I don't know if TB would consider it an OD or not. (I do, but what do I know) Maybe look at the Tech 21 Dug pedal. It gives me the tone I was after, which although grindy was not the same tone as Dug 's. I also at times use the Darkglass X-7.
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Overdrives... again
- Thread starter 9YGBass
- Start date
I don't know if TB would consider it an OD or not. (I do, but what do I know) Maybe look at the Tech 21 Dug pedal. It gives me the tone I was after, which although grindy was not the same tone as Dug 's. I also at times use the Darkglass X-7.
I looked at that as well, but since I already have the Sansamp for DI and what not I was looking for more of a small pedal. From my understanding the Alpha Omicron is basically a smaller version of the Alpha Omega.
It’s hard to beat the Darkglass Vintage Ultra for overdrive.
I know several TB users like it, but I did not enjoy the Aftershock, so I'd say avoid it. It never sounded right to me, and the software was irritating to use. IMHO YMMV
The Alpha Omicron is what my gut says would be best for the OP, based on owning one.
The Damnation MBD is certainly worth considering.
Plenty of good stuff out there.
The Alpha Omicron is what my gut says would be best for the OP, based on owning one.
The Damnation MBD is certainly worth considering.
Plenty of good stuff out there.
Thanks! The Aftershock was lower on my list based off the YouTube videos I have seen. There is a lot of good stuff out there, which makes it hard without playing them first.
If you're on the fence, then maybe avoid it. That said, they aren't scarce on the used market and do seem to flip easily enough. You could buy, try, and flip.
I had an alpha omicron and it was an awesome pedal. Can do a light distortion and also get really heavy. The higher gain sounds on it also fit in a live band mix better than most other bass distortions. I ended up selling mine in a trade for a bass but only because I had just picked up an aftershock.
Ric5
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- Jan 29, 2008
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- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
All three of those genres are going to lean more towards a balanced to slightly middy sound, and away from the more modern metal scoop. Keep that in mind when listening to drive demos and other clips; bass pedals can commonly do metal sounds pretty easily, but dialing back the high end and bringing the mids back is going to be a challenge.
The biggest problem you're going to encounter is that "noticeable but not aggressive" levels of bass distortion may be impossible, because of fundamental differences between the timbres of guitar and bass. Simply put, bass distortion isn't going to sound like guitar distortion shifted down an octave. This is for several reasons:
- Distortion of a complex modulated wave affects the treble frequencies of the wave first, because the lower bass frequencies "push" those higher harmonics up past the threshold first, even when the fundamental, if viewed as a sine wave through the average of the higher harmonic levels, would stay clean.
- Even clipping the bass frequency itself is less perceptible, because the artifacts of distortion, like the "corners" where the wave is being clipped, happen at a lower rate of occurrence than for higher frequencies, by definition.
- The perceived frequencies of these artifacts are also not dependent on the frequency being clipped; real-world sources of harmonic distortion, like diaphragm overtravel, limitations on rate of change of voltage or current in amplifier circuits etc, are dependent more on the equipment than the frequency being reproduced. This means that the perceived "buzz" of a square wave is going to be about the same frequency when the square wave is 100Hz as when it's two octaves higher at 400Hz; you'll just get fewer of those artifacts per second.
So, what to do about all this?
- Get yourself some tone-shaping. You're going to get more perceived treble as you push the tone, both because you're adding distortion artifacts and simply because the human ear hears frequencies between 1 and 2kHz better than any other (including the 40Hz fundamental of your low E), so as you boost everything, these become more present more quickly. If you want less of this in your sound, you need to roll it back, quite dramatically. Bass dirt pedals commonly have more flexible EQ (the Bass Soul Food being a notable exception), and even if your pedal doesn't have those kinds of tools (or if, like the Wampler Low Blow, they're almost completely useless), an EQ before or after the dirt pedal can completely change the pedal's sound (you can retain one-stomp tone switching with a loop switcher).
- Embrace the fuzz. If you want an obviously distorted but deep bass tone, that's called fuzz, no two ways around it. "Overdrive" and "distortion" pedals provide nuanced differences to guitar tone that really don't work or even exist in the bass world. Fuzz circuits unapologetically boost the fundamental into heavy distortion, and also provide the post-clipping tone-shaping to control the extreme amount of distortion artifacts that this approach produces, giving you very noticeable distortion while allowing you to dial out much of the highs that make bass distortion so in your face. Bass-specific fuzzes retain more of the low end that guitar pedals commonly throw away to sound fuzzier, and will also usually give you a blend of your dry tone to preserve the strength of your lowest frequencies and the crisp attack of your mids.
- Go multiband. The basic idea is to split your bass tone into bass, middle and treble frequencies, and independently apply different levels of gain/clipping to each of them before recombining them. Darkglass has a few options along these lines. The downside is complexity; a guitarist can just plug in a Tube Screamer or Blues Driver, stomp on it and sound pretty good almost regardless of how it's set, meanwhile a multiband distortion can literally take hours of knob twiddling, adjusting crossover frequencies, Qs and gain/volume levels to dial in a distorted tone that works for you.
One pedal that touches on all three of these options is the EHX Deluxe Bass Big Muff. Start with a Bass Big Muff, in the vintage Green Russian lineage, upgrade the blend switch to a full wet-dry blend knob, then add a gate to control string noise and feedback, and a two-band switchable crossover to shape your clean lows and your fuzzed highs, and you have a pedal with a lot of good sounds in it, that can give you everything from a subtle low grumble to totally in your face thrash distortion tones.
Demo:
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Dude... thank you for the detailed post! I watched that video and liked it. I do have the Big Muff Pi and use it on occasion, but I like the options with the deluxe. Basically what I am learning here is that I need something with a blend and tone shaping?
Could/should I only run my current Big Muff and tone shape with my Sansamp and amp?
Could/should I only run my current Big Muff and tone shape with my Sansamp and amp?
If you’re after a blender check Damnation.
Their blender cuts out high frequencies around 1k, which helps the blended signals sound more glued together. Some blends can really feel like two different signals layered. The Damnation Unit feels more glued together. You can now use any of your existing (or future) pedals without the low end loss.
There are two variations. I’ve owned the first one. It’s quite nice.
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Omicron is not a DI, does not have a Pre and I feel like I'm missing something else?
Yeah, you're missing the point where he said he is not looking for a DI because he already has a sansamp so he figured the better option would be the alpha omicron instead of the alpha omega.
This... ^^^
And Darkglass pedals (especially the X7). They’re kind of hard to find, but I dig the EAE model feT a lot for low gain OD.
However, I tried the SA Aftershock, and could not get into the modeling aspects of the operating environment. Analogue dirt pedals for me... I like the simplicity of twisting knobs.
If you want an overdrive that's not over the top, check out some of these pedals.
ehx hot wax
fuzzrocious dark driving
joyo american sound
source audio aftershock
I would recommend the source audio aftershock since you can pretty much create any drive you desire. from warm subtle overdrives to extreme sounding distortions.
