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Advice: The Tone I’m Looking For

#22
I love my Aguilar Agro. Can go from subtle tube like tone to to face melting overdrive. I've noticed there is a bit of low end loss though, I used a boss eq at the end of my chain to boost it back up though. I head the EHX Bass Soul Food is good, cheap and cheerful.
 
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#24
Mr_Way_Huge said:
I love my Aguilar Agro. Can go from subtle tube like tone to to face melting overdrive. I've noticed there is a bit of low end loss though, I used a boss eq at the end of my chain to boost it back up though. I head the EHX Bass Soul Food is good, cheap and cheerful.
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One of my favourite ODs. Low end loss is only apparent at higher gain settings, it sounds so good that it's worth the hassle of adjusting it with blend/eq!
 
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#27
Ok, getting a preamp aside (more suggestions: DOD 250, Aggy Tone Hammer, Tech21 VT2, Catalinbread SFT), you might want to reconsider your pedal order. I like comp >> dist/fuzz >> pre with the tuner wherever. The other thing I'll say is that using a muff clone and a dirty pre - the muff tone and sustain controls end up being pretty subtle...

Also, I'm rockin the berbs atm (Silver Sprung wut), so you're more than welcome to try my gear (pm me).
 
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#28
A lot of those bands use the Boss Bass Overdrive to punch their amps. That is the Ghost sound, is your rig with a Boss on it. The Melvins use it I know for sure.

The Darkglass stuff will do you good. I still love my Fulltone Bassdrive. I've seen the Bassdrive on a lot of stoner rock bassists' boards. Why not try the Boss on the cheap?
 
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#33
I'm no authority on pedals or OD or anything, but what you describe as a goal is kind of what i was after, so I'll throw in the TC Spark Boost as my suggestion. It beefs up my tone in a huge way without adding too much distortion of its own, just a little tubey wool. If I want more distortion, I just crank the output gain on that pedal, and my amp does the rest (same Orange Terror Bass as you). The pedal is whisper quiet, does not suck tone, and has active tone controls if you like.
 
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#34
I'd strongly advise you get a dirt that has a good EQ built into it. You may not know this but those Bass Terror heads use a passive tone stack. Which means the Mid controls are cut only and the Bass and Treble are boost only. Flat would be around 2 bass - 10 mid - 2 treble on the dials. If you have your mids knob on your amp anywhere but full on you're scooping out your mids which is where the overdriven tones are contained.
 
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#35
JesseVMT said:
The blend works fantastic. I'm going to mention the Darkglass Vintage Microtubes. It had more midrange then the b3k and it's my kind of growl. Darkglass will never let you down.
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I own an aerodyne PJ as well - it pairs incredibly well with the b3k and the VMT. Try running a VMT into a b3k sometime...just make sure to watch for falling buildings :bassist:.
 
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#36
A lot of B7k suggestions here - personally (and as a fan of the style of music you're going for, and as a B7k user) I don't think it'll get you where you're wanting to go. It does have a wide variety of tones, but they tend to be more oriented towards J-bass style sounds and more modern distorted tones, not necessarily the wooly thump you're looking for. If you do stick with Darkglass, the Vintage Modified pedal would be better suited for you.

You already have an awesome amp rig and a great bass - you've got most of the formula already. A simple boost pedal would probably get you where you're wanting to go - the TC Spark Boost that CatSquare suggested a couple posts up will do you fine. The Boss ODB-3 pedal is another good option, it's got a lot of grit, plenty of tonal controls and King Buzzo uses it, which is good enough for me.

You're also looking for a compressor; may I suggest the Earthquaker Warden? It's got a baked in tonal character, but one that gives your sound a fat, organic texture. Lots of tone controls to dial in how you like. Earthquaker also makes many awesome fuzz, boost and distortion pedals that are perfect for your style.

Good luck, and have fun!
 
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#37
colantalas said:
the Earthquaker Warden?
Click to expand...
I really do like the Diamond, as it adds just this nice nice gloss / magic tone to the back, but I'm having a hard time justifying the expense for just that, and then there's the size (you can get an idea of area I'm trying to work with on page 1). Just checked out the Warden, and it sounds awesome. Might be just what I'm looking for, and as an added plus it's smaller than the BCP-1. Thanks much for the advice.

I pulled the trigger on the SS/BS Mini, so I THINK for the time being I may be set on dirt pedals, keeping my board small and unfiddly is important to me.

Last night at practice I ran the W&C Tall Font Russian with the volume at about 1 o'clock and the distortion at 8-9 and got a really nice, saturated dirt. I should have the Mini when I get back from a small weekend tour we're doing, and I'm hoping it helps define / refine the growl a bit - plus it also can function as a solid boost.

So I heard the buzz from my J Pup last night, and turned it waaaaay down while we were playing. Next on my list is Pups for sure and they will probably be: Quarter Pounders, Geezers, or Lace Man O' Wars, but I'm having a hard time narrowing down which way to go.
 
#39
Got back from my weekend tour, and my SS/BS mini was there. I get to play with it tomorrow at practice! Playing with just the rig and the W&C TFR being used as a kinda dirty pre sounded pretty rad - the last night the room was all wood, so the drums were huge, so my guitarist decided to turn his jcm 800 up and I cranked the Terror Bass up to 5. Felt that stuff in my bones. Was a loud set.
 

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