How are you using Your Distortion Pedal?

[TNCreature]

My baseline sound is slightly over driven by my SansAmp (kid of like the Geddy sound).
I have a second distortion pedal that I use for hard and obviously aggressive parts.
Occasionally I will use it with my octave to get that thickness with edgy sustain.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

I should also add this: If you're not an always-on kind of guy, and I'm not, you'll want to make sure that switching it on doesn't dramatically affect how you sit in the mix. Especially in the lows and low-mids. In fact, that's how I dial in the level of my distortion pedal. Even if I'm obviously louder when I switch it on, it doesn't matter. As long as I'm at unity in the "bump" range, say 4-500 Hz? That's where I want to be the same volume, even if there's a ton of extra harmonic content happening above that range.

Amen to that. I use a fuzz once a night for one solo. Getting the tone I want is easy; getting it to sit in the mix correctly takes a bit more work.

 

[StatesideRambler]

Before I gave it to my neighbor I used it to tilt up the front of my amp for practice at home. I guess I just don't play music that wants/needs a distortion pedal.

 

[ProgressiveDoom]

My Aquilar Fuzzistor stays on for all our our songs except one. I keep it at level 2 and I pair it with my Joyo British Tone Overdrive witch is also dialed in fairly subtle. Doesnt sound like much but it rounds out my amp settings and bass setting and sits well in the mix.

 

[BurtMacklinFBI]

Depends on the song. I've always got a touch of grit from my preamp pedal, and 2-3 dirt pedals in my chain for different sounds. I could probably cut that down to just 1, but I don't really want to do that.

 

[jasper383]

In theory, I use it for contrast so that I have two distinct sounds that suit the song we're playing.

In reality, it functions much like a mute pedal, for when I want to absolutely vanish from the mix.

 

[SLO Surfer]

I’ve got two OD pedals. My always on OD is just barely there with enough to make my amp growl a little, and I stomp on my other OD for heavier parts or songs where it’s just enough that I can audibly hear it. So I Wantsd to select two of your poll choices, but I selected the second option for my second louder pedal by eeny meeny my knee Moe selection methodology.

Edit: you can change the poll to allow multiple choices, which I would’ve needed for an accurate representation.

 

[Scott Lynch]

I use my OD pedal as a combination light grit/boost which:

1) If the guitarist is switching between clean and drive channels, helps match tone and volume.

2) Can function as my 'rock sound' in musical situations where I'm genre hopping, which is a lot of the time.

3) Works as a 'lead bass' sound for rock songs where the guitar is still using a cleaner tone.

I also run a 3leaf Doom for those moments when its time to really kick it up a notch. Running my OD into it gives it even more of a boost.

 

[AndyLES]

I have two drive pedals; one (a VT bass) is for tubey, Geddy Lee/Gene Simmons/Chris Squire drive tones, and another (Bass boost + Fuzz, also by Tech 21) for over the top Muse/Cliff Burton/Lemmy tones.

 

[scottfeldstein]

I have two drive pedals; one (a VT bass) is for tubey, Geddy Lee/Gene Simmons/Chris Squire drive tones, and another (Bass boost + Fuzz, also by Tech 21) for over the top Muse/Cliff Burton/Lemmy tones.

This seems like a great setup. I don't know why, but the Tech21 stuff always bothered me as an always-on. I think the only way I could be happy with it is to have it as a rack mount preamp going into a rack power amp. That way I think I could leave it always on. But as a pedal into a bass amp it just... I could't do it.

 

[vvvmmm]

I have two overdrives and two distortions on my live board, and switch 'em on and off and between combo's of 'em all the time, (and make sure to keep 'em gain-staged as best I can - not all combos can be the same/appropriate level) with greater use as them as beer/etc. is consumed.

 

[jwr]

For me it depends on what type of music I'm playing. If I'm playing something and want my bass line to be angry and aggressive, then I use fuzz or a distortion.

It doesn't have to be used for an entire song, just the parts I want a large sound.

 

[The Rage]

For my "clean" tone I usually I set my Ashdown JLo drive until I hear it while playing harmonics. For heavy distortion I usually use n EHX fuzz

 

[TonyP-]

I use it light but identifiable.
Check out about 48 seconds in...I like how light overdrive can work on the B string.

 

[JimmyM]

I keep two on my board...Ampeg Scrambler lightly for a little sauce thickening, MXR Bass Distortion for fuzz. So your poll doesn't recognize me as an eligible voter.

 

[Bassbeater]

I don't use it on every track, but when I do I like it to be obscene.

 

[AndyLES]

This seems like a great setup. I don't know why, but the Tech21 stuff always bothered me as an always-on. I think the only way I could be happy with it is to have it as a rack mount preamp going into a rack power amp. That way I think I could leave it always on. But as a pedal into a bass amp it just... I could't do it.

Try to set your amp as clean and uncolored as possible, likely with the pad switch engaged.

Also: forgot to add, but I run the VT bass as always on, and the Fuzz into the VT; all fuzzes can benefit from some post-sweetening/speaker sim.

 

[alack]

All of the above.

 

[AlexBassMP]

I use my Sansmp Deluxe as a preamp/OD almost all the time on. It's all I need when I do provided backlin gigs.

I play some blend of symphonic/power metal/hard rock with just one guitar player and sequenced keyboards (our drummer plays with metronome) ... I believe that I found the perfect blending of medium/high gain overdrive and clean sound... When I play alone in some parts, the bass sounds clearly distorted, but whe the distorted guitar comes in..both distortions blend but you can hear still the low end ...

One time,a known artist in our scene came to see us in a rehearsal. She has our last album and knows the songs..where there are two tracks for rythmic guitars. After the rehearsal told us : I was affraid of how you will sound with just one guitar, but with this bass tone you don't need another guitar in the band

 

[GeoKinetic]

The cover band I'm in does mostly Death From Above covers at the moment (still just starting out) so I'm always using distortion. At the moment my favourite is the Behringer Super Fuzz, which is an amazing Boss Hyper Fuzz clone. If I want classic rock drive with a pick I use a Way Huge Green Rhino MKIV (with the 100 Hz knob). Sounds great with my P bass but still mostly using the fuzz.