opinions please...!

[matt_dutyfree]

ok so basically I'm looking for a stomp box that can add an extra drive when i want. So some mild overdrive (not fuzz) a volume boost (and a mid scoop would be nice but not really needed). I really want NO loss in low end!

I'm not looking to spend much and i've come down to these cos' it's what's availible in the uk.

DOD bass overdrive. I like the blend control, figure I'd use that!
DOD 250. some people say its great but maybe too fuzzy and lack of a tone control!
Ibanez PD7. Heard a few people saying these are great... more tone options but maybe it'd be too harsh for me and has no blend!

Basically I'd like to know your opinions, which one you'd choose or any other suggestions!

Cheers in advance!

 

[Heckxx]

i have the DOD bass overdrive, its on the milder side of things, and its incapable of doing fuzz, so it'll prolly be descent for what u need. U can definitely get a nice volume boost with it. Tho, the overall tone isnt really that great when compared to more expensive units. but For 30 bucks its not a bad unit to start out with.

 

[Mo'Phat]

SansAmp BDDI...but may be more than what you're looking for. The Boss ODB-3 can be tweaked to only provide a mild overdrive, has a blend control, a Low and Hi EQ and a level control.

Of the 3 you mentioned, I've heard the 250 sucks low end, and the Phat Head is pretty good, but the button is twitchy. It sounds 'wooly' to me, which may be a good thing.

 

[KPJ]

+1 on the Boss! I use mine for the very purpose that you describe. Boosting the bass and treble scoops the mids some, set the drive all the way counterclockwise and bump the blend just a bit. Set the level to your desired volume and you have a nice boost for solos or emphasized basslines.

 

[Joe P]

+1 on the Boss! I use mine for the very purpose that you describe. Boosting the bass and treble scoops the mids some, set the drive all the way counterclockwise and bump the blend just a bit. Set the level to your desired volume and you have a nice boost for solos or emphasized basslines.

That's it... I'm going today or tommorrow and just buying one of those. I went to Guitar Center again on Tues. to test it again, but this time I took one to the 'Rumble Room' to use it through a real amp (over in the 'pedal department' they expect you to evaluate it with a little practice combo).

One thing I looked into again is just what we're talking about here: I backed the blend off all the way (which DID back-off to a true "0% blend"), and attemped to normalize the sound so that I couldn't tell whether the pedal was engaged or not. It worked (I mean maybe the tinyest bit of difference, but really neglegable), so it can be used for 'clean boost'!

I was messing with playing some of our band songs with the blend backed way off, so that the distortion was fairly much 'in the background'; I thought it sounded great that way on Jerkin' back and forth by Devo, and several others. One thing that could be a little better for running it in that capacity would be if the tone controls only affected the distortion-sound - that way, of course, you could get radical with them, and it would only affect the background-fuzz. As it is, the tones work on the clean sound too, so you can't do anything to the distortion that you don't want to do to the clean too.

As I've said in other posts - I think where this thing really shines also, though, is how it works on 'power chords' and harmonies; it really keeps a smooth harmonic structure, and doesn't get 'messy' sounding or dissonant! In fact the bit of buzz or 'quack' or whatever that it does have with single notes actually goes away with a 1-5; any buzz turns into a thick-thick crunch.

A couple guys here have said that it's 'mild' or whatever. Don't misunderstand - it's not just 'a warm overdrive' or 'tube simulator' or something, in fact doesn't have much of an 'in-between' distortion sound; it's pretty much downright clipping or not (although it doesn't sputter to speak of if you let a note die all the way out of distortion). It's definately a cranked-Marshal kind of DISTORTION. I mean with the tones just left flat, the blend up to the effect-side, and the drive (forget what it's called; I mean the 'distortion amount') up high, 1-5-8 power-chords have a definate 'heavy metal rhythm guitar sound'!

Joe

 

[matt_dutyfree]

cheers for the input. I've always assumed the boss would be outta the equation because alot of people don't like it for full on overdrive sounds!

does the boss have a reasonable bypass?? How does the bypass of the DOD overdrive comapre?? I understand you don't get true bypass for this price but I don't wanna loose my tone when I'm not using it!

Thanks for the help!

 

[KPJ]

I cannot compare the Boss to the DOD/Digitech because I have never used the DOD, but I have not noticed any tone issues with using the Boss.

 

[matt_dutyfree]

awesome cheers!

great to hear from some one doing what i wanna do!

 

[the low one]

+ 2 for the BOSS ODB-3. It will do exactly what you want.

 

[matt_dutyfree]

so thought I'd go play the boss with settings you guys recommended and ended up walking out with it!

thank you very much... talkbass kicks!

since I've been using TB I've ended up with a new head that I love a bunch of extras and now saved myself loads of hassle trying to find a pedal! cheers!

gonna sort out making myself a supporting member!

 

[KPJ]

Glad we could be of assistance!

There's nothing like hearing from others of their experiences with different products and situations. That's the best part of talkbass!

 

[Joe P]

That's it... I'm going today or tommorrow and just buying one of those...

Well, I DID!

I've played with the thing for a few hours now, and I'm getting great sounds out of it!

One of the real tricks though, is that I already had the Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer, which I put before it. With the input to the distortion already regulated like that, I can set the amount of distortion according to how I want the distortion harmonics to sound, and the compressor HOLDS'em where I put'em.

If I turn off the compressor, then I get a more vowely sound because as the note decays, it 'travels' through different amounts of clipping - I don't prefer this sound; I like the more synth-y sounding tones I get with the compressor.

I'm getting so many different great sounds that I have to decide on just a few, so that I can memorize the knob positions, and not be dinkin' around with it at rehearsal (or on stage!).

I think the sounds will be:
1) A completely non-fuzzy 'natural overdrive'. I'll get that by dialing the gain low - to just the point before it starts to 'buzz saw' at all (remember - with the CS-3, the amount of distortion stays where I put it), with maybe just a little clean mixed in.
2) A sound to 'replace' some of the guitar's distortion harmonics for when he drops out of rhythm chords to play a lead. The idea will be to keep the original bass sound unchanged in tone and volume, but add a heavy distortion in the background - I'll do that by utilizing the blend control to have this mix. The tone controls affect the clean and distortion sound, so I can't really deviate them to speak of if I want the clean bass to stay the same as with the effect bypassed.
3) A killer, in-your-face lead sound; all snarling and full of midrange. I do that by turning the 'high' knob all the way down, and the mix either centered or mostly to the O.D.-side.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One thing that also works out so well with the two pedal combination is that I can turn the tone control way UP (more treble) on the compressor, and turn it way DOWN on the distortion - that way I get all sorts of snarling-dog string and fret noise still making it through, yet most of the high fuzz in the distortion is still attenuated. The only problem with that is that if I turn off the distortion without reaching down and backing-off the tone on the compressor (which I always run full-time), it's reallllly trebly!

What also works out great is that it seems the best pup setup to use with the heavy distortion is BOTH pickups, which are set up to run humbucking then (individually, they're not humbuckers on my US-made Peavy Foundation) - it runs that way - screaming Jimmi Hendricks feedback and all - with surprisingly low noise.

Oh yeah: and it works just fine as a clean booster too.

This thing sounds great.

Oh yeah.

Joe

 

[the low one]

Well, I DID!

I've played with the thing for a few hours now, and I'm getting great sounds out of it!

One of the real tricks though, is that I already had the Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer, which I put before it. With the input to the distortion already regulated like that, I can set the amount of distortion according to how I want the distortion harmonics to sound, and the compressor HOLDS'em where I put'em.

If I turn off the compressor, then I get a more vowely sound because as the note decays, it 'travels' through different amounts of clipping - I don't prefer this sound; I like the more synth-y sounding tones I get with the compressor.

I'm getting so many different great sounds that I have to decide on just a few, so that I can memorize the knob positions, and not be dinkin' around with it at rehearsal (or on stage!).

I think the sounds will be:
1) A completely non-fuzzy 'natural overdrive'. I'll get that by dialing the gain low - to just the point before it starts to 'buzz saw' at all (remember - with the CS-3, the amount of distortion stays where I put it), with maybe just a little clean mixed in.
2) A sound to 'replace' some of the guitar's distortion harmonics for when he drops out of rhythm chords to play a lead. The idea will be to keep the original bass sound unchanged in tone and volume, but add a heavy distortion in the background - I'll do that by utilizing the blend control to have this mix. The tone controls affect the clean and distortion sound, so I can't really deviate them to speak of if I want the clean bass to stay the same as with the effect bypassed.
3) A killer, in-your-face lead sound; all snarling and full of midrange. I do that by turning the 'high' knob all the way down, and the mix either centered or mostly to the O.D.-side.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One thing that also works out so well with the two pedal combination is that I can turn the tone control way UP (more treble) on the compressor, and turn it way DOWN on the distortion - that way I get all sorts of snarling-dog string and fret noise still making it through, yet most of the high fuzz in the distortion is still attenuated. The only problem with that is that if I turn off the distortion without reaching down and backing-off the tone on the compressor (which I always run full-time), it's reallllly trebly!

What also works out great is that it seems the best pup setup to use with the heavy distortion is BOTH pickups, which are set up to run humbucking then (individually, they're not humbuckers on my US-made Peavy Foundation) - it runs that way - screaming Jimmi Hendricks feedback and all - with surprisingly low noise.

Oh yeah: and it works just fine as a clean booster too.

This thing sounds great.

Oh yeah.

Joe

I'll have to try with a compressor, your comments are very useful.
What are the actual settings you use for each of the 3 sounds above?
For sound 2 which sounds like what I use I leave all the controls at 12:00 and maybe make very small changes to the eq if required.

 

[the low one]

A great example of the ODB-3 can be found here:

[This invalid link has been removed]

In the sample sounds down the page listen to the song called DARKER

He uses a P bass and a Boss ODB-3. It almost sound to me that he has all the knobs at 12:00?

 

[Joe P]

I'll have to try with a compressor, your comments are very useful.
What are the actual settings you use for each of the 3 sounds above?
For sound 2 which sounds like what I use I leave all the controls at 12:00 and maybe make very small changes to the eq if required.

Thanks, Low One.

I'm actually using those blank setup templates at the end of the book. I only have one filled out so far; that'd be for setting #1, I labeled it "Balls w/no fuzz" - it's a beauty! It's set thusly:Level=3:00; Low=12:00; High=CCW (min); Blend=12:00; Drive=9:00 (I know the knob positions look too convenient or generic, but it really is carefully tweeked). ...But remember: the drive control is dependant on the input level, AND a constant one at that! That's where the compressor comes in. It's not bad if I turn off the compressor, but the sound is less smooth - less 'wall-of-sound' - and more vowely. One thing I love about this sound is that not only is it a great, authoritive, 'nadsy sound, but when I switch to it the character changes rather dramatically, yet at the same time the overall distribution of frequencies is surprisingly identical to the dry sound - it doesn't sound like 'one instrument was suddenly replaced with another'. (I think our guitarist gets a kick out of radical tone changes - you know how it is with these 'Pod' units - suddenly an Explorer into a moded Marshal switches to a Tele through a Champ. ..Whatever he wants though - he's the 'eccentric artist' of the group - but when he gets in-the-zone, he's a pretty impressive lead player - I don't want to shake his 'delicate sensibilities'.)

The gain knob has great control over the harmonic structure. The idea with this sound was to keep the gain sonically below a certain 'spot' - what I do to find this spot is to turn the 'high' control up center-or-so; then as I play a solid note (it's level now is being held constant by the compressor for a few seconds); then as I turn up the gain (maybe sort of in little ever-increasing bursts) there's a spot - a fairly distinct, abrupt spot - where the high 'fuzz' suddenly appears; I back it off a few degrees from that spot - as high as I dare to guarantee that no part of any note will elevate into this fuzz region. Then I gotta remember to turn the high control back down to minimum.

I'll post all the settings in the next couple days. I'm spending hours and hours fine-tuning this thing - but I was a soundman before I was a musician.

Seeya,

Joe