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My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal

#3,581
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?
 
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#3,583
Bitten by the Fuzzbug, I remembered there's a Big Muff as a deco piece on the window shelf, and I dragged that onto the test bench once more.
What can I say? I put it there because the SO liked it and I have not used it in years because I thought it's too much.

It still is.

The only surprise is this:
combined_BigMuff_Tone_Min_BigMuff_Tone_Noon_BigMuff_Tone_Max.png


There's no visual bass cut to speak of.
It certainly feels different. With the tone knob maxed, the sizzle gets so harsh, I instinctively dial back and there is, as a result, less bass.


I also remembered the old fuzz trick and rolled back the volume knob on my bass, and that really does a world of difference.

Here's the Big Muff with my P bass, all knobs noon on the pedal. Tone completely rolled off on the bass. The second pass is with the bass volume knob at roughly half, the third is with the bass volume knob at full.

And this is with my Aria Pro II Fakenbacker, neck pickup soloed. The pedal has a point at around 8 o'clock on the Sustain knob where it wakes up, before that it sounds starved. This is the Sustain knob just past that point. Again, first Muff sounds with the volume knob dialed back, second Muff pass with the volume all the way up
 
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#3,585
CamJazzBass said:
What is that trick? What does it do?
Click to expand...
Just click on the audio files to listen to the effect. Each record is three passes, first pass clean, second pass with the volume at about 50%, third pass with the volume full-on.

Basically, you can take a lot of the sting out of a fuzz pedal when you run it first in chain and dial back on the (passive) instrument's volume knob. You will have to roll back further than 50% to actually dial back on volume, the first half (or thereabouts) will mostly reduce the amount of distortion you'll get.
 
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#3,586
el murdoque said:
Just click on the audio files to listen to the effect. Each record is three passes, first pass clean, second pass with the volume at about 50%, third pass with the volume full-on.

Basically, you can take a lot of the sting out of a fuzz pedal when you run it first in chain and dial back on the (passive) instrument's volume knob. You will have to roll back further than 50% to actually dial back on volume, the first half (or thereabouts) will mostly reduce the amount of distortion you'll get.
Click to expand...
This effect is much more pronounced with 2-transistor fuzzes (e.g. Fuzz Face).
 
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#3,588
oh la la - something new, fancy, and flexible - this might be my next grab. it's doing all the things I like. Mids-shaping pre-gain And a VU meter?!

empresseffects.com

Drive

Most overdrives are built around one particular character. The Empress Drive gives you the tools to shape your own. Instead of locking you into a single flavour of overdrive, it lets you shape the harmonic structure that determines how a drive sounds and responds.With pre-overdrive mid shaping...
empresseffects.com empresseffects.com

I started a dedicated thread over here
tidbits

Thread 'Empress 'The Drive''

This looks incredibly cool. Super flexible EQ, configurable pre/post boost, VU meter?!

Product page
empresseffects.com

Drive

Most overdrives are built around one particular character. The Empress Drive gives you the tools to shape your own. Instead of locking you into a single flavour of overdrive, it lets you shape the harmonic structure that determines how a drive sounds and responds.With pre-overdrive mid shaping...
empresseffects.com empresseffects.com

Bass The World demo


Screenshot 2026-05-05 at 9.14.54 AM.png
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  • Wow
 
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#3,590
Let's talk MI Audio Blueboy Deluxe for a second while I'm gently letting off steam.

I wish I had plotted the Mids knob of the pedal first:

combined_BlueBoy_Mids_min_BlueBoy_Mids_noon_BlueBoy_Mids_max.png


...because it kinda shows that there is mid scoop going on and the flat response setting would be with the mids maxed.


When looking at the Bright knob with all other knobs at noon:
combined_BlueBoy_Bright_min_BlueBoy_Bright_noon_BlueBoy_Bright_max.png

I kind of get the impression this is a boost/cut thing because of the hole torn by the mids knob.

Same goes for Tone:
combined_BlueBoy_Tone_min_BlueBoy_Tone_noon_BlueBoy_Tone_max.png


Looking at all these graphs, I do form a theory that a flat response might be with the Bright a bit past noon, the mids maxed and the Tone at noon.
I tested that theory:
combined_BlueBoy_flat.png
..and promptly corrected my thesis. Flat is with the Mids maxed and Bright at 3 o'clock:
combined_BlueBoy_flat2.png
Which is still not flat.
Flat is with Mids maxed and Bright maxed?
combined_BlueBoy_flat3.png
That's as flat as it'll go.

So here's an updated version of what the knobs on the Blue Boy Deluxe do:

Bright: Passive treble control, cut only. Also reduces gain when below noon.
Mids: Passive mids control, cut only. Creates a hole at 1k.
Tone: Tilt EQ, centered at 700Hz
 
#3,591
However, that seems to be not the end of measuring. The manual, which I looked up to find out what the Character control does exactly,
states that the Tone control and the mids control are interactive and the mids control gets stronger with higher settings of the tone control and with tone turned all the way down, the mids knob does nothing.

Character is not a clean blend, not at all. It's pre gain bass control not unlike the recently released Broughton Evergreen uses. You can basically increase the amount of bass to be sent to the clippers. To my defense, turning it CCW sounds a bit like a clean blend because the amount of clean bass increases.
I do suppose that usage on guitar has a different impact, because all the bass that gets sent into the pedal from a bass guitar easily overwhelms the clipping stage.

It's a simple "start with the control completely rolled off and then turn it up slowly until it stops getting better and starts getting worse. Roll back one notch, enjoy" control.
 
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#3,593
el murdoque said:
For those that did not read the "The Drive" thread linked by @tidbits

I ordered the pedal before the BassTheWorld video was over.

VU METER!

It really is such a drag that I'm a sucker for VU meters, yet passionately hate everything Ashdown makes.
Click to expand...

I've got one on the way as well. Between the flexible EQ and the optional boost it was an easy pick. Mix knob might be handy if I end up using this with synths or anything else. The VU meter is just the cherry on top. I'm a big fan of Empress.
 

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