Is Pigtronix Fat Drive what I want?

[soundmeds_bass]

I'm looking for a distorsion pedal. Specifically one that can give me a really dirty tone. I've already got a great fuzz pedal for gritty playing, so what I need is a pedal that is really bad-ass. If I finnish up a song with a distorted chord, I want that chord to really blast. I hope you get the picture.

So I've found to candidates. One is the EBS MetalDrive, which seems great. And I've tried it out.

The other one is the Pigtronix Fat Drive. I havn't tried it. But I've seen demo vidoes on YouTube from NAMM, and I must say that it really seems to be what I'm looking for.

So, dear TalkBass, is it?

Is it as great as it seems? And does it fit in to the description for the pedal I look for?

 

[johnbegone]

I've never liked the demos I've heard, but if you like what you've heard - by all means go for it. I use a Rat Tail for my gnarly distortions. Love it.

 

[MCS4]

Based on your choice of tone words (e.g. "really blast") my guess is that you do not want a overdrive or "warm" dirt pedal such as the Fat Drive. You probably more want a nastier, higher gain, more trebly and/or middy and up front distortion pedal -- like a Rat, Rat Tail, MXR M80, etc., and probably that MetalDrive (although I haven't heard that one myself).

 

[wolffire99]

Markbass mini distortion will do what you described.

 

[Toptube]

The Fat Drive gets pretty gnarly, if you engage the "more" switch. but it still retains a good amount of beef in the lows.

But yeah, if you want something chunky and nasty, some kind of "Rat" variant is a good place to start.

 

[Laurent]

Based on your choice of tone words (e.g. "really blast") my guess is that you do not want a overdrive or "warm" dirt pedal such as the Fat Drive. You probably more want a nastier, higher gain, more trebly and/or middy and up front distortion pedal -- like a Rat, Rat Tail, MXR M80, etc., and probably that MetalDrive (although I haven't heard that one myself).

+1. Blow Torch from MXR, Amptweaker Tight Drive, EBS Metal (as noted) or a Rat would be my recommendation.

Markbass is a tweaked tube screamer, it's going to be too tamed.

 

[FretNoMore]

The Bass FAT Drive is to my ears closer to a fuzz than an overdrive, and with the More switch it's more distortion than I ever wanted ... in fact I sent the pedal back to Pigtronix to have the input sensitivity lowered since it has too much drive for me even at the lowest settings (with my active basses). So maybe it is for you if you want dirt.

FWIW, compared to some of my others pedals: the FAT drive has a more "grainy" and "angry" drive much like the MXR bass overdrive, whereas for instance the Catalinbread SFT and Darkglass VMT have a much smoother drive character.

 

[MilkyMcMilkMilk]

+1. Blow Torch from MXR, Amptweaker Tight Drive, EBS Metal (as noted) or a Rat would be my recommendation.

Markbass is a tweaked tube screamer, it's going to be too tamed.

How does the fat drive compare with the bass fat dr that they now offer? I have been watching bass fat dr demos some sound grindy others are more warm tubey sounding. Not sure if it can actually do both or some recordings are just poor sound quality.