MXR Bass Fuzz Deluxe---I'm digging it

[Unemploid]

John...how come your El Grande's got 4 knobs and mines' only got three? Whatcha been doing to it?

There´s not doubt that he´s rehousing the pedal and copied the decal.

yeah tit'sa rehousing. the sub is the knob that is inside the el grande fuzz, the deep is the button and the hz was also a switch inside the original el grande fuzz.

one reason i got the bass fuzz deluxe is because it had the dry knob on the outside.

 

[GMC]

I'm not too fussed about blending options. They don't sound right to me and I generally find that I prefer the sound full on, if I feel the need to dial in a blend then that usually point to me not liking the grit tone of that particular pedal and no amount of blending is going to fix that. An Overdrive, Fuzz or Distortion should really effect the whole signal or not at all. Often buffered blends are there to hide the fact that the effect's drive can't actually be brought to zero using the drive control, which is always a pity. It means that the effect is usually quite heavy and can't be dialed in to a "just breaking" sound. Which is fine I'm looking for a heavy grind sound, but not so cool if I'm looking for the lightest of grit. Most gear reviews / videos shot the gain maxxed out, but actually a review which shows it at the lightest levels tells us a lot more about the dynamics of the effect. If they need to blend or if the gain control is well thought out. Personally, I use fuzzes for big gritty and blistering sounds, but my Overdrives have to be able to go sweet and light or heavy. but I judge them on their ability at the lighter end of the scale. So for me, a fuzz with a blend is a waste of a pot. If the pedal is lacking bottom end, then it needs proper EQ'g, not blended again with the unaffected signal.

 

[Unemploid]

whateva you like. i'm thinking about getting another fuzz that effects the whole signal as a second option to the bass fuzz deluxe.

like i said i use the pedal with a gretsch g5123b. since it's a hollowbody i can't use much fuzzes because of feedback. the guitar and pedal work nicely together and i get the sound i want alone or with a band. it's not a lot of peoples sound but i like it and so does the crowd.

 

[vegas532]

whateva you like. i'm thinking about getting another fuzz that effects the whole signal as a second option to the bass fuzz deluxe.

like i said i use the pedal with a gretsch g5123b. since it's a hollowbody i can't use much fuzzes because of feedback.

Hollowbody, you say? Brassmaster circuits are the key. B:Assmaster, Depth Charge, Diabolik, Black Cat...take your pick.

 

[GMC]

the El Grande has pretty strong mids. even though it has a big muff tone control, the 100K resistor in place of the 22K one flattens it out (it has almost zero scoop). plus the fact that you can cut either 87hz or 115hz, it can get very mid heavy. I just finished building one and luckily it still did fit in a 1590B. IMO, it's a nice sounding bass fuzz.

I've just fitted the extra knob to mine and it's great to be able to blend the sub boost. I didn't realise that was what that trip pot did. Why on earth MXR banished this to the insides....I'll never know!

 

[JimmyM]

I've just fitted the extra knob to mine and it's great to be able to blend the sub boost. I didn't realise that was what that trip pot did. Why on earth MXR banished this to the insides....I'll never know!

Probably figured that it would be one of those things that folks would want to set and forget.

 

[johnk_10]

There´s not doubt that he´s rehousing the pedal and copied the decal.

yeah tit'sa rehousing. the sub is the knob that is inside the el grande fuzz, the deep is the button and the hz was also a switch inside the original el grande fuzz.

one reason i got the bass fuzz deluxe is because it had the dry knob on the outside.

my El Grande is NOT a rehousing. I built it from scratch from the factory schematic and etched my own PCB for it. my enclosure is also etched and NOT a decal.
the original uses SMD components and mine uses thru-hole ones.

 

[JimmyM]

Rehousing? You? LOL!

Guys, he showed us a picture of the board he built for his El Grande. It's clearly not a rehousing. Here's a little hint...read ALL the posts after the post you want to comment on. Sometimes it also helps to go a page back and skim it for possible info.

 

[JimmyM]

So I finally did a lookup on what kind of pedal the BFD is based on...Tone Bender. Should bust out my Realistic violin bass tomorrow and see if I can cop McCartney's sound on "Think For Yourself."

Got to spend some quality time the past 3 nights in the same joint with the BFD, TAFM, Precision, REDDI and Heritage SVT. Didn't notice any loss of unity gain with either pedal. The TAFM certainly does its thing, and probably retains a little more of its fuzz in a dense mix, but its low end isn't quite as strong as the BFD's, and as long as I didn't get too bright with the tone knob on the BFD, I could still make out the fuzz in a dense mix. Might be different in other bands, but for us, too much tone knob put the fuzz in a range that got stepped on. And I'm not one for a huge low end, but I do like it to be in line with my clean sound, and I thought the BFD did a better job with that. And it's smaller, which suits me fine.

 

[jumblemind]

My conclusion is I don't get why the BFD is so polarizing. Sounds like a perfectly good fuzz pedal to me.

Something occurred to me about this assessment recently as I have dabbled in different brand amps and cabs. Just about anything is going to sound pretty good through an Ampeg, especially those 210AVs or the 810. They hide a lot of messiness/clank, and the natural voice adds growl and character to sounds that might otherwise be lifeless. The MXR Bass Fuzz may very well sound like a brittle mess through a studio clean rig but work quite well though a V4B/sealed cab setup.

 

[sunbeast]

Something occurred to me about this assessment recently as I have dabbled in different brand amps and cabs. Just about anything is going to sound pretty good through an Ampeg, especially those 210AVs or the 810. They hide a lot of messiness/clank, and the natural voice adds growl and character to sounds that might otherwise be lifeless. The MXR Bass Fuzz may very well sound like a brittle mess through a studio clean rig but work quite well though a V4B/sealed cab setup.

+1 to this assessment! Through the V4/810 rig I used on the one gig I used my BFD for, at best it sounded like a bit of a fuzzy boost pedal for the V4s already rounded and fairly scooped platform. Through my Prodigy, DB750 and Walkabout back home it was quite buzzy and lacked much dynamic/punch through either my NV610 or Mesa Scout cab. This is not an issue I ever had with either of my two TAFMs or Russian Big Muff derivatives through the same rigs. Different rigs definitely make a BIG difference with fuzzes!

 

[JimmyM]

Scooped? A V4B? A V4B with knobs at noon is almost dead flat. Would agree that the rigs you use can work with or against certain pedals, but this is the very first I've heard of a V4B being called "scooped." It WILL scoop but that's a whole different ballgame.

And I never run a fuzz through a tweetered cab with the tweeter on, nor do I run it through a DI without some highs filtering...these days it's mostly the VT Deluxe I use for that, but I have used other pedals in the past.

 

[jumblemind]

I think it's mostly the cabs that have the scoop. My 210AVs definitely do, at least compared to the Baer ML112s I've been comparing lately. The V4B and its tube goodness is going to be forgiving, though.

 

[76jazzbass]

So I finally did a lookup on what kind of pedal the BFD is based on...Tone Bender.

I always wondered what the 'classic circuit' it was based on was. Where did you read that?

 

[JimmyM]

Several different pages on the net. And Laurent from TB, who is quite knowledgeable about pedals.

 

[sunbeast]

Scooped? A V4B? A V4B with knobs at noon is almost dead flat. Would agree that the rigs you use can work with or against certain pedals, but this is the very first I've heard of a V4B being called "scooped." It WILL scoop but that's a whole different ballgame.

And I never run a fuzz through a tweetered cab with the tweeter on, nor do I run it through a DI without some highs filtering...these days it's mostly the VT Deluxe I use for that, but I have used other pedals in the past.

I'd be curious where you got the info about the flatness of the V4B? The rig I was playing was actually a vintage V4 that was provided for me- sounded surprisingly good for bass, but very round, scooped, and pretty low-mid fat vs the mid-forward tone I usually use regardless of knob tweaking with my Ric (which is a pretty mid-forward bass with most any other rig).

 

[JimmyM]

My ears, that's where. I've done plenty of test recordings with it vs. a flat-response DI. Sounds pretty flat to me.

 

[sunbeast]

My ears, that's where. I've done plenty of test recordings with it vs. a flat-response DI. Sounds pretty flat to me.

I did a search for some Tone stack info and it looks like you are correct about the EQ settings for both the V4 and V4b, so it must have been the cab that was so strongly voiced- it was interesting in that it had a very "subwoofery" kind of response, with a wide sounding low-mid pillow and a fuzziness on top, but with very little grind or clank. The BFD just seemed to strongly accentuate that warm fuzz on the top end (almost like a boost), while leaving the lows mostly untouched. My Rick through any of my rigs has a ton of clank and grind even with flatwounds, and I felt like the BFD just smeared them over regardless of settings unless I used it closer to a clean boost. I think we must just be looking for different tones!

 

[JimmyM]

Must be.

 

[PJFlatts]

Jimmy's thread prompted me to dig out my BFD. It was the second pedal I ever bought. I have a small pile of dirt pedals now, and after comparing sounds, I prefer the BlowerBox's warmer, fatter sound to that of the BFD. I like that the BFD is well made and designed, and is really quiet; it doesn't add noise to my chain. Because of hiss from the BB, I use a loop switcher to isolate it and keep the chain quiet. But compared to the BB, the BFD sounds thin, weak, and sterile to me.

I'm back to exiling the BFD to its box.