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low gain OD

#61
Buzz E said:
That's perfect!
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I wish I could take credit for it. It's an expression that seems to have gone around for years. I first heard it from a soundguy describing an opening band's guitar player who was using a Tele through a Vox amp with, seemingly, the amp's treble control on full. "He's going for that ice pick to the ear drums thing." It was indeed painful.
 
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#63
I've been messing around with low gain OD for a while and after many different pedals I've stopped at the Vintage Microtubes, by Darkglass.
I know it's way out of the range price, but give it a thought: I use it as a preamp, always on and it's just what the opener asked.
A slight breakup that sounds like a tube amp with the gain cranked to that sweet spot. It's very touch sensitive, you can set it so that it will distort only the hardest notes and it sounds... mmh creamy :D

On the cheap side I've been very impressed by the Way Huge Pork Loin, it's very warm and doesn't loose any low end. Plus, it's purple and looks great!
 
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#64
I would recommend the Way Huge Pork Loin too. I just bought a Darkglass VMT from someone on here and found that the Pork Loin retained better low end and could cop most of the tones the VMT could. I ended up trading the VMT for a B3K for something heavier.

In my experience I use the Pork Loin almost as a bass boost at times as the low end is so big when the clean knob is all the way open. Lots of tons in this pedal especially with the switches inside which I've barely touched.
The Loin also pairs nicely with the OC-2.
 
#65
The Aggie Agro can do mild...and rip your face clean off! I love mine!

The Joyo Ultimate Drive is very good too.

Good Luck!

EDIT: I neglected to mention that i use my Agro set to very mild....
 
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#66
I'll chime in as someone who has just moved to pedals for Overdrive as I am not gigging my tube amps anymore.

I have tried a ton of pedals for Low Gain and as always on pedals.

The 3 leaders were:

Darkglass Vintage Microtubes
Solid Gold FX Beta
Fairfield Circuitry Barbershop

You absolutely cannot not go wrong with any of these.

The Barbershop just didn't agree with me. I think it may have been too subtle for my taste.

The Solid was amazing and gave the exact colour I wanted and perfect edge to my tone.

I ended up getting the Vintage Microtubes Deluxe even though it really wasn't in the budget. The EQ and DI were too good to overlook and I got some amazing tones from it. It has so much range and flexibility though I found the more extreme grind settings were better left for the B7K.

I will likely get a Solid Gold FX Beta in the coming week as well though. Amazing Old School tones.

I think for Light Overdrive in a Modern sounding band, get the Darkglass

If you want Old School overdrive. Blues, Motown etc. Get the Solid Gold FX Beta.
 
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#69
Ive had the MXR M80 dist+ for yrs and I thought it was great. I got a used Boss ODB-3 Bass Overdrive for $20 in a pawn shop just as a backup, but it just seemed to be a big fuzzy mess w harsh highs rather than an actual OD. Ive read quite a few posts here about the Monte Allums mod, in particular the ODB-3 so I thot Id try it since I only had $20 in the pedal to begin with and for around $30 for the parts, step by step install instuctions, Im amazed@ how much better this inexpensive(but sturdy) ped sounds. Now the MXR is backing up the ODB-3. Totally worth looking into, esp since used ODB-3s seem in abundance @ a decent price. I might pick up another to mod just in case.
 
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#71
Dave W said:
Not really any comparison.

The Bass Drive and OCD both have way more gain on tap than the Barbershop. Both are great pedals and both are on my board along with a Barbershop. The Barbershop excels at low gain where the other two pedals do much better at medium gain IMO. Also, the Barbershop is very touch sensitive and the BD and OCD are not. To me it basically adds all of the intricate harmonics that a slightly cranked tube amp adds.

The Barbershop is not a muddy pedal at all. All of the demos of it that are online are terrible. It's as bright as what you send into it.
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you have all three on your board?? Do you stack them or run them separately??
if you stack them, what order do you have them in(if you don't mind)
 
#72
The Dr. J Sparrow is awesome for low gain OD. It can be set so it only overdrives when you dig in hard. I know this sounds bat-s**t crazy but it sounds like a tube amp being pushed into overdrive so so so much more than any other pedal I've ever tried.
 
#73
blindrabbit said:
Positive!!! I love the Tone Hammer so much that I changed my amp head to one, and the Blue Tube was one of my first ever dirt pedals and I still love them...one day I will have one again! I've never tried that combo before, but the idea of it sounds amazing!
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I'm new to using pedals and have only had these for a couple months but the combo is working out really good,I can set the gain on the Tonehammer pretty high and engage the Bluetube to get the warm tubey sound,I do this in lue of using the AGS because of the boost you get with it,but the Tonehammer works great too with the AGS set around 25%,Im still exprimenting with the whole set up
 
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#75
hennessybass said:
I tried a Barbershop and didn't really care for it too much. I thought it was not transparent - as in it changed the overall tone of things when kicked on. Not just adding a little distortion or grit to MY sound, but actually changing the EQ curve. IME, similar to what I could do on my Jazz bass by starting with everything wide open, and then rolling the neck PUP back a quarter turn. Again, this is my experience, and I didn't have it for long, so maybe I just never got it dialed in. So many duded on here say the pedal is super transparent that it makes me think maybe it was me,, but there is my experience, so maybe we all have different definitions of transparent. Otherwise a nice sounding pedal.

If you like your tone, and just want to add a little grit on top, I recommend the Way Huge Pork Loin, or the Darkglass Vintage Microtubes. Both great pedals. I like the Pork Loin a lot, very vintage sounding, and very transparent. The Microtubes is also super transparent, has a wider range of distortion sounds than the pork loin, but is also a lot more expensive.
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It's so funny how people's ears are so different. I love the VMT and I like the Pork Loin (without the johnk mod much less) but I would never call them transparent.
 
#76
hintz said:
you have all three on your board?? Do you stack them or run them separately??
if you stack them, what order do you have them in(if you don't mind)
Click to expand...

Not to make it sound all confusing, but it depends on what amp I'm running and the venue I'm in.

I don't stack the Bass Drive and the OCD together, it's one or the other. I was typically running the Bass Drive with the Boost on, and the sound is similar to an OCD, so just this past weekend I pulled the Bass Drive to get some board space.

When running a SS or Hybrid amp I'll use the Barbershop as an "always on" pedal to make the amps sound more like a tube amp, so it would be stacked with any other effect that I'm using. I've had it all over the place in my signal chain, usually where it fits best on my board. The only real requirement that I have is that any EQ pedals go after the BS because I don't like the sound of boosted bass going into it. It's sounds muddy and indistinct which is the opposite of what I go for. I usually have the OCD (and Bass Drive) running after it.

When you listen to isolated bass tracks and you hear all that overdrive on what otherwise sounds very clean in the mix is what I'm striving for. I find the BS does this extremely well for my sound and my band. I just adds a little sumthin' sumthin' on top of what is an already great tone. If I can't get that with the amp I'm running the BS is on...
 
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#78
Amir Nehmad said:
Hi everybody, first post in this forum :)

I started playing with stompboxes in the late few mounth and still trying to see what i I like and what I don't. Right now i Have EHX Micro POG and a Deluxe Bass Big Muff.
i was thinking about getting an overdrive that will work most of the time and give me a little dirt.
I dont need a high gain Distortion, just a little grit ( i thinkg it's the right term).
I was thinking about the Markbass mini dist or the MXR bass overdrive M89.
What are your thought's and suggestions? do you have another pedal in mind?
my budget is around 130$-150...
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For just a little transparent grit, new, in your budget range the EHX Bass Soul Food is a nice option. It also sounds good stacked with the BearfootFX Blueberry which is a very versatile non colored and quiet pedal.
 

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