Best bass overdrive?

[Jebberz]

Also, I forgot to mention that the tone I get is not the prettiest alone, but blends and shines perfectly in my band setting. I guess the story would be different if I was figthing for the same frequency range with other instruments (if a too loud guitarist would use a TS too), but in my case, the guitar player does not use a TS overdrive, and also pays attention not to have his amp to loud so the FOH sound is well balanced.

 

[BaltBass5]

So I am really into OD pedals and have owned / tried out hundreds. I can say that a lot of the ones that people swear by just didn’t cut it for me: Barbershop, OCD, Sparkle Drive, Spark, due to low end loss or just fizzy sounding etc…

Of course OD’s are going to react differently based upon passive vs active basses and what amp you’re using.
I can tell you that the only 4 that ever worked great for me regardless of bass or amp were: Pork Loin, Holy Fire, B3K, Alpha Omicron.

 

[Killens84]

Also, I forgot to mention that the tone I get is not the prettiest alone, but blends and shines perfectly in my band setting. I guess the story would be different if I was figthing for the same frequency range with other instruments (if a too loud guitarist would use a TS too), but in my case, the guitar player does not use a TS overdrive, and also pays attention not to have his amp to loud so the FOH sound is well balanced.

This is something that took me several years to learn. A bass tone that best slots into a dense band mix may not be the best standalone tone at home. That especially holds true for overdriven tones. I have to remind myself that the unpleasant overdrive sound I hear when playing by myself at home is going to sound great with the band at the gig.

 

[H K]

Hot Wax by EHX. Hands down in my opinion. It's a double distortion too, and theres tons of options on it to find your sound.

 

[kmon]

for adding some grit and just making things sound a little meaner I've stuck with a bass soul food far longer than anything else...

 

[groovaholic]

Only 5 pages so far? Folks must've been sleeping or something - considering what yesterday was, I blame cannabis...

Joking aside, there will never be a consensus because overdrive is such an individual taste.

@johnk_10 has tested and/or built literally hundreds of overdrives and has chronicled that quest on his website; it's a GREAT resource.

I've built about a dozen overdrives, and bought/sold probably 20 - and my favorites very rarely get mentioned.
I don't take it personally - they only have to work for me, and they do!

 

[Solude]

Although a low gain drive can be dialled in, it’s not really an overdrive it’s a primarily a fuzz.

Doh! That explains it then. Fuzzes and I don't get along. Just too far from "natural" bass guitar sound for my ears.

 

[theunknowndude]

I’m with the above - so many options and so may I have tried but the cog mini 66 and the damnation audio mbd1 are the ones that have stayed!

 

[groovaholic]

The Nobels ODR circuit is actually fantastic on bass, and to me sounds better than just about any other overdrive I’ve tried (and I've tried a lot). I personally really love the Wampler Belle (which is Wampler’s take on the ODR). It isn’t going to be mentioned very often, though.

Cool to see I'm not the only one who loves this pedal on bass!
I'd heard that the Nobels sounded great but the build quality was questionable, so I started with the Visual Sound Open Road which is their take on the ODR-1, but built like a brick "outhouse".

I loved the Open Road, but at times it could be a little compressed for my liking.
Around the time I was using the Open Road as my #1 overdrive, I went down the rabbit-hole with building overdrives based on Aion Electronics circuit boards.
I saw that Aion had an ODR-1 model, so I built that but played around with a lot of capacitor and diode values and combinations to get the voice and attack the way I wanted.
That was 2016, and that ODR-based Aion is still on my board, along with another ODR that I built for lower gain.

 

[arepa_funk]

Can't say best, these are some I've had or currently have.

Way Huge Pork Loin (no JohnK mod)
SSBS Mini
Jam Lucydreamer Bass OD

SSBS Mini is the best for my own needs. I have the Jam on my small board and really dig it too.

Broughton preamps have great OD flavor as well, SV-PRE especially imo.

 

[HolmeBass]

The Nobels ODR circuit is actually fantastic on bass, and to me sounds better than just about any other overdrive I’ve tried (and I've tried a lot). I personally really love the Wampler Belle (which is Wampler’s take on the ODR). It isn’t going to be mentioned very often, though.

Veeeerryy Iiinteresting...

 

[Raoul_Duke]

This is something that took me several years to learn. A bass tone that best slots into a dense band mix may not be the best standalone tone at home. That especially holds true for overdriven tones. I have to remind myself that the unpleasant overdrive sound I hear when playing by myself at home is going to sound great with the band at the gig.

Absolutely! Some of my favorite recorded overdriven bass tones sound like butt when you isolate the bass track. Sometimes the awful fartlike stuff is what pokes through the mix in all the right places.

 

[Zak TMD]

Here's another thread with more opinions you can look at: Hit Me with your Fav Dirt

 

[mojo76]

Poison Noises The Crook is really good and only $99

 

[shizzle]

I have the Way Huge Pork & Pickle, and I love it. There's a lot of versatility that I could probably be tapping into with it, but honestly I found one setting that sounds great and just use the heck out of it.

 

[Chamber]

EAE Model feT. Recently bought this one. I NEVER thought a pedal could dethrone my RAT but here we are.

 

[G.Bisson]

Tech 21 Bass Drive & VT Bass
EHX Hot Wax
Keeley Super Phat Mod
EBS MultiDrive

 

[knigel]

just trying to get a general consensus here…

lol

 

[maplebar]

Favorites of mine:
Way Huge Pork & Pickle
Aguilar Tone Hammer (AGS engaged)
EQD Bellows (with the drive around/below noon)

 

[jmattis]

I know you've already gotten 100 different answers, but the DOD 250 is such an underrated drive for bass. It's inexpensive, it's fool proof (with just two knobs- gain and level) and it sounds great. I really despise having to tinker with drive pedals because every room has it's own intricacies, and its so easy with the 250. It's outlasted a bunch of other drive pedals on my board.