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Punchy, dry, punky and cheap overdrive pedal

#23
If you want something that ticks all your boxes and is also inexpensive, you're probably going to have to try a lot of cheap pedals before you find one that fits.

Getting a Boss LS-2 will expand your options since you could then mix your dry and wet signals with any dirt pedal, even ones that cut a lot of low end. But given the additional cost of an LS-2 you might as well just grab something that fits all your sound requirements to start with, if you don't think you're going to want to change it up a lot or use different pedals for different gigs.
 
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#26
Rafolix said:
Thank you RexxRokket, it sounds really great, this is just what I am looking for, but honestly a pedalboard is too much for me now.
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It is all good, I mainly use the preamp the compressor and some drive blended with the clean bass but It has a lot to mess with tho, for the price it can't be beaten. On the other hand if what you are looking for is a pedal alone I can't recommend the Shiftline Buzz enough, one of the greatest out there, it is what I use on my analog pedalboard.
 
#27
Rafolix said:
Hi friends,
I am desperate looking for a punchy, dry, punky and cheap overdrive pedal. I have treied many of them, but have not found anything so far: Ultimate Drive, OCD clones, Boss ODD-3. TC Electronic MojoMojo, Dark Matter.
I have ann SX Jazz BAss, and J&D P Bass, through a Fender Rumble 100.
I do not want a valvy, warm overdrive. Something more like a Steel Leather but with a smal amount of overdrive.
Any suggestions?
Thanks so much
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Many moons ago, when I was a drummer in Atlanta for several punk bands, a couple of the bassist I played with used the Boss Metal zone... worked really well... you can probably find one dirt cheap
 
#29
This isn't a "cheap" suggestion but go for a Source Audio Aftershock.

I'm super picky about bass distortions. This pedal can basically do all of them, it sounds great at it, and you can do cool stuff like change the tone knob to a specific parametric EQ or what I really like is using it as a voice knob so it changes the whole character of the distortion. You can also bake in the 4-band EQ for each of the 3 sounds you can set up on the selector switch, set up noise gates, run pedals stacked into each other virtually, split your bass signal, and probably like 60 other things.

But what's really great is a) out of the box it's very usable and b) once you've done your tweaking on a PC/phone/tablet it's just a regular distortion pedal.

I've EASILY wasted enough money in my dirt search to buy 2 or 3 of these. It's just not worth cheaping out with some pedals.
 
#33
FaithNoMan said:
I sort of did. But what I consider clank is pretty extreme(Even for a Ric player)

I just hated how it would fart out on some notes(the TS9B), but I also think that made it more tubelike in the mix. So not always a horrible thing.
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I use mine with a stingray. I think I know what farting out you are talking about and I only really get that when I turn the drive up to much. I have been using it with a switchblade pro lately also so I don't loose my clean signal.
 
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#34
I love saving money in general but when it comes to bass tone / clank / distortion — life is too short IMO to have a budget. LOL I mean, keep it under $300 for a good pedal and know you'll get yer $ back in the classifieds here if it doesn't work out. There're so many good "dirt" pedals out there for the bass & you shouldn't limit yourself simply based on cost alone— ultimately, you truly will get what you pay for!
 
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#35
Earthquaker Devices Plumes. Seriously, this pedal is so insanely cheap for how great it is. It's more tubescreamer based than Rat, but I find it's appeal to be pretty similar. Hands down the best bang for your buck of any dirt pedal ever, full stop.
 
#36
JohnnyChatter said:
I use mine with a stingray. I think I know what farting out you are talking about and I only really get that when I turn the drive up to much. I have been using it with a switchblade pro lately also so I don't loose my clean signal.
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I find Stingrays to be able to get extended treble, but I always looked for the very upper midrange clank in my tone that thin bodied maple basses seem to provide in spades. When Justin Chancellor was trying to play some of the faster lines Paul D'Amour played with his Ric, he said he found the notes would get lost in the mix because of the lack of midrange on his 'Ray. He later happened upon the Wal bass, which was what he used from then on.
Stingrays can cut through as well, obviously, and maybe it was the application and a combination of user error, but I always felt they had a fantastic hifi sound with the beefiness of that big humbucker to give it some nice "chunk", whereas basses like Rics, Gibson Rippers, and some old neckthru Aria Pro's had a much ruder bell-toned clank in the upper mids.

A rock sound I can think of with a nice Stingray tone would probably be early Chevelle, with that awesome crunch. Of course, I love King Crimson and Tony Levin's Stingray lines, but he was a pretty clean player by comparison to other bassists the band had.
 
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#37
I just came here to tell you not to buy digitech bass driver :roflmao:
It has a really digital sounding ugly distortion.
I still like the sound in certain situations, but I wouldn't recommend it for someone looking for an overdrive/distorion pedal.
 

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