It would very much help if you gave a tone you were aiming for. The world of bass distortion is quite large these days! Here would be my suggestions:
MBD Family - Excellent, versatile pedals, all of them. I have tried the 1 and 2, and prefer the 2. The 3 was recently released, and is getting rave reviews. The short version of the descriptions between 2 & 3 are that the 2 is apparently more "full range" in tone, which I like. The 3 has a built in boost, though, so you can potentially get 2 tones out of 1 pedal. I use MBD2s for a modern metal sort of tone, but they can do lighter gain just as well. Simply amazing pedals. I find them to be great for smooth and articulate grit, if that makes sense. It's not chunky like a fuzz, but there's definitely some grit in the mix.
Rats - I have recently (in the past year or so) come to love and embrace Rats. They are definitely grittier than the MBD family overall. It's sort of a halfway point between fuzz and overdrive. But you have to find the right one. My favorites (in order) are the Dunwich/Magic Pedals Volt Thrower, Blue Colander Tremond, Frost Giant Bass Mountain, and Earthbound Audio Iron Pig (which I believe is discontinued). The biggest thing with each of these is that it will take time to find your tone. They are each a tweaker's delight, and can do all sorts of tones from mild to wild. They may also require re-tooling settings when you change rigs. I just did a small Rat shootout between the Volt Thrower and Tremond a few minutes ago, and while the Volt Thrower remained my #1, I could get almost identical tones from the Tremond, and get tones from the Tremond I couldn't get from the Volt Thrower. So the right one may also depend on the exact tone you're wanting, and the rig you have. They sounded nearly identical on my 700RB-II, but then I had to re-tool the Tremond when I put it on rig #2 - a 400RB-IV. It was much more brittle sounding on the 400RB-IV, but that was soon remedied. I also had a Cat Tail from Fuzzrocious, which gets great reviews here on TB. Didn't work for me, but nothing wrong with that option either, and they will be happy to add mods to it if you want them. If you're not sure about Rats and want something a little easier to obtain, the MXR Bass Distortion is also Rat-based, and was designed by Ryan from Fuzzrocious. It also gets great reviews here, but I've never played one.
Pork Loin - I LOVE this pedal, but would caution against using it as a distortion. It's low gain, and mostly an overdrive, and only gets to low gain distortion in the last third of its gain range. It can also be dark un-modded. It's a simple mod, and even an amateur can do it (I'm proof of that!), but the mod brightens it up a bit. This is likely my most usable pedal, as it just works in anything, but again, I'd be wary of expecting a "distortion" pedal from it.
HM-2 - Again, not sure what sort of distortion you're wanting... but if you want something incredibly heavy, this could be the ticket. It's a nice tone for sure, and I have plenty of experience with it, but most people don't want this distortion. Just in case, though, I thought I'd mention it. There are tons of takes on this pedal now, with my favorites being the Dunwich DIY HM-2, Bear Amps Heavier Metal, Earthbound Audio Throat Locust, and the original. But there are plenty of clones to choose from.
I could go on with more details on plenty of other pedals as well, but don't really know what you may be interested in. I also quite like the B3K (never had luck with the bigger versions) and the old Ibanez PD7. There are also plenty of fuzzes that can do distortion as well as fuzz, with the Russian Muffs fairly well known for this. I'd argue my Pharaoh Supreme and Swollen Pickle settings straddle the line between fuzz and distortion.
I'd be happy to go into more detail if you have any specific questions.
C_16695661316173007019,pid:2138127948732253259,cs:1"]orange distortion pedal - Google Shopping
