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distortion and fuzz pedal suggestions?

#3
DOD Boneshaker - a DOD 250 heavily modified with bass and baritone guitars in mind. EQ section works between gain stages.

Maxon D&S Reissue - an EHX Ram's Head Muff with a lower noise floor and modified tone sweep.

MXR Bass Distortion - a Fuzzrocious modded RAT with normal and turbo modes, and a clean blend.

DOD Carcosa - the anti-Muff fuzz. My favorite bass dirt. Has annihilated all challengers.
 
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#6
I'd say 4 eyes, but that#s no longer in production.
The pedal I have had more fun with than with any other, is the unpleasant surprise.

That said: What are you in to/do you feel you need?
What rratajski said.
 
#7
Whatever sounds you're after, look into my current favorite, the Source Audio Aftershock. You can put three different sounds on it and switch between them with a toggle. But more than that you can plug it into the free app (desktop and mobile) and either download sounds that others have created and published, or create your own with a sophisticated set of parameters. It's flexible in the extreme.
 
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#8
Ideally something with a blend knob for fuzz.

I dig these TAFM because they have mids switches and lots of other control, but a classic Bass Big Muff is an inexpensive good start (particularly on the used market) >
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Distortions vary as well, but there's only so many circuits that everything new is derived from. Check out the JHS Video Blog 'the history of distortion' on YouTube, as that may be helpful to see which types most tickle your fancy.

I read so many great things about the Source Audio stuff, but I'm not gotten into the whole computer generated tone shaping and beaming it to my pedal thing. I have a few TC Electronic boxes that I've never plugged into thier App as it is. That's just me being old, but you may dig it.

My first dirt was a Boss ODB-3 which I personally wouldn't recommend, but I see a lot of bass players still using them. I guess it depends on the rest of your setup as well, but it wasn't until I started running a parallel clean signal that I felt it was usable, even though that one does indeed have a Blend knob.

Good luck in your search! :bassist:
 
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#9
catcauphonic said:
I read so many great things about the Source Audio stuff, but I'm not gotten into the whole computer generated tone shaping and beaming it to my pedal thing.
Click to expand...

If you mean digital versus analog dirt, I totally get it. It's usually not as good. It doesn't have the same character. But sometimes it is as good, or better. And sometimes it does have that character you expect from analog gear. I'm reminded of all the times I went perfectly clean into the recording desk, knowing that the producer had every amp and cab sim, every effect, an entire tone stack to make me sound like whatever the song required. And that nothing on my board was better than what he had at his disposal. And then reminding myself that his stuff was all digital and mine was analog.

I once asked the president of Source Audio how in heck they do it. How is their stuff so good. He was pretty clear with his answer. Essentially, he told me he has the best engineers. Cats that have had their heads in this stuff since they were doing it at Kurzweil. The best. And I believe him.

But if you just mean downloading stuff with an app and synching it to your pedal, well you don't have to do it every other week. Jump on, spend an hour perusing different sounds, put the three on the pedal that you like the best. Done. Maybe revisit it in six months or a year. Or never. The point is you do have a lot of choices.
 
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#10
Oh I'm not disputing that the variety of great sounds are in there. I'm no stranger to using computers, you nailed it with the last paragraph for me... The only puter related stuff I do with bass is TalkBass.com :rolleyes: but it's a pedal that's worth mentioning as the OP may very well have a ball with that sort of thing. AND we'll probably be seeing more manufacturers going that way in the not too distant future.
 
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#17
Source Audio Aftershock. Great price. Near limitless flexibility. The age of bad digital distortion emulation seems behind us.

Damnation Audio MBD. Incredible low end preservation, low end saturation, and color overall
. Personally have 5 sweet spot settings memorized with this pedal. Each one has its own purpose and sounds fantastic.
 
#20
My current favorite Pedal is the DOD BoneShaker. It's also one of the lowest priced pedals around.

The trick to this pedal is controlling the input volume. If you have to keep your basses volume maxed out, then the Boneshaker may not be for you.

Actually many pedals are that way. The key is finding the sweet spot where you can dig in just a little bit more and "activate" the distortion.
 

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