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OD advice thread

MtManiac

MtManiac

Mar 6, 2007
9,089
6,993
Nova Scotia
#1
After having read *many* posts about OD here, and even chimes in with my opinion on different pedals, I'm at a real quandary now solely due to being in a different band and playing different music.

With the new guys, we're doing more hard rock than I've been playing with a band for the last couple of decades - some Van Halen, Aerosmith, a Danko Jones tune, etc. I currently own a SFT, a Mojo Mojo, a Beta, and a VT Bass DI.

The band mix is one guitar into a Vox (something with onboard effects), and electronic drums going into the PA.

Regardless of which OD I'm using, I find I'm getting swallowed in the mix unless I turn OD off and play clean.

It sounds like I have them all set for unity gain, like it's as loud to my ears with or without the OD when I'm playing solo, but as soon as I'm playing in the mix, I disappear with OD.

EQ on my amp is set flat with a slight bump to mids.

Any suggestions?
 
#2
I'm no pro and haven't played with a band in years, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but maybe try a slight cut to the bass and treble and boost the mids to at least 4 o'clock. Also maybe try stainless steel strings if you're not playing with them already?
 
#3
The sheer nature of overdrive, distortion, etc is compressing the signal in and of itself, and this accounts for a lot of "tone suck" and "low end loss" when one even kicks on a BASS OD. You need to balance it some, and a nice EQ pedal after the OD should help you out a bunch. Also, a decent buffer can be had at a very decent price these days
 
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#7
SixtyCycleHum said:
The sheer nature of overdrive, distortion, etc is compressing the signal in and of itself, and this accounts for a lot of "tone suck" and "low end loss" when one even kicks on a BASS OD. You need to balance it some, and a nice EQ pedal after the OD should help you out a bunch. Also, a decent buffer can be had at a very decent price these days
Click to expand...
On an EQ pedal, would I bump up the lows in this case?
 
#9
I'd say mids are you friend, more mids on the drive pedals or going into the drive pedals, maybe a little less bass and more volume on your amp and in general dial in the overdriven bass tone so it's a bit too much gain a little too harsh or trebly than you'd instinctively like in solo , this should give you a nice cut and presence in the mix when drums/guitar/keys/vox added.
 
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#10
When I run into these issues I typically boost the lows and the treble. My OD's also all have clean blends that use as necessary. It's hard to solve problems remotely though, sometimes is the cabs or their placement or how the guitars are EQ'd that cause problems. I wish you luck!
 
#12
@BillMason I've found that when I want to blend in or support to use the same type dirt as the guitar player but if I want to cut, oppose or stand out that I need to choose a different texture - either choose a radically different overdrive style or go fuzz or distortion often times adding some octave up to the signal.
All of the fine OD pedals you have all have a similar sound so adding an EQ likely will not give you the results you are looking for but changing to a different drive texture should help.
Something like a Grey Stache, Cat Tail, 420 Fuzz from @rratajski will give you what you need or a pedal that offers you multiple choices like the Source Audio AfterShock or Bass Ultrawave.
 
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#15
bassbrad said:
@BillMason I've found that when I want to blend in or support to use the same type dirt as the guitar player but if I want to cut, oppose or stand out that I need to choose a different texture - either choose a radically different overdrive style or go fuzz or distortion often times adding some octave up to the signal.
All of the fine OD pedals you have all have a similar sound so adding an EQ likely will not give you the results you are looking for but changing to a different drive texture should help.
Something like a Grey Stache, Cat Tail, 420 Fuzz from @rratajski will give you what you need or a pedal that offers you multiple choices like the Source Audio AfterShock or Bass Ultrawave.
Click to expand...
Funny, because I've been eyeing the Fuzzrocious Lil Fella lately.

I have a few fuzzes as well, the MXR Brown Acid seems to cut ok, but was really just focusing on OD here.
 
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#17
RJ said:
Honest question - can you turn your over drive up?


It might sound 'too loud' on its own but you might find that it's just right with the band.
Click to expand...

+1000 to this. The way to match clean vs. dirty levels is in the band mix.

At a gig a few years ago I set up my VT for one very specific reason: heavy overdrive for the bass break in "Dance to the Music". I worried about excessive boost, didn't want to blast out the horn section in front of me, so I was careful about unity gain... or so I thought. When it came time for the bass solo, I stomped on the pedal... and my volume dropped way down relative to the drums. Drummer gave me stink eye -- translation: "dude, we were having so much fun here, why'd you have to ruin it?" :D No time to tweak, so I turned the pedal off for the rest of the song.

Given that and similar incidents, I learned that it's better to set dirt level so it seems louder than clean when tweaking levels outside of the band mix. Full band soundchecks usually don't happen at my bar gigs.
 
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#18
Fuzzbass said:
+1000 to this. The way to match clean vs. dirty levels is in the band mix.

At a gig a few years ago I set up my VT for one very specific reason: heavy overdrive for the bass break in "Dance to the Music". I worried about excessive boost, didn't want to blast out the horn section in front of me, so I was careful about unity gain... or so I thought. When it came time for the bass solo, I stomped on the pedal... and my volume dropped way down relative to the drums. Drummer gave me stink eye -- translation: "dude, we were having so much fun here, why'd you have to ruin it?" :D No time to tweak, so I turned the pedal off for the rest of the song.

Given that and similar incidents, I learned that it's better to set dirt level so it seems louder than clean when tweaking levels outside of the band mix. Full band soundchecks usually don't happen at my bar gigs.
Click to expand...
This is exactly what I've been experiencing! Thanks!
 
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