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My quest for a heavy distortion continues.

#21
id try a pd7. its low-priced, and has alot of ajdustment capabilities so you can dial in some cool sounds. the 'attack' switch it has is really more of a dry blend switch, so you have that feature available. i have one and use it alot. only thing is that at the extremes it starts to sound really artificial. like at really low or really high settings
ive tried my g*****ists metal muff (the big one w/top boost) with my bass. HATED it. i know some people love it for bass, but i couldnt find any good useable tone out of it. its made for guitars definetely. i tried my other g*****ists boss metal zone with my bass, on the other hand, and got some pretty good sounds. ive used a regular nyc big muff with bass. it had alot of tonal options, but the only way i could get it to put out a little mpre attack was to turn up the tone knob on my bass all the way, and shift the pickup selector all the way to the bridge pickup. i got alot of cool sounds, but it wasnt the most bass-friendly pedal ive used. the bass big muff has a bass boost option so you dont have total tone suckage, in addition to a dry mode which blends the effected signal with your dry tone

as far as eq settings for distortion go, if there not many options on the pedal itself, i always find that having some sort of eq AFTER the distortion helps shape the tone better, gives you alot more options, and helps keep it down so you dont go from (for example) a bass sound with boosted lows and mids/scooped highs, to a distorted bass sound (that sounds crazy as it is) with the lows scooped and highs boosted. cuz then it blends in wih the guitars even more than it usualy does
 
#23
nad said:
...
Boss ODB-3
Owned one for years. Didn't hate it. I moved on.

Any suggestions? ...
Click to expand...

As I was reading through your post, I started thinking to myself "ODB-3". And then, you mention that you used to use it.

Maybe you are trying to re-capture something that the ODB-3 was doing for you all along. I know, I know - everybody on TB hates it, but the ODB-3 really has it's place (and in my opinion, what the ODB-3 excels at is distortion meets fuzz girth).

Heck, I'm a pedal snob too! I'm only satisfied when I have at least 3 levels and types of grit. I've certainly put a lot of time and $$$ into pedals. Maybe you should try the old Boss Bass Overdrive again with the band. If you want to avoid the TB backlash, just paint it a different color - or reinstall the guts in a different Boss pedal to really screw with everyone!

Also, you haven't tried the classic Big Muff approach yet. It's been the go-to distortion/fuzz for bass players for decades! I recently got a Bass Big Muff & I love it - especially for < $80!!!
 
#24
scotch said:
As I was reading through your post, I started thinking to myself "ODB-3". And then, you mention that you used to use it.

Maybe you are trying to re-capture something that the ODB-3 was doing for you all along. I know, I know - everybody on TB hates it, but the ODB-3 really has it's place (and in my opinion, what the ODB-3 excels at is distortion meets fuzz girth).

Heck, I'm a pedal snob too! I'm only satisfied when I have at least 3 levels and types of grit. I've certainly put a lot of time and $$$ into pedals. Maybe you should try the old Boss Bass Overdrive again with the band. If you want to avoid the TB backlash, just paint it a different color - or reinstall the guts in a different Boss pedal to really screw with everyone!

Also, you haven't tried the classic Big Muff approach yet. It's been the go-to distortion/fuzz for bass players for decades! I recently got a Bass Big Muff & I love it - especially for < $80!!!
Click to expand...

Not EVERYBODY hates the ODB-3. :)

And +1 to the BBM. It can probably do what the OP is shooting for
 
#25
nad said:
3Xfx Fatman/V2
Really close to what I'm trying to acheive, if this pedal had a tone knob that I could tame the treble with it would have been perfect. The oscillation mode was neat, but I didn't really use it except for during Big Rock Endings and while trying to annoy the neighbours.
Click to expand...

Hope this isn't too spammy, but what you are asking for does exist. I have a 3 knob version of the Fatman (distortion only), that includes a Tone knob. It just isn't on my site yet. I'll get that updated this weekend.

Justin
 
#28
I myself have been on this journey for years....

let me tell you how i arrived at my current destination....

I tried lots of Overdrives and lots of distortions and lots of fuzz....way...way...way too many to list although i do believe there is a thread out there someplace of all the pedals i tried

long story short....I discovered there is no one pedal that will do what i wanted so.....

I currently run a Vodoo Lab Sparkle drive mostly dirty with a touch of clean blended in with the volume at about 2:00 o'clock pushed into a Boomstick Bottom Feeder which is being pumped into a EHX BBM also included in the mix is a Boss OC-3 (which is soon to be replaced by an Octron) this combo covers all the angles and i get that nice, fat, deep, in your face unngghhh! YMMV

Good luck on your journey...
 
#31
Snakeman1066 said:
I currently run a Vodoo Lab Sparkle drive mostly dirty with a touch of clean blended in with the volume at about 2:00 o'clock pushed into a Boomstick Bottom Feeder which is being pumped into a EHX BBM also included in the mix is a Boss OC-3 (which is soon to be replaced by an Octron) this combo covers all the angles and i get that nice, fat, deep, in your face unngghhh! YMMV
Click to expand...

Multiple dirt pedals in sequence is indeed a fine way to achieve novel sounds, and can often get you more of the sounds you want.

I currently run a Hematoma into a Cream Pie for OD, and Bass Microsynth -> Bass Big Muff -> B:Assmaster in my "dirty" loop

lots of dirty sound options there
 
#34
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F-Bomb High Output Fuzz
This ain't your old man's classic rock overdrive. The F-Bomb has more gain than you will ever need. It's balls to the wall fuzz with the drive knob at noon. It's not "open," "transparent" or "warm." The F-Bomb is the antithesis of everything the establishment thinks you should want in a dirt pedal. It's compressed. It can get sloppy. Turning this thing on is like running naked in to the boardroom and punching "the man" in the face.

The F-Bomb is for dirty filthy rock tone. Gear is not furniture, or artifacts meant to be kept in a glass case. So plug in your guitar. Turn everything on your amp to ten and rip the knobs off. Then turn on the F-Bomb and get ready to have some fun.

The "F" is for FET, but that doesn't mean some people won't be offended by it. The F-bomb has 5 FET stages for a huge amount of gain, and a ridiculous high volume output. Play it loud, and when the neighbors start banging on the door you won't even hear them. The F-Bomb is highly reactive to your guitars volume and tone controls, and you will need to use them to get the most out of this pedal. Even with just two knobs The F-Bomb has a wide range of sounds, from sloppy fuzz, to "chugga chgga" distortion, to basement blues.
Click to expand...
 

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