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overdrive/fuzz quest

#482
I felt the original Bassdrive noticeably lost some low end. Others have suggested it's not that the low end is actually lost per se, but that the high mids get emphasized and the highs of the clipping are prominent, such that when you listen through a hi-fi rig (as I do) the lows sound like they were reduced, at a perceived unity volume overall. I didn't have my spectrum analyzing setup back when I had the BD though, so I haven't tested that.
 
#484
and here's the Duality with a whole bunch of settings. at the very end, i show just how much boost the FET clean boost is capable of). and BTW, my dog was walking around and you might hear some clicking of her nails on the hardwood floor at times, (which reminds me that i need to get her nails clipped!)

 
Last edited by a moderator:
#486
bongomania said:
I felt the original Bassdrive noticeably lost some low end. Others have suggested it's not that the low end is actually lost per se, but that the high mids get emphasized and the highs of the clipping are prominent, such that when you listen through a hi-fi rig (as I do) the lows sound like they were reduced, at a perceived unity volume overall. I didn't have my spectrum analyzing setup back when I had the BD though, so I haven't tested that.
Click to expand...

Hmm, maybe, but then I'd expect it to get much louder if bass is same same and mids/highs boost. Didn't dial in that much boost when checking it. Maybe there are just different versions, which is possible. And sounds like John tinkered a bit with it, so not so much a clone as a starting point?

Pretty rad clips, too, John. So I was just thinking, with these being a "quest" I feel you should be riffing the Zelda theme in here somewhere :p
 
#487
johnk_10 said:
yep. in this pedal it's actually smoother and has a tiny bit more low end than the JRC4558.
Click to expand...
Never been a huge fan of the 4558.... but then again, an op amp that sounds good in a distortion pedal might not be the same part that sounds best in a high fidelity setting. Interesting that it sounds smoother... maybe adding less distortion of its own? If you want to try a sweet high end op amp, check out the ADA4627-1.
 
#488
i just ran some TrueRTA tests on the Bassdrive and Duality.

here's the bassdrive, bypassed (blue line), and two toher settings ('flat mids' and comp cut) with the overdrive control set to the minimum and the tone control fully CW. you can see that there is some low end cut starting at around 70hz, and it's a bit wavy up to 200Hz.

BassdriveRTA.jpg



by comparison, here's my Duality's RTA with no overdrive. blue is bypassed, green is the overdrive section, and yellow is the FET section, with minimal gain settings :

Duality_RTA.jpg


i've found that the 'zig zaggy' plots are usually due more to an impedance issue with my system inputs and outputs, rather than the pedals actually being that distorted/scattered, but you can get the general idea.
 
#490
kringle77 said:
This has to be one of the most complete threads ever. Even better yet, it's all backed up with clips of actual, real world type bass playing. That being said, I think the modded Greedtone is the best overall.
Click to expand...

thanks for the kind words. i really appreciate it. :D
after building more than 38 pedal clones recently, i'm going to drastically slow down my build rate since i now have ALOT of OD/distortion 'flavors' to choose from, especially when you add the other 30 original manufactured ones that i have.

here's my latest pic of 33 of most of the ones that i've built (a few of them that i built didn't impress me that much so they are not mounted in an enclosure. those include a Devi Ever Karaoke Party, a Keller Pull, a Retro Channel 'the Fuzz'):

33-Clones.jpg
 
#493
bongomania said:
Curious, could you explain that a bit more?
Click to expand...

a passive bass's impedance loads the front end of the pedals ALOT differently than a buffered sine wave signal sweep (like the RTA uses). my OCD pedal shows that it has as much low end on the RTA chart as it does bypassed, but when you plug a bass into it, there's definitely a fair amount of low end loss. the zig zaggy waves are depicting distortion and i had the pedals set with the overdrive controls at the minimum (no overdrive) so even if the pedal isn't perfectly clean, IMO, there's no way that it's as distorted as the RTA is depicting.
 
#494
I'd wonder though whether what we're seeing there is harmonic distortion rather than clipping distortion?

Also it's clear that a low z out into a high z in (as with the pedal and the interface) can allow more highs through, and shift or remove the resonant peak near the lows that can often be present with a passive bass; but that's still not the same as cutting lows. So I am suggesting or at least wondering if the loss of lows that we often hear has more to do with what's added and shifted, rather than anything being cut.

I encounter this often when testing compressors, but I haven't derived a solid conclusion yet.
 
#497
johnk_10 said:
i just ran some TrueRTA tests on the Bassdrive and Duality.

here's the bassdrive, bypassed (blue line), and two toher settings ('flat mids' and comp cut) with the overdrive control set to the minimum and the tone control fully CW. you can see that there is some low end cut starting at around 70hz, and it's a bit wavy up to 200Hz.

BassdriveRTA.jpg



by comparison, here's my Duality's RTA with no overdrive. blue is bypassed, green is the overdrive section, and yellow is the FET section, with minimal gain settings :

Duality_RTA.jpg


i've found that the 'zig zaggy' plots are usually due more to an impedance issue with my system inputs and outputs, rather than the pedals actually being that distorted/scattered, but you can get the general idea.
Click to expand...

Hi John

Could you retest with your sig generator output set at -20dBu? Because 0dBu is a pretty hot signal (a bit over 2Vp-p) and if the pedals have any internal gain they may be hitting the rails and causing the distortion shown in the sweeps.

Thanks,
-Frank
 
#499
bongomania said:
I felt the original Bassdrive noticeably lost some low end. Others have suggested it's not that the low end is actually lost per se, but that the high mids get emphasized and the highs of the clipping are prominent, such that when you listen through a hi-fi rig (as I do) the lows sound like they were reduced, at a perceived unity volume overall. I didn't have my spectrum analyzing setup back when I had the BD though, so I haven't tested that.
Click to expand...

+1- the Bassdrive for me was one of those pedals that worked pretty well for me with a relatively low-shy jazz bass through a compressed tube amp, but with a much more stout-sounding bass (like one of my G&Ls), it had that "Tubescreamer syndrome" where it noticeably cut out the lows and just generally got lost in a mix. I did always want to try one of their later MOSFET BassDrives though out of curiosity.
 

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