Surprisingly enough to me, the Barber Direct Drive is my current favorite with bass.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Overdrive, Not Distortion pedals
- Thread starter Sayclean
- Start date
If you haven't yet, you should check out Hondo Felder's review of it on YT.
Excellent pedal, with a ton of versatility.
You can run it as clean or as dirty as you want.
I agree, if you limit yourself to just pedals marketed to bass you miss out. One of my favorites is the Keeley Super Phat Mod. It handles bass great and can go from very subtle OD to almost fuzz. And they are easy to be had used for cheap.
I've used a few different ones that I like. For a while I was using a Pork Loin for a little tube like dirt. After that I settled on TS clones. The one I am using now is a custom TS clone from Dunwich Amps. I put it into a blend pedal I had Broughton make for me.
I liked the Fuzzrocious Demon as well.
I liked the Fuzzrocious Demon as well.
Great to see another Keeley Super Phat Mod user! Lately I've been using it more than my Pork Loin, it's extremely versatile and I love how it stacks with other dirt pedals.
Fairfield makes a micro version of the Barbershop, the Modele B. It has no switch (so it's always on). It adds a light breakup to your signal. I use it with my Mesa Subway 800, which like most class D amps is very neutral. I wanted it to emulate the sound of my Mesa Walkabout with its tube preamp. It does a great job of adding tubelike crunch without dirtying the signal. Highly recommended for lighter overdrive to achieve a timeline sound.
For me, looking for a subtle just-over-the-edge breakup, I find the EHX Hot Wax meets that need and then some. It's a stack of EHX's Crayon and Hot Tubes (Hot Wax - get it?), with the more full-range, modern Crayon feeding the warmer Hot Tubes.
Used independently, each side produces a different flavor of breakup, and they can definitely do subtle "drive". Stacked, they'll push you into harder mid-90s bass grind.
I will echo some other answers, though, in cautioning that on bass, there's less room between what you would identify as "drive" versus "distortion" than on guitar. Guitar has more significant midrange and presence frequencies and less low end, and when you look at how those frequencies are clipped by various circuits, you can see a more gradual onset of clipping in higher frequencies as gain increases, where the more present midrange clips before the low end (in fact, many classes of overdrive pedal, like treble boots and the classic Tube Screamer, are designed to minimize their effect on the low end).
Bass, while present through the full frequency spectrum, is dominated by the low fundamental frequency. As you push that to the gain ceiling, there's much less room between the less present midrange and treble frequencies and the large low-frequency fundamental waveform. Once you're clipping what would be the fundamental waveform, you're into fuzz territory, and there's not as much between clean and fuzz, and what's there sounds much more subtle.
Used independently, each side produces a different flavor of breakup, and they can definitely do subtle "drive". Stacked, they'll push you into harder mid-90s bass grind.
I will echo some other answers, though, in cautioning that on bass, there's less room between what you would identify as "drive" versus "distortion" than on guitar. Guitar has more significant midrange and presence frequencies and less low end, and when you look at how those frequencies are clipped by various circuits, you can see a more gradual onset of clipping in higher frequencies as gain increases, where the more present midrange clips before the low end (in fact, many classes of overdrive pedal, like treble boots and the classic Tube Screamer, are designed to minimize their effect on the low end).
Bass, while present through the full frequency spectrum, is dominated by the low fundamental frequency. As you push that to the gain ceiling, there's much less room between the less present midrange and treble frequencies and the large low-frequency fundamental waveform. Once you're clipping what would be the fundamental waveform, you're into fuzz territory, and there's not as much between clean and fuzz, and what's there sounds much more subtle.
This. Fantastic pedal if you're looking to get that pushed tube amp vibe.
I would phrase that:
"many classes of overdrive pedal, like treble boosts and the classic Tube Screamer, are designed to minimize the low end".
But also, "treble boots" sounds like some kinda platform sole ...
Another vague custerfluck of a thread with everything under the sun being able to be thrown on to the dogpile...
I'm game! OP did ask what our favourites were, no matter if you've tried 2 or 200 "overdrive-not-distortion" pedals, so here's mine:
Fairfield Barbershop — arguably a one-trick pony, but it turns that trick with aplomb.
Dr Scientist Elements — Super-versatile great-sounding pedal that can give you a broad range of overdriven to distorted sounds; yet so overlooked...
Too bad Bingo Twinkie never released the Sauce-O-Lido Labido Snausajus — I heard it was just a clone of the Cate-Lynn Brandschitt Sabradoh Problemo OhSoPickOhSoso...
So your buddy has your old Barbershop... you could borrow it and try it at 18v (if you still live near each other), not that the MBD-2 (or "1") wouldn't be a fine choice. You could get the MBD and still try the 18v Barbershop and compare...
You seem to have a taste for the Guv'nor, but a distaste for diodes — yet the Guv'nor uses two diodes to ground to get its grind (as do several later Marshall amps use diodes to get "that sound").
I'm game! OP did ask what our favourites were, no matter if you've tried 2 or 200 "overdrive-not-distortion" pedals, so here's mine:
Fairfield Barbershop — arguably a one-trick pony, but it turns that trick with aplomb.
Dr Scientist Elements — Super-versatile great-sounding pedal that can give you a broad range of overdriven to distorted sounds; yet so overlooked...
Awesome! Missed this during my semi-regular TB hiatus. Might go bump it, but somebody already suggested deep-frying the Twinkie...
Too bad Bingo Twinkie never released the Sauce-O-Lido Labido Snausajus — I heard it was just a clone of the Cate-Lynn Brandschitt Sabradoh Problemo OhSoPickOhSoso...
So your buddy has your old Barbershop... you could borrow it and try it at 18v (if you still live near each other), not that the MBD-2 (or "1") wouldn't be a fine choice. You could get the MBD and still try the 18v Barbershop and compare...
You seem to have a taste for the Guv'nor, but a distaste for diodes — yet the Guv'nor uses two diodes to ground to get its grind (as do several later Marshall amps use diodes to get "that sound").
I've moved on, honestly. My CAL Grizzly Bass has the OD covered. If I were to check out a new OD it would be a new OD, probably the MDB-2. But I have also always been intrigued by The Elements. So much to see, I'll just let the Barbershop go.
But... ya gotta do it FOR SCIENCE!
Yup, great big sea of OD out there waiting to be fished, catch and release.
Yup, great big sea of OD out there waiting to be fished, catch and release.
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
-
Future Impact now available!! WAS: deep impact reissue!!! interested?- Latest: Quatschmacher