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another 'which OD should I buy?' thread

G

Gonzo476

Mar 1, 2009
726
10
Madrid, Spain
#1
I can get the following pedals for roughly the same price (max difference is 10€):

Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive
EBS Multidrive
Creation Audio Holy Fire

I can't try any of them because none of the music shops in where I live distribute those brands.
I need a versatile pedal that has good low/medium gain tones. I might crank it from time to time, but those are my priorities. In case it helps you, my rig consists of an Ashdown 15" solid state combo and a Fender P bass. I play many differente styles, but mainly brit-rock, alt rock and some stoner a la QOTSA.
 
#4
Consider the the Fulltone OCD. I just bought one and ite replacing my Fulltone Bassdrive. Much better low end retention, better tone, half the size and very subtle to heavy tones. Cant go wrong with this one.
 
#9
Gonzo476 said:
Is there any low end loss with the Sparkle Drive?
Click to expand...

It has a built in clean blend, so no there's no low end loss at all with mine. If I don't use any blend, there's a little loss but a) blending clean with OD sounds WAY better on bass, b) I hear the if you get the Keeley mod done, you can get way more extreme and there's no low end loss even with no clean blended in at all.

I have the Sparkle Drive and more expensive Electronix Gemini Drive. I love them both but the Sparkle honestly gets more use.
 
#10
Xotic Bass BB is my fave, sounds similar to the Sparkle Drive (both are tubescreamer clones), it lacks the blend but instead has a bass/treble eq. I prefer it as I reckon a blend is unecessary for low gain OD, and the eq is really useful and can even boost the bass if required, so no probs with the low end. Also a nodded Digitech Bad Monkey sounds almost identical to the BB for half the price.

The Way Huge Pork Loin also sounds great, veeery smooth but the overdrive is a bit tame on the high end and lacks the bite of the tubescreaner clones. It has a clean blend but the clean channel can clip nastily if using a high output bass.
 
#12
Gonzo476 said:
BTW I have a doubt: would it be possible to compensate the low end loss caused by a guitar OD by placing a bass booster such as the EHX Mole right after it?

Keep'em coming!
Click to expand...

I suppose that would work, but it really shouldn't be necessary to run a second pedal.

There's certainly no need to run a bass boost with the EBS, for instance. In fact, I might need to try one of those again!
 
#13
dannybuoy said:
Xotic Bass BB is my fave, sounds similar to the Sparkle Drive (both are tubescreamer clones), it lacks the blend but instead has a bass/treble eq. I prefer it as I reckon a blend is unecessary for low gain OD, and the eq is really useful and can even boost the bass if required, so no probs with the low end. Also a nodded Digitech Bad Monkey sounds almost identical to the BB for half the price.

The Way Huge Pork Loin also sounds great, veeery smooth but the overdrive is a bit tame on the high end and lacks the bite of the tubescreaner clones. It has a clean blend but the clean channel can clip nastily if using a high output bass.
Click to expand...

I love the sound of the Pork Loin on bass. Its what a Sparkle Drive wants to be when it grows up.

What bass did you clip the pork loin's clean channel with? I've ran my G&L L2500 into it which is a super high output bass without a problem. Also my Stingray and Soundgear with their preamps dimed did not cause this problem either. Did you adjust any of the trimpots on the inside?
 
#16
JMDT said:
I love the sound of the Pork Loin on bass. Its what a Sparkle Drive wants to be when it grows up.

What bass did you clip the pork loin's clean channel with? I've ran my G&L L2500 into it which is a super high output bass without a problem. Also my Stingray and Soundgear with their preamps dimed did not cause this problem either. Did you adjust any of the trimpots on the inside?
Click to expand...

I was using a Squier VM P-Bass and a Peavey T-40. If you turn down the internal drive mix control so that the clean channel is soloed, you can hear it happening. Turning the internal filter control all the way to reduce the bass in the clean channel helps to alleviate it. Apart from that it sounds great though!
 
#20
Hawaii Islander said:
Checkout Ed Friedlands Demo of this OD pedal "Barker Assmaster Distortion" pedal



Don't know how it would compare to the ones you listed at the top of the thread. Just thought you or someone else might be interested.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the recommendation. I had already checked his review and, although I like the sound, it's not what I'm looking for right now.
For now it seems that the Sparkle Drive is getting the most love...
 

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