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Fuzz/OD/Distortion pedals that doesn't cut low end

#21
I recently tried:

- Xotic Bass BB - Amazing at low to medium/heavy OD. Can ADD bass AND treble to your sound. Can be mellow and vintage or more HiFi and modern (which is what I was after to add some trebly 'bite' to my rig - This one was a keeper for me)

- Way Huge Pork Loin - Amazing at low to medium/Heavy OD. More of a vintagy vibe to the sound. Not nearly as HiFi as the BB can get, warmer and a bit deeper sounding overall. VERY nice at what it does. Sounds fabulous, just wasn't what I was after right now. Retained bass very well.

- Catalinbread SFT - I thought it had a very similar sound to the WHPL overall. Again, great at what it does, just not what I needed. I think I liked the WHPL more for this sound, but I can't really put my finger on why. I'd be happy with either if I needed that warm thick vintagy OD tone. Retained bass very well.

- Landmine LD-1 - This thing is SICK for insane over the top Distortion! Does NOT lose low end, and even adds some. This one's a keeper for now. I might find it redundant with my AG500's OD channel (they actually have a similar sound when the AG500 is on full blast), but I like it enough to see if it will fit in for a 3 stage (aggressive clean - heavy overdrive - Insane distortion) setup.

- Little BIg Muff - Didn't lose much low end. I liked the sound, but it just wasn't me. I'm not really a 'fuzz' guy, I'm a crazy distortion guy when it comes to that, I'm finding. Some wouldn't hear a difference, but I don't like the way fuzz pedals 'break up' or 'come apart', I like a more smooth high gain distortion sound for that over the top sound. Just personal preference. If you like Fuzz, this one is a good one.

- Seymour Duncan TweakFuzz - really a guitar fuzz. Sounded good with bass. Lost a little low end, but not much to my ear. less smooth than the LBM. I liked it, but it wasn't for me.

- Bass Big Muff - Did everything it was supposed to, just wasn't the flavor I wanted. I didn't like the tone and couldn't find the sound I was after. Wouldn't recommend against it based on this. Just personal preference.


Hope some of that is helpfull...

-JOhn
 
#22
St Drogo said:
Really? Does that mean you'll get arrested should you happen to see something anyway?

:D

Seriously, sorry to hear that man. Though it would probably be worse to be deaf, being a musician and all. At least, that's what I'd imagine, but I've never walked a mile in your shoes of course...

Oh, and I get it now.

EDIT: Wait a minute! How do you use this forum being blind? Moderate it, no less? Just curious, if you don't want to talk about it that's fine. I will be forced to assume you have a gnome in a funny hat who reads every post out to you, though.
Click to expand...

No problem asking. The "legal" part is the definition for someone whose vision is 20/200 or worse when corrected. I use a 24" monitor and bring the resolution down so the fonts are quite large, and my face is pretty close to the monitor. I also have a little netbook, where I have to stay three or four inches from the monitor and use my bifocals. While my vision is pretty bad up close, it's far worse at distances, and other factors like bright like (I have ocular albinism) make it worse. Oddly enough, I'm a trained visual artist. As much as I love music, being blind is a far worse handicap to have. I'm lucky in that I can still see fine- just really badly compared to the average person, but I've known enough fully blind people over the years to know that I'd rather have my eyes than ears.
 
#23
Bryan R. Tyler said:
No problem asking. The "legal" part is the definition for someone whose vision is 20/200 or worse when corrected. I use a 24" monitor and bring the resolution down so the fonts are quite large, and my face is pretty close to the monitor. I also have a little netbook, where I have to stay three or four inches from the monitor and use my bifocals. While my vision is pretty bad up close, it's far worse at distances, and other factors like bright like (I have ocular albinism) make it worse. Oddly enough, I'm a trained visual artist. As much as I love music, being blind is a far worse handicap to have. I'm lucky in that I can still see fine- just really badly compared to the average person, but I've known enough fully blind people over the years to know that I'd rather have my eyes than ears.
Click to expand...
Dang... I am totally interested in your paintings now. Once I get a place of my own, I'm going to have to purchase or commission one from you. :D
 
#24
Since you mention you are a visual artist (which is astounding on it's own, given your lack of eyesight), I've checked out that link to your paintings in your sig. Those are good enough to mess with my mind. I mean, I have 20/20 vision and I can't draw for shite.

I was hoping that you'd use your handicap to come up with a completely new style in painting though, sorta like django did for gypsy-jazz. That would be awesome.

Seriously, you've been born this way? What made you go into the visual arts then? A "screw it, I'll show them" attitude maybe? Or did you just love arts enough to take the difficulties that must have risen for you in stride?
 
#25
Yup, born with it. I was always awful at art, and was never that interested in it. A friend started copying comic books back in 9th grade, and I thought it was really cool, as I was getting into them at that time. After I started tying it myself, I just liked it more and more and that spread into fine art, painting, etc. Like almost everything in my life, I have no natural talent for it- I just worked my butt off for years to get a little bit of skill at it. I've been very inactive the past few years as my responsibilities have grown exponentially since my wife became handicapped, but I'm hoping to get back into it again sometime soon.

It's also why I've focused on doing a lot of looping bass stuff. As I can't drive and live in a town with very few similar musicians, I had to find a way to make music as I can't drive to any band practice/show type of situation.

Sorry for the thread derail!
 
#29
There's a few pedals I know that doesn't reduce low-ends.

Ibanez pd-7. this overdrive pedal has a bluesy but hard rocking sound that preserves a lot of lows. even at the heaviest setting, it preserves a lot of lows.

Digitech xbd bass overdrive/distortion pedal. this distortion pedal I personally like for it's fizzy metallic sound. it has a blend control which will help you mix the dry signal of your sound with the effected signal. this pedal I would recommend for those who plays hard rock and heavy metal.

Tech 21 xxl bass edition distortion pedal. this pedal has a massive sound. as massive as it sounds, this pedal has plenty of lows. definitely a good choice if you play metal.

MXR bass d.i+. this pedal has a clean sound and a distortion sound. the distortion sound has a grinding distortion sound. it doesn't obliterate low-end and it provides awesome sounds. this pedal also has an xlr output which is pretty useful for running your bass into a mixing board.
 
#30
Bryan R. Tyler said:
Get a blender and nearly every fuzz can have a great amount of low end :)

The MXR Blowtorch can retain the low end perfectly, although it's not a fuzz that everyone digs the sound of.
Click to expand...

Thanks for suggestion! I've never tried a separate blend pedal. But as I mentioned before, I have blend knob on Frazz Dazzler and it works the following way for me: if I set knob to how amount of bass that I want, than it has too little of effect. And if I set blend knob in order to have amount of fuzz that I like, the low end is compromised. I'm wondering if with a blend pedal it would be different.
 
#31
TheMutt said:
I say this in every fuzz thread, but the Malekko B:Assmaster is an awesome fuzz pedal. The sensitivity knob can get you anything from barely fuzzed to all-out synthy awesomeness and definitely cuts through a mix. Plus, it doesn't lose any low end.
Click to expand...
Which version would you recommend? I watched youtube demonstration and I guess silicon version sounds good to me.
 
#32
blastjv said:
I recently tried:

- Xotic Bass BB - Amazing at low to medium/heavy OD. Can ADD bass AND treble to your sound. Can be mellow and vintage or more HiFi and modern (which is what I was after to add some trebly 'bite' to my rig - This one was a keeper for me)

- Way Huge Pork Loin - Amazing at low to medium/Heavy OD. More of a vintagy vibe to the sound. Not nearly as HiFi as the BB can get, warmer and a bit deeper sounding overall. VERY nice at what it does. Sounds fabulous, just wasn't what I was after right now. Retained bass very well.

- Catalinbread SFT - I thought it had a very similar sound to the WHPL overall. Again, great at what it does, just not what I needed. I think I liked the WHPL more for this sound, but I can't really put my finger on why. I'd be happy with either if I needed that warm thick vintagy OD tone. Retained bass very well.

- Landmine LD-1 - This thing is SICK for insane over the top Distortion! Does NOT lose low end, and even adds some. This one's a keeper for now. I might find it redundant with my AG500's OD channel (they actually have a similar sound when the AG500 is on full blast), but I like it enough to see if it will fit in for a 3 stage (aggressive clean - heavy overdrive - Insane distortion) setup.

- Little BIg Muff - Didn't lose much low end. I liked the sound, but it just wasn't me. I'm not really a 'fuzz' guy, I'm a crazy distortion guy when it comes to that, I'm finding. Some wouldn't hear a difference, but I don't like the way fuzz pedals 'break up' or 'come apart', I like a more smooth high gain distortion sound for that over the top sound. Just personal preference. If you like Fuzz, this one is a good one.

- Seymour Duncan TweakFuzz - really a guitar fuzz. Sounded good with bass. Lost a little low end, but not much to my ear. less smooth than the LBM. I liked it, but it wasn't for me.

- Bass Big Muff - Did everything it was supposed to, just wasn't the flavor I wanted. I didn't like the tone and couldn't find the sound I was after. Wouldn't recommend against it based on this. Just personal preference.


Hope some of that is helpfull...

-JOhn
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for all those reviews, I have a lot stuuf to check and I like this ;)
 
#33
CallMeBlind said:
Which version would you recommend? I watched youtube demonstration and I guess silicon version sounds good to me.
Click to expand...

Totally the Silicon version. It's more stable than the germanium (not affected by temperature or other environmental factors like germanium transistors), has the clipping characteristics that I prefer, and doesn't have low gain like the germanium. (The silicon is LOUD LOUD LOUD. I turn the Ass volume up to maybe 9:00-10:30 max)
It's also reportedly Mr. Malekko's favorite version.
 
#34
Like TheMutt, I feel like I say this in every thread like this, but I can't say enough good things about the Pigtronix Disnortion. The OD section is very transparent and gives you a fairly wide range of gain. The fuzz sounds like a Big Muff without the huge mid scoop. Neither section loses any low end that I can tell. The octavia does have potential to shave off a bit of lows, but it will give you some really cool gated sounds. Also, the OD and fuzz are in parallel, rather than series, so you can get some really cool sounds you can't get anywhere else.
 
#35
CallMeBlind said:
Thanks for suggestion! I've never tried a separate blend pedal. But as I mentioned before, I have blend knob on Frazz Dazzler and it works the following way for me: if I set knob to how amount of bass that I want, than it has too little of effect. And if I set blend knob in order to have amount of fuzz that I like, the low end is compromised. I'm wondering if with a blend pedal it would be different.
Click to expand...

Depends on the blend pedal. The Xotic X-Blender has solutions for that. You can choose between 100% wet, 100% dry, and a blend % of your choice with just the footswitches. Then, there are small pots that allow you to increase/decrease the volume of the blended tone as well as the bass or treble, so you can add more bass even if the blend has more of the effect than the clean tone dialed in.
 

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