Help me find the perfect OD pedal!

[basslifter]

I like the mxr m80 for a little dirt, plus it is a DI and had some boost and EQ capabilities.
If I wanted strictly distortion, that Darkglass op mentioned does sound super sweet.

 

[noahw1]

Out of your price range but my new favorite OD is the Genzler Dirt Box. LPF/HPF Plus clean channel volume and 4 gears to play with Mayer this a super flexible and great sounding od pedal.

 

[RayWithFlats]

Personal favorites are tube based pedals because you are actually overdriving. But there is no best.

"Organic dirty" sounds like you want something that emulates the sound of tube overdrive.

If you want a good deal on a real valve/tube pedal, gear4music have Eden Glowplugs on sale right now, price in France is 58 Euro.

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I got one delivered yesterday, I haven’t had a chance to test it out yet (work has been crazy lately) but at less than half price it’s worth a gamble.

Good luck with the search!

 

[Phaidrus]

Not an expert really but I can suggest three cheap and cheerful pedals, that retain the low end of the bass and deliver good musical distortion.

EHX Hot Tubes
EHX Hot Wax
EHX Green Russian Big Muff

 

[Slippery Jim]

Blackstone Mosfet Overdrive

 

[Renardo0o]

Not an expert really but I can suggest three cheap and cheerful pedals, that retain the low end of the bass and deliver good musical distortion.

EHX Hot Tubes
EHX Hot Wax
EHX Green Russian Big Muff

Oh my... The Hotwax sounds amazing, it's definitely the kind of sound I'm after

 

[shirojiro]

The joyo stuff isn’t bad, really. And if you get it from Amazon, you’ve got a an easy return path.

Try the American Sound and the Ultimate Drive.
They're both great and stack together well.
They're something like $40

 

[Isaac_James]

If you want a good deal on a real valve/tube pedal, gear4music have Eden Glowplugs on sale right now, price in France is 58 Euro.

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I got one delivered yesterday, I haven’t had a chance to test it out yet (work has been crazy lately) but at less than half price it’s worth a gamble.

Good luck with the search!

Does that have actual tubes in it? I would be surprised at that price point. More likely it has analog circuits that emulate the sound of overdriven tubes, much like the Sansamp and its ilk. I don't see anything about actual tubes in the product description.

Oh my... The Hotwax sounds amazing, it's definitely the kind of sound I'm after

For something half the price of a Sansamp that's a pretty great sounding pedal! The clean/dry blend knob is a great feature, I'd be all over the Green Russian muff if it had a way to do that.

 

[Phaidrus]

Does that have actual tubes in it?

It does have a tube but there's something I didn't like about it. Don't remember what it was. So I opted for the AMT A-Bass tube drive pedal (which with maxed gain just gets into overdrive territory). And then a Green Russian Muff on top of that.

 

[eddododo]

The Source Audio Aftershock can be found pretty cheap as used, and it covers all the bases you’d ever want to cover.

well and what I’m liking (I just got one) is that you get to flip through a Rolodex of classic sounds, and you get to make sure they all retain bass so you really get to figure out what FLAVOR you like in a best-case scenario

 

[bassness]

I tried out the Aftershock, but to me it couldn't beat out the Pork and Pickle, and I returned it.
I also realized that I don't like pedals that require software to tweak.

I've had an Aftershock for 2 years now and I could never get a good thick tone out of it. I originally bought it hoping to get a Rat, Muff and OD all in one box. I didn't like any of the factory presets and the user submitted ones in the Neuro app didn't do anything for me either, even with tweaking. I finally gave up and picked up a Landphil and a Sovtek Deluxe. With both of those pedals, I had what I was looking for within 10 minutes.

I have repurposed the Aftershock into a preamp of sorts. I set it to clean and tone matched it to my V1 VT Bass. It does the job and has a noise gate and high pass filter. I then flipped the VT Bass to OD duties and all is good.

 

[GMC]

I've had an Aftershock for 2 years now and I could never get a good thick tone out of it. I originally bought it hoping to get a Rat, Muff and OD all in one box. I didn't like any of the factory presets and the user submitted ones in the Neuro app didn't do anything for me either, even with tweaking. I finally gave up and picked up a Landphil and a Sovtek Deluxe. With both of those pedals, I had what I was looking for within 10 minutes.

I have repurposed the Aftershock into a preamp of sorts. I set it to clean and tone matched it to my V1 VT Bass. It does the job and has a noise gate and high pass filter. I then flipped the VT Bass to OD duties and all is good.

If you can't get a good thick tone out of the Aftershock, turn down the mix so its' all wet. Change the bass to around 80 hz and bump it. User the voice control (mids) to taste). Also up the output level up a lot and dial back the input level, you probably will need to bump the grit too. If you want more compression, dial in the 2nd channel (as cascading) with the same Distortion engine and pull back the output level of channel 1 and dial in Ch 2 to taste. It's easy once you play with it a bit, it's all in there. It's this kind of stuff that boutique designers do all the time, so we have to re-create that in the digital variants. Otherwise it can all sound a bit "sanitised". The Aftershock's output is quite sensitive to the treble dial. Roll back for vintage OD and dial in large for bright synthy-ness.

I'm a long time user of the Aftershock, it's really worth sticking with it and learning it's nuances.

 

[GMC]

Try the American Sound and the Ultimate Drive.
They're both great and stack together well.
They're something like $40

I like the American Sound a lot, however it's got a big baked in Fender amp tone that you can't dial out. You can't dial this to a neutral EQ. If you like it's great, if not...not so great. However, the break up and grit structure is really nice. It's a pity Joyo haven't done a "non-character" version of this pedal. The Ultimate Drive is a good fuzz, it's quite hard to tame down to an overdrive (although possible). I found it quite dark sounding when compared to my OCD clone that I built. My Clone sounded way better.

 

[GMC]

I tried out the Aftershock, but to me it couldn't beat out the Pork and Pickle, and I returned it. The way the clean British preamp signal blends with the OD is unique on the P&P, and can't be beat if it's your thing.

I also realized that I don't like pedals that require software to tweak. I set my settings by myself at home, but would have had to derail practice to set them to the band mix with my computer/phone. Not my thing.

I hear what you are saying, but I'm pretty sure if I had a pork and pickle in font of me, I could dial in most of those tones into a single patch. I'm sure I could get the Aftershock to do pretty much the same thing. It's basically a transparent Overdrive or Muff Circuit with a clean blend and a pre / post tone control. I'm surprised that you can't cascade the two circuits.
I think if I wanted to go down the analogue route of versatile bass OD/Fuzz, I'd go for a DAM Ezekiel.

 

[Nashrakh]

Not an expert really but I can suggest three cheap and cheerful pedals, that retain the low end of the bass and deliver good musical distortion.

EHX Hot Tubes
EHX Hot Wax
EHX Green Russian Big Muff

+1 on the Hot Wax. After a lot of OD searching, this is what I ended up with -- even if I personally use it as more of a tone thickener than a real overdrive. Both sides have their applications, and you gotta love the versatility. It also does the face ripping tone very well if you use both sides at once. This thing kills.

 

[RayWithFlats]

Does that have actual tubes in it? I would be surprised at that price point. More likely it has analog circuits that emulate the sound of overdriven tubes, much like the Sansamp and its ilk. I don't see anything about actual tubes in the product description.

It has a 12AX7 in it, I agree that the write-up on the website could have a bit more relevant info. I think the pedal is meant to warm up a ‘neutral’ sounding Class D amp (not a criticism just an observation, so please don’t come after me Class D mafia!).

I also agree the price looks too low for this to be a legit tube pedal but it’s an end of line blowout price and they usually cost double that or more.

 

[jcburn]

To give an idea of that amp's raw sound, here is a track I recorded with only the amp and no pedals. The strings were old as sh*t.

The bass sounds like a grand piano by comparison now. A very bright bass.
But you can hear the signature old Peavey "grunt" Billy talked about here. The harder it gets attacked, the more it grunts.

Hey man - if you don't mind me asking - if that is just bass into Peavey amp that sounds great!! Do you mind staying how you had it set?

Also - does the JohnK Centurion do a similar tone?

It sounds to me like the tone is scooped but still sounds like it would not get buried.

And one last question - does that bass have a G&L MFD P pickup??

Nice work! As you were everyone.

 

[Renardo0o]

So I think my final decision will be:

A Joyo Ultimate Drive (but I hesitate with the Soul Food) + a Sansamp DI (in the future)

I still like the Hotwax but for the combination I plan to do (Sansamp will be a must), that would be too much money spent in the end

 

[JeffTCS]

You can find MXR Bass Distortion pedals used for under $100. You can get whatever sound you need out of them from barely break up to screaming rat. I also know a guy selling one, if you're interested. The only thing it doesn't have is top jacks.

 

[FaithNoMan]

Hey man - if you don't mind me asking - if that is just bass into Peavey amp that sounds great!! Do you mind staying how you had it set?

Also - does the JohnK Centurion do a similar tone?

It sounds to me like the tone is scooped but still sounds like it would not get buried.

And one last question - does that bass have a G&L MFD P pickup??

Nice work! As you were everyone.

Lots of high mids in my tone. Between the rock maple thin-sanded body, the MFD's which are brutal like the Dimarzio Model P mixed with a Seymour Quarter Pounder for upper-end clarity. And of course, pushing 1.5K on the Peavey's sweepable mids.

That was just my bass with old strings directly into the amp, yes. And thanks!

P.S. BOTH of JohnK's Century and Centurion can get that tone. The Centurion has the sweepable mids, but both of those Peavey pres seem to have upper mids by the boatload. Also post#14 on this thread has me playing the Centurion through my Mesa with a warm clean tone on the Mesa. All the grind and dirt is the Centurion pedal there.