Please recommend some pedals to me

[Bunch O Numbers]

Between christmas and working full time over uni break I managed to get some spending cash and was looking to get a few more pedals, namely a dirt to replace my EHX Bass Big Muff and something that gets a bit crazy and weird.
I'm in a prog metal band so we get pretty weird in some sections.
My current gear is a Lakland 55-01 into GK 1001rb into a GK 410neo with a B3K set to low gain always on. I also have empress tremolo, greenhouse sonic orb (a phaser), a TCE Ditto and a tuner.
To replace the BBM I'm looking for something more grainy and aggressive, maybe a distortion more than a different fuzz.

 

[RickyT]

Smallsound/Bigsound Team Awesome! Fuzz Machine
Aggressive AF. Super heavy sounding. Gain & Fuzz controls. Clean blend. Gated fuzz switch too.

 

[vivaknoxvegas]

Idiotbox Blower Box or a EA Iron Pig.

 

[dannybuoy]

Another vote for the Blower Box. You’ll have to order direct from IdiotBox in the US, but his pedals are cheaper than most boutiques and it’ll be rare and in demand enough to be easily able to resell if you ever decide to!

For something similar but more common off the shelf, MXR Bass Distortion.

 

[Bunch O Numbers]

Idiotbox Blower Box or a EA Iron Pig.

Another vote for the Blower Box. You’ll have to order direct from IdiotBox in the US, but his pedals are cheaper than most boutiques and it’ll be rare and in demand enough to be easily able to resell if you ever decide to!

For something similar but more common off the shelf, MXR Bass Distortion.

Thanks for the recommendations, the Blower Box and Iron Pig sound amazing.
I've head rat clones don't deal well with high output basses, how do these two pedals deal with it? I tend to have the the highs at noon, the mids at 2 and the bass at 1 on my basses eq.

 

[Bunch O Numbers]

Smallsound/Bigsound Team Awesome! Fuzz Machine
Aggressive AF. Super heavy sounding. Gain & Fuzz controls. Clean blend. Gated fuzz switch too.

Do you know of any demos of this pedal with a bright setup? All the demos I could find of this has the clean tone way darker than I set my bass and amp.

 

[vivaknoxvegas]

@Bunch O Numbers not sure on high output basses. I play passive basses. My geezer p pickups are pretty hot actually and they work well with the IP for sure. I haven’t owned a BB in a while so I can’t say on that. I liked the BB a ton though.

 

[Swimming Bird]

Fuzz can be tricky with high output active basses. I've had luck with actives with the SA fuzzes and some with input controls like the Zvex Mastotron. If you're willing to mod or buy custom, I've found installing a potentiometer at the input of an overly sensitive fuzz can really help.

 

[BassBrass]

1. replace the preamp in your Lakland. 2. after a fuzz (i would try black arts Pharoah and ssbs Buzzz too) 3. EH Superego or Superego+. Using the auto setting you can become a sustaining instrument like a cello, decay time can be set on the +, the basic has a preset decay on the auto sample. It has a loop and you can send the sample through an octave, eq, chorus, sound replacement (I use a Mel9), ring mod, even drive. TC. Sub'nUp through a Spark Drive in the loop makes a cello/bass viol sound, sustaining note. That could be useful in some metal bands.

 

[mattbass6945]

Grab a used $45 phase 90. That's $0.50 per phase. You can't argue with that. (He says knowing someone is going to argue with that.)

 

[Nephilymbass]

Between christmas and working full time over uni break I managed to get some spending cash and was looking to get a few more pedals, namely a dirt to replace my EHX Bass Big Muff and something that gets a bit crazy and weird.
I'm in a prog metal band so we get pretty weird in some sections.
My current gear is a Lakland 55-01 into GK 1001rb into a GK 410neo with a B3K set to low gain always on. I also have empress tremolo, greenhouse sonic orb (a phaser), a TCE Ditto and a tuner.
To replace the BBM I'm looking for something more grainy and aggressive, maybe a distortion more than a different fuzz.

Dirt wise I’m a darkglass fan. I use their Alpha omega and Duality fuzz. Both are dual circuit pedals (basically two pedals in one) so while they can seem expensive you do get a lot of bang for the buck. Analog octaves are always fun, especially before a gated fuzz. Delay is one of my favorites. I use delay for filler between songs. Making high melodic parts sound more “pretty.” And Hollywood endings to songs are always fun. Even just using the tap tempo to set a slow delay and sliding down the string at the end of the song to make the slide echo sounds cool. Sometimes I even get down on my knees and use the delay to shift the pitch like a whammy bar something most analog delays and some digital delays can do. Some delays can also double for other effects as well. For example on some you can use a modulated setting and dial out the delay and it sounds like a chorus pedal. I haven’t had a dedicated chorus pedal on my board in years. When I was using the flashback x4 delay one of the presets i set up was actually a chorus sound.

 

[Bunch O Numbers]

1. replace the preamp in your Lakland. 2. after a fuzz (i would try black arts Pharoah and ssbs Buzzz too) 3. EH Superego or Superego+. Using the auto setting you can become a sustaining instrument like a cello, decay time can be set on the +, the basic has a preset decay on the auto sample. It has a loop and you can send the sample through an octave, eq, chorus, sound replacement (I use a Mel9), ring mod, even drive. TC. Sub'nUp through a Spark Drive in the loop makes a cello/bass viol sound, sustaining note. That could be useful in some metal bands.

1. Why do you suggest changing the preamp? I'm pretty happy with my tone at the moment, I'm just looking for something to get dirtier than I can at the moment for my bands more sludgier moments. 2. black arts pharaoh sounds really good, thanks 3. The EHX Superego looks like a lot of fun

Dirt wise I’m a darkglass fan. I use their Alpha omega and Duality fuzz. Both are dual circuit pedals (basically two pedals in one) so while they can seem expensive you do get a lot of bang for the buck. Analog octaves are always fun, especially before a gated fuzz. Delay is one of my favorites. I use delay for filler between songs. Making high melodic parts sound more “pretty.” And Hollywood endings to songs are always fun. Even just using the tap tempo to set a slow delay and sliding down the string at the end of the song to make the slide echo sounds cool. Sometimes I even get down on my knees and use the delay to shift the pitch like a whammy bar something most analog delays and some digital delays can do. Some delays can also double for other effects as well. For example on some you can use a modulated setting and dial out the delay and it sounds like a chorus pedal. I haven’t had a dedicated chorus pedal on my board in years. When I was using the flashback x4 delay one of the presets i set up was actually a chorus sound.

The Alpha Omega doesn't seem to go quite as dirty as I'm looking for and the duality just isn't quite my cup of tea. With the delay, any advice of settings? I had a BOSS DD-7 for a while but struggled getting in between delayed muddy mess and it being not very noticeable unless soloed.

Grab a used $45 phase 90. That's $0.50 per phase. You can't argue with that.

I love phasers and can't argue with that but I already have the greenhouse sonic orb phaser.

At the moment I'm really liking the Blower Box.

 

[mattbass6945]

The Damnation Audio MBD1 and Earthbound Audio Iron Pig look cool.

 

[BassBrass]

1. Why do you suggest changing the preamp? I'm pretty happy with my tone at the moment,

Replacing the pre on THAT bass is a normal thing. In mine and many other people's opinion...the stock pre in the 1501 is (I would call it) brittle sounding, not very warm or natural sounding. It has too much scooped high end and not enough low mids. It sounds like an attempt at a high fidelity sound with possibly cheep components--maybe it's one factor in common with other low end Asian built basses, it's where they saved some money on their lowest end product to keep the price low. (but the bass build itself, & the wood, is of very high quality) I put an aguilar in mine and it has much more impact and musicality. I can choose between 2 different mid peaks. My normal strings sound OK again (DR lr) and I was able to take off the GHL pressure wounds because it doesn't sound like a jagged knife edge. You might think the bright can be handled, but really, the whole sound is better with better electronics. The highs are still there, just in a natural context.

 

[basscapes]

Tronographic Rusty Box.

If you like the Clank of G-K amps, think of this pedal as a "Broken G-K" (at least, that's how I describe it to people). It's got grit and yet still has a great defined tone (and an amazing boost/distortion switch).

I am biased only in the fact that it's the first distortion/preamp pedal I've ever owned with I don't feel the need to use a compressor in front of it! I love this thing!

TRONOGRAPHIC

 

[Nephilymbass]

1. Why do you suggest changing the preamp? I'm pretty happy with my tone at the moment, I'm just looking for something to get dirtier than I can at the moment for my bands more sludgier moments. 2. black arts pharaoh sounds really good, thanks 3. The EHX Superego looks like a lot of fun

The Alpha Omega doesn't seem to go quite as dirty as I'm looking for and the duality just isn't quite my cup of tea. With the delay, any advice of settings? I had a BOSS DD-7 for a while but struggled getting in between delayed muddy mess and it being not very noticeable unless soloed.

I love phasers and can't argue with that but I already have the greenhouse sonic orb phaser.

At the moment I'm really liking the Blower Box.

The omega side in the alpha omega goes all the way into distortion/fuzz territory. I think there’s just a bunch of people in demos using it for more b7k sounding tones and djent stuff. It can get really raunchy and sounds awesome doing so

As for delay. Here’s a great video on using delay with bass. This is the same delay pedal I use as well.

 

[skydivingninja]

Maybe try something more in the synth realm? You can get there pretty cheap with a Digitech Bass Synth wah or a Source Audio Manta filter. If you want a super aggressive distortion, I don't think you can go wrong with a Blower Box.

 

[Fuzzbass]

I've head rat clones don't deal well with high output basses, how do these two pedals deal with it? I tend to have the the highs at noon, the mids at 2 and the bass at 1 on my basses eq.

I can only speak of the Blower Box, never tried the Iron Pig (though I'm curious about it). My #1 bass for rock is high output active. Some pedals haven't handled it well, but the BLower Box does! Even with that hot bass, the BB sounds great from barely-there sparkle to full-on face-melt distortion.

 

[Being and Bass]

Second on the Superego+. Pair it with a Deluxe Bass Muff from EHX (had a pad for your preamp and can get some CRAZY but usable sounds) and you will be ready for all things prog.

 

[Bunch O Numbers]

@Being and Bass and @BassBrass How helpful do you find the extra controls on the Superego+ as opposed to the Superego?