Looking for my first OD pedal

[Jimruth]

+1 on the Ampeg Scrambler. Even better is the pedal that combines the Scrambler pedal with a pre-amp/DI. I bought mine a couple years ago in mint condition on Reverb for $100.

It’s nothing fancy but gives a great vintage OD tone.

 

[Cutter8]

AmpTweaker Bass Tight Drive w/ the clean signal blend mod would give you exactly what you are after, IMO.

 

[socialleper]

After reading countless threads, I've come to some conclusions about the sound I'm after. Please keep in mind that I'm still a bass effects rookie.

1. Must be able to do subtle OD well. I don't need a very heavy OD, just something with a little grit. I play a bass with flats, so anything that can help add some upper frequencies would be cool.

2. Must sound natural (or as natural as an OD pedal can I guess). For reference, I've owned a Boss ODB-3. It sounded very digital and not at all what I'm looking for.

My price range is $150 US, and I am open to used pedals. I'm probably going to have to order online, so please keep that in mind. The two pedals I'm considering are the Source Audio Aftershock and the Electro Harmonix Bass Soul Food. Darkglass sound kind of cool, but I've never really heard them used outside of a metal/hard rock type setting.

Appreciate the help!

Edit: Forgot to add the Mad Professor Blueberry OD to the list.

The soul food is a very light weight drive. It may not be worth it if you want noticeab crunch.
Most Darkglass pedals are very expensive. They also have a particular tone that doesn't work in every situation.
Another general purpose, pretty affordable OD option is the Pork Loin by Way Huge. Low to medium gain, tuby drive, useful tone controls.

 

[GrapeBass]

 

[vivaknoxvegas]

Broughton Terraformer, they pop up used in the classifieds here all the time for $110-$125

Others to consider:
Broughton Azure Drive
Fairfield Circuitry Barbershop
EHX Hot Wax
TC Electronics Spark (full size)
TC Electronics MojoMojo
Digitech Hardwire CM-2

 

[grillman]

Wow, lots more pedals mentioned here than what I had considered! Keep the recommendations coming. Still would love to hear opinions on the Bass Soul Food, SA Aftershock, and the Mad Professor Blueberry OD.

I think you pretty much nailed it with your first post.
People like to recommend the pedal they have which is normal. Most of the time people don’t even try to answer your need when they recommend a pedal but they just want to push through their suggestion.
IMO of the three the Source Audio Aftershock is the best choice because it can do both the Soulfood and the Mad Professor Blueberry.
I have owned the 3 pedals and the Source Audio outranks the other two in versatility. I was able to make it sound exactly like the Blueberry.

That being said I have owned and built countless overdrive pedals so I pretty much know what I am doing when I use the Aftershock software. If you are a beginner the amount of functions available can be overwhelming.

So if you want to keep it simple and use the same settings all the time the Madprofessor Blueberry sounds way better than the soulfood. The tone knob doesn’t work like a regular tone knobs but you don’t need to know the science behind it just turn it where you like it.

Cheers

 

[40Hz]

+1 with the recommendations for the Southhampton Fifth Gear V2. That would be my first choice based on your criteria.

 

[jaroh24]

Tube sounding OD:
Fifth Gear
Grizzly
Barbershop
Blueberry
FEA Transboost

Solid State sounding OD:
Big Game Solace State
Tronogaphic Rusty Box
JohnK GK Rails

I'd recommend the Transboost if you can find it used (might be a bit over $150 though). Otherwise, the Barbershop would be my pick. Both are quite versatile (subtle to full on OD), clean (relatively flat frequency response), touch sensitive, and have a knob dedicated to how tight or loose the OD sound will be. They also add some harmonics that would bring out some ~3kHz sparkle to your pbass. Fifth Gear is also a good choice but doesn't offer the tightness/looseness aspect.

 

[xnewyorka]

Southhampton Fifth Gear
Fairfield Circuitry Barbershop
Earthquaker Devices Westwood
All three are fantastic for bass or guitar.
I have one of each available for sale.

B.K. Butler Tube Driver if you want real tube sound. (It has a 12AX7 in it.)
I have one of those too. It will go to my heirs after I'm gone from this world.

 

[FilterFunk]

TC Electronic MojoMojo
Nobels ODR-B

 

[LaklandLaksNADA]

B3k for sure. Run the blend heavily towards clean signal for some mild OD.

 

[rafitoprtx]

+1 with the ampeg scambler. Great pedal and super versatile. It can be subtle and super

I've got a drawer full of them and my go-to od pedal is a little Ampeg scrambler I bought used for 50 bucks.

gritty.

 

[Rojd]

I have the Bass Soul Food and love it. It has become an essential piece of gear for me. In fact, I have one on each of my 2 board's. I use it for a very light edge. It is a natural overdrive and very subtle. These are the settings I use that seem to add some secret sauce. The db pad switch for active/passive pickups is great too.

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[monsterthompson]

Aftershock is the best solution for when you're not quite sure what you want.

It is and it isn’t. It certainly has quite a range of options available for a reasonable price. On the other hand the menus can be overwhelming, particularly for a new user wandering into them. Also, it just didn’t sound very good to my ears with my rig. I know several others have enjoyed it but it wasn’t my thing. It sounded and responded in a way that I attribute to being digital, but it could be other design elements at play. In the end, I kept going back to my Dunwich boxes. IME YMMV

I’d lean toward the Damnation MBD 1 for a good all around pedal, but they are a bit above budget. I’m trying to think of a few other options but I keep coming up with things that are over the OP budget.

The BlueBerry Bass OD is nice and natural sounding but a little dark for the OP’s request. A Pork Loin could be in that ballpark but with a bit more top end.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Fairfield Barbershop

+1

 

[Leo Thunder]

After reading countless threads, I've come to some conclusions about the sound I'm after. Please keep in mind that I'm still a bass effects rookie.

I would get a used VOX Stomplab IB or IIB and probably never need any other pedals.
It was discussed here before.

 

[Nick Danger]

I use a Invalid Link Removed. It's a bit out of your price range but you won't need another. Goes from McCartney clean to full on dUg.

 

[_Some Dude]

Ampeg Scrambler.

Set the tone control to around 10:00 and keep turning up the gain until you smile.

 

[Nunovsky]

There a lot of great sugestions in here. You'll have a lot to choose from. But here are my two cents:
Cheap and good - TC Mojo Mojo, TC Spark (4 knobs), DOD 250 (at low gain it sounds amazing), Mosky Silver MM, EHX Nano Battalion, EHX Hot Wax (you can do a lot with this one).
Not so cheap - WH Pork Loin, 5th Gear, W&C Suppa Phat Phuk, Barbershop, SsBs Mini, Grizzly, Aguilar Tonehammer (sounds amazing with flats), MBD-1.

 

[micguy]

If you want to try a Blueberry, I'd highly suggest the one You want is not the Mad Professor - the Bearfoot is the one that fits your description, and does subtle well. I've had a Bass Soul food, which is good, but I didn't like it's color - YMMV. The Aftershock is a good choice - if you don't know what you want, it offers simulations of a bunch of drives. You might like it on its own, or it might suggest what you really want to try.

A couple not yet mentioned:

1) Wampler Pantheon - not mentioned here much (except by me) Best overdrive (to my taste) that doesn't have a clean blend. Plenty of low end (it can even boost low end); sounds a lot like a big iron tube amp pushed.

2) Pike Amplification Vulcan. There's a lot of posts on here about this one, but not about whether or not it's a good overdrive. It's a great overdrive for bass, and doesn't sound (to my ears) like the pedal it was accused of copying - I like it better. It has a blend, though the blend control is something you have to understand to use effectively (once you "get it", it makes sense and is easy to dial in)