Clean Blend as a polarizing issue

[MGR]

In my travels thru the craziness that is pedal buying, I am finding that there are two fairly distinct camps with regards to bass distortion.......those who want a clean blend and those who seem virulently against the idea.

Now, I'm an agnostic on this one....I'll admit, I don't own any clean blend OD pedals, and some of the ones I've heard (which shall remain nameless) sound like the two signals don't really work together.

But I've also heard the B3K, which I love the sound of......

So my question is really aimed at those who feel strongly one way or the other.....and most importantly WHY you feel this way. This thread is not intended to troll, and it is not intended to be a bash fest.

 

[jerrod]

I have always been kind of mixed on the idea. The bottom provided by a clean blend can be great but I do agree that a well done OD, fuzz, distortion that is thick and deep without a blend is better. I prefer a low passed blend over a full range since the mixing of the clean signal sounds smoother to me. But here is a awesome aspect of blend that I haven't seen touched on to much. Stacking dirt. Stacking into a blended pedal is a lot of fun since the blend is now (at least the way I do it) going from a mostly overdriven to balls out clipping. It's a fun way to take advantage of a blend or independent levels and push different tones into the mix.

 

[bcoomes]

I'd much rather have an OD or fuzz that holds the low end than one that requires a blend knob. To my ears, most dirt boxes with a blend knob sound like a clean signal with a swarm of bees hovering over it. That being said, I find a blend knob very useful on lots of other pedals (octaves, delays, reverb, chorus, etc).

 

[Matt Dean]

I'm not so fond of clean blends on OD or certain distortions (like the W&C TFR), but do like clean blends on fuzz and other certain distortions (like the MXR M85).

So, I think it ultimately depends on the pedal and how the drive control maintains the low freqs.

 

[silky smoove]

I'd much rather have an OD or fuzz that holds the low end than one that requires a blend knob. To my ears, most dirt boxes with a blend knob sound like a clean signal with a swarm of bees hovering over it. That being said, I find a blend knob very useful on lots of other pedals (octaves, delays, reverb, chorus, etc).

I agree with this 100%

 

[VincentGrim]

The only clean blended pedals I've ever liked have been Darkglass. The VMT is way awesome, and (not darkglass) I really want to try the MXR bass distortion...That being said, my overall experience with pedals that rely on clean blends is that the blended clean signal cuts through and nothing else. If I'm turning on a distortion I want everyone to know it.

 

[Yools]

I'm going to buck the trend and state that I really don't like distortion on bass unless it is run parallel with a good clean signal. Even with boutique pedals that manage to distort the low end. That being said, I agree with bcoomes that pedals with built-in clean blends always sound like two separate signals instead of a good distortion tone with lots of low end. For years I used a stereo rig with a guitar head for distortion and a bass head for clean lows; now I split my signal on my pedal board, run one channel through a bass eq pedal (with a low-mid boost), then run the other through a guitar eq pedal (with lows rolled off and a big upper mid/high boost) and run that signal into my Fulltone Bassdrive and other effects. I mix the signals together and send the final signal to my amp.

I use the eq pedals as buffers and to get the different signals at the proper levels. For me it works great, and it fits into the mix with my band (one loud metal guitar player and a brutally loud drummer) really well.

-Y

 

[Bassmike62]

I'd much rather have an OD or fuzz that holds the low end than one that requires a blend knob (...) That being said, I find a blend knob very useful on lots of other pedals (octaves, delays, reverb, chorus, etc).

For me, totally this.

 

[dannybuoy]

I'd much rather have an OD or fuzz that holds the low end than one that requires a blend knob. To my ears, most dirt boxes with a blend knob sound like a clean signal with a swarm of bees hovering over it. That being said, I find a blend knob very useful on lots of other pedals (octaves, delays, reverb, chorus, etc).

Agree... I do not use/want a clean blend on low gain overdrives or amp simulator type pedals. I've tried a blend with the VT Bass, SFT, Blueberry, BB Preamp, etc, and they all sounded better without it.

BUT!

I want a clean blend not as a crutch for bringing back lost low end, but to add back some dynamics to a heavily squashed/fuzzed signal. Blending in clean with a Russian Big Muff on max gain for example; it doesn't need the extra low end per se, as there is plenty there; but the blend helps bring out the attack, bringing the thump. The Team Awesome Fuzz Machine is a great example of a clean blend done right, where the signals blend together seamlessly.

Also, distortion sounds totally different, i.e. less mushy and more guitar like, when fed a high-passed / band-passed signal. Layering this with clean can sound pretty good, like the Ashdown Hyperdrive. If the drive section on that pedal for example was full range and there was no clean blend, it would not sound anything like it does.

 

[Dave W]

I'd much rather have an OD or fuzz that holds the low end than one that requires a blend knob. To my ears, most dirt boxes with a blend knob sound like a clean signal with a swarm of bees hovering over it. That being said, I find a blend knob very useful on lots of other pedals (octaves, delays, reverb, chorus, etc).

This

 

[Downunderwonder]

Lots of OD pedals don't blend well with full range clean.

My high/low crossover split and remix puts effects onto the highs only.

 

[Nephilymbass]

I've gone back and forth. Depends on the goal of the sound. If I want the dirt to add to the sound I go blend(this is what I'm currently using)
If I want the bottom end to be dirty to change the bass tone completely I won't use a blend.

Right now I have a tech 21 gt2 and am using a boss ls-2 as a blend. I like that I can cut some lows from the gt2 and dial it in for more of a guitar like sound but using the ls-2 I can mix in my bass tone and it sounds like bass and guitar together. I recently started using the gt2 and ls2 in combination with a nano pog to only shift the dirt up an octave (leaving the bass tone at the original pitch) for a royal blood/Apollo run type of fake guitar type of vibe.

Really other than chorus im not a huge effects guy most of the dirt stuff I do is to try to fill out the sound in my one guitar band. Although I like to goof around with other pedals (delays, reverbs, phrase samplers) from time to time for fun, dirt chorus and compression are really the only effects I've used when recording

 

[JimmyM]

I hate that "bees in the background" thing with a lot of pedals that do clean blend, so I've tended to shy away from them and use pedals that don't need it. But some pedals sound a lot better with a clean blend than others, so now I just try to get those pedals plus I've found having some clean blend allows you to change your sounds on the fly more drastically without screwing up your volume levels, so now I don't sweat whether it needs a clean blend to work.

 

[gregmon79]

I too prefer a pedal that can handle the low end alone. I've even had a separate clean blend and while I liked it, with my OCD, I didn't like the idea of using it. It did do wonders for the OCD though I'll admit. But most times the clean takes away from the "natural" state of the dirt IME.

 

[cnltb]

On overdrive, distortion and fuzz pedals, whilst open to the idea, I am no fan of blend pots. I just haven't heard a pedal of this category I liked.

Makes a lot of sense on octave pedals though.

 

[Jazz Ad]

For a long time I was against it and defended that if it needed a blend, it was badly suited for bass.
Nowadays, I will use whatever sounds good to me, aim at bass or guitar and will clean blend to taste in order to retain my lows.

 

[MGR]

OP here. Thanks for the responses. Like I said, I am agnostic. My main dirt pedal is a Swanson Superfuzz, which is about as basic as it gets. I love it. I did, however, recently order a VFE Triumvirate which sort of merges the idea of clean blend/no clean blend in a very elegant way. I'm very much looking forward to trying it.

 

[Shardik]

I actually am very much for dry/wet blend on ANY effects pedal. To me it is not only about keeping low end, but also definition (which is obviously higher in frequency).

I am hard pressed to come up with any effect where this control wouldn't be useful. For those who do not want any dry, there is no problem going "all wet" with such a control. I often think full on effects are cool when noodling alone, but with a band, there is another story. The fundamental bass sound is often needed as a sonic foundation.

 

[TheCrimsonKing]

Better to have it and not need/use it than not have it and realise at some point down the line that that's a sound you really want.

 

[father of fires]

I hate my clean tone. I want a dirt pedal that has plenty of lows. I usually find clean tones distracting. Plus in a dense mix you mostly can't tell.