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good distortion/fuzz to add to Octaver for sorta synthy stuff?

#41
Death by Audio Fuzzwar is my next purchase. I DID just return a Maxon Hybrid Bass Driver, and I’ll tell you, through my Boss OC-5 it sounded EPIC. Seriously. It is very controlled/controllable, and has a very consistent distortion from low mix to full on (has a drive level, which is a drive mix and a clean level, a clean mix). I would highly recommend it for the use case you mention here, dirt/grit on a synth. The grit (transformer) enabled on my SA ZIO downstream of that rounded out an incredible, incredible sound. I only sent it back because your use case -synth emulation- is where I’ll use it the least.
 
#43
bassbrad said:
There is a bit of work to initially set up SA pedals for your playing style and bass but after that any time spent is up to you. There are hundreds of shared sounds in the Neuro cloud already covering basic sounds to highly complex creations, even some song or style specific that can save a lot of time when looking for particular sounds or starting places. As far as dirt goes there are there are 13 different engines that cover the Spectrum from overdrive to foldover textures all of which add to the versatility this pedal offers. Well worth it IMHO.
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I just got a C4 last week and I agree. Took some tweeking to get it right for my bass and amp, but once you get it it's not really hard anymore once you figure out the more finicky parameters. Now at this point I'm just having difficulty decided what 6 sounds to have, but I know how to get them when I decide.
 
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#44
GMC said:
One of the reasons I'm a big fan of the SA Aftershock is that I can take any distortion engine and add a gate to it. So i'm not limited to one sound per dirt pedal. With the Aftershock, I can have a gated RAT, a gated high gain Muff (which sound more synthy to my ears) or a gated single transistor type of fuzz. The problem with a lot of analogue gated fuzzes, is that they are one trick horses. You can literally have a pedal board full of all these different dirt pedals, but hardly use them because they are very context specific. This is why a SA Aftershock is SO useful. Once purchased...there's no more investment and it's a small pedal real estate for a literal world of dirt exploration.

The SA Spectrum & C4 have a few great internal dirts available. A simple Overdrive, Muff type OD/Fuzz and a simple gated fuzz,
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Indeed, the SA Aftershock is a great one for sure, and adding a gate to an existing engine is a good one! I have the SA LA Lady, which is essentially the same pedal.

The SA Aftershock + Spectrum combination is a solid one. No need for an octave pedal, since the Spectrum covers that bit. It saves up some space on de pedalboard.
 
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#45
I am by no means an expert on pedals, but I own a bunch and have chased pedal tones for years. For what you’re talking about, I use a Boss Oc-2 octave, Zyvex Mastotron, Maxon auto wah, and one of several choruses or flangers. These days, I like the Tech 21 Bass Boost Chorus, but it’s discontinued.

For an inexpensive distortion pedal, the Joyo Ultimate Drive is pretty amazing and really versatile. It’s a low risk foray into distortion pedals, and I really like mine. I have to look past the paint job though…

That said, it’s important to me to be able to tweak the tones when I’m playing with the band because the tones I make when solo sometimes get lost in the mix.

Also, honestly, a Zoom ms60b or ms60b+ gets me similar tones and works just fine for ensemble playing for me. The tones are pretty great over all, and the form factor is awesome.
 
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#46
shirojiro said:
Also, honestly, a Zoom ms60b or ms60b+ gets me similar tones and works just fine for ensemble playing for me. The tones are pretty great over all, and the form factor is awesome.
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For synth sounds the Zoom is an often overlooked and or maligned option, I have gotten a lot of mileage from a B2 that has nothing but synth sounds and the options on the MS60 or MS70 are even better in many regards. The quality of the Synth sounds in the Zoom B2 made it a no brainer to sell my Deep Impact for enough money to buy an amp needed at the time, I had bought it on a SDOTD for 99 bucks. :bassist: 😻
 
#47
arepa_funk said:
Zvex Mastotron is just about perfect for these applications. It's essentially a Woolly Mammoth with an impedance control. The fuzz doesn't have to be cranked to get a good sound from it. Also the subs toggle can bring in a ton of low end, so you'd need to experiment with what works for you.

This is always my #1 recommendation for octave + fuzz + filter + YOUR MODULATION CHOICE HERE for synth tones. It's readily available new or used and excels in that slot.
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Having just purchased the Zvex pedal I can 1000000% agree with this. It’s incredible. I play a lot of 80’s style but some 90’s too.

It gets the don’t you want me baby sound all the way to JK Deeper Underground sound. Love it
 
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#48
mellowgerman said:
Very surprised to read such negative words from you regarding Electronix after you spent years championing their pedals on this forum. I even bought a Submarine, inspired in part by your gleaming words of praise and how exceptionally useful it was... I had to look back to doublecheck and make sure I wasn't misremembering that it was you who wrote those posts about being a constant and happy user of their pedals. I thought it was an excellent endorsement for you to make back then! Sorry to hear that your opinion of them has taken such a drastic turn.
In any case, all I can go by is my own experience and I've found their pedals to be of superb quality and all-around rock solid, as many others have expressed in their reviews. The Messdrive is the only bass fuzz I've ever been really happy with. This one I have now, after foolishly selling my first one some years back, looks like it's been through hell, then dragged up through the bottom of the Bayou before finding it's way to me, and it still works perfectly and sounds great with any bass I've played through it. None of their pedals I owned over the years have failed me. The knobs glide and function smoothly, foot switch and jacks are of highest quality, etc. I don't use pedals much anymore, but when I want some fuzz in my signal, I'm stoked to have this one.
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A bit more detail on this, I did support OS and at one time we considered a partnership. I had purchased all of the pedals he produced, several were at his shop needing repairs when he decided to ghost everyone and I never got those +6 pedals back along with many others that had sent repairs or placed orders for new pedals. At first I was still in his corner and offered to assist in resolving the situation, hence my continued support for his endeavor. Those bridges were burned, demolished and the rest id a sad chapter in history.

I still have a Submarine and Crossdrive that need switches replaced but I have not found any local techs willing to even touch them, his rep is that bad and I am sadly all thumbs these days for any but the most rudimentary soldering.
 
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#50
bassbrad said:
A bit more detail on this, I did support OS and at one time we considered a partnership. I had purchased all of the pedals he produced, several were at his shop needing repairs when he decided to ghost everyone and I never got those +6 pedals back along with many others that had sent repairs or placed orders for new pedals. At first I was still in his corner and offered to assist in resolving the situation, hence my continued support for his endeavor. Those bridges were burned, demolished and the rest id a sad chapter in history.

I still have a Submarine and Crossdrive that need switches replaced but I have not found any local techs willing to even touch them, his rep is that bad and I am sadly all thumbs these days for any but the most rudimentary soldering.
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Sorry to hear it went sour in that way! Over the years I've read a few threads on here about different builders of basses, pickups, etc. that have gone a similar way. Especially sad when it's a particularly unique and useful design that just doesn't get executed well.
 
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#51
Cheap and cheerful

IMG_6585.jpeg


Tuner - Octave - Fuzz - Distortion - Filter - Chorus - Phaser - EQ - Compressor - SansAmp

For synth sounds I engage the octave and fuzz and maybe the filter, chorus or phaser…but anything goes.

UE
 
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#54
In my fuzz + envelope pedal + octaver investigations I've determined that it may depend on the modulator (mine is the Keeley Neutrino) but the fuzzes that have worked for me usually have a useful tone range and a bias of some kind, gate optional. If you can't bias the fuzz you can't get a useful edge to the square wave and you can't get a good wah with the envelope.. I also find that active basses change the picture considerably. If you aren't needing the envelope too much you can get plenty of fun with other modulators, I currently rock an EBS Octaver, Deluxe Sovtex Muff Pi and a Keeley Bubbletron and I'm after the right switcher pedal and maybe I can get the Neutrino to run parallel to the Bubbletron and they won't mess with each other so much.
 

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