Heavy Bass Distortion

[Bassist96]

A boss obd-3 works very well for the heavier stuff, it's big, dirty and loud. But it is a very sensitive pedal, and it can block out some of your dry tone, then it sounds like mud. But easily fixable

 

[EskimoBassist]

Fuzzrocious Rat Tail?

 

[Meddle]

Don't kill me... but... I've been looking at a Boss OD-20 for multiple distortions (I'm a guitarist as well). I know it is digital, and I know it is old and all and the emulations don't sound like the real pedals... but... it has octave down and a dedicated bass knob and apparently does work with bass. All sorts of distortions are modelled in it.

 

[Vlad5]

Thanks for the input guys. See the posts above and on page one for a list of what I do and do not have/want/need.

For instance, I've already owned a Rat Tail, and though a good build, but I've discovered I really hate the sound of Rats. Like, a lot.

Meddle, I won't kill you, but I will say I'm not a BOSS fan at all... Though I did have some luck blending an HM-2 a while back, but that was just like a high-gain Rat, and well, you know how I feel about Rats...

I've never had any luck with digital distortions either...

 

[JBNeedsBeer]

Until I read that the SS/BS Mini wasn't enough drive, I was going to recommend the Mountainking Behemoth. Now, I'm not so sure. It might work if you threw the b3k into it or the other way around. Mountainking is my go to builder whenever I think of an earthquake on bass. Maybe contact Alan to see if he could do a higher gain Behemoth? Subscribed to see what you end up picking.

 

[johnk_10]

I've been using a clone of a modded wampler triple wreck for my extreme distorted bass tones with excellent results.

 

[Vlad5]

Yeah, Mountainking is on my radar for sure... I really want to try a Megalith.

Shame about the Mini being too low gain cus I've been eyeballing that too. Though I might still get one for the guitar board (to use as an overdrive, of course).

 

[Vlad5]

I've been using a clone of a modded wampler triple wreck for my extreme distorted bass tones with excellent results.

Hmmm... that's two votes for the Triple Wreck... I might look into that. Thanks.

Also, I may hook up my bass to my girlfriend's Megalith Delta and see what happens. I understand they are comparable to Triple Wrecks.

 

[johnk_10]

if it helps, to give you an idea of what a triple wreck sounds like, I made a clip of mine with various settings.

 

[Vlad5]

Interesting.... Thanks for the clip, it does help.

The Wreck isn't as honky/buzzy as I thought it'd be.

 

[Jens Busck]

Another option to consider: Rodenberg has recently designed a new version of 728b named 278b+, where the gain-part can be switched to contain three times more gain than the usual 808b. I'm sure you can also make him build a single 808b with the +gain-option (like a bass version of his "hot chili"-guitar OD). His bass drive is not as tubescreamerish as the name suggests - Rodenberg is a raw, uncompressed tone with angry mids, and while there is tons of gain in the 808b, I can hardly imagine it multiplied by three. His pedals are expensive as hell, but they're worth it!

 

[metaball]

+1 on Triple Wreck, it has lots of blown out bottom end on tap.
i also have a bass modded WMD Geiger Counter (CI) which brings gritty thunder on the right settings. WMD did the mod for $5 return shipping.

happy hunting.

 

[3mrhythm]

We played a show with. Vygr a couple months back and the bass was brutal.. all he was using was a sunn head with the drive cranked.. it was crushing.

 

[Verminaard]

I'm planning to use the dod death metal and the iron pig in parallel with the schism, but a boss hm2 or the xxlb and/ or the qf2 through your b3k (which I don't yet have) would probably be pretty damned heavy.

 

[DERB]

Boss ODB3, Ibanez PHAT HED are nice.
I currently use a ZOOM B3, has like a dozen dist/od modelers.
Many years ago i used to play thru a an old SUNN Colesium p.a. head, sounded wicked with everything turned up to 11!

 

[XXL]

Dark Driving V2> B3K>TAFM> Elements!

I got me some bruuuuutal sounds stacking these guys.

Why did you get rid of your Elements?

 

[Crystalman85]

Tech 21 XXL Bass, anyone? Boss HM-2?

+1 on the tech 21 xxl bass edition distortion pedal. this pedal has a pretty heavy sound. basstasters.com has sound samples of this distortion pedal.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Also the boss odb-3 has a pretty heavy sound. even though this pedal is classified as a bass overdrive, I personally think this pedal is more of a bass distortion pedal than a bass overdrive. the digitech bass driver on the other hand is considered to be a bass overdrive/distortion pedal. this pedal can go from a warm overdrive to a fuzz-like distortion sound. also this pedal is considered to be tamed compared to the boss odb-3. but despite that, the digitech has plenty of gain to those who don't necessarily needed an over the top bass distortion pedal. just to give out a comparison, here are some youtube clips of these pedals.

Boss odb-3

 

[Rudi3]

Mxr M80 with maybe some sub-octave blended in, thats what I use. You get a heavy distorted sound without loosing your place in the mix!

 

[Vlad5]

Thanks everyone!

So many different techniques for getting bass distortion.

XXL: I got rid of The Elements because it was redundant on both my bass and guitar boards. I have a few effects that cop what The Elements does, and in separate footswitchable packages, so TE had to go. For the record, I really liked it, just didn't need it with my setup.

 

[XXL]

Makes sense Vlad.. I remember that the TAFM lost out to the Fairfield, but didn't know why the Elements got kicked off the Island. Curious to which pedals sounded like The Elements.. in high gain or low gain?