• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Distortion Mega-Thread! User submitted Distortion reviews

#61
Anybody have anything to say about the distortions on non-pedal devices w/ distortion such as:

Rocktron Blue Thunder pre/multi
ART SGX Nightbass pre/multi
SWR Interstellar Overdrive
Tech 21 RBI
Line 6 stuff...

-nate...
 
#62
I use the Digitech Bass Driver at every gig and band practice. This is an awesome pedal at a price that didn;t eat my wallet. This pedal does what I tell it. Whether I want a smooth light blend of overdrive, no bull overdrive with growl to it, some angry roar, or all out fuzz-attack, my Digitech Bass Driver delivers. The Morph knob allows me to have the wide range of distortion. And that's what I like, options. I wouldn't go out and buy a cheap DOD Overdrive simple because I like more bang for my buck. Digitech I guess hasn't been around that long but it takes your bass to new levels.

At the gigs I have played at, I have used my pedal to make my sound more aggressive. The fans like it. They complement on how good my sound is.
 
#63
Alright, here we go. My first contribution to this 'mega-thread'.
Let me list the pedals I have owned and own at the moment.
Also some others that I tried.

Boss ODB-3
I only tried this one in the shop. Too harsch. Too thin. No warmth present at all. Higher gain settings made my bass sound like a distorted electric guitar. Not my thingie.

DOD FX91 Bass Overdrive
This was my first overdrive pedal. Note that. I thought it sounded quite nice when I first got it. Overdrive sounds and distortions are available. All in all this is a cheap beginners pedal.
Pro:
- cheap
Con:
- sucks out quite an amount of low-end... I can't imagine someone liking that
- feels like a toy, especialy the switch. I can see myself breaking the switch when kicking it in on stage. This is a common thing though with them newer DOD pedals.

EBS MultiDrive
The first really good sounding overdrive pedal I owned and still have. I have it for something like a year now. Quite expensive (payed over 200 euro's for it (new price)). This baby keeps the low end of the bass-signal. Very simple, yet effective pedal.
The switch lets you choose a sound-mode. I prefer the 'tube-sim' setting for the increased warmth. The 'Standard' setting is nice as well... more cutting. The third setting delivers a more fuzzy soundsetting.
All in all this pedal is worth all your money. Great results on both bass and guitar. From sweet overdrive to heavy heavy overdrive (not really distortion).

Pro Co RAT II
Guitar distortion pedal. Very nice over the top distortion sounds. Almost fuzz like. I like it although it cuts out lots of low-end on bass. I finally sold it because of the low-end drainage. Lower gain settings sounded also nice because of the added grit. Sweet. Someday I want that Robert Keeley modded RAT (with that nifty three-way switch).

Fulltone Bassdrive
I read everything about this one on this board and decided that I wanted one. Badly. I finally found on over here in Belgium; that took me quite some time because there's few dealers with Fulltone here.
Now, the thing that I like about this pedal is the two switches. Yes, two overdrives/distortions in one pedal. Quite compact also. The mode switch lets you switch soundshapes. Interesting. There's also a clean boost setting. Very nice. I love this pedal although I don't use it very often.
Very expensive though. Hi-end pedal.

Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi Russian Reissue
Classic fuzz/distortion box. Keeps the low-end very well imho. Nice pedal for standalone bass-parts. I can't use it in my band without getting drowned out by the guitars.
A keeper. Cheap and effective.

I tried a lot of pedals. I guess I'm through with them for now. No more 'real' gas for overdrive pedals for bass at the moment. Still on my to check list: DOD 250 Overdrive/Preamp, some Zvex stuff.
In my band I don't use an overdrive pedal at all and we play heavy rock/metal, stoner kinda songs that require overdriven bass imo... I just let my Ampeg do the overdriven sounds. Sounds better than any pedal imho. And guess what, I use a silly Boss GE-7 pedal to boost my amp into more overdrive.
 
#64
onother one for the pot:

LAL Green Monster Septic Fuzz

When I first took it out of the box and pluged it in, I thought it was broken... Really broken... But after some fiddlin and tweaking, I figured out how this best works... And MAN does it work!.. This thing has more fuzz tones than bucket 'o' peaches!.. Rotten peaches that is...

Here are what the controls do:

Level - what do you think?.. comon, really...
Sens 1 - this is a crackly circuit, very nasty
Sens 2 - this is a midrangy ear piercing fuzz
Sens 3 - finaly the nasty high gain fuzz, reminicant of a Suoer Fuzz.

But the beauty of it it, that each control effects the other ones entirely. They just don't increese the volume of each circuit - they intermodulate and decimate... ITS FANTASTIC... Kind of like a fuzz factory and wolly mamonth intertwined and butchered!!! You can get nice 60's fuzz tones, and 8 bit nintendo music fuzz tones out of it!!!
There is also a built in noise gate some some of the setings, but again - not one control is responsible for this they all play a part...

Alex
 
#72
Muddy? that's not good. Thanks Tecx

So an original would suit better than the reissue? Currently I have a Big Muff and Rust Ride, which I both love, and was looking for another distortion pedal with a sound that can't be gotten with either the Rust Ride or the Muff.

Any other suggestions for a good distortion with a unique tone that won't break the bank? I like clarity, and good reproduction of types of attack and settings (Rust Ride is great at this, Muff is a little sub par in this aspect)

If anybody thinks they know a pedal that fulfills those aspects, then I would appreciate it.
 
#73
Cool, I love my rust ride.... Thats cool that you have one...

Alex


abark000 said:
Muddy? that's not good. Thanks Tecx

So an original would suit better than the reissue? Currently I have a Big Muff and Rust Ride, which I both love, and was looking for another distortion pedal with a sound that can't be gotten with either the Rust Ride or the Muff.

Any other suggestions for a good distortion with a unique tone that won't break the bank? I like clarity, and good reproduction of types of attack and settings (Rust Ride is great at this, Muff is a little sub par in this aspect)

If anybody thinks they know a pedal that fulfills those aspects, then I would appreciate it.
Click to expand...
 
#78
Ibanez SD-9 Sonic Distortion. Not made anymore, but it's an older pedal (80 somthing, I think). It looks like and electronically is the bigger brother of the Tube Screamer.

I've had this for a while, but only had an active 5 to try it out with. Needless to say, I was glad I got it free.

I sat down with my passive 4 string, and gave it a whirl. Pleasantly surprised. It does suck the low end a bit, but no worse than most bass pedals do.

It's got a pretty broad range of distortions, from mild overdrive to a raging fuzz type sound. However, the distorion is one dimensional, and a bit middy sounding, even with the tone all the way down. Tone all the way up, it sounds... er, different. This is a guitar pedal though, so I'm forgiving.

Using the amp, I beefed up the bass, and it rocked pretty decently. The middy sound is cutting and fairly distinct, though. This would work well in a rock band.

Pros:
Surprisingly little low end loss
Good range of sounds
Sturdy
Simple
Good for 4 strings

Cons:
Middy sounding
Does have low end loss
Not true bypass (but matching levels is pretty easy)
Doesn't sit well with active basses
Loses definition on the B string

Overall, I wouldn't have felt ripped off paying however much Boss charges for it's bass pedals, but I certainly am glad I got it for free. If you see one, give it a whirl, I think you might be surprised.
 
#80
Hughes and Kettner Tube Factor.
I went on my own big conquest for the sound in my head. I finnaly defined it as my fender bassman turned wide open on eleven, but at a controlable volume. As I tried every pedal I could get my hands on, including guitar units (even though I knew they lacked bass response), I was greatly discouraged. waves of distortions, overdrives, and fuzzes. The last pedal was the tube factor. At last!!! The sound, and its beautiful too (nice blue glowing window to see the tube, surrounded by machined finished aluminum). It runs the 12ax7 at 290 volts, so its a happy tube. It gets a nice grinding growl on channel one (chris squire like), and buzzsaw almost fuzzlike distortion on channel two. It plays well with other effects and doesnt suck tone on bypass. Being as its made for guitar, I was skeptical of Bass response, but I was surprised. My 5 string was no less sloppy than normal. EQ on the bass has very postive effects on the sound of the distortion. It works well with passive pickups. I only have a preamp as a buffer, so I dont know excactly how it responds to totally active pickups. I assume good, since it has a 1M ohm input impedance. I was looking for a distortion that has the sound of a slow square wave occilation when playing low notes, and a fast one when playing high notes. (if that makes any sense). Drive, output, and voicing knobs. The voicing knob is some kind of knotch filter, the website is not very helpful on what excactly it is. Downfalls: Channel two is a much louder output, so its hard to switch to that after using channel one, unless +5db or more is a desired effect. Price, around $250-300 USD. I got mine for $150 used. I have to hail the Germans on this one.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back