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HELP ME CHOOSE OVERDRIVE

bassike

bassike

Apr 24, 2008
865
421
Montreal
#1
Could anyone guide me.
I don’t know anything about effects, I’ve never used them.
So I’d like to get an overdrive pedal but I don’t even know where to star or what to look at.

So far I found MXR blow torch, BOSS bass overdrive, and Ashdown.

I heard that there was a problem with Ashdown cause they didn’t work very well with Active basses.

So any advice would be appreciated.
 
#2
There is a lot more overdrives out there depending on your budget.

First the blowtorch is not an overdrive but a fuzz.
The Boss bass overdrive is very industrial sounding and harsh.
I don't know much about the ashdown but I find it hard to believe it wont work with actives. The only pedals I know of that don't work with actives are fuzzes of the fuzzface variant (such as the woolly mammoth) and some other oddball fuzzes. If it doesn't work with actives that might be due to the high output level of the active bass clipping the input of the pedal but I find it hard to believe that a company like ashdown would make such a big design mistake in one of their products.

If you give us a description of what your looking for in an overdrive we could help you more.
 
#6
I'll throw in my 2 cents... the Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive is an amazing overdrive. It's pretty versatile, and lets you dial in any range of overdrive, from a slight grind to all-out distortion. The blend control also lets you dial in how much of your original bass signal you want to hear. It's my #1 pedal right now.
 
#7
Try a Boss HM2 -- pretty cheap, and a lot of people like it. Might be a bit much though if it's a more subtle drive you're looking for.
A Tone bender Jumbo-type fuzz can be a good choice too, as you get a lot of clean signal bleedthrough to keep the low end in place and can dial in the amount of fuzz you want -- although that's fuzz not drive.
The DAM Ezekiel is awesome (but expensive and hard to find) and does light drive all the way up to wall of doom fuzz.
 
#9
Ibanez Turbo Tube Screamer TS9DX has been my #1 choice for mild grit/color/overdrive for years now. I'm just now starting to gig without it, because I'm thoroughly enjoying my Tech 21 VT Bass. I've also used a VooDoo Labs Sparkle Drive a LOT too...
 
#11
Fuzz is a more intense type of overdrive/distortion. Overdrive -- mild to subtle gritty sounds. Distortion picks up where the overdrive stops & goes further into the nastiness & dirtyness... Fuzz is over the top & almost "messy" sounding. I'm sure you can find plenty of clips on YouTube to help you grasp the concept between these pedals.... you can't search enough. Search these forums using different terms & you'll always find more & more information.

VT Bass -- in my opinion it could probably be called a heavy overdrive or a light distortion... it really does both sounds really well, with a very wide tonal variety. You can cover some very, very mildly overdriven grit to a full on a raging bass on fire. And plenty of sounds in between. Again, use the search functions & you'll start finding mp3's to listen to & video demonstrations...
 
#12
Behringer AD21. It's made to warm up the sound of acoustic-electric guitars. You get nicely voiced bass and treble controls along with sweepable mids, and a blend control to dial in the "tube emulation" overdrive with the clean sound. More than enough bass control, can do thunderous dub or Chris Squire sounds without a problem. Won't do fuzz or hard distortion, but I like what it does for my bass's sound.
 
#13
+1s on the Digitch Bad Monkey and VoodoLabs Sparkle Drive

I've had GREAT experiences with both.

I also love my ODB-3... but i use it FOR its redic synthy distortion. (absoloutly KILLER when used with a guitar for shoegaze stuff) So i'm always hesitant when reccomending it in the general OD reccomendation threads.

I've also recently become a big fan of the DOD 250. Another great (cheap) option for OD!
 
#15
This one is easy imo:

SubDecay NovAdRive.

OR

Catalinbread SfT.


If I were in the market for a pedal OD I would hit either of these first.
But then again, I like supporting small companies..
Companies that design AND build in the USA. :D
 
#16
These are not cheap but high quality overdrives:
VT Bass
Catalinbread SFT
Xotic bass BB preamp
BJFE Blueberry bass overdrive (in case you don't have a budget :D)
Fulltone bassdrive (or OCD)
Fulltone Fatboost
EBS Multidrive
EBS valvedrive
EH English muffn

For fuzz I would try some sort of big muff. The bass big muff is good value and if you have the money the supercollider and musket fuzz get good reviews.

Edit: added some pedals to the list
 
#17
about the ashdown thing - IIRC the first batch of their pedals weren't particularly friendly with Active instruments, but that has since been sorted.

with that in mind, the ashdown LoMenzo hyperdrive would be well worth a test drive.
i've also used the Ibanez Phat hed, Digitech Bad Monkey, VT bass to good effect drive wise, and all kinds of muffs (!), the Boss HM2, MD2, Dod Bass grunge, blowtorch, ODB3, and tons of others on the fuzz front.

Really, as has been said before, listen to as many demos as you can, try as many as you can, and let your ears decide.

The post your pedalboard threads will be invaluable reading for the collective wisdom found within. Do you have any guidance about what kind of sound you are trying to acheive? - previously recorded tones etc? a youtube link might help people to guide your thinking.
 

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