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Death From Above style Distortion tone in a Pedal

Which Distortion do you recommend for DFA toanz?

  • Total voters
    19
GeoKinetic

GeoKinetic

Feb 20, 2017
166
148
Sydney, Australia
#1
I know we've had this thread a lot, but no one has spoken about it in quite a while, and we've had a few new releases in bass distortion lately, particularly with all the darkglass stuff, so i figured I'd post about it again.

The title basically says it all, I'm a big DFA fan but I haven't found something that seems like it'll get me close based on soundclips and demos online. I've accumulated a small list of different pedals that I think might be able to give me the type of tone I'm after, I was hoping you guys could give me some commentary if you've had any personal experience with them, and basically maxing the distortion and other relevant settings on them, since most demos don't show that sort of stuff.

1. Tronographic Rusty Box - This guys has been mentioned a few times as able to give a DFA type of tone, especially since it's literally the preamp out of a solid state amp, so makes a lot of sense. I haven't heard any sound clips of it giving that tone though, and considering the price I definitely wouldn't get one unless I was certain it would give me the type of tone I'm after.

2. Wren and Cuff Two Five Drive - This one is basically brand new, haven't even found a soundclip of it yet. The 25V headroom that it has MIGHT mean that it can do something similar to the rusty box, but I really have no idea.

3. MXR M80 DI - Been around for a while now, but I'm not sure the distortion will get me to where I want to be, the EQ seems like it would help a lot though.

4. MXR M85 Bass Distortion - Rat based distortion, from what I've heard the top end is quite fizzy though, so not sold on this one.

5. Aguilar AGRO - Some people have described the distortion on this as 'dark', but I figured cranking the presence and contour to give a treble and high mid boost should help that (if I've read the specs correctly).

6. Anything by Darkglass - I don't have much experience with darkglass stuff, but something like the alpha omega / omicron with the bite and growl switches on and the utility of the mod knob seems like it might be able to get where I want to be (also since the DFA thing is 2 distortion tones out of different heads).

I know this post is long but I'd really appreciate the help, plus any recommendations of things I might have missed. Thanks a lot guys :D
 
#2
Big Game Solace State or if you can find a Big Game Cvlt. The Secret to that sound is really that its pretty much gain dimmed, plus he cuts a pretty decent amount of bass freq to the amps so its pretty much mids and up. Multi band dist or something with a clean blend should get you close.

This will give you a pretty good idea of his signal chain
 
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#3
Oh man the Solace State sounds crazy, definitely sounds like it'd need an EQ in front of it though. Thanks for the recommendation!

EDIT: Oh damn it's literally the distortion channel out of Jesse Keeler's Peavey amp, I've never seen it mentioned anywhere. Seriously considering buying one on the spot.
 
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#5
I started a thread on here last year and some of the builders that frequent TB came on and started talking about this. It was really cool. A couple of them built some pedals based off the Peavy amp that Jessie uses. Ryan @ Big Game came out with the F800B/CVLT and that was the one I ended up getting. Its tough to get a DBA sound out of a pedal. Jesse uses Dan Armstrong basses, Peavy and Acoustic amps and cabs. Even if you get all that you can get close but its plain tough to nail that tone IME. But the F800B got in me in the same realm. Ryan has since built a deluxe ver of the F800 as well as shrank it with the Solace State. Ryan is awesome to work with too. Very nice guy.

Link Removed
 
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#6
Kind of wish he still made the regular Cvlt, the ultra is big and pretty expensive, and I'm worried the solace state without the mids knob might require me to get an EQ or something. I contacted big game to ask them about this, hopefully I'll hear from them soon.
 
#7
GeoKinetic said:
Kind of wish he still made the regular Cvlt, the ultra is big and pretty expensive, and I'm worried the solace state without the mids knob might require me to get an EQ or something. I contacted big game to ask them about this, hopefully I'll hear from them soon.
Click to expand...

You could email him. See if he has plans to build anymore. I think he should too. I mean, I know it's not easy for smaller companies to start a regular line. But I always felt, since there really isn't a spot in the market anywhere for a pedal like the CVLT, he'd keep making and selling them.
 
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#8
I had a CVLT for awhile and foolishly flipped it (but I do that all the time). It was a very unique distortion that had a couple killer sweet spots. I agree with @gregmon79 that the DFA sound is a gestalt that is greater than the sum of it's parts.

Edit: Jesse Keeler states in the video that most of the distortion comes from the two amps he uses and that all those pedals just add color.
 
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#12
I'd get the 25 Drive and slam your amp into dirt heaven with it.. and/or other pedals.
Works great for me but I don't know if it will do the DFA tone or not, I wouldn't be surprised tho if it can.
 
#13
does he use the acoustic for distortion at all? I've owned a few vertical bar peavey guitar amps and bi-amped (and blew) them with bass and, while the intent was not dfa-ing, one that was a ton of fun and, I think got close to dfa was the bandit 112. You can probably get one to branch out from any given stereo or line selector pedal for less than most of these fuzz pedals.
 
#14
GeoKinetic said:
I know we've had this thread a lot, but no one has spoken about it in quite a while, and we've had a few new releases in bass distortion lately, particularly with all the darkglass stuff, so i figured I'd post about it again.

The title basically says it all, I'm a big DFA fan but I haven't found something that seems like it'll get me close based on soundclips and demos online. I've accumulated a small list of different pedals that I think might be able to give me the type of tone I'm after, I was hoping you guys could give me some commentary if you've had any personal experience with them, and basically maxing the distortion and other relevant settings on them, since most demos don't show that sort of stuff.

1. Tronographic Rusty Box - This guys has been mentioned a few times as able to give a DFA type of tone, especially since it's literally the preamp out of a solid state amp, so makes a lot of sense. I haven't heard any sound clips of it giving that tone though, and considering the price I definitely wouldn't get one unless I was certain it would give me the type of tone I'm after.

2. Wren and Cuff Two Five Drive - This one is basically brand new, haven't even found a soundclip of it yet. The 25V headroom that it has MIGHT mean that it can do something similar to the rusty box, but I really have no idea.

3. MXR M80 DI - Been around for a while now, but I'm not sure the distortion will get me to where I want to be, the EQ seems like it would help a lot though.

4. MXR M85 Bass Distortion - Rat based distortion, from what I've heard the top end is quite fizzy though, so not sold on this one.

5. Aguilar AGRO - Some people have described the distortion on this as 'dark', but I figured cranking the presence and contour to give a treble and high mid boost should help that (if I've read the specs correctly).

6. Anything by Darkglass - I don't have much experience with darkglass stuff, but something like the alpha omega / omicron with the bite and growl switches on and the utility of the mod knob seems like it might be able to get where I want to be (also since the DFA thing is 2 distortion tones out of different heads).

I know this post is long but I'd really appreciate the help, plus any recommendations of things I might have missed. Thanks a lot guys :D
Click to expand...
I think that'll be a tough one. He's got a very whacky setup. Last I saw he was using ampeg shortscale acrylic basses, two really old peavey amps with two giant and weird cabs with mismatched speakers and getting his dirt from the amps and the clean bass tone came from an Mxr bass preamp. Pretty cool band for just being a two peice
 
#15
Yep, traded my purple CVLT a few months ago.. but hopped on that CVLT Deluxe as soon as preorders went live!
Can't wait- the one I had paired REALLY well with my Rusty Box. The additional EQ should make things even better!
They're still available for order thru Big Game's website, last I checked. He sent out an email update and he's basically just waiting for the enclosures to show up, so the time for you would be like half as long as I've been waiting!
 
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#16
I have a darkglass b7k and I love that thing so much. And I get so many sweet tones out of it. It's a microtube preamp, so if you don't really want too much distortion ever it really crisps up your tone even with some dead strings.

And you can get a really aggressive tone as well. Lots and lots of bite. I also love how well it boosts the mids. Just that pedal alone is enough to cut through any mix or live performance. I use that pedal for anything from heavy aggressive distorted high mid tone for progressive metal to chunky grunty rock to a nice honky vintage tone. Nothing but great things to say about them.

In my near future definitely going to pour money out for a alpha/Omega
 
#17
Seriosly darkglass....lol if i'd get a $ everytime someone randomly recommends a b7k or whatever at whatever tone is asked for. "I need a phaser"
-"have you tried the vintage ultra?" Lol
Sorry but no at getting the dfa-grind from anything darkglass.
CVLT pedal or one of those peavy amps jesse uses. Then cut lots of bass and treble, boost mids to taste depending on bass used. It is sort of using a wah at a fixed point, distorting it, then using a 2nd amp for bottom only.
 
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#18
cataract said:
Yep, traded my purple CVLT a few months ago.. but hopped on that CVLT Deluxe as soon as preorders went live!
Can't wait- the one I had paired REALLY well with my Rusty Box. The additional EQ should make things even better!
They're still available for order thru Big Game's website, last I checked. He sent out an email update and he's basically just waiting for the enclosures to show up, so the time for you would be like half as long as I've been waiting!
Click to expand...
As far as I've seen, the Great Purple CVLT still resides on this side of the ocean, but I couldn't justify paying more (thanks to shipping and VAT fees) to get it back than what I originally traded it away for. I'm very excited to hear/ see the CVLT-D once they're in the wild, wish I could have gotten one myself :(
 

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