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The perfect OD pedal ?

Interesting. The mini is a strong contender on my "next pedal" list.
You could do a lot worse than the Mini for sure. Great pedal. I only sold it because I have a rule now that if I am not actually using something on the board, it gets sold. But, if I didn't have that rule I would have kept it for sure because it does have a great sound, especially for low gain. It was just the compressed feel of it that was fairly impossible to dial out that kept it ultimately off the board. I tried using the bias knob but it didn't really work opening up the sound/feel of the pedal enough to my taste. It was sort of a catch 22.....using the bias fully "open" knocked the gain down by quite a bit. I think ultimately I don't like pedals with pre-gain bass either because it's impossible for me to dial in the amount of bass I want without pushing the gain too hard. I just use the FranklynAmps bluesbreaker as my main low gain od now and it is brilliant. Totally uncompressed, no low end loss, very musical and aggressive if you want it to be and best of all, it only costs $70 bucks.
 
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Honestly, it isn't "boutique," but I absolutely LOVE my MXR Bass Overdrive. It gets PLENTY distorted and is super warm and tube-y. I love the thing. Huge staple of my tone.




Not a huge fan of the demo going so heavy on the clean tone. Though, the MXR bass distortion with input from Fuzzrocious seems pretty sweet. That might be my next lab rat in the tone maze.
 
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]. Mine is modded with clean blend by them for $75, but since the fuzz and overdrive are parallel with their own stomps, you can use the fuzz with no gain as a clean channel. The octava is a nice OD texture as well, but the octave effect only really sings on guitar, so it's been very flexible for recording. From your description, I think you'll like the OD sound. This pedal answered all my prayers and is fun to fiddle with, but very easy to get a simple OD.

Out of production, but you can get it used CHEEEEP starting at $80! It was $250 new, so aim lower.
Google search

It can't be daisy chained, needs its own supply, so make sure it's included. NOT a typical Boss adapter, the Pigtronix one is higher voltage and nice and small.
 
So many of these are NOT transparent at all. To the suggestions of Darkglass, it is usually very obvious. Don't get me wrong, it's amazing and my B3K is not going ANYWHERE, but transparent it is not. Just trying to keep the OP's intent in mind and wallet intact. These other boxes have great tones, that is for certain. But I wouldn't say "transparent".

The BK Butler stuff (I have a Tube Driver) can be pretty transparent, as can the Pork Loin I and others have mentioned. I hear that many of the other drives mentioned are pretty transparent (Azure, BBOD, Timmy, and others), though I have no experience with them. Darkglass is NOT transparent, though it is awesome for the sounds it makes.

Another contender for a pushed tube sound that's pretty transparent is the Gamma Bass Overdrive, if you can find one.

Don't mean to offend, just educate the OP on different flavors of dirt.
 
How about the MXR Blowtorch? Also - this is the Fuzz/OD pedal I use after my Zoom B3: Invalid Link Removed

I use the Monoprice for Muse and Black Keys tunes. I feel like it's my own hidden gem - and right now it's only $28 to boot. It has a clean blend. It can get a huge low end going.
 
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 demo around 1:50.



You spelled "Nathan" wrong :)
 
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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"
Any sound samples. Im really interested. I like od but i need my bass tone. The price is great!
 
I mostly use the Xotic BB model in my $50 Zoom B1on. I also have a cheaparse Caline "Pure Sky" (sort of a Timmy clone with better EQ) that I love. Both completely transparent with the drive turned down.
Wow, the Zoom has a modeled BB in it? That's pretty cool! As I mention above (and to anyone who'll listen;)) I LOVE the BB and it does exactly what the OP is asking for. A killer pedal, definitely often "always on" for me in many scenarios. Real "studio quality" too (and I hate throwing that term around usually). It even feels "amp-like" the way it responds.
 

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