Distortion on bass

[DoubleB]

i'm way into distortion, but i also like post punk, noise pop, goth industrial, and electro clash
considering that i'm in my 40s now i'm content overdriving a mesa d180 with a vintage L2000,
however if i was a strong young fellow i'd definitely get a meatsmoke and more speakers than two orange 115s

All of the above! Ditto man! I'm here because I'm just getting into bass...

BTW... love your work over at your website! Well done... I'm a fine artist (figurative, etc) but make a living as a AD, CD, ACD... working with Agencies as a visual designer for mobile apps and websites.

 

[Fuzzbass]

I'm lucky in that I play a bunch of genres in six regular bands plus sub gigs with 5-6 others. At minimum, I dial in a bit of overdrive for warmth for classic rock/pop/country/oldies etc. For heavier music I use outright distortion.

I was bummed at my multi-band gig last weekend where I had to plug straight into backline. Totally clean rig; I didn't have time to set up an overdrive pedal.

Don't get me wrong: that does NOT mean that I don't like the clean sound of my basses. To the contrary: love my clean tones. I just like warm/dirty tones better.

 

[socialleper]

I don't know whst "peng" means.
I use overdrive more than distortion, but there are some cases of it working really well. The thing is that distortion circuits tend to eat up your articulation and scoop your tone. It is a good way to disappear in the mix.

 

[Basstrax63]

I'm able to get a nice blend of clean and OD with my Pearce BC1, My Tech 21 VT Bass Deluxe gets some really nice tube like saturations as well! The overdrive on the Red Witch Bass Suboctave Drive sounds really intersting, would love to play around with that sometime!!

 

[mpdd]

After 26 years I finally got things dialed in:
TI flats
94 LB100 bridge unlocked
Diamond compressor junior
Mesa D180 moderate overdrive
Orange OBC115s

 

[Zomb13]

Bass distortion is the best. I have a huge spotify playlist devoted to it:

I just got an Earthquaker Monarch yesterday and I'm loving the grit and growl it adds to my tone, and it works very well running into my all-time favorite, the Blower Box. I might get a Line Selector to blend some clean tone in there because I love the sound of my amp by itself, but overdrive/distortion is great.

Thanks for posting this! I dig me some fuzz/od/distortion and this playlist is right up my alley.

 

[crabfunk]

Many guys use distortion effectively, but for me, anything past the Geddy grind, or Alex Webster, or Tim Commerford, is usually too much for me. And yet there are days when Geezer's tone on the first few Sabbath records is in heavy rotation.

 

[Kevin Colt]

don't use pedals, the cords always have a way of going south at the worst possible moment, kind of like the battery in active pickups, don't use those either. I do use on a couple of low power amps a tube pre amp that sets up on top. I can saturate/overdrive the tube (12AX7) in that with ease if I care to. some songs sound better like that. as a rule though, I play clean.

 

[bedrockhead]

I've never really liked distorted bass much past Billy Sheehan (which isn't much) but I still dabble with it just to see if I find that sweet spot. So far, I really just can't find a grindy tone that gets me going.

 

[ryco]

A little distortion sounds pretty good for that crunchy tone -- especially playing outside gigs. A bit more can sound good for bass solos. I use an old Rat™. Pretty much don't use it much anymore - but it's there if I need it.

 

[bassfreakah]

I have a old DOD milkbox compressor that if you turn the sustain up has a very cool distorted sound that is very cool and usable live. Distortion and compression go great together IMO. It is easy to find stuff that sounds good in bed room but live it has to be right with no time to twist knobs and bs around or you will get turned off in the mix and forgotton about. Thats why i suggested a tube svt and a p bass on my first post. It works and you can get some grind out of it that makes the sound man smile and the girls asses shaking.

 

[Kevin Colt]

I used to play through a west grande. that amp had a natural distortion. I think it was a class b amp and there was a tiny delay between phases to the output tubes. on a class a/b amp the phase is overlapped and you have to overdrive it to get the distortion. as it is, I used a tube pre-amp into a ss ampeg and overdrive the tube a bit to get it to mellow out.

 

[Aidenn7]

I’m a punk/related genres guy, and the only pedals I use are a tuner and a fuzz. I used to swear by Big Muffs, and I still love their sound, but the best sounding fuzz I’ve found in bass is the Frantone Peachfuzz. It has the most low-end and gain of any pedal I’ve ever plugged into... the volume doesn’t go above 8:00. It also has immense clarity for how dirty it is. Chords sound huge but not muddy. I get compliments on my fuzz tone all the time, and when I stomp it on at a show the whole room just FEELS it. I’ll never get rid of that pedal... might even buy a second one.

That is a muff clone. I think.. I have a lotone and bassweet

 

[johnk_10]

That is a muff clone. I think.. I have a lotone and bassweet

the peach fuzz has nothing to do with a muff circuit. it uses a dual opamp (TLC2262) into two LM386 poeramp chips. The frantone bassweet is based on a muff but is actually quite different sounding with its circuit tweaks.

 

[Aidenn7]

the peach fuzz has nothing to do with a muff circuit. it uses a dual opamp (TLC2262) into two LM386 poeramp chips. The frantone bassweet is based on a muff but is actually quite different sounding with its circuit tweaks.

I've read up a while.. the peach fuzz was a rams-opamp muff.. The bassweet was a bass heavy fuzz face/muff variant. The lotone was a classic transistor fuzz not a fuzzface tuned for bass.. I could be confused.. Lol

 

[crguti]

Distortion? yes, but with a clean blend.

 

[johnk_10]

I've read up a while.. the peach fuzz was a rams-opamp muff.. The bassweet was a bass heavy fuzz face/muff variant. The lotone was a classic transistor fuzz not a fuzzface tuned for bass.. I could be confused.. Lol

the peach fuzz was definitely NOT a Rams-opamp muff. there never was a Rams head muff that used IC's, and there's never been any muff that used LM386 chips in it.
Rams muff schematic:

opamp muff:

Frantone Peach Fuzz:

 

[Aidenn7]

Ok I see it now.. That's the one don't have.. And didn't danelectro clone it