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Looking for a particular bass dirt.

MobileHolmes

MobileHolmes

I used to be BassoP
Nov 4, 2006
4,822
3,423
Iowa
#1
I play a pretty wide mix of styles, but for rock stuff I do like some grind added to my tone. I generally play pretty clean amps (GK, with quite a bit of headroom in most situations) so I would need to add dirt as a pedal. I just haven't found what I like. I've got a muff style fuzz that is good for that, but I'm having trouble finding more of an always on OD sound. I'm thinking kind of a Lou Barlow tone, but without using the mishmash wall of amps that he has. I've tried a couple with clean blends, and they always sound sort of off somehow, except at really low drive levels

I really like the idea of pedals with a crossover in them to only distort the mids and highs. I see darkglass has a couple new pedals that do this. The rub is, I really don't like how they sound in any of the demos I've seen. It seems like they are all metal clips involving a Dingwall (I'm not really up on current genres, but there seems to be one that is Dingwall through a darkglass). Are there demos out there of darkglass stuff in a more classic rock/grunge setting? Is there something else that works the same way but with a different voicing?
 
#2
MobileHolmes said:
I play a pretty wide mix of styles, but for rock stuff I do like some grind added to my tone. I generally play pretty clean amps (GK, with quite a bit of headroom in most situations) so I would need to add dirt as a pedal. I just haven't found what I like. I've got a muff style fuzz that is good for that, but I'm having trouble finding more of an always on OD sound. I'm thinking kind of a Lou Barlow tone, but without using the mishmash wall of amps that he has. I've tried a couple with clean blends, and they always sound sort of off somehow, except at really low drive levels

I really like the idea of pedals with a crossover in them to only distort the mids and highs. I see darkglass has a couple new pedals that do this. The rub is, I really don't like how they sound in any of the demos I've seen. It seems like they are all metal clips involving a Dingwall (I'm not really up on current genres, but there seems to be one that is Dingwall through a darkglass). Are there demos out there of darkglass stuff in a more classic rock/grunge setting? Is there something else that works the same way but with a different voicing?
Click to expand...
Best crossover pedal I have heard is the Brimstone Audio XD-2, there was one on Reverb a few weeks ago, otherwise they are tough to come by. Another look is the new Darkglass X pedal.
 
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#3
Yeah, Lou Barlow uses an old Peavey, a Marshall JCM 800 and an old Ampeg SVT tube amp.
The Marshall for overdriven brighter tone, the Peavy for a more mid focused tone and the SVT with an Xotic BB Bass Preamp in front for overdriven bottom, all used in conjunction.
And you are probably right that would be overkill.

Getting a clean blend pedal will get you some of the way though, and I'd probably look in the direction of one of the cheap but absolutely great Joyo clones of the Tech21 Character series pedals to emulate the heavy driven tube amp dirt tone of Lou Barlow.

Either the American Sound, which is a Tech21 Blonde clone, emulating Fender amp like tones, the British Sound, being a Tech21 Bristish clone, emulating Marshall amp like tones or the California Sound, which is a Tech21 California clone, emulating Mesa Boogie amp like tones.

Here's some demos of the respective pedals used on bass, both clean, but mostly dirty:




Behringer GDI21 which is a Tech21 GT2 clone, might be an option too.
Justin Chancellor from Tool uses the original Tech21 pedal as part of his dirt chain, but the Behringer is practically identical, just much cheaper.

Here's some un-blended dirt tones of the Tech21 GT2, used on bass:


Ideally if you want to get as close as possible to Lou Barlow's exact tone without having to use all the amps that he does, I would think a Tech21 VT Bass pedal, which emulates Ampeg amp like tones, for his SVT tone, blended with the Joyo Bristish Sound, that emulates Marshall amp like tones, for his JCM 800 tone, and then blended with your clean tone, could get you close.
 
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#4
MobileHolmes said:
I really like the idea of pedals with a crossover in them to only distort the mids and highs. I see darkglass has a couple new pedals that do this. The rub is, I really don't like how they sound in any of the demos I've seen. It seems like they are all metal clips involving a Dingwall (I'm not really up on current genres, but there seems to be one that is Dingwall through a darkglass). Are there demos out there of darkglass stuff in a more classic rock/grunge setting? Is there something else that works the same way but with a different voicing?
Click to expand...

I have a DG Vintage Ultra for when I'm plugged in to solid state amps, eg at our practice space, when it's used as an always on OD to impersonate my Traynor YBA200. It does a reasonable job. The bonus is it's a really good sounding clean preamp as well.

I went through a few preamps before I settled on the DGVU. It doesn't have a crossover per se, but it does have 'attack' and 'grunt' switches which allow you to roll off the high and low end saturation. This gives it quite a natural and organic sounding distortion, different to the normal distortion tone I associate with DG pedals which isn't really to my personal taste.

This bloke does a lot of clowning and talking and he's not even a bass player, but the actual review parts convinced me to try out the pedal.

 
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#6
fasterpussycat said:
I have a DG Vintage Ultra for when I'm plugged in to solid state amps, eg at our practice space, when it's used as an always on OD to impersonate my Traynor YBA200. It does a reasonable job. The bonus is it's a really good sounding clean preamp as well.

I went through a few preamps before I settled on the DGVU. It doesn't have a crossover per se, but it does have 'attack' and 'grunt' switches which allow you to roll off the high and low end saturation. This gives it quite a natural and organic sounding distortion, different to the normal distortion tone I associate with DG pedals which isn't really to my personal taste.

This bloke does a lot of clowning and talking and he's not even a bass player, but the actual review parts convinced me to try out the pedal.

Click to expand...

Thanks! That is definitely more like what I'm looking for
 
#10
MobileHolmes said:
The rub is, I really don't like how they sound in any of the demos I've seen. It seems like they are all metal clips involving a Dingwall (I'm not really up on current genres, but there seems to be one that is Dingwall through a darkglass). Are there demos out there of darkglass stuff in a more classic rock/grunge setting?
Click to expand...

I have the same issue with the demos darkglass puts out, hate that style, is nothing like the way I play. But wait a few weeks Patrick Hunter is sure to demo one.
 
#11
OP, prepare for a bit of a search, involving trial and error.
I'd look into:

-the Darkglass vintage series pedals
-Fairfield Barbershop
-Tech21 Sansamp series
-(my secret tip) MI Audio Blueboy Deluxe MkII

...at least for starters.
The hard part is to find a tone that suits both the bedroom and the band mix.
I have a killer bedroom tone with my OBNE Haunt Fuzz pedal where I set it basically to chainsaw-massacre my tone, but I have the blent knob to 95% clean sound. I retain the low end and character of my bass, but also get a mean sizzle on Top of things. That sizzle gets totally obliterated once a guitar chimes in and I could not tell by ear whether the Fuzz is on or off.
I myself like what my Sansamp does. It's not super pretty in the bedroom, but it adds some growl and grind to the band mix whenever I engage it.
In my Postpunk/Hardrock project I like my Blueboy. I's a low gain guitar overdrive. It does not steal any lows - quite the opposite and I have it set just to the breakup point so that when I play carefully, I have just a hint of a sizzle around the top and when I dig in, I get an angry growl.
 
#12
MobileHolmes said:
I play a pretty wide mix of styles, but for rock stuff I do like some grind added to my tone. I generally play pretty clean amps (GK, with quite a bit of headroom in most situations) so I would need to add dirt as a pedal. I just haven't found what I like. I've got a muff style fuzz that is good for that, but I'm having trouble finding more of an always on OD sound. I'm thinking kind of a Lou Barlow tone, but without using the mishmash wall of amps that he has. I've tried a couple with clean blends, and they always sound sort of off somehow, except at really low drive levels

I really like the idea of pedals with a crossover in them to only distort the mids and highs. I see darkglass has a couple new pedals that do this. The rub is, I really don't like how they sound in any of the demos I've seen. It seems like they are all metal clips involving a Dingwall (I'm not really up on current genres, but there seems to be one that is Dingwall through a darkglass). Are there demos out there of darkglass stuff in a more classic rock/grunge setting? Is there something else that works the same way but with a different voicing?
Click to expand...
Just saw/listened to a review of the "Le Bass." Tube pre-amp pedal. Sounded pretty good, $80 approx. less than Darkglass. Good Luck!
 
#13
You could get a Boss LS-2 which will allow you to clean blend any OD pedal. I've sort of done that (though my method substitutes the LS-2 for a much more convoluted clean/dry method) and have had great results with a Proco Rat as well as a DIY Guv'nor clone, Hardwire CM-2 Tube OD, and even a Boss DS-1 (really sounded great with the drive dialed way back). I'm a big proponent of doing this as there are so many great sounding OD pedals that do not offer crossovers or clean blends.
 
#15
MobileHolmes said:
I really like the idea of pedals with a crossover in them to only distort the mids and highs.
Click to expand...
Note that Barlow distorts the low end. "Logically" what you wrote is what I thought initially too and turned out to be the exact opposite. My favorite always on overdrive is the Grizzly, but there are lots of them out there. My at home board now has a solidgold Beta hybrid. I've also happily used ssbs Mini and TAFM, heavy electronics elOso, Xotic BB, VT, Joyo OrangeJuice, EH Blogger, Marshall The Gov'nor, the late great Devi Ever Karioke Party and Zvex Bass Distortron. The Wounded Paw Black Sheep is great having 3 bands of drive. Funny thing is, the best sounding one is the low (unless you need lots of clank to cut through a loud guitar band).
 
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#16
I'm in love with the Hartke Bass Attack 2. It can do the slight dirt, the clean blend and goes up to a fuzz tone. EQ is really nice as well with switchable parametric mid boost/cut. And it's a dirt cheap dirt pedal. :)

 
#20
I still say the Grizzly. But I haven't tried the Barber Shop. I really regretted selling my Grizzly and was going to get another one but the Barber Shop has peaked my interest.

Interestingly enough, the DOD Boneshaker is pretty darned great for the price. I just wish I could back off the distortion a little more. (All the way off is still a bit too much sometimes)
 

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