distorted per se, it just sounds a bit saturated and smoothed out across the top frequencies.

 

[Deluge Of Sound]

...way too saturated...

 

[mpdd]

i've been running a slow sample rate bass signal via my wmd geiger counter, with a slight sample rate adjustment you can get a nice full tone without the atari or nintendo tones