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Stu Brooks (Dub Trio) Distortion

Jared Lash

Jared Lash

Born under punches
Aug 21, 2006
15,588
5,157
Denver, CO
#1
I have a fairly high gain tone in my head that I can't quite get. The closest example I can think of is the sound Stu Brooks has on a number of tracks on the new Dub Trio album.

I'm not looking to reproduce it exactly (the only dirty tone I've ever tried to truly cop was Billy Gould's, to no avail) but somewhere in this ballpark is what I'd like.

Check out the song "Not For Nothing" on the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed].

I know a Bass Player article said he used the Disnortion, but that doesn't sound like it at all to my ears. Stu himself posted once and said he used the dirty channel on his Aguilar (and the AGRO preamp has that same capability) but I'm not sure that's it either.

Maybe if I'm lucky the man himself can answer this for me, but any suggestions are welcome.
 
#3
bongomania said:
I believe someone else posted that live it was the distortion from his Mooger MF101, but then again they may have used any number of different methods in studio.
Click to expand...

Well, Maki said when he saw them that the LowPass was the only pedal he had, which makes sense as he's often busy hitting the delays on the guitar and drums, but on the latest album he's got a very different dirty tone.

A very crunchy distortion which sounds like it's most likely a two channel clean/dirty thing, but again, I'm not trying to cop it exactly.
 
#6
emjazz said:
Huh? How do you distort a Moog LPF? I know you can overdrive it some but it also boosts your volume a lot if you do.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you can't distort it (especially not to the extent that it is in the song I'm talking about) but you definitely can get that dirty filter OD sound from the Moog. It's nice for just a slight touch of fur on those fat dubby bass notes.

For that matter, the infamous Moog bypass adds an interesting bit of sound to a clean tone. I know tone freaks hate it, but I'm not infatuated with a clean tone and I kind of liked the sound of my signal going through my old Bass MuRF when it was off.

But back on topic, I'm wondering if a Super Collider (maybe in the loop of my Barge) would get me close.
 
#7
TheBigO said:
Yeah, you can't distort it (especially not to the extent that it is in the song I'm talking about) but you definitely can get that dirty filter OD sound from the Moog. It's nice for just a slight touch of fur on those fat dubby bass notes.

For that matter, the infamous Moog bypass adds an interesting bit of sound to a clean tone. I know tone freaks hate it, but I'm not infatuated with a clean tone and I kind of liked the sound of my signal going through my old Bass MuRF when it was off.

But back on topic, I'm wondering if a Super Collider (maybe in the loop of my Barge) would get me close.
Click to expand...

From what I have heard, I don't think the super collider would be crunchy enough. You can't get a sound like that out of your XXLB?
 
#8
TheBigO said:
Yeah, you can't distort it (especially not to the extent that it is in the song I'm talking about) but you definitely can get that dirty filter OD sound from the Moog. It's nice for just a slight touch of fur on those fat dubby bass notes.

For that matter, the infamous Moog bypass adds an interesting bit of sound to a clean tone. I know tone freaks hate it, but I'm not infatuated with a clean tone and I kind of liked the sound of my signal going through my old Bass MuRF when it was off.

But back on topic, I'm wondering if a Super Collider (maybe in the loop of my Barge) would get me close.
Click to expand...

Back off topic....I recorded some tracks for someone recently and I left the Moog in the signal the whole time using my pass J bass. It really gave the direct signal a cool character in the mix. I perfectly clean signal just wouldn't have worked.

Also, I've found a nice setting with the Moog recently where I use it to fatten up my original signal in the low end. I get a thumpy low end with some fur and it sounds great.
 
#9
I have to admit the "bypass" on my MF101 is one of the reasons I don't bother with it much live--I always feel like I don't know what kinda noise that thing might be making(and mine, which I got used, seems to be particularly . . .squirrelly sometimes--it changes form day to day!)--I've never taken the time to set up a proper pedal board anyway and don't ue pedals live hardly, but I guess it could be on a loop. I record with it alot though. I like to run one clean DI and another input though the MF for some rubadub resonance. I'll have to try pushing it into overdrive sometime . . .
 
#10
pbass2 said:
I have to admit the "bypass" on my MF101 is one of the reasons I don't bother with it much live--I always feel like I don't know what kinda noise that thing might be making(and mine, which I got used, seems to be particularly . . .squirrelly sometimes--it changes form day to day!)--I've never taken the time to set up a proper pedal board anyway and don't ue pedals live hardly, but I guess it could be on a loop. I record with it alot though. I like to run one clean DI and another input though the MF for some rubadub resonance. I'll have to try pushing it into overdrive sometime . . .
Click to expand...

Live, I have the Moog through a bypass pedal so when it's off it's out of my chain completely.

Ok....I admit that I had never heard the Dub Trio before...very cool stuff. I can see where the Moog would be something that he'd use for sure.....it's not the overdrive sound though. Stu seems to have a few things on the top of his amp in the videos. No idea what they are. There seems to be an Aguilar something-or-other up there....could be the Agro.
 
#11
emjazz said:
Huh? How do you distort a Moog LPF?
Click to expand...
Link Removed
OK, I know you already know about that...
emjazz said:
I know you can overdrive it some but it also boosts your volume a lot if you do.
Click to expand...
IMO you can overdrive it to a very dirty point, and if you are using a tube amp or any other amp that distorts well then the volume boost will take you right where you want to go if you want distortion.
 
#12
bongomania said:
Link Removed
OK, I know you already know about that...

IMO you can overdrive it to a very dirty point, and if you are using a tube amp or any other amp that distorts well then the volume boost will take you right where you want to go if you want distortion.
Click to expand...

Yup...which is why I can't do it with my solid state amp...I can see it being great with a tube amp though. I'll have to mess around with my LPF tomorrow to see how much distortion I can get out of it.
 
#13
AqueousView11 said:
From what I have heard, I don't think the super collider would be crunchy enough. You can't get a sound like that out of your XXLB?
Click to expand...

You know, I'm sure you're right. I've been looking for alternatives, but that's probably the right tool for the job.

I didn't run it through my custom VFB-2 when I had it (because I fed it into my SansAmp) but with my BDDI definitely hitting the road I'm going to at least try it with my VB-jr when it arrives before I put the XXLB up for sale.

The XXLB is like that girlfriend that you just keeping coming back to. I've made up my mind to sell it 10 times but it's still here. It's noisy, it cuts a bit of lows and it isn't the least bit versatile. But damn if it isn't a great crunchbox.

I'm guessing blending it will probably get me that tone, and get itself spared from the chopping block yet again.
 
#14
TheBigO said:
You know, I'm sure you're right. I've been looking for alternatives, but that's probably the right tool for the job.

I didn't run it through my custom VFB-2 when I had it (because I fed it into my SansAmp) but with my BDDI definitely hitting the road I'm going to at least try it with my VB-jr when it arrives before I put the XXLB up for sale.

The XXLB is like that girlfriend that you just keeping coming back to. I've made up my mind to sell it 10 times but it's still here. It's noisy, it cuts a bit of lows and it isn't the least bit versatile. But damn if it isn't a great crunchbox.

I'm guessing blending it will probably get me that tone, and get itself spared from the chopping block yet again.
Click to expand...

Why would having the BDDI in your chain affect you decision to put a pedal in a blend loop or not?
 
#15
SnakeAnthony said:
Why would having the BDDI in your chain affect you decision to put a pedal in a blend loop or not?
Click to expand...

Basically because with that combination the whole point was to have a super aggressive and cutting tone. Check the Wiki for clips. I just didn't want to dilute that sound. Plus you can eq a bit more bass on the SansAmp to compensate to a certain extent.
 
#16
I just saw them two weeks ago in Chicago. I was front row at the subterranean, right in front of him. The Moog is definitely the most used pedal in his arsenal, but I'm sure that the crunch is actually from the aguilar. When he really wants to get crunchy he uses a blowtorch as well, but the majority of the dirt riffs from the album are pulled off live by using the amp.
 
#17
TheBigO said:
Basically because with that combination the whole point was to have a super aggressive and cutting tone. Check the Wiki for clips. I just didn't want to dilute that sound. Plus you can eq a bit more bass on the SansAmp to compensate to a certain extent.
Click to expand...

I figured as much. But as I plan on running a Fuzz in a loop with a ParaDriver as the last in my chain I wanted to make sure I hadn't overlooked something.
 
#18
SnakeAnthony said:
I figured as much. But as I plan on running a Fuzz in a loop with a ParaDriver as the last in my chain I wanted to make sure I hadn't overlooked something.
Click to expand...

No, you should be fine. In fact, that was always one of my favorite aspects of the BDDI (and I would imagine the ParaDriver too) as it does a great job of shaping/taming/enhancing fuzzes and heavy distortions that are run before it in the chain.
 
#19
TheBigO said:
No, you should be fine. In fact, that was always one of my favorite aspects of the BDDI (and I would imagine the ParaDriver too) as it does a great job of shaping/taming/enhancing fuzzes and heavy distortions that are run before it in the chain.
Click to expand...

Pretty much the reason I stick with Sansamp. The original idea was just to put some EQ in my signal, as my Traynor YBA-200 has a passive EQ onboard. But once I heard Fuzz> Sansamp> Amp vs Fuzz> Amp or Fuzz> Graphic EQ> Amp, it was all over.
 
#20
just revisiting this...i saw Dub Trio last week and it was quite the show...with only 3 people, these guys create an amazing dynamic wall of sound. Stu Brooks was using only an aguilar dual channel ag 500 head and his distortion tone was awesome. the show was during the week so there was barely anyone there, which was cool for me as i got to see him play up close, he is definately an awesome player
 

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