Active Bass Fuzz?

[jfoughe]

I was wondering what fuzz you guys would recommend for an active bass. I really like the sound of the wooly mammoth, and the ideal fuzz tone for me would be the beastie boys' "sabotage." I play a Fender Custom Classic Jazz Bass with a Markbass 2x10 and 1x15 rig. Any suggestions?

 

[TheWoodShed]

In my experience the Wooly doesn't work with active basses very well.

I would recommend a Muff style fuzz, which seems to work well with my actives. While haven't tried one per se, the Coloursound seem to be nice as they are a similar circuit to to the Muff.

I use a 2x10/1x18 rig as well. My Russian Muff gets a massive amount of low end.

 

[FreaqyFrequency]

Check out the OLC Chunky Cheese. It's a clone of the Lovetone Big Cheese which is no longer made, and it just about nails that tone. If you were to use it for covering it live, not a reasonable soul would complain that it didn't do the trick.

Also, it has a gated mode, which has almost the same thing going on as the Mammoth does, but with a different base tone.

 

[nad]

Here is a list of active friendly fuzzes, although I don't think it has been updated for awhile:

http://www.talkbass.com/wiki/index.php/Effects_Distortion_Overdrive_Fuzz

 

[bobbass4k]

If you really like the mammoth, you'll like the mastotron (also by ZVex) it's got an impedance blend so it works with actives, and the Pulse width control gives a gated sound like the mammoth (note it's not actually a gate control like on the mammoth, but it sounds virtually identical)

EDIT: Remembered I did some soundclips a while back, can be found here at the bottom of the page. All recorded with my 9v active spector

 

[jetofuj]

^ Mastotron is a great fuzz, but it's far from Mammoth!

 

[Smurf-o-Deth]

Since no one has addressed your listed ideal tone, I shall. The "Sabotage" fuzz tone comes from a Shin Ei/Univox Superfuzz, and there are plenty of clones on the market, from Weston, MJM, Robot Factory, et cetera. In a similar realm is the Brassmaster, of which there are a couple of clones, notably the Malekko B:Assmaster. If you want nasty, buzzsaw, octave-up fuzz, stay away from Muffs, as they are as far from that sound as you can get in a fuzz.

 

[mccartneyman]

The EH Bass Synthesizer has a nice fuzz plus the ability to give you an octave up or down, plus filter effects. Nate Query of the Decemberists uses it on "The Rake's Song" from "The Hazards of Love." Sounded fine live, too. There's an Ed Friedland demo vid and some others at http://www.ehx.com/products/bass-micro-synthesizer

 

[Mudfuzz]

Yeah supper fuzz for that sound. I use the Katana Sound Supper Bass Fuzz, if you want cheap the Guyatone tz-2 works well with active and you can get it from $35 - $69.

 

[FreaqyFrequency]

Since no one has addressed your listed ideal tone

Ahem?

 

[Smurf-o-Deth]

Woops! Somehow, I misread your post, so my bad and all that.

 

[FreaqyFrequency]

All good. Thanks for the info about what he actually used on the recording though, I never knew.

 

[jam.majors]

+1 for the Mastotron. It was the only one that worked well with my 18v bart preamp.

It has a wide range of fuzz power and also some sweet sub freq can be added.

 

[groooooove]

+1 for the Mastotron. It was the only one that worked well with my 18v bart preamp.

It has a wide range of fuzz power and also some sweet sub freq can be added.

its not that mammoth-y. its similar..i guess.

chunk systems brown dog is very active friendly. its got a little bit of mammoth territory.. but not much.