Boss vs. Ibanez

[BassPlayer364]

Which one shall I use for bass overdrive?

 

[CHILDISHGAMBINO]

Carrots.

 

[petrus61]

I wouldn't touch either with a 10 foot pole for bass OD.

 

[ProfFrink]

Overdrive-Pedals

 

[blindrabbit]

Which one shall I use for bass overdrive?

Definitely neither Tube Screamer, they'll suck away all of your low end.

I don't care for the Boss, but at least there will be some low end to it.

There are a gazillion other better overdrive pedals out there that are as easy to obtain and/or cheaper too, not to mention more expensive/boutique options.

 

[FaithNoMan]

I'm a Darkglass guy, but I do think the Tubescreamer looks nice.

 

[willbassyeah]

if i want an OD for bass and want something that is available from the mainstream market, it gotta be the Fulltone OCD

 

[jking138]

If you want an Ibanez Bass OD go with the PhatHed PD7. I had the Boss ODB-3 and much preferred the Ibanez as the has a little more variety than the Boss.

(Edited for spelling, whoops)

 

[GMC]

If you get a tube screamer...you'll need a soldering iron and some cap / resistor swap outs on the output filter. The Tube Screamer design has a High pass filter which is cuts at a bass sucky frequency of around 160hz. On a guitar it helps to tighten and brighten up the tone, but on bass...say good bye to your bass boom / strength. The other issue with the screamer, is that the stock op-amp isn't that great and there are loads of options with the diodes. So I personally would look up a custom Screamer (there are lots about) with some custom switching. I would choose one with an OPA 2134 Op-amp. I have two tube screamers, one is a bufferless Clay Jones clone, which doesn't have any output HP filter at all. The other is Screamer clone with an active Bass / Treble / Mid and mid freq tone controls. Out of the two, I prefer the Clay Jones. But in my opinion there are a lot of better choices for bass friendly overdrives out there. Some even work well with guitar and bass. Overdrives like the OCD, Barbershop, mojo mojo, Wampler Ecstasy, Timmy (very nice) and the list goes on.
There are other overdrives which emulate specific tube amps, like the Catalin SFT (like a farty SVT), Joyo American Sound (very nice) and again, the list goes on.

 

[Charley Umbria]

If you're dead set on an easy-to-find Tube Screamer, check out the Ibanez TS9DX Turbo Tube Screamer. The Turbo mode does a much better job of keeping the low end intact. I actually like mine a lot...

 

[winterburn69]

Carrots.

Dozens of better options out there.

 

[MoeTown1986]

If you're stuck on those 3, get the boss. It's made for bass. But, you really should do some research. There are dozens of great overdrives dedicated to bass. I personally prefer the EBS MultiDrive.

 

[BassBrass]

I'm thinking of selling my Wounded Paw Black Sheep (the pre scandal VW of overdrives) because the Beta and the Grizzly Bear are the Rolls Royce and Ferrari of overdrives. Ibanez made a Bass Tube screamer that had a blend and better low end. I wouldn't touch boss unless it was 1998. Plain tube screamer should go through a guitar amp leaving bass amp clean. That's how it was done in 1991 when there was nothing better.

 

[Fat Steve]

Joyo American Sound. It's the best $40 you'll ever spend on distortion.

 

[tpaul]

MXR?

 

[socialleper]

Tough call. Those are cheap and easily available, but not some of the better pedals out there.
The ODB-3 is closer to distortion and the blend isn't very useful. It sounds like something just sitting on top of your clean signal. If you want a scooped OD, go with this one.
The TS9 and TS808 are much more mid oriented and have more bite. They will also, as others have said, devour your lows if you don't use them with a blend. The TS808 is very close to the TS9, but I find it to be a little more refined.
I had a ODB-3 years ago and sold it. I have an Abominable Electronics Hellmouth which has both the TS9 and TS808 circuits with a switch, a gain boost, and an LED clipping section. It is far more useful than the originals, especially with a blend. It isn't easy to get and sells for $150 new. A used Fulltone OCD or a Fuzzrocious Demon is a good choice. If you can find a used Black Arts Toneworks Black Forest, it is also a pretty cool OD pedal.

 

[Mr. voodoobass]

If you want something tubescreamerish...
I'd say Rodenberg gas808b.
If Ibanez, the 9x mentioned before or the ts9b. But ts9b is nothing like the regular ts9, does slight grit and boost good but not full on distortion.
Damn there's like 50 better od-pedals out there than those in your poll...

 

[hintz]

There *is* a newer BOSS bass overdrive which is miles ahead of the ODB-3(at least judging from the demos!), where the ODB-3 is very fizzy and harsh this newer one is very smooth and natural sounding!!

*But*, if you really dig that TS sound there are much better options!! My favorite is my old DOD FX91 Bass Overdrive, had this since late high school and its pretty amazing, only downside is mines noisy!!

A close 2nd, the Fulltone Bassdrive, though they are discontinued and very pricey now!! The Source Audio OFD has a great TS channel and much, much more(including blend and all kinds of options for tweaking)...

All the demos I've heard of the Ibanez Bass version TS sounded great to me, but I've never tried one, I was tempted to get one, IIRC it has clean blend and EQ...

There are also many boutique clones that are bass friendly but can be more pricey!!

 

[toddbooster]

Wait, what about the TS9B?

 

[Fingerpickingood]

Joyo Ultimate Drive. It's a clone of the Fulltone OCD. I purchased mine on eBay, brand new, for $28.