When I wanted to try out distortion with my bass, I first tried out my brother's ditortion pedal (he's a guitarist)... a Nobels DT-1...I liked it (though I didn't fool around with the settings or he'd kill me) so I bought a similar pedal -- the Boss DS-1 distortion ... I know it's a guitar effect, but I got it for really cheap and it gives me a good fuzz/overdriven tone (like Jack Bruce--my idol)... I just keep the Tone all the way down or my bass starts to sound like a really bad analog recording ... I imagine this must be similar to the bass overdrive
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BOSS Bass Overdrive pedal (ODB-3)
- Thread starter jrthebassguy
- Start date
Just wanted to add, that the way ODB-3 sounds depends on setup greatly (which is not actually a surpirise). I've tried an old Ibanez Roadstar II bass with it, into a huge Trace Elliot amp, and I managed to get EXCELLENT sound out of it. I told once it was not what I had expected... But this time it was MORE than I would ever expect: I just hadn't imegined such sound before. Really growling. Really scary 
I just bought an odb-3 pedal and have only gotten a chance to try it out loud this morning. I wasn't expecting anything great but figured i would try it out. I am pleasantly surprised. I have an old kramer bass w/ fender lace sensors through this to an old SVT to a nemesis 8x10 and it sounds really good to me so far. I have a big muff and a rat but still wanted a bit smoother distortion that didn't get really out of control when i turned it up louder and i think this may do the trick. The blend control seems to really help keep the sound smoother and not complete mush and the seperate bass and treble controls are a lot nicer than the normal simple tone control. We'll see after more playing around w/ it but my first impressions are good.
Thanks to everyone that had input on this pedal. It has helped me make up my mind to order one. I think with the knowledge gained (settings, EQ) I can benefit from it.
You need patience really alot of patience with this pedal, with enough tweaking ull be able to get what u want, it does the flea thin the cliff burton thing the muse thing the who thing anything! *_* but it needs ALOT of time tweaking which is a pain in the arse....
and BTW the booklet was written by like aretarded monkey the presets are horrible
and BTW the booklet was written by like aretarded monkey the presets are horrible
I've just got one of these beasts and found that if I have any form of brightness/bass boost (on my Markbass this is controlled by the single "VLE" nob) that all I can get is this horrible, unusable, buzz-saw sound. I even had the unit exchanged, it was that bad. I also tried the unit through a Peavy Mark 4, same problem, though I'm not sure what the EQ settings where. I finally discovered what the problem was and now I'm happy with the range of sounds I can get out of this thing.
In my search for an OD pedal I did try various pedals, including some expensive ones with valves designed for guitars. I found that though these can provide the required level of overdrive/distortion they also tend to suck out any decent tone that you might have spent thousands of dollars on achieving.
One other use for this pedal is to turn down the mix so the signal has no OD and turn up the volume level control so when you're about to leap into that next earth shattering solo you can step on the pedal and give yourself an appropriate volume boost.
HTH
In my search for an OD pedal I did try various pedals, including some expensive ones with valves designed for guitars. I found that though these can provide the required level of overdrive/distortion they also tend to suck out any decent tone that you might have spent thousands of dollars on achieving.
One other use for this pedal is to turn down the mix so the signal has no OD and turn up the volume level control so when you're about to leap into that next earth shattering solo you can step on the pedal and give yourself an appropriate volume boost.
HTH
The ODB-3 is NOT popular in this forum, but it IS an industry standard used by a huge number of working bassists in a wide variety of musical styles.
It is poor at emulating tube distortion, and can sound sterile when used with a solid state amp. It's not a simulated tube overdrive. It is part of the Boss OD pedal series, which are designed to push the REAL tubes of a guitar amp. It's not surprising that the ODB-3 sounds best when used with a good old fashioned tube amp. Better than most bass ODs twice its price.
It is poor at emulating tube distortion, and can sound sterile when used with a solid state amp. It's not a simulated tube overdrive. It is part of the Boss OD pedal series, which are designed to push the REAL tubes of a guitar amp. It's not surprising that the ODB-3 sounds best when used with a good old fashioned tube amp. Better than most bass ODs twice its price.
I've been using one for near on 12 months and agree it is better than many more expensive rivals out there. Overdrive & fuzz type effects are really a personal taste thing though.
What one fella loves could be bitterly irritating to the next.
I like how you can blend as little or as much dirty as you need without losing any low end.
What one fella loves could be bitterly irritating to the next.
I like how you can blend as little or as much dirty as you need without losing any low end.
Wow this is like hopping in a time machine and having a conversation with a younger me who's just getting into bass effects. NEATO
Bleh, I hate these distortion pedals. The one I used just sucked all the low end out and made it sound buzzy and crappy. Honestly, I couldn't get a tone I liked out of it.
I just got a Fulltone Bassdrive and I'm MUCH more impressed.
I just got a Fulltone Bassdrive and I'm MUCH more impressed.
This was my first pedal, I also brought it when I was 13, that was a good few years ago now, I realized that it wasn't what I was looking for, there are better overdrives and distortion pedals out there that aren't much more expensive, of you take a bit more time listen to some clips on the wiki. And then decide what's best. I've wasted a bit of money being impulsive including with the ODB-3
I have the boss overdrive pedal. I bought it about 5 years ago. I hardly ever use it but im glad i have it. Sometimes I'll whip it out when im goin for a fuzzy sound. I'm glad i bought it and would recommend it. I think its important to have an overdrive pedal in your arsenal.
