Choosing an Overdrive pedal.... Help!

[cnltb]

I still like the barbershop.
Whilst I am still open towards and interested in trying others.
This one ended the 'search' for me.
For more tonal variety, the 4 eyes fuzz is really nice.

 

[Tom Bomb]

I've had my OD-820 purring over recent days. Putting it through its paces. It's a keeper

 

[Steve Dearnley]

Good for you for dumping the digital multi-effects cafeteria food! I would suggest you go with a nice Bass specific pedal. MXR, Darkglass, Electro-Harmonix, Boss, Ampeg, Aguilar, etc. Sorry if I left someone's fave brand out. Getting a "Bass" overdrive will eliminate problems with low end getting sucked away. This is why we buy them. Support your local Bass Pedal manufacturer! That's what I always say.

I am very much drawn to Electro harmonix stuff. I was looking at the Bass Soul Food but it doesn't seem to get much love, whereas the Crayon looks like it might be a bit more versatile.

Good for you for dumping the digital multi-effects cafeteria food! I would suggest you go with a nice Bass specific pedal. MXR, Darkglass, Electro-Harmonix, Boss, Ampeg, Aguilar, etc. Sorry if I left someone's fave brand out. Getting a "Bass" overdrive will eliminate problems with low end getting sucked away. This is why we buy them. Support your local Bass Pedal manufacturer! That's what I always say.

 

[Steve Dearnley]

I am loving these responses! So many names I am unfamiliar with, thanks everyone!

 

[HiEnd Basses]

I am very much drawn to Electro harmonix stuff. I was looking at the Bass Soul Food but it doesn't seem to get much love, whereas the Crayon looks like it might be a bit more versatile.

I've been all over with Overdrive. My absolute favorite and only one on my board happens to be the Electro-Harmonix Bass Soul Food. Many OD Pedals have a baked in sound. I now have an OD pedal that sounds like my Bass. It's taken me a few years to get to this realization, and I've stopped looking for an Overdrive. I've been disappointed with many Overdrive Pedals that aren't Bass specific, including the highly acclaimed Fulltone OCD. Sacrilege, I know.

 

[mcnach]

I find myself moving away from digital multi effects and concentrating on sounds I actually like and will use. At the moment I am on the lookout for a good Overdrive pedal, analogue with true bypass. Nothing fuzzy or especially harsh, more a Queens of the Stone Age or Black Sabbath kind of vintage, gritty drive. That's the core sound I am after, but if it has the capability to really push the distortion too that would be good, just in case I want to do that later. I *think* I have narrowed it down to three and just wondered what others experiences/thoughts are, thanks. I am looking at either an Electro Harmonix Crayon, a Palmer Ubertreiber, or a Joyo Ultimate Drive. I can't decide as they all seem good from the demos I have watched.... :-/

The Ultimate Drive is a nice sounding pedal let down by cheap switches. It can make a 'pop' sound sometimes. Sometimes.
The thing with it is that adjusting drive a bit has a big effect on volume too, and the tone knob is very effective, where by making it treblier you get a lot more noticeable drive... All that makes for a very versatile and good sounding pedal, but it's not the best choice if you need to adjust something on the fly live... doable, but it's rarely a simple "just tweak that one knob up a bit".

I would add the EBS Multidrive to the list. I find it to be very solid, very good sounding, and extremely simple. You don't get quite the wide range of sounds the Ultimate Drive can give you, but it's not far off. It replaced my UD in my pedalboard.

 

[JimmyM]

Ampeg Scrambler just hit some stores this weekend. Exactly what you're looking for and dirt cheap at $99!

 

[40Hz]

Support your local Bass Pedal manufacturer!

It is worth noting that with small shops like Southampton and Broughton Audio you can often get unique and customized effects for little more than what you'd pay for gadgets from the big manufacturers.

You do, however, need to be a little careful since there are also some 'local' small pedal makers that have a habit of taking money and not delivering; or stonewalling when it comes to defective units or providing repairs. So caveat emptor when buying from some of the newer and/or smaller businesses.

Always use your head when buying. If "local," which I'm guessing is a code word for "Made in USA" (whatever that means these days) is your thing, that's all well and good - as long as you understand that's a political rather than a technical decision on your part.

I prefer to shop and buy based on the merits of the product and the reputation of the maker. Because I don't have money to spend funding what sometimes amounts to little more than promises and the good intentions of a small business. And I've been burned a few times doing so. So that's something to consider when dealing with the newer smaller makers.

Back to the main question, my current preference for an OD is Southampton's Fifth Gear. Awesome pedal that sounds good no matter how you set it. Made by a small local (ok Canadian - but that's local enough for me) shop that also produces the marvelous Ictineo preamp.

If you don't quite know what you want for OD, about $100 will score you a VHT D-Drive. That's about as Swiss Army Knife (one of the 30+ tool models) an OD as you can find anywhere. I'm convinced just about any sound you can think of is lurking somewhere in that box. It has multiple and different types of diodes and allows for voltage sag settings. It can be a little tricky dialing things in until you suss it out and read the docs. But it's definitely a cool drive box. And hard to beat for the price. So I'll +1 with @Sunset Shalom on that one.

 

[SunnBass]

The free the tone Bass Blaster ended my search for bass overdrive!!!

Wow, that's awfully expensive for only having a 2 band EQ.
Must be amazing.

 

[sirplabassalot]

Bass is unique in how it distorts. Because you're distorting the lower frequencies the harmonics can change when distorted. So what that means is that bass sounds nicer with a tube distortion. Because the harmonics distort evenly. While with solid state distortion which is just normal distortion(they us transitors instead of tubes if we want to get nerdy about it) the harmonics distort unevenly, that's why a Boss OD sounds poopie through a bass, plus it sucks the low end. Anything tube screamer related sounds good, with a tube emulation circuit, distorts evenly. That's why darkglass and tech21 sound so good. If you want a good Queens of the Stone age and a Black Sabbath like sound, the Joyo Orange Juice stacked with the Green Legend would sound beautiful through a head with a bass bump or if you're willing to spend more money a tech 21 VT with the character rolled off.

 

[DirtyDuke]

Wow, that's awfully expensive for only having a 2 band EQ.
Must be amazing.

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It is!!! Here is another keeper. I have tried over 50 overdrives and distortions. Everything you can think off. All the major players and some of the off rarer stuff and the Free the Tone and triton have won every time

 

[SunnBass]

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It is!!! Here is another keeper. I have tried over 50 overdrives and distortions. Everything you can think off. All the major players and some of the off rarer stuff and the Free the Tone and triton have won every time

They both sound decent for sure.
Neither have a clean blend, which is a must for me.

 

[40Hz]

They both sound decent for sure.
Neither have a clean blend, which is a must for me.

You could always build or buy a blender box to use with it. It's a pretty simple device to make.

 

[SunnBass]

You could always build or buy a blender box to use with it. It's a pretty easy device to make.

Very familiar with this concept... I have a custom one from Saturnworks, and a Boss LS-2.
I have done a lot of blending with a lot of different distortions, overdrives, and fuzzes.

Trouble is, when using external blend, frequently distortion can sound 'added' instead of 'integrated'.
When the blend is built into the circuit, the two signals tend to sound less separated.

 

[40Hz]

Very familiar with this concept... I have a custom one from Saturnworks, and a Boss LS-2.
I have done a lot of blending with a lot of different distortions, overdrives, and fuzzes.

Trouble is, when using external blend, frequently distortion can sound 'added' instead of 'integrated'.
When the blend is built into the circuit, the two signals tend to sound less separated.

The trick is to sum to mono. If the circuit just buffers and balances between two channels there will be a sense the signal is separating.

I had an audio engineer explain to me why the psychoacoustics work that way. But it's been a long time and I'm sketchy on the details so I won't try to recap it because I'll probably get it wrong. It had something to do with how minute differences in levels makes a sound seem like it's spatially closer or farther away from the listener, and their brain tags them as two separate sound sources.

 

[Orion1985]

At first I was going to resist recommending my favorite pedal because I wasn't sure that it was quite what you were looking for, but since you mentioned the Bass Soul Food I'll take it as an invitation. The Bass Soul Food OD circuit is based on a Klon, as is my favorite OD, the Wampler Tumnus. Having owned both, I feel the Tumnus is significantly better, enough to justify the considerably higher cost. ($85~ v $170~)

You should also check out the Cog Effects Knightfall 66. It does a great job with light OD as well as really pleasant distortion. I haven't tried the mini version but if it is going to be your only OD pedal I would recommend going with the full size one, it has a second channel that you can select so you could have it set up to do light OD and distortion.

 

[Steve Dearnley]

I have really enjoyed checking out all these new options, thanks everyone! Weighing up cost, quality, sound and everything else all I have to do is pick one of these four: Electro Harmonix Bass Soul Food, Palmer Ubertreiber, T C Electronic Mojomojo or VHT V Drive. That being said, if I can free up a little more cash by moving on some obsolete gear I will add the Way Huge Pork Loin to the list. More to think about!

 

[DirtyDuke]

They both sound decent for sure.
Neither have a clean blend, which is a must for me.

To be honest, neither need a clean blend. Tons of low end on tap

 

[SunnBass]

To be honest, neither need a clean blend. Tons of low end on tap

Very cool.
I'm just obsessed with creating live, the sound I make in the studio. One clean and one dirty signal. I've tried to tell myself it's not a thing I have to do, but apparently this isn't so.
I would run two amps live if my bandmates would let me.

 

[cheechi]

New Damnation Audio MBD-1... The Bass Distortion Ive been waiting for!!
might also be worth a read. it's not inexpensive, but may be a good choice if/when you want to branch out to something boutique.