Sweetwater is again out of TCSpark full-size, I wonder how many went to TB'rs. I ordered one yesterday and the site said there were 3 left.
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recommend me an overdrive..
- Thread starter groooooove
- Start date
I tried many overdrives (studio & live) and ended up with a DarkGlass Vintage Deluxe, I think it checks all of your boxes.
IvanBassist
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- Jun 8, 2008
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- Content Manager at Darkglass Electronics, Dingwall Guitars Artist
it's a bit above your price range, but I think the Tech 21 YYZ or DG Vintage could suit you very well.
Really surprised to not see the MXR M85 Bass Distortion mentioned yet.. one of the best gain pedals for bass, in my opinion. Might be a tad hairier than you like, but damn. I'm able to dial it way back by using the blend, softening attack, and lowering volume knob a bit on my bass.
Joyo Orange Juice or American Sound.
The first excelling in being grindy, and both going from perfectly clean, over just a slight touch of of grid/hair and all the the way up to a medium gain kind of distortion.
The first excelling in being grindy, and both going from perfectly clean, over just a slight touch of of grid/hair and all the the way up to a medium gain kind of distortion.
The Way Huge Green Rhino seems to fit the bill. Tube screamer with no clean blend but additional 500Hz or 100 Hz OD control.
1. No clean blend (but not needed)
2. Mid-High gain OD
3. No mid scoop- has a mid control that can be scooped or boosted. Has a throaty mid range punch.
Doesn't cost loads. Well built. Small (the Mk5) and has top mounted jacks so it takes up even less space.
1. No clean blend (but not needed)
2. Mid-High gain OD
3. No mid scoop- has a mid control that can be scooped or boosted. Has a throaty mid range punch.
Doesn't cost loads. Well built. Small (the Mk5) and has top mounted jacks so it takes up even less space.
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CAL Grizzly Bass kicked my Bass Soul Food off of my board.
Honestly, a Cali 76 CB compressor, set to their Ampeg setting in the manual, is ridiculous too. I don’t use mine that way since I have the GB, I just dialed it way back and have a ghost of that from the Cali, and it made the GB sound that much better.
Honestly, a Cali 76 CB compressor, set to their Ampeg setting in the manual, is ridiculous too. I don’t use mine that way since I have the GB, I just dialed it way back and have a ghost of that from the Cali, and it made the GB sound that much better.
And the Beta MkII is my fave of the three and has a preamp side with the switch and the full-on overdrive with the other side of the switch as demonstrated by Ben Wright.
Forgot to add; the Open Road is no longer made, but Visual Sound has a pedal that’s been out for several years, the VS•XO, that has the Open Road on one side and an improved Tube Screamer on the other.
https://truetone.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Truetone-V3XO-Sample-Settings-Instructions-v2.pdf
It’s a well-built and VERY flexible pedal that sounds great on bass.
I’d still have it if I hadn’t built 2 pedals based on the Nobels ODR-1, but tweaked to my preferences...
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thanks for all the replies folks!
there are so many good choices.
the demos on youtube of the green bass machine are pretty wild... sounds extremely responsive (not in my OP but I want that!) and certainly has the vibe i'm going for. looks like they can be had right around $100.
few comments mention those being very dark in the mix...... anyone have comment on that?
the beta overdrive looked insanely useful and good-sounding but doesn't have that throaty/cut through vibe i'm looking for at the moment.
man, i'm glad there are too many choices to pick from. bass drives have come a long way since i bought my first one years ago
there are so many good choices.
the demos on youtube of the green bass machine are pretty wild... sounds extremely responsive (not in my OP but I want that!) and certainly has the vibe i'm going for. looks like they can be had right around $100.
few comments mention those being very dark in the mix...... anyone have comment on that?
the beta overdrive looked insanely useful and good-sounding but doesn't have that throaty/cut through vibe i'm looking for at the moment.
man, i'm glad there are too many choices to pick from. bass drives have come a long way since i bought my first one years ago
Before I started buying effects I thought one or two ODs would be plenty for me. A couple of years later, I've got a board with 10 pedals on it, including 3 ODs plus a SansAmp BDDI, and about 10 other ODs not on my board that I can't bring myself to sell. And there are still more that I want to try (including a bunch already mentioned in this thread).
Be careful. Once you go down this rabbit hole, it's tough to get back out!
Be careful. Once you go down this rabbit hole, it's tough to get back out!
I can recommend two, both EHX.
EHX Bass Soul Food:
This is the Klon circuit, tweaked with an extra clean boost (which is a little redundant if you understand the Klon circuit but it works). On bass, it produces a light, true "overdrive", and diming it gives you a grind more than a fuzz. It keeps the low end even dialed over fully "wet", but offers up a throaty midrange "don't f*** with me" growl that's very good as your "clean" in 90s-era alt-rock. Turn up the Treble control for more bite to the tone and a gainier sound. Flip the 10dB pad for really hot pickups (like most Klons it has an input buffer stage that's always on, and too hot an input can clip it), or just to make the drive a bit more subtle.
EHX Hot Wax:
This is a stack drive, combining EHX's take on the Timmy (Crayon) with a Red Llama-type CMOS drive circuit (Hot Tubes). The Timmy, and thus the Crayon, are prized for "transparency", being based more on the Bluesbreaker lineage of soft-clipping circuits rather than the vaunted Tubescreamer. The Hot Tubes, OTOH, will naturally give you a more mid-pushed drive tone with less high end. Both of them can do subtle, just-over-the-edge gain levels, all the way up into grinding buzzsaws. And all that before you even try pushing the Crayon into the Hot Tubes.
EQ-wise, the Crayon's two-band EQ is available when running either side, along with a clean blend, so there's plenty of bottom end on tap here. Most reviewers wish the Hot Tubes kept its own tone control, so you could balance the timbre of the two sides (the HT is always a bit darker than the Crayon). If you understand that about the Hot Wax, you can use it to start with a subtle "fridge pushed too hard" tone and then add the Crayon to boost that into true distortion territory.
Another one to look at if you're into TS-type mid-humped drives, but still want your low end, is the Digitech HardWire CM-2.
This is from Digitech's very well-done and tragically discontinued HardWire line of true-bypass, abuse-tolerant pedals. The basic circuit is the Bad Monkey variant of the classic Tube Screamer, which swaps the Tone control for a two-band shelving EQ. It also gives you a gain switch; in Classic mode, the low end isn't fed through the clipping amp and so tends to be a bit rolled off in the final tone with the EQ flat. In Modified mode, the frequency range of the clipping amp is extended and overall gain increased, giving you more bass and more drive on tap. Either way, it's got the low-mid push that delivers classic Tubescreamer tone, and the Bass knob gives you as much low end as you want. Personally, I like the slightly higher-frequency push of Klon-type circuits, or failing that a more transparent "my amp, just dirtier" tone of BB-type soft-clippers, but if your guitarist is using either of these options for his own drive, a TS will keep you down out of his way a bit better while still adding dirt to the mix.
All three of these pedals are currently trading hands at or near $100. The CM-2 was a lot cheaper pre-COVID, but there's something about being cooped up in your house with a lot of stimulus money and not much to do with it that tends to drive up prices, and now that people are starting to play out again demand has only increased further.
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My TC Spark arrived yesterday. Wow wow wow. So many uses. That is a pedalboard force multiplier. Can pick a point in the chain to modulate gain.
Bonus, I put a volume Pedal after dirt and before reverb/delay/shimmer (and before preamp/hpf) so now I have gain 'encapsulated' in the signal path.
This is such a great piece of kit, might be just what OP is looking for.
Bonus, I put a volume Pedal after dirt and before reverb/delay/shimmer (and before preamp/hpf) so now I have gain 'encapsulated' in the signal path.
This is such a great piece of kit, might be just what OP is looking for.
TC Electronics MojoMojo
Start with this one, then try a bunch, you will always come back to it
I dont know what they did to this pedal, sounds really good for the price
Start with this one, then try a bunch, you will always come back to it
I dont know what they did to this pedal, sounds really good for the price
