Pedal advice, Looking for "growly" low end

[Eswal]

I am looking for a overdrive/preamp or whatever that will deliver a really "growly" tone. I am not looking for the all out gritty distortion. I am having a really hard time trying to explain how it sounds but i saw a thread that discussed a pretty accurate tone.

Is this tone achieved with pedal or amp? | TalkBass.com

I have been looking at some stuff : Tech 21 Sansamp bass driver, MXR M80, darkglass vintage microtubes, Aguilar tone hammer and so on... I couldnt really come to any conclusions though... any andvice?

Right now i am going through a old home made distortion pedal designed for guitar with almost all the distortion turned off and the bass turned all the way on. it gets the job done decently.
Please help med shed some light over the matter (I apologize for a quite messy thread start)

 

[Driven Crane]

Your bass is a key. Basic tone of your bass. Find it! Spector, for example...

 

[Downunderwonder]

I think you mean a growling tone that still has a low end?

 

[Driven Crane]

Yes. Do you remember Old's bass tone of Machine Head? This could be Zon bass or Gibson Thunderbird, as well.

 

[DirtyDuke]

There are a lot of pedals that can achieve this. If you want a tube type the vmt or bluetube will work great

 

[DirtyDuke]

Or a john k orange pre amp

 

[Rabidrasbora]

Bass/strings/pick-ups/head or cab/pedal--any may achieve the desired effect. No one can tell you the sound you hear in your head, but this is my suggestion--it worked for me...your mileage may vary

 

[Eswal]

I have a warwick std 4 with Kalium strings on it. I'm sorry i didnt really know how to explain it but what i meant was just some extra grit to just make it more "rough" without losing the beefiness or the sound of the bass, as i feel lots of overdrives do.

 

[gsquare]

Some might cry heresy, but you can look for a blend knob which allows you to mix the distorted signal with the dry so that you can retain the attack and beef while still enjoying the grit and sustain of the effected signal. there's lots of them out there, I'd start looking at the Darkglass products. You might just get there on the first try with that one, it's probably in a little better league than the others you mentioned in your original post.

 

[Downunderwonder]

I have a warwick std 4 with Kalium strings on it. I'm sorry i didnt really know how to explain it but what i meant was just some extra grit to just make it more "rough" without losing the beefiness or the sound of the bass, as i feel lots of overdrives do.

I think you mean a growling tone that still has a low end?

Good guess.

I have a hole in one solution. Rolls sx21 mini crossover sends highs to the distortion or whatever, a blender puts the clean lows back with the highs. Extra blender channel with phase control on in series with one side, controls gross phase anomalies.

 

[Eswal]

Good guess.

I have a hole in one solution. Rolls sx21 mini crossover sends highs to the distortion or whatever, a blender puts the clean lows back with the highs. Extra blender channel with phase control on in series with one side, controls gross phase anomalies.

That is a really intersting option, but as of right now i think i will settle with just a effect pedal and maybe ad the mini crossover and the blender later on if i feel like it is necessary.

 

[BaltBass5]

Way Huge Pork Loin. Trust Me....KILLER Pedal that will do the trick. Also the new Boss BB-1X

 

[Eswal]

Way Huge Pork Loin. Trust Me....KILLER Pedal that will do the trick. Also the new Boss BB-1X

I'll check them out but right now i think it stands between the Darkglass B3k and the vintage microtubes.

 

[FretNoMore]

I'll check them out but right now i think it stands between the Darkglass B3k and the vintage microtubes.

In my opinion neither gives you a "growly low end" though, but rather the more gritty highs and mids which you wrote you don't want.

The suggestion of the Bearfoot Blueberry above is more like it I think, or maybe a SolidGoldFX Beta.

 

[dannybuoy]

If you really want the sound linked to in the first post:



Then you don't want a dark warm tubey drive like the Beta, Pork Loin, or Blueberry.

Darkglass B3K/B7K is that tone in a box!

 

[FretNoMore]

Right ... a bit contradictory requirements.

 

[Alien8]

I think that the default answer to these questions should be the GK Rails that was designed and built on this forum. It does a great job of subtle grind.

Aside from that all other suggestions will get some portion of a grind tone.

It all boils down to how much distortion do you want and how transparent should it be. Do you have a decent bass tone already? It takes a decent bass tone to get there...

What about what you currently use is missing?

 

[BobbyLeeP]

Right ... a bit contradictory requirements.

What amp are you using... I agree it all starts with the bass guitar... I play a Warwick $$ thru an ampeg svt 4pro... it growls U use a SVP Pro preamp sometimes when I dont need to carry my main rig around. I went thru many basses and many amps looking for that sound...so many DIs, stomp boxes, preamps, amps and processors out there that say they have that sound. The ads read " Sounds Like a Ampeg" or whatever. I went that route... I finally relized i had to stop buying all the products that imitated the sound I wanted and just buy the real deal! its gotta be a real growl not a "faux" growl.... Thats my opinion anyway.