Not if you're doing it properly
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I Don't Get Bass Distortion/OD
- Thread starter -Stingray
- Start date
Not if you're doing it properly
It also depends a lot on your bass / set up. Full range cabs tend to sound wrong, so turning off a cabs tweeter or using a low pass filter around the 3-4khz region will help “vintagify” your tone. Which is why you see a lot of guys with an EQ near the end of their chain.
Then there’s the bass you are using, a passive fretless with flats is going to respond to dirt very differently to an active fretted with zingy round wounds.
Then there’s the tone that you are trying to achieve. For example, a fat Motown through to a spiky phill lynott, both with different styles of dirt. In fact I hate tube screamers on bass, unless I need to play a thin lizzy bass line and then it’s perfect. Some bassists like to play dirty bass with a pick, others use finger style.
Then there’s the bass you are using, a passive fretless with flats is going to respond to dirt very differently to an active fretted with zingy round wounds.
Then there’s the tone that you are trying to achieve. For example, a fat Motown through to a spiky phill lynott, both with different styles of dirt. In fact I hate tube screamers on bass, unless I need to play a thin lizzy bass line and then it’s perfect. Some bassists like to play dirty bass with a pick, others use finger style.
As the vast majority in this thread have said and the examples have demonstrated, it's common to add some distortion to add a bit of harmonic richness that helps the bass cut through. Producers have been doing it forever.
For guitars, IMO a clean tone that is indeed 100 % clean just sounds odd, always needs a bit of something to make it actually sound like an electric guitar. Similar for me with electric bass guitar, I don't want to sound like a double bass.
For guitars, IMO a clean tone that is indeed 100 % clean just sounds odd, always needs a bit of something to make it actually sound like an electric guitar. Similar for me with electric bass guitar, I don't want to sound like a double bass.
I do a lot of recording and mixing and I swear by (very light) bass distortion which adds some sustain.
I double the bass track, distort one of them and then, adjust until the distortion is not heard in the mix.
I double the bass track, distort one of them and then, adjust until the distortion is not heard in the mix.
Super clean bass is exquisite by itself, but it sort of fades away in traffic and becomes amorphous as the number of instruments increases. That’s the value of ‘dirt’ in the bass signal. It gives heft to the tone. YMMV.
Bass by itself sounds like crap most of the time with or without distortion.
This is why you should never completely judge what a bass, pedal, cab, or amp sounds like without trying them in the mix.
Now there are some who's ears are trained to just how crappy the bass should sound by itself. And they will have a good idea how it will sound in the mix. But that takes years of listening to bass by itself as much as you listen to it in the mix.
I use a MXR 85 Distortion pedal, all the time. I run it clean and get my tone and levels set first, then I start to dial in some grit until I have just enough to start getting some breakup in the notes and causing those notes to sound like crap, by themselves. Then it's time to jump into the mix. The crappiness disappears.
So you may ask yourself, why use it if it disappears in the mix?
And the answer would be because it doesn't truly disappear. That grit that sounds like crap by itself fills in empty spaces when in the mix. Sometimes it will be distinct and attachable to the bass by your ear. Other times it will sound like a harmonic of some sort filling in empty spaces that you don't notice very much. But it's there filling up any empty spaces it can fill.
Here's a great example of distortion sounding very dirty in a solo, but listen how the grit tends to disappear some as the other instruments come into play and the song progresses. The grit tends to get milder but its still there filling in space and the harmonics are still in your face.
And in this example, nowhere near the amount of grit as in the previous example, but it's there, and if you just listen you'll hear that grit filling in empty spaces and thickening up the bass end of the song. And he's using a Ric which is very distinct when it comes to grit.
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JeezyMcNuggles
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- Feb 23, 2018
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This is the reason I am loving my Ernie Ball Dark Ray. That onboard drive has been a game changer for me. Stingray Basses in general w the treble cut a hair and the bass and mids boosted always yields a slightly dirty yet tight sound in the mix. I run through a fairly clean rig, Trace Elliot thru Bergantino.
One thing to be aware of is that there is a difference between Overdrive, Distortion & Fuzz.
There is also a lot of similarities between them as well.
There is also a lot of similarities between them as well.
Let's add more confusion to the subject
But yeah you're right and it's good you brought that up.
I don't use overdrive or fuzz. I find that a good distortion pedal sits somewhere in-between the two.
Then to complicate matters even more, I also throw a little edge on my tone with a Keeley Compressor. And then the voicing of my Mesa D-800+ can add another dimension to the "dirt" as well when needed. And let's not forget you can get dirt out of other things too like the "Presence" knob on a Sansamp BDDI. And my Earthquaker Devices "Swiss Things" can give me up to another 16db of boost causing the bass to "naturally" get dirtier the harder I play.
It's one giant rabbit hole but it can be a lot of fun experimenting.
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When I practice alone it's usually clean but when playing in the context of my band, I’ll roll up the Drive on my Sans Amp BDDI a bit so distortion is barely discernible but helps me sit better in the mix at the behest of our sound guy. He can hear the mix out front better and I trust his ears more than mine in that case.
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A little dirt can go a long way. Are you looking to add a little bite/grit or get really hairy? Tons of options out there and it pays to do plenty of research before deciding what will work best for you. I've been struggling to find the type of OD I want... still searching. I'm not interested in distortion, just a nice, subtle bite... almost more like tone shaping, as opposed to OD. Do some research and be aware of exactly the sound you're looking for. It's one of those cases of chasing the dragon, and you may have to pay a premium to get the pedal you want.
It (the Wyman track) wasn't as distorted as other examples but definitely overdriven. Could have been intentional clipping of the mixer channel, all-buttons-in on an 1176 compressor, any number of things.
Warren Huart has some good videos explaining this in a mixing sense (Youtube, Produce Like a Pro).
To summarize that, essentially, he is splitting the clean bass and upper mids and only distorting the mids. The end result, in the mix, varies by what youre listening on. On a decent set of speakers, the distortion is rather subtle and masked by the lows. But on crappy ear buds or similar, that harmonically rich upper frequency content is how you can still hear the bass. Some others, explain this in even more psychoacoustic terms. Our brain can extrapolate fundamentals to some degree.
Those are some good videos to hear this in action. Live, there is some similar stuff to say, though it is complicated by the mud of the room rather than limits of playback device. But that why I have a Darkglass Alpha Omega Photon, it mimics the studio trick.
All that above though is talking about often very subtle distortion, distortion terminologically in an engineering sense, not a common usage of guitar pedals differentiating between overdrive, fuzz, distortion.
Still, youll hear a lot of the higher gain guys do that frequency split or simply a clean blend too.
To summarize that, essentially, he is splitting the clean bass and upper mids and only distorting the mids. The end result, in the mix, varies by what youre listening on. On a decent set of speakers, the distortion is rather subtle and masked by the lows. But on crappy ear buds or similar, that harmonically rich upper frequency content is how you can still hear the bass. Some others, explain this in even more psychoacoustic terms. Our brain can extrapolate fundamentals to some degree.
Those are some good videos to hear this in action. Live, there is some similar stuff to say, though it is complicated by the mud of the room rather than limits of playback device. But that why I have a Darkglass Alpha Omega Photon, it mimics the studio trick.
All that above though is talking about often very subtle distortion, distortion terminologically in an engineering sense, not a common usage of guitar pedals differentiating between overdrive, fuzz, distortion.
Still, youll hear a lot of the higher gain guys do that frequency split or simply a clean blend too.
I run a little dirt on the Bass Soul Food on songs like Badge and Trouble No More(solo riff), sounds kinda tubey. I think it's more noticeable when it's switched off rather than on. The od on my Rumble 800 head does a pretty good Entwhistle tone with the drive cranked to about 3 o'clock and drive volume adjusted.
