Overdrive, mild distortion pedal?

[Alex_H]

I'm looking for an Overdrive up to mild Distortion Pedal. It's no problem if it reaches into fuzz land as long the more suble overdrive and distortion is nice.

The pedal will be placed in the low pass loop of a "Tyler - The Frequency Splitter" pedal from KMA machines.

I want it, to give the bass part a little bit of growl. At the moment a Behringer BOD400 Bass Overrive is doing the job, but I want a real switch to engage. That way the pedal stays on, when I cut the power. Because of that, Boss pedals are out of question too.

I looked around and found those two pedals:

Bass Juice from T-Rex
It offers a lot of gain an reaches into fuzz territory if needed. I really like the low gain settings.

Bass Soul Food from Electro Harmonix
Not so much gain as the Bass Juice, but I don't need that much gain. Sounds real nice for me and even sounds great with a normal guitar.

Do you have any experience with one of them? Did I miss a great pedal?

 

[oo_ee_oo_ah_ah]

EHX Hot Wax dual overdrive.

 

[Hundred proof]

The full size TC Spark gets a lot of love around here, I personally didn’t like the bass soul food and returned it. I’m also a big fan of the sadly discontinued VOX Ice 9

 

[Alex_H]

Oh and I forgot, a blend/mix knob would be very welcome, to just dial back in some of the original signal. Sadly neither the TC Spark nor the Vox Ice 9 got one.

The EHX Hot Wax looks promising. More gain then I need, when both parts are engaged. Other then the two original pedals (hot tube and crayon) this one has a blend knob.

 

[Hundred proof]

Oh and I forgot, a blend/mix knob would be very welcome, to just dial back in some of the original signal. Sadly neither the TC Spark nor the Vox Ice 9 got one.

The EHX Hot Wax looks promising. More gain then I need, when both parts are engaged. Other then the two original pedals (hot tube and crayon) this one has a blend knob.

Just a personal thing and everyone has a different take, but the blend mix thing never worked for me. I like the full range sound just as happens in a driven tube amp.

 

[tommyeadg]

I second the Spark Booster. It doesn’t cut any low end so no blend needed. It has bass and treble controls so you can even dial in more if you like. Other great options i’m also using myself for this purpose are the Bearfoot Blueberry and Fairfield Barbershop.

 

[Marihino]

Definitely the Spark. I've had it for two months now, and it's my favourite overdrive ever. Tried lots, I still own and like many. This one is the best for me. Sounds great with rounds, flats and on guitar.

 

[SunByrne]

I also use a TC pedal for this, but not the Spark, the MojoMojo. Maybe not quite as good as the Spark, but you can't beat the sub-$50 price tag.

 

[bearhart74]

for just a hint of grit in your tone to almost fuzz it does not get much better that the Durham Sexdrive

 

[40Hz]

I’d recommend a Southampton Fifth Gear V2. Handles everything from mild overdrive to just shy of sweet fuzz. Very bass friendly too. Gets a lot of love around TB. And for good reason.

 

[Steve88]

I have a SGFX Beta that I like alot. It can go from no overdrive at all to fairly obnoxious (IMO). It does add a bit of low mid boost and cuts some of the treble, but I find it works well to keep the overdriven signal strong in the mix.

Along with it's intended purpose, I also use it fairly regularly with the gain very low, just to fatten a jazz bass or a solo'd bridge pickup.

 

[Dave the Bass]

I love my Bass Soul Food, gives me plenty of drive without being harsh.

 

[skyline_01]

EHX Battalion, EHX Hot Wax, EHX Bass Soul Food, TC Electronic Spark Booster (not the mini), Creation Audio Grizzly

 

[And I]

Solidgoldfx beta, for sure

 

[OptimalOptimus]

Soûl food didn’t work for me


I would into Darkglass

 

[Phil60]

EHX Battalion, EHX Hot Wax, EHX Bass Soul Food, TC Electronic Spark Booster (not the mini), Creation Audio Grizzly

Yes on the Grizzly!

 

[Matty Koff]

I can't speak for many drive/distortion/fuzz pedals for bass as I've only owned two. But I wasn't ever big on my EHX deluxe Big Muff Pi.. and my Source Audio Aftershock Bass Distortion pedal has impressed me. It's digital, but out of the box has a decent tube drive setting, heavy distortion setting, and fuzz setting.. and if you dig into it with the desktop app or the smartphone app, you can save up to 6 presets, and there's like 40-50 different distortion engines to choose from that are meant to get close to a variety of distortion pedals out there that you can combine two of to make your 6 presets.

Looking at the app right now -
up to two distortion engines at once with a selection up near 50 different engines
parametric EQ
Highpass and lowpass filters and frequency shelves with various levels of decibel boost
Noise and filter gates
mono or stereo out
Expression control for Drive, Output level, Clean/wet mix level, or treble.

Personally, it more than covers my needs for anything distortion, and if you're tech savy or at least know your way around windows you might have some fun with it.

Quite a versatile pedal.

 

[WillyW]

I’m a soul food fan, both the guitar and bass version work well with bass. Bass version adds a blend knob.

The mojomojo is also quite awesome.

The joyo ultimate drive is supposed to be a copy of the OCD, but I haven’t tried the OCD.
The ultimate is about as dirty as I get, and is an awesome pedal in its own right.

the dpfx (silver) is dirtier still, but I’m not sure where to find them.

 

[Rojd]

I have a Bass Soul Food and Hot Wax, like them both. SolidgoldFX Beta DLX is solid, there's one in the classifieds right now.

 

[dave64o]

Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Bass Soul Food suggested this many times on one page before!

I really like the BSF as a mild overdrive, and it’s relatively inexpensive as well. I also like the Ampeg Scrambler as a mild OD pedal. It can get dirtier than I need, but I like how it sounds and I like the blend knob, which helps maintain low end and keep the level of drive in check.

I also have the Mojomojo but it gets a little dirtier than I need so I don’t really use it. It’s a great value and sounds really nice.