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Bass Overdrive / Fuzz / Distortion
- Thread starter BaltBass5
- Start date
I tried this pedal a few years ago. Although it is very good, I just could not get along with the eq section. I hear they've modified that somewhat since then. Is that correct? Are you using one of the recent versions?
I've got the Snowy Elements. Fairly recent, 2-3 years old now. I'm the second owner of the Double Elements so I don't know how old it is but I suspect it is older than my white one.
The only update I'm aware of was some added gain, but that's not to say that the EQ could've been updated, too. Next time I talk to Dr Sci, I'll enquire about Elements through the ages and make some revisions here.
The only update I'm aware of was some added gain, but that's not to say that the EQ could've been updated, too. Next time I talk to Dr Sci, I'll enquire about Elements through the ages and make some revisions here.
A few more reviews:
Mad Professor Blueberry: LOVE this pedal as it can be used for everything from low gain warm tube drive right up to gnarly chaos. VERY versatile pedal which instantly appealed to me the first time I tried it and I have yet to get frustrated with the range of tone it provides. This pedal can really do it all from warm to bright and from mild drive to full blown. VERY tailorable pedal and almost all of it's sounds are useful. My ONLY negative comments are the red LED and the fact that it can be a bit touchy when dialing in sounds. Essentially a little movement of the knobs can yield pretty drastic results. Having said that, I'd rate this in my top 3-5 OD/Dist pedals and it's one I would never part with.
Big Ear Frank: Heard a LOT of hype about this pedal on TB so I picked one up. I was REALLY looking forward to playing with it and after about 2 minutes I was SERIOUSLY disappointed. It loses a LOT of low end, adds a lot of noise and just has an overall harsh sounding drive to it. I'm not sure if perhaps I have a lemon (I did notice that when switching the pedal on/off there is a SERIOUSLY LOUD "pop") but I couldn't find ANYTHING that this would be useful for on bass.
Mad Professor Blueberry: LOVE this pedal as it can be used for everything from low gain warm tube drive right up to gnarly chaos. VERY versatile pedal which instantly appealed to me the first time I tried it and I have yet to get frustrated with the range of tone it provides. This pedal can really do it all from warm to bright and from mild drive to full blown. VERY tailorable pedal and almost all of it's sounds are useful. My ONLY negative comments are the red LED and the fact that it can be a bit touchy when dialing in sounds. Essentially a little movement of the knobs can yield pretty drastic results. Having said that, I'd rate this in my top 3-5 OD/Dist pedals and it's one I would never part with.
Big Ear Frank: Heard a LOT of hype about this pedal on TB so I picked one up. I was REALLY looking forward to playing with it and after about 2 minutes I was SERIOUSLY disappointed. It loses a LOT of low end, adds a lot of noise and just has an overall harsh sounding drive to it. I'm not sure if perhaps I have a lemon (I did notice that when switching the pedal on/off there is a SERIOUSLY LOUD "pop") but I couldn't find ANYTHING that this would be useful for on bass.
There's really nothing wrong with the digitech bass driver. like the boss odb-3, some people like them and some people don't. even though the bass driver in my opinion is considerably tamed compared to the odb-3. some do consider it to be a beginner pedal due to it's digital distorted sounds, but some people who are advanced players actually dig this pedal for it's range of sounds. I've had one myself. it was my first bass distortion pedal and I did like the pedal for it's fizzy high-gained sounds. I've recently retired this pedal and purchased a markbass mini bass distortion pedal. I like this pedal for it's heavy grinding sound. it also sounds similar to the distortion channel of the fender rumble v3 bass amps. at least from my perspective it does. anywho, some people would say this pedal is a started pedal mainly because they started out using this pedal and then later moved on to newer pedals. if you happen to like it, that's cool. never let anyone else tell you otherwise.
Hey Crystalman85,
Thanks for the perspective. I can see picking one up used just to get started then something newer and voiced more 'now' after that.
Anytime, dude. some bassist start off with a certain pedal and then move on to something new.
This is EXACTLY correct. Ultimately gear comes down to YOUR ear and what you prefer. I have played pedals that cost $25 and pedals that cost $500 and price typically doesn't have anything to do with desired output. Cost is typically what the market is dictating (supply and demand) and of course quality of parts. These days there is almost NO reason to pay more than $150 for a QUALITY high end pedal unless it's some oddball that is no longer in production and highly sought after (ie...I paid $300 for an old DOD Meatbox). There are TONS of pedals out there that may sound harsh on their own but GREAT in the mix and vice versa. Play with what you can get your hands on and if it is appealing to you don't let anyone tell you otherwise (unless of course your whole band says it sounds like sh&t...lol) A LOT of innovative bass tones have been created using unconventional and "cheap" pedals.
Very good advice!
I'll pick up a Digitech used here on TB once I see one come up - Thanks!
I've got the Triumvirate. I quite like it. I also play electric, so I find it pretty handy that I can tweak some of the settings (or not) and it'll work for the electric too.
That's true. some affordable pedals do have great sound quality. I currently own a markbass mini bass distortion pedal and it costs about $110. I like this pedal for it's heavy metallic grind. also the sound quality of this pedal kinda reminds me of the distortion channel on the fender rumble v3 bass amp. it goes to show that when it comes to pedals, it really doesn't matter how much it costs. it's the sound quality that matters most. recently I've been thinking about purchasing an mxr m80. I originally wanted to buy one, but was advise not to purchase it. still, I'm curious about this pedal and would like to try it out if I happen to see one at a guitar center or a sam ash.
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Recently I've been interested in trying out the mxr m80. I've been checking out youtube clips of this pedal and I do like the distortion channel on this preamp pedal. I did wanted to purchase one at one point, but was advised by some members here to look for something else. they probably had their reasons why they said that, but other then that, I would like to try it out and see how it is. I think what really matters is what I think of it. If I see one at a guitar center or a sam ash, I would like to try it out. here's a cool demo of this pedal.
This clip sounds like it's an isolated track to a song. still it's a pretty cool demo. I'm thinking about purchasing one sometime soon.
This clip sounds like it's an isolated track to a song. still it's a pretty cool demo. I'm thinking about purchasing one sometime soon.
The MXR M80 is a GREAT pedal which I use regularly. Tons of world class artists use them as well!
I'm thinking about purchasing one sometime soon. that or save a little more on an empress heavy.
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So I've been working on getting my first real pedal in this realm, but always looking ahead for the next one (going to remix one of my songs that will require a most aggressive distortion sound), and would like opinions between these two pedals:
Aguilar Agro
IdiotBox Blower Box
Thanks!
Aguilar Agro
IdiotBox Blower Box
Thanks!
Both pedals sounds pretty aggressive. the aguilar agro has a heavy grinding distortion sound while the idiotbox blowerbox has a metal distortion kind of sound. perhaps these clips would help you hear the difference.
Aguilar agro
Idiotbox blowerbox
I owned a couple of drives and fuzzes over the last couple of years. I'd probably be wasting my time by saying that my first fuzz, an EHX BBM was not what I was looking for. I since moved on to a couple of pedals most of you might not have tried yet.
Pigtronix Disnortion - Actually a really surprising multi-distortion box that I actually liked quite a bit. Unfortunately, the Octavia side was pretty much useless if you mostly play rhythm lines like me, but I can really see how it can be useful to some players. The Fuzz was actually really nice for bass! Not terribly gainy, but had a smooth character and was really versatile with the 6 EQ selections added in. Some selections cut a lot of bass, others kept almost all the bass frequencies intact. If it wasn't for the lackluster Overdrive side on this massive pedal, I would probably have kept it. I just couldn't justify keeping such a large pedal on my board, but I have kept it for a good year before selling it on.
Tech 21 VT Bass v1 (used as on ovedrive) - Not much to say about this other than that I REALLY disliked the cab sim on it. The highs were either way too dull or far too sharp for me to get a nice sound out of. I liked the versatility, but if I ever get a VT Bass again (probably not), it's going to be one of the more recent models. Only get this if you can live with not being able to switch off the cab sim.
Blakemore Effects Deus Ex Machina (op-amp muff fuzz) - Actually great pedal, but the character of the fuzz just wasn't to my liking. It's great having a clean blend on a fuzz, because you're never lost in the wall of sound that is a muff. It was built extremely well, operated quietly and never let me down. I just never thought "wow, this is the sound I want" when using it. That's just how it goes! I'd recommend this to people who don't want anything less than the best in muff type fuzzes!
EBS Multidrive - I don't see myself selling this anytime soon. I actually see it just as much as a pre-amp/character pedal as the VT Bass: it works best when just slightly pushing into overdrive. It cuts off some of the highs in Standard and some more in TubeSim mode, but I play a lot of rock an indie and I guess that's considered a good thing in those genres. My Ampeg PF350 won't do overdrive by itself without pushing the volume too far, so this is my go-to pedal to get a little bit of drive on. I personally prefer the Standard mode, because it keeps most of the frequencies intact and doesn't boost low mids as much as the TubeSim will do. Never use the Flat mode, cuts too much bass for my liking. Simple and sweet, highly recommended for players who like to un-wimp their tone!
Earthquaker Devices Cloven Hoof - Ah, the "wow, this sounds incredible on YouTube" impulse buy. Was very impressed by the Queens of the Stone Age driven tone Andy got in the PGS demo of this, and also liked what Juan Alderete managed to do with it. Unfortunately, it wasn't able to fulfill it's promises for me: it cuts quite a bit of bass frequencies. It's manageable if you use it for lead stuff, but for rhythm, ehhh, skip it. If it had a clean blend, I'd probably like it more. But I think after selling this, the Blakemore and the BBM, it's time to say goodbye to muff-type fuzzes: they're probably just not my thing.
Tech 21 Red Ripper - Holy smokes, this thing does just what it says on the tin: it rips! No clanky VT Bass high-end here, with the EQ controls set to noon, your sound remains virtually unchanged. So you can use this as a straight-up overdrive to distortion without having to fiddle with the EQ, or you can be brave and shape this pedal to create a unique drive sound that's perfect for you. Plenty of gain on tap, but never harsh or highly compressed sounding: great!
But wait, there's more! This also has the RIP control on it. I guess the easiest comparison you can make would be a gated fuzz like for instance the IE Oxide fuzz. This is a tricky control though, because it responds to where you set your gain, and more gain does not necessarily mean more control on the RIP knob. It takes some time to set it up correctly, but if you manage to find that sweet spot (gain around 2 o'clock, RIP around 10.30 for me), you get a great synthy fuzz tone that instantly gets you into Jamiroquai territory: not highly aggressive, but very useable for many music styles. I've only gotten this recently, so I need more time to make a final verdict, but this is so versatile and so smooth, I think this will be staying for some time. Like synth fuzz or just a straight up distortion? Get this, and get it now! Heck, get two!
Pigtronix Disnortion - Actually a really surprising multi-distortion box that I actually liked quite a bit. Unfortunately, the Octavia side was pretty much useless if you mostly play rhythm lines like me, but I can really see how it can be useful to some players. The Fuzz was actually really nice for bass! Not terribly gainy, but had a smooth character and was really versatile with the 6 EQ selections added in. Some selections cut a lot of bass, others kept almost all the bass frequencies intact. If it wasn't for the lackluster Overdrive side on this massive pedal, I would probably have kept it. I just couldn't justify keeping such a large pedal on my board, but I have kept it for a good year before selling it on.
Tech 21 VT Bass v1 (used as on ovedrive) - Not much to say about this other than that I REALLY disliked the cab sim on it. The highs were either way too dull or far too sharp for me to get a nice sound out of. I liked the versatility, but if I ever get a VT Bass again (probably not), it's going to be one of the more recent models. Only get this if you can live with not being able to switch off the cab sim.
Blakemore Effects Deus Ex Machina (op-amp muff fuzz) - Actually great pedal, but the character of the fuzz just wasn't to my liking. It's great having a clean blend on a fuzz, because you're never lost in the wall of sound that is a muff. It was built extremely well, operated quietly and never let me down. I just never thought "wow, this is the sound I want" when using it. That's just how it goes! I'd recommend this to people who don't want anything less than the best in muff type fuzzes!
EBS Multidrive - I don't see myself selling this anytime soon. I actually see it just as much as a pre-amp/character pedal as the VT Bass: it works best when just slightly pushing into overdrive. It cuts off some of the highs in Standard and some more in TubeSim mode, but I play a lot of rock an indie and I guess that's considered a good thing in those genres. My Ampeg PF350 won't do overdrive by itself without pushing the volume too far, so this is my go-to pedal to get a little bit of drive on. I personally prefer the Standard mode, because it keeps most of the frequencies intact and doesn't boost low mids as much as the TubeSim will do. Never use the Flat mode, cuts too much bass for my liking. Simple and sweet, highly recommended for players who like to un-wimp their tone!
Earthquaker Devices Cloven Hoof - Ah, the "wow, this sounds incredible on YouTube" impulse buy. Was very impressed by the Queens of the Stone Age driven tone Andy got in the PGS demo of this, and also liked what Juan Alderete managed to do with it. Unfortunately, it wasn't able to fulfill it's promises for me: it cuts quite a bit of bass frequencies. It's manageable if you use it for lead stuff, but for rhythm, ehhh, skip it. If it had a clean blend, I'd probably like it more. But I think after selling this, the Blakemore and the BBM, it's time to say goodbye to muff-type fuzzes: they're probably just not my thing.
Tech 21 Red Ripper - Holy smokes, this thing does just what it says on the tin: it rips! No clanky VT Bass high-end here, with the EQ controls set to noon, your sound remains virtually unchanged. So you can use this as a straight-up overdrive to distortion without having to fiddle with the EQ, or you can be brave and shape this pedal to create a unique drive sound that's perfect for you. Plenty of gain on tap, but never harsh or highly compressed sounding: great!
But wait, there's more! This also has the RIP control on it. I guess the easiest comparison you can make would be a gated fuzz like for instance the IE Oxide fuzz. This is a tricky control though, because it responds to where you set your gain, and more gain does not necessarily mean more control on the RIP knob. It takes some time to set it up correctly, but if you manage to find that sweet spot (gain around 2 o'clock, RIP around 10.30 for me), you get a great synthy fuzz tone that instantly gets you into Jamiroquai territory: not highly aggressive, but very useable for many music styles. I've only gotten this recently, so I need more time to make a final verdict, but this is so versatile and so smooth, I think this will be staying for some time. Like synth fuzz or just a straight up distortion? Get this, and get it now! Heck, get two!
Does anybody OWN a Taurus Abigar?
If so, does it sound as good, or better than it does in this video?
If so, does it sound as good, or better than it does in this video?
Benjamin Wright
Commercial User
The SolidGoldFX Imperial is a killer fuzz worth checking out if you have not yet... jfet pre and a mids switch that scoops or boosts (depending on what you need to cut through and sit in the mix well). Here is a demo if anyone is interested!
Nice reviews. I plan to get an empress multidrive sometime soon. that or the heavy. my other choice would be a vfe triumvirate.
