Yeah, of course. Whatever obscure pedal the cat drags in, someone here has first hand experience with it
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My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal
- Thread starter el murdoque
- Start date
IIRC, I grabbed one of these on a whim via their EBay account in maybe 2007-8 or so but I don’t know what drew me to it? I think he used to describe it as his take at what a Tubescreamer should be (ie a Tubescreamer without as strong of a baked-in mid-hump). The depth/bass or whatever he called it was definitely intriguing to me for bass (vs the fixed HPF that a Tubescreamer has), and as I recall the price was really reasonable at the time compared to other options so felt like a small risk to take.Yeah, of course. Whatever obscure pedal the cat drags in, someone here has first hand experience with it
This was back when the Fulltone Bassdrive, Sansamp, Boss ODB-3, etc were most of the “bass drive” market that weren’t just Tubescreamers with a blend knob and none of those pedals had really scratched the itch for me (I did like a few other “guitar” drives with bass though, like the Barber LTD- I think it was the LTD anyway) . There was also the Blueberry back then, but it always felt too boutique for me at the prices and never readily avail akr as far as I could see. After getting the Blueboy I remember looking on TB to see if anyone else was using one on bass and maybe only 1 or 2 people had mentioned it (maybe @emjazz ?).
I felt like the Blueboy really did do what I wanted a Tubescreamer to when pushing a tube head, though all the controls were somewhat confusing at the time. I also had the MI Audio Tube Zone for a bit, which was more open and gnarly but had some good tones for bass (maybe a bit too tight down low for most, but worked well through a tube head). I’d be curious to go back and try all of these now that I’ve had 20 years of other drives to try to see if any of them would hold up!
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I only have about 12 years of other drives, but it'S is the same thing for me.
I admit that I felt a little bit surprised when I read that the Blue Boy is/was MI Audio's take on a Tube Screamer, because my memory of how the Blue Boy sounds and how your typical TS variant sounds are quite different.
I do know that at one time, I used it as a clean preamp for dub tones - by setting the gain very low and tilting the Tone to maybe 9 o'clock which yielded an avalanche of bass. Also, I remember it to be more gravelly and rougher in texture than your common TS is.
On the other hand, you could call the Nobels ODR-1 a pedal based on the Tube Screamer, even though it's not a TS circuit that got modified, but much rather a "This is what we think the Tube Screamer should do, but does not"-pedal.
It was definitely "inspired by" a Tubescreamer (even using the same Op-amp as the most popular TS versions), though I don't know how much the circuit resembles one all things said and done- in any case the additional controls can take it in lots of directions a Tubescreamer couldn't go. I think the original ad-copy was something like "people have been asking me for a Tubescreamer, this is what my Tubescreamer would be" or something along those lines. I thought I remembered it having a fairly smooth OD texture, but it has been a LONG time since I had it so could be misremembering (that's likely somewhat dependent on the different settings). The "Bass" control I was mentioning earlier is actually called "Character", which I'm pretty sure is an adjustable pre-clipping bass control (probably just adjustable HPF, since actual Tubescreamers have a pretty strong fixed HPF at the input). I do remember it having ample bass on tap, moreso than the Fulltone Bassdrive for example and definitely more than any of the other "guitar" drives I had used.
Oh boy, that is so interesting
I remember the Character knob as a sort of clean blend, not entirely sure if the clean portion of the signal is low passed or not.
Here's all that I can remember:
Tone being an incredibly powerful tilt control, setting it fully CCW yielding a ton of bass and no treble at all and vice versa.
Mids being "off" for young el_murdoque, who judged these are guitar mids and kept the knob at noon.
Char - as I said, some sort of clean blend.
Bright: An active treble control, boost or cut the uppermost guitar frequencies.
Well, we're about to put the faded memories from pedals of the past into the spotlight to see how memory compares to hard facts.Wow, the Jounal goes down memory lane...
Instead sharp graphs and vividly scetched movie scenes, it's fading memories...
Keep on sharing those ...
Fuzz experts, I need some input.
I ran across an interesting pedal, the Kogoy Musical Devices Rainbowsound fuzz.
Reading the description, it is a recreation of a 60's fuzz from the UK - and simple deduction led me to believe it must be the Coloursound Tonebender.
Is the standard Tone Bender usable for bass?
I ran across an interesting pedal, the Kogoy Musical Devices Rainbowsound fuzz.
Reading the description, it is a recreation of a 60's fuzz from the UK - and simple deduction led me to believe it must be the Coloursound Tonebender.
Is the standard Tone Bender usable for bass?
No expert, but I dabble
. There are a few versions (or “Marks”) of the Tonebenders, and they’ve all been cloned a thousand times. The 1, 2 and 1.5 (which, somewhat confusingly, came after the 2, IIRC) may be a little thin on bass. The 3 may be better, but seems to be rarer, because less popular among guitarists. The Youtube channel “Theo and his pedals” has many fuzz demos, all bass (and bass IV). I think he likes Tonebenders. He’s also here on TB, under a different username that I don’t remember.
I just found “Theo”’s user name here, @DosiYanarchy. Perhaps he’ll receive the bat signal and offer his take; I don’t think there’s a more comprehensive collection of fuzz on bass videos/demos out there.
I also just noticed that I typed “bass IV” in my previous post
. That would hardly make those videos stand out now, would it?
I also just noticed that I typed “bass IV” in my previous post
. That would hardly make those videos stand out now, would it?I can't comment on how the fuzzes work on bass as I haven't tried them, but I have read a bit about the history of the different tonebender types. In the 60s when they were originally selling them they would change the circuit without telling anyone or changing the enclosure, so the different "marks" were just ways to talk about which circuit it is that were applied later. The "Mark 1.5" was an extremely brief transition between the Mark 1 and Mark 2, so it was missed when the names were agreed on. Ironically though, the 1.5 is virtually identical to a Fuzz Face.No expert, but I dabble
I did a little reading on the topic - and there seem to be less "root-circuits" than I thought.
JHS puts them into Two, three and four transistor fuzz pedals and octave fuzz.
Two transistor being the Fuzz Face. I've owned one of these a long time ago, and it was brutal on the distortion, but also brutal on the lows. This is 30 years ago, so memory is patchy. I think I did try to convert it to center negative and fried it because the center positive is necessary because the housing is somehow integral to the circuit and I basically shorted it to ground when flipping polarity.
Three transistor is the Tone Bender Family, and as a major boon over two transistor pedals, they come with tone knobs.
Four transistor is, you might have guessed it, the Muffia.
Octave Fuzz is doing that weird octave up thing within the circuit, the prominent one would be the Super Fuzz.
JHS puts them into Two, three and four transistor fuzz pedals and octave fuzz.
Two transistor being the Fuzz Face. I've owned one of these a long time ago, and it was brutal on the distortion, but also brutal on the lows. This is 30 years ago, so memory is patchy. I think I did try to convert it to center negative and fried it because the center positive is necessary because the housing is somehow integral to the circuit and I basically shorted it to ground when flipping polarity.
Three transistor is the Tone Bender Family, and as a major boon over two transistor pedals, they come with tone knobs.
Four transistor is, you might have guessed it, the Muffia.
Octave Fuzz is doing that weird octave up thing within the circuit, the prominent one would be the Super Fuzz.
No expert, but I dabble
I just found “Theo”’s user name here, @DosiYanarchy. Perhaps he’ll receive the bat signal and offer his take; I don’t think there’s a more comprehensive collection of fuzz on bass videos/demos out there.
I also just noticed that I typed “bass IV” in my previous post
Thanks for the tag!
Okay my thought it: YES on the Colorsound but NO on the Tone bender.
I suspect it's a take on the Colorsound Power Boost/Over driver.
The manufacturer description suggested that the 2-band EQ was part of the original design (which was pretty uncommon back then) but also that the original version of the pedal this is based on was a three knob setup and the gain control was effectively the volume control, with them later adding a master volume... Which is exactly what they did with the overdriver/power boost.
I like the Overdriver/Powerboost circuit on bass and currently have a Colorsound one. I prefer it on guitar as something to pummel a tube amp and prefer the Supa/Jumbo Tonebenders (which are both modified Big Muffs) on bass.
Just for the hell of it heres some Tonebender info to the best of my knowledge (which could be wrong) as the fact that there are at least 4 circuits completely different from each other that are all Tonebenders is pretty confusing.
MKI Tonebender - very similar to the Maestro FZ-1 and Rush Pepbox
MK1.5 - similar to a fuzz face
MKII - Similar to Marshall Supa Fuzz
MKIII/MKIV - I think the iii and iv are actually the same circuit and are like the mkii with an added tone control.
Supa and Jumbo and Bass Fuzz - apparently the Supa is basically a 72 Rams head big muff with the first diode pair removed, the jumbo also has final gain stage removed. The Bass Fuzz actually has a few different circuits I've found, largely being a Supa with larger caps.
Having said that I have an early 70s Supa, a late 70s/early 80s Jumbo and a 2000s Bass Fuzz currently and they sound VERY similar.
This discussion got me curious again so I went digging on tonebender history. The Mark II and Mark III are similar in that they use the same number of transistors, but they are arranged differently in addition to the Mark III having a tone control. The Mark IV and the various other later versions are all modified from the big muff circuit in various ways.
Thanks for the insight.
The device in question is this:
And from the description that it's based on something UK made from the 60s that has been used by heavy hitters of the era, my first thought was that the design looks like a nod towards the Dark Side Of The Moon, but that album was released in '73,
but looking at UK fuzz circuits, the Tone Bender came to mind and from there it was not far to find Coloursound, which matches the name and design - but reading the description again, they say it's "Well known but under-utilized in the modern era", which does not exactly match the Tone Bender.
It has to be a take on the Coloursound Overdriver, the knob layout and description match it very well.
I'll look into that for a bit - but I don't think vintage fuzz tone is something I want to chase.
Here's something interesting:
The Becos TS8-JZ.
The name suggests it, it's based on the Tube Screamer.
What's different?
1. There is a dry blend
2. There is a tilt EQ anchored at 750Hz that applies only to the dry signal
3. There are three clipping options, classic silicon, asymmetric silicon and LED
4. There is a "Deep" switch
5. It's capable of running 18V
The Becos TS8-JZ.
The name suggests it, it's based on the Tube Screamer.
What's different?
1. There is a dry blend
2. There is a tilt EQ anchored at 750Hz that applies only to the dry signal
3. There are three clipping options, classic silicon, asymmetric silicon and LED
4. There is a "Deep" switch
5. It's capable of running 18V
Interesting indeed! I love Becos compressors, haven't had a chance to try their overdrive yet.
Looking forward to your observations...
the "The Wetter Bass" guy on YT has a demo of this one online and it sounds great.
...but it's the old problem: Becos mostly sells direct, the second hand market for these is non-existent and the only option seems to be to buy a new one and take the hit on the resale value.
My problem these days is that I'm oversaturated in the saturation department.
I have my metal-band-board loaded with the FPT, Meatsmoke and Bassrig, my other board with the Prunes&Custard, BDPG and the Xotic BB, and even sold the Headrush I used for jams to craft a Nano which now holds the Singular Audio Tubedrve and the Origin DCX - averaging 2,666 dirt pedals per board - or much rather 3.0 if you count the Meatsmoke as two pedals.
I also have dirt pedals sitting on the shelf.
With that situation, there is always hope, but I don't really expect to find pedals that are worth keeping. I do expect to have them for a while, play them, measure them, write about them and then sell them on - in ideal circumstances without taking a hit. My knowledge is furthered and my curiosity sated, and I start looking for the next thing.
Update to my shortlist:
Overdrives:
-Walrus 385 Mk II (I will get a Mark I if the price is right)
-Greer Lightspeed
-Becos TS808 JZ
-Zvex Channel 2 or Super Duper 2in1
But I've sniffed some fuzzy air and I think I need to explore a bit in that direction.
What are some great bass fuzz options you'd like to read me wrestling with?
Overdrives:
-Walrus 385 Mk II (I will get a Mark I if the price is right)
-Greer Lightspeed
-Becos TS808 JZ
-Zvex Channel 2 or Super Duper 2in1
But I've sniffed some fuzzy air and I think I need to explore a bit in that direction.
What are some great bass fuzz options you'd like to read me wrestling with?
I watched the video. It sounds very good. I love the tilt EQ on the clean side...
