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The perfect OD pedal ?

CassiusRegular

CassiusRegular

Apr 10, 2013
113
154
Málaga - Paris
open.spotify.com
#1
Hi all,

First of all sorry to create once again a new thread about this theme, but I would really appreciate to have some personnal advice on the topic, as I have been struggling so far to find my perfect OD pedal.

For two years now I've been on this quest for my rig. I am particularly fussy on this topic, so I have tested out many pedals and I've been never completely satisfied yet...

Where the things get more complicated is that I am playing through a SVT CL.

Anyone would say "simply push the gain of the head to get the grit"...but I love powerful, punchy, round clean sound I get from it. I don't want to sacrifice that as I switch a lot between clean and drive during songs.

I am looking for a good "mild" "growly" "tubey" OD to get with a pedal. BUT also without losing any Low-End, nor punch, nor "width" of my original tone..in one word, "transparent".

What I have tried so far :
- Fairfield Barbershop > too much fizz, also got the infamous "kazoo" sound(that some of you on talkbass already mention on other topics).
- Solidgoldfx Beta > punchy, growly, but very much too "colored", with a heavy low-boost impossible to remove, event with the tone of the pedal set full high-end side.
- BBBOD > not too bad, but made me lose some (too much to my taste) punch & width when ON. Currently my by default choice.
- OCD > not friendly enough with the low-end, distording a bit too early...

I could also mention the Ibanez Phat Hed, the EHX Bass Big Muff or the Proco Rat Turbo, but none of those did the trick (and are one league below the previous ones I guess)...

Last additional info : my current gear (maybe this my help for a more precise analysis) :

> "Pawshop" P51 bass with Lollar 11K precision pickups
> Ampeg SVT CL (with Tung-Sol KT120 tubes)
> Matamp Bass Cab 610
> DR DDT 115 roundwound strings


I've been looking on some pricey/boutique pedal, JohnK Transboost and SS2, but I could find NO AUDIO anywhere on the internet.


Thanks a lot for anyone who can help !
 
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#3
Q: What's the perfect flavor?
A: The one that matches what you have a taste for in this moment.

By the time you find the "perfect" overdrive, you're likely to find your tastes, needs, and playing situation(s) have changed—and that once-perfect pedal now sounds like a compromise.

Being able to roll your own is pretty valuable if you're picky about your OD sounds. Two things that can help a lot in your quest to retain clarity and width:
  • Ability to adjust the clean/grit balance in your signal
  • Ability to control eq of clean and dirty paths (including hi-pass, low-pass, and at least one band of freq/gain/Q
Some single-pedals allow you to blend in clean to retain low-end clarity. (For light OD w/ blend, a SparkleDrive is one of my faves, esp. when modded to retain a bit more low end.) A loop/blend pedal allows even more versatility, although at the cost of pedalboard space & weight.

EQ control of the clean/dirty paths allows you to slightly scoop the midrange of the clean signal to make room for the mid-range grit. HPF on the grit lets you keep the low-end unmasked, and LPF on the grit controls or eliminates the fizziness of fullrange OD/distortion.
 
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#7
CassiusRegular said:
I am looking for a good "mild" "growly" "tubey" OD to get with a pedal. BUT also without losing any Low-End, nor punch, nor "width" of my original tone..in one word, "transparent".
Click to expand...

Grizzly Bass by Creation Audio Labs. I was looking for exactly what you are looking for, and IMO the Grizzly does it perfectly. It'll do heavier OD, but I was looking for gentle, transparent tube magic and the Grizzly ended my search because it's easy to dial in subtle warmth with either active or passive basses. It has mid cut and hi cut tone controls, but those are disengaged when turned fully clockwise.

Another suggestion is the Lehle Sonic Spark. I have not tried it, but it's designed to do the same thing.
 
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#8
CassiusRegular said:
Hi all,

First of all sorry to create once again a new thread about this theme, but I would really appreciate to have some personnal advice on the topic, as I have been struggling so far to find my perfect OD pedal.

For two years now I've been on this quest for my rig. I am particularly fussy on this topic, so I have tested out many pedals and I've been never completely satisfied yet...

Where the things get more complicated is that I am playing through a SVT CL.

Anyone would say "simply push the gain of the head to get the grit"...but I love powerful, punchy, round clean sound I get from it. I don't want to sacrifice that as I switch a lot between clean and drive during songs.

I am looking for a good "mild" "growly" "tubey" OD to get with a pedal. BUT also without losing any Low-End, nor punch, nor "width" of my original tone..in one word, "transparent".

What I have tried so far :
- Fairfield Barbershop > too much fizz, also got the infamous "kazoo" sound(that some of you on talkbass already mention on other topics).
- Solidgoldfx Beta > punchy, growly, but very much too "colored", with a heavy low-boost impossible to remove, event with the tone of the pedal set full high-end side.
- BBBOD > not too bad, but made me lose some (too much to my taste) punch & width when ON. Currently my by default choice.
- OCD > not friendly enough with the low-end, distording a bit too early...

I could also mention the Ibanez Phat Hed, the EHX Bass Big Muff or the Proco Rat Turbo, but none of those did the trick (and are one league below the previous ones I guess)...

Last additional info : my current gear (maybe this my help for a more precise analysis) :

> "Pawshop" P51 bass with Lollar 11K precision pickups
> Ampeg SVT CL (with Tung-Sol KT120 tubes)
> Matamp Bass Cab 610
> DR DDT 115 roundwound strings


I've been looking on some pricey/boutique pedal, JohnK Transboost and SS2, but I could find NO AUDIO anywhere on the internet.


Thanks a lot for anyone who can help !
Click to expand...

Hello. Try a Tim pedal by Paul Cochrane. If you can't find one (likely), then try a Timmy.

Good luck!
 
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#9
Azure Drive is a good call if your current front runner is the BBBOD. It's a tweaked Blueberry with a modified tone control, it should have more brightness on tap.

Grizzly also a good call, getting very popular around here and those that buy it tend to hang onto it.

Although I have owned an obscene amount of dirt pedals, I've not personally tried the above, so my recommendation would be to try out an Xotic Bass BB Preamp. Can be set reasonably transparent, zero low end loss with the bass knob at noon (and you can boost/cut from there) and I can tell you first hand that it sounds amazing with a P Bass into an SVT!
 
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#10
dannybuoy said:
Grizzly also a good call, getting very popular around here and those that buy it tend to hang onto it.
Click to expand...

That's true -- I'm super finnicky and am constantly tweaking my chain, but this one is welded to my board. You don't see them for sale very often.

Others that people seem to universally like include the Azure, the Southampton Fifth Gear (although people say it's not touch-sensitive) and the ss/bs Mini, but I haven't been able to try any of those yet.
 
#11
Two suggestions

1) Darkglass B3K. Not transparent but it has THE PROTOTYPICAL bass overdrive sound that just simply works great in a mix.

2) This pedal is absolutely unknown by most everyone here but IMO is THE BEST natural (transparent) overdrive I personally have ever tried, and I have owned and sold about 25 dirts/od's over the past two years. It's a Marshall Bluesbreaker clone (think JHS Morning Glory) that just sounds huge and "right" on bass. I took a chance on one last week because well, I didn't want to pay $200 for a JHS. I simply could not believe how good is sounds. Ignore it at your own peril.

FranklynAmps BluesBreaker "Marshall Tone"
 
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#13
I'm totally biased towards this pedal, but I'll say the Ss/Bs Mini. With the bass all crancked up, with the treble at 12h, the bias at 1h/2h, the gain between 11h-1h, you'll get a great tube breakup tone. And this is definetly not a one trick pedal, since if you play with the bias knob you get a lot of diferent sounds from it. From brassy-gated sounds to more harsh distortion, and with the gain all crancked up it gets a great fuzzy tone also.
 
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#15
Crazy Otto said:
That's true -- I'm super finnicky and am constantly tweaking my chain, but this one is welded to my board. You don't see them for sale very often.

Others that people seem to universally like include the Azure, the Southampton Fifth Gear (although people say it's not touch-sensitive) and the ss/bs Mini, but I haven't been able to try any of those yet.
Click to expand...
Nunovsky said:
I'm totally biased towards this pedal, but I'll say the Ss/Bs Mini. With the bass all crancked up, with the treble at 12h, the bias at 1h/2h, the gain between 11h-1h, you'll get a great tube breakup tone. And this is definetly not a one trick pedal, since if you play with the bias knob you get a lot of diferent sounds from it. From brassy-gated sounds to more harsh distortion, and with the gain all crancked up it gets a great fuzzy tone also.
Click to expand...
All definitely true, but I find the mini has a sort of built in compression that is impossible to dial out. I just sold mine yesterday for this reason. I bought it thinking it would be very transparent (was in the same boat as the OP) and while I cannot say anything bad about the mini (it is an awesome pedal), it just didn't work for me personally because of it's tendency to get very compressed, even at low gain. Of course, I totally understand your experiences vary from mine.
 
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#16
Like I said, I'm totally biased towards this pedal because I like it so much and because I works really great with my rig and I can get exactly the OD sound that I like with it.
Maybe I'll add another one to the stack: SA Aftershock. Have you seen Nathan Navarro's demo of this pedal? It really shows the potential of this pedal. Check around 0:40 and the TS9000 demo around 1:50.

 
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#18
cnltb said:
I found the grizzly to be at least as Kazoo as the BS-depending on settings.
Nice pedal though!
I guess that one will be able to get most ODs to do a convincing Kazoo if one tries for it though.
Click to expand...

The kazoo is essentially an overabundance of (I think higher) mids. Or maybe it's excessive compression? I don't know exactly. I do know that the Grizzly has a delicious mid-scoop pot to help dial out out exactly that phenomenon, should it appear.
 
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#19
Nunovsky said:
Like I said, I'm totally biased towards this pedal because I like it so much and because I works really great with my rig and I can get exactly the OD sound that I like with it.
Maybe I'll add another one to the stack: SA Aftershock. Have you seen Dave Navarro's demo of this pedal? It really shows the potential of this pedal. Check around 0:40 and the TS9000 DEMOS AROUND 1:50.

Click to expand...


+1 - The biggest drawback is how flexible this pedal is if you choose to go beyond three presets (tube, heavy, and fuzz). You can get lost with all the tweakable options available to you through the Neuron mobile app to dial in the perfect OD effect. Fortunately, the defaults are really good right out of the box.
 
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#20
I agree with the opinion that Darkglass pedals are not what you're looking for (because of built-in tone), as long as you don't wanna use the blend to weigh in your tone.

Of the ones I've tried I associate your description with the smallsound/bigsound Mini. Very transparent and nice breakup, which flavor can be fine tuned with the Bias. It only compresses at lower bias settings (as it should), in the higher range it is very dynamic.

Best of luck on your quest!
Cheers,
Kalle
 
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