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Boss BB-1-X Bass Driver!
- Thread starter Badmuthaplucka
- Start date
Totally love this pedal. IMO, it does not mess with your tone and gives you a different alternative to a Sansamp DI or MXR M80. So for the rock bass players I've shown this to love it. One of them wants to ditch his ODB3 for the BB-1x.
I just spent a bunch of time integrating an EBS Sheehan overdive into my pedalboard, loops and all. Picked up a BB-1x for light crunch/drive and am considering getting another for big crunch, ditching the loopfest and getting a smaller board....
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The drive sounds are a bit fake and overly synthy / fuzzy to me for an amp simulator, but it sounds decent at low gain. Definitely showing its ODB-3 heritage but the BB1X will be the clear winner for most people although it's not a VT Bass / Darkglass / Tonehammer killer to me. However, set to low gain I could see great value in using this as a DI with cab sim.
Just had one arrive and had a quick play (before swiftly selling it on!).
At low gain levels it's a great DI preamp box (if you get an XLR adapter) if you play with distortion and need a cab sim on your DI. At medium gain it sounds horrible to me and the blend really does sound like two separate signals. At high gain though, it's a fantastic fuzz! The fact that the treble control sounds like a resonant lowpass filter only adds to the synthyness (is that a word?). It can sound similar to the Diabolik at low squish settings in fact.
So this makes two mislabelled bass fuzz pedals now released by Boss! I'd keep this for fuzz if I didn't have a TAFM and Diabolik. I am keeping the ODB-3, which at high gain is a pretty extreme and unique pedal.
People will be upgrading from the ODB-3 to the BB1-X in their droves though, and for most people's purposes it's clearly the better of the two. But if you are looking for an overdrive/amp sim/DI, I'd take Tech 21 or Darkglass's offerings over this any day.
At low gain levels it's a great DI preamp box (if you get an XLR adapter) if you play with distortion and need a cab sim on your DI. At medium gain it sounds horrible to me and the blend really does sound like two separate signals. At high gain though, it's a fantastic fuzz! The fact that the treble control sounds like a resonant lowpass filter only adds to the synthyness (is that a word?). It can sound similar to the Diabolik at low squish settings in fact.
So this makes two mislabelled bass fuzz pedals now released by Boss! I'd keep this for fuzz if I didn't have a TAFM and Diabolik. I am keeping the ODB-3, which at high gain is a pretty extreme and unique pedal.
People will be upgrading from the ODB-3 to the BB1-X in their droves though, and for most people's purposes it's clearly the better of the two. But if you are looking for an overdrive/amp sim/DI, I'd take Tech 21 or Darkglass's offerings over this any day.
Buying two of the same pedal? Thanks for opening a new door in my mind...
Judging from the YouTube demos I watched of this pedal it does indeed sound really good, and it does a great job both as a preamp and as an overdrive.
Way better option for a bass overdrive than their old ODB-3 Bass Overdrive, that is if overdrive is actually what you are looking for, and not a fuzzy and fizzy type of distortion, which is really what the ODB-3 is.
Can't speak for how it sounds in a medium kind of gain setting, but judging from the YouTube demos I've watched where it's lower OD settings were demonstrated, to me it actually sounded really good for that slight breakup, touch of grain and hair kind of thing.
Still not the best option there is for that, but to me definitely good and way better than just decent.
Though I guess in the end that will be a matter of personal taste, I can only agree on your comments on the OBD-3 though, which has very little to do with an overdrive effect.
Way better option for a bass overdrive than their old ODB-3 Bass Overdrive, that is if overdrive is actually what you are looking for, and not a fuzzy and fizzy type of distortion, which is really what the ODB-3 is.
Can't speak for how it sounds in a medium kind of gain setting, but judging from the YouTube demos I've watched where it's lower OD settings were demonstrated, to me it actually sounded really good for that slight breakup, touch of grain and hair kind of thing.
Still not the best option there is for that, but to me definitely good and way better than just decent.
Though I guess in the end that will be a matter of personal taste, I can only agree on your comments on the OBD-3 though, which has very little to do with an overdrive effect.
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I own and use a TON of OD/Dist/Fuzz pedals. Depending upon what you are trying to do I’d say it ranks like this:
Natural low gain OD:
1. Way Huge Pork Loin
2. Darkglass B3K
3. Boss Bb-1x
High gain shred and tear:
1. CAL Holy Fire
2. Boss Bb-1x
Before anyone brings it up...The VT Bass is good...but if your playing Ampeg, what’s the point? Barbershop is useless IMO. Big Muff’s are too fizzy and harsh IMO.
I just revisited the BB-1X because I was actually in need of a DI and it appears to work great for what I need right now: Using it as a preamp/DI. Not for Overdrive.
EQ flat, Drive 9-10 o'clock, Blend at only 10 to 11 o'clock seems to be a sweet spot on my board.
Watching it on a visual EQ, I barely see it doing anything, but it makes everything sound a little fuller and bigger. Almost sounds louder without increasing the volume.
This updated BassPlayer review explains better what I mean:
https://www.bassplayer.com/gear/boss-bb-1x-bass-driver-review
I put an XLR adapter on it for the Line Out, which does have sort of a "Cab Sim". That's what I wanted. Cab Sim for the DI Out, but not in the Output to my amp.
EQ flat, Drive 9-10 o'clock, Blend at only 10 to 11 o'clock seems to be a sweet spot on my board.
Watching it on a visual EQ, I barely see it doing anything, but it makes everything sound a little fuller and bigger. Almost sounds louder without increasing the volume.
This updated BassPlayer review explains better what I mean:
https://www.bassplayer.com/gear/boss-bb-1x-bass-driver-review
I put an XLR adapter on it for the Line Out, which does have sort of a "Cab Sim". That's what I wanted. Cab Sim for the DI Out, but not in the Output to my amp.
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I have one of the original Bass Driver BB-1's from Guyatone. When they were made in Japan. Real tube sound! PM me if anyone is interested.
I wanted to love this pedal, but the biggest barrier for me is what you hear at 4:51 in this video. The author holds a note and this "BERYOW" sound comes screaming out of the amp. Maybe some people like that. For me it's a deal breaker. To be fair, it's at higher gain settings, but this sound is not something I look for in an overdrive and significantly restricts the usefulness of this pedal. It's almost like a half wave phaser effect.
Not sure what it is with BOSS and these pedals but as an aside, the ODB-3 ... what a misnomer. Any gain setting past 9 O clock is just distortion. Nothing subtle or 'overdrive' about it.
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Title to this short review: Best Overdrive Pedal I Ever Had!
This thing is incredible. Bought it a week ago and I'm still surprised with it's potentials. Along the last years, I tried a lot of overdrive pedals, like TC Mojo Mojo, Boss ODB-3, EBS Metal Drive (terrible... keep away), Ibanez TSU9B (useless crap.. to me).. Mojo Mojo and ODB-3 were on my pedalboard for a considerable time and and worked out very well to the sound of my band. Since we also play covers, some of them with low tune (D, C), those pedals had always a good response. ...Except for the noise coming from the OBD-3 in high gain situations.
But, BB-1X gives me more than a simple overdrive tone. Looks like it penetrates the entrails of the sound, giving body and substance to it. Besides, your bass natural tone stills there. While the other overdrive pedals in some situations delivers you a crazy bees sound, the BB-1X is a wild horse under your total control, so you can explore this pedal and use your crativity to create your tone. Another point is the versatility. Some pedals like EBS Metal Drive or Ibanez TSU9B are very limited, while this Boss unit allows you to adjust the tone according your needs. Will you play Queens of the Stone Age or some other stoner stuff? Here is your best goal. Some subtle overdrive to Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and other classic rock sounds? Here is the answer! Motörhead? Oh, boy!!!!
I total recomend this pedal. And with the MD technology and the preamp characteristics, I couldn't be more satisfied.
This thing is incredible. Bought it a week ago and I'm still surprised with it's potentials. Along the last years, I tried a lot of overdrive pedals, like TC Mojo Mojo, Boss ODB-3, EBS Metal Drive (terrible... keep away), Ibanez TSU9B (useless crap.. to me).. Mojo Mojo and ODB-3 were on my pedalboard for a considerable time and and worked out very well to the sound of my band. Since we also play covers, some of them with low tune (D, C), those pedals had always a good response. ...Except for the noise coming from the OBD-3 in high gain situations.
But, BB-1X gives me more than a simple overdrive tone. Looks like it penetrates the entrails of the sound, giving body and substance to it. Besides, your bass natural tone stills there. While the other overdrive pedals in some situations delivers you a crazy bees sound, the BB-1X is a wild horse under your total control, so you can explore this pedal and use your crativity to create your tone. Another point is the versatility. Some pedals like EBS Metal Drive or Ibanez TSU9B are very limited, while this Boss unit allows you to adjust the tone according your needs. Will you play Queens of the Stone Age or some other stoner stuff? Here is your best goal. Some subtle overdrive to Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and other classic rock sounds? Here is the answer! Motörhead? Oh, boy!!!!
I total recomend this pedal. And with the MD technology and the preamp characteristics, I couldn't be more satisfied.
Hello. I really like it. It is very organic and compared to Alpha Omicron i must say i really like it better for light/medium gain stuff, but there again AO is distortion and not overdrive...
This is a pretty interesting pedal, I mostly use it as a saturator to my clean tone. For instance: if I wanna play slap but there is old strings on my bass I just mix ≈10% of hi-gain tone to my clean sound and it sounds pretty good.
On this video I did that trick:
As an overdrive pedal I don't use it (fizzy), instead I use VT Bass which, in my opinion, is the best bass driver ever
On this video I did that trick:
As an overdrive pedal I don't use it (fizzy), instead I use VT Bass which, in my opinion, is the best bass driver ever
