• 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 plus fuzz?

X

xtaftx

Mar 1, 2010
38
2
#1
Hey everyone. I was thinking of investing in an OD pedal sometime soon, but I'm wondering what the benefits of having an OD with a fuzz is. Right now the pedals I use are a wren and cuff pickle pie B and a micropog. My amp is an orange terror bass with the gain usually between 10 and 12, and I use fuzz for about half the songs I play. My sound is treblier than some (hi's and lo's near max, mid's about a quarter or so), so I'm curious as to if adding an OD would destroy my sound or if it'll get it more definition. Suggestions are for sure welcome.
 
#2
i tend to have my hi's and lows higher than mids aswell.
ive been playing a big muff thru a VT bass, and it sounds pretty cool. Im not sure what the pickle pie is like.. but when i tried running the Swollen Pickle thru the VT it sounded horrible.
im thinking of ditching the VT for a 'Oh See Demon' in the next few months.

i say go for it, u can never have enough dirt pedals IMO haha
 
#3
My pigtronix disnortion has OD and Fuzz parallel to blend the 2 together and Dave Koltai always tells me the cascade (fuzz into OD, vice versa) is awesome. While I bet it is, I like what I have and if you try it out with a filter/EQ on one of the channels you'll probably like it even more. I'm so very glad that my fuzz has a 6 way selector for this exact reason.

I, too, like the scooped fuzz tone but don't use it at a very high gain setting and it gives me a lot of great definition with just a touch of grit. My OD is tubey and very fat so the added parallel gainstage does a great job to cut through when I roll off on my pickups to lower the overall tone.
 
#4
As another lover of all tones but really love me some scooped bass, I use fuzz > OD and it works really nicely. I use a T-REX Bass Juice near the end as a tone shaper since its great from low-gain O/D to really dirty dirt (not quite fuzzy enough IMHO). The key that works for me and I never was a fan till this pedal is the blend. I blend in "clean" fuzz into the O/D/ and it's just bliss.
 
#6
sillyfabe said:
As another lover of all tones but really love me some scooped bass, I use fuzz > OD and it works really nicely. I use a T-REX Bass Juice near the end as a tone shaper since its great from low-gain O/D to really dirty dirt (not quite fuzzy enough IMHO). The key that works for me and I never was a fan till this pedal is the blend. I blend in "clean" fuzz into the O/D/ and it's just bliss.
Click to expand...

Interesting! I just got a tc electronic vintage bass distortion (same thing as bass juice afaik) and I run it into blowtorch. Might be interesting to swap them!
 
#8
You'd probably get more definition in your overdrive by dialing in some mids, imo. But I'm not really a fan of a scooped midrange sound.

Anyways, the Blackout Effectors Twosome Dual Fuzz could work well. It's actually two different fuzz circuits in one box (Fix'd Fuzz and Musket), but the Musket itself is so tweakable that you can get a great OD sound out of it with the Focus knob cranked.
 
#10
Awesome, thanks everyone! I am thinking of getting an EQD Monarch. It seems to work pretty well with bass per some reviews, and it sounds good on guitar, so that'll be good when I'm doing that from time to time. Now onto finally choosing a delay pedal...
 
#12
Valerus said:
Having an overdrive as well is worth it, I think. Depending on how you'd be running it, getting one may be viable for you.
Would you use the OD without the fuzz at all?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think I'd probably end up using it as the default sound, save for some clean clean parts.
 
#16
I had thought that one of the big selling points on the Terror Bass was the OD you could get without needing a pedal (not that there's anything at all with wanting to change the sound with another pedal or give yourself more options). I'd just make sure you can't get what you want without another OD if you can (for simplicity's sake)

-JV
 
#17
blastjv said:
I had thought that one of the big selling points on the Terror Bass was the OD you could get without needing a pedal (not that there's anything at all with wanting to change the sound with another pedal or give yourself more options). I'd just make sure you can't get what you want without another OD if you can (for simplicity's sake)

-JV
Click to expand...

That's my main issue. I live in a not-great music city, so most of the stuff I get generally, I get online after thorough review. Reviewing the head online was no issue, but none of the stores in a 100 mile radius carry the head I have, much less any real pedal selection (save for boss and electro harmonix mostly). I do love the drive I get from the amp. I think that in the long run it may be a good decision to have that choice, if I get a new head or if the combination of the amp drive and the overdrive gives me a more pleasant tone overall and would make me use the fuzz for more special occasions.
 
#20
I have become very partial to running an OD into a fuzz. It has worked a lot better for me than running an distortion into a fuzz. When I do the distortion plus fuzz I end up with too much distortion in my signal path and things get out of control. With an OD + fuzz, I can get some really rich harmonic complexity and keep some sense of definition.

The Fuzzrocious Dark Driving feeding into the Grey Stache is beautiful and so it the Stomp Under Foot Bass Drive feeding into the SUF Civil War or the Wren and Cuff Tall Font Russian.

I also like the Holy Fire in front of the fuzz pedals listed above.

For an all in one combination, I like the Hematoma but to my ears it's more like a boost in front of a distortion. It's terrific but it does not quite reach fuzz territory.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back