Transparent Distortion?

[Veldar]

Hi all,

I know transparent overdrives are kind of a meme at this point but I was wondering if there are similar pedals but higher gain?

I've messed around with clean blends and lowpass cleans mixed with a higher freq distortion but I can never get the mix right, I feel like I'm always losing out on something when it's compared to my normal clean signal. I know you can dime the EQD westwood and get it a bit hairyer but I was hoping to see some other options.

Cheers, Sam.

 

[bassbrad]

There are always other options including having something custom built. If you are willing to invest the time I suggest checking out the Source Audio Aftershock that comes with three great bass drive tones but offers endless possibilities for creating your own with their excellent modelling tool you can run on computer or smart phone so simple even an old phart like can make it rock. You can store up to 6 creations or if you add a hub even more.
Aftershock Bass Distortion

 

[Mosfed]

Broughton Locust Star

 

[Veldar]

Broughton Locust Star

So it's more than a Rat clone?

 

[Veldar]

The term "transparent" is used by ignorants who don't understand what it means. If something changes the sound, it is not transparent. Idiots will try to tell otherwise.

I mean yeah, but regardless it works pretty well as a team to describe a less coloured type of overdrive.

Of course a distortion will sound different than my clean sound, I just want someysome that will retain my Ken Smith tone, not just replace it with something else.

 

[Paulabass]

He means really clean distortion

 

[Mosfed]

So it's more than a Rat clone?

I’d say so.

 

[Matt Dean]

I think rats are more about the character of the breakup than the color of the tone. My fav (until I can try a locust star) is the 125b Volt Thrower.

 

[estimated_eyes]

Pork Loin has trim pots on the inside that allow you to back off the OD being fed into the clean signal. Can do this to the point of using it as a clean gain. Have one and love the versatility and tone with this pedal.

EHX Bass Soul Food?

 

[Krisfield]

Saw a very good video by JHS about stacking pedals. One combination was to stack two transparent boost pedals to get an overdrive/distortion.

 

[cnltb]

The term "transparent" is used by ignorants who don't understand what it means. If something changes the sound, it is not transparent. Idiots will try to tell otherwise.

Some 'big' words there...

I understand transparent to mean breakup that does not veil the tone of the instrument too much.
You 'can see' the original tone through the break up.
Makes sense to me.

 

[Mosfed]

The term "transparent" is used by ignorants who don't understand what it means. If something changes the sound, it is not transparent. Idiots will try to tell otherwise.

My take on a transparent overdrive is an overdrive that doesn’t change the fundamental nature of my bass’s clean toanz. I tend to associate touch sensitivity with the best transparent overdrives - so they pretty much sound like my clean tone until you really dig in and then you get the breakup.

I really do like Rat’s with no clipping diodes as transparent overdrives. Until the Broughton Locust Star which really changes the Rat game with the range control, my favorite was the original Dunwich Volt Thrower.

 

[MDBass]

Hi all,

I know transparent overdrives are kind of a meme at this point but I was wondering if there are similar pedals but higher gain?

I've messed around with clean blends and lowpass cleans mixed with a higher freq distortion but I can never get the mix right, I feel like I'm always losing out on something when it's compared to my normal clean signal. I know you can dime the EQD westwood and get it a bit hairyer but I was hoping to see some other options.

Cheers, Sam.

"Transparent" and "high gain" are pretty mutually exclusive: you're going to need to be a LOT more specific about the kind of sound you're after.

Audio examples in place of subjective nouns are usually helpful

 

[Wasnex]

The term "transparent" is used by ignorants who don't understand what it means. If something changes the sound, it is not transparent. Idiots will try to tell otherwise.

Obviously an OD pedal is going to change the tone, but some pedals tend to sound pretty much the same regardless of the source material and some allow the nuances of the instrument to be heard. I would say the pedal that allows more of the character of the source tone to pass is more transparent.

I have two pedals that are designed to emulate a cranked Marshall. They have about the same level of gain, but one of the pedals is definitely more transparent than the other. Notice the usage is relative. Neither pedal pedal is 100% transparent; IMHO there is no such thing as 100% transparent.

 

[Wasnex]

Hi all,

I know transparent overdrives are kind of a meme at this point but I was wondering if there are similar pedals but higher gain?

I've messed around with clean blends and lowpass cleans mixed with a higher freq distortion but I can never get the mix right, I feel like I'm always losing out on something when it's compared to my normal clean signal. I know you can dime the EQD westwood and get it a bit hairyer but I was hoping to see some other options.

Cheers, Sam.

Have you tried compressing your clean signal so it integrates better with your OD signal. Compression is an artifact of OD, so adding some compression to your clean signal can help the two signals integrate better when you blend them together.

Another idea is to use multiple low gain OD stages in series instead of one high gain OD stage. IMHO, this can produce a more harmonically complex high gain sound with less fizz and better touch sensitivity.

Also, instead of blending clean and OD, you might consider blending a low gain OD just on the verge of breakup with with a higher gain OD.

I know, you probably want one pedal that sounds perfect...good luck finding the one .

 

[Mosfed]

"Transparent" and "high gain" are pretty mutually exclusive:

While I would generally agree that I would only really call certain light OD or dirty boost pedals transparent, the one thing I love so much about the Spaceman Sputnik Fuzz is that it maintains a clarity and transparency while being super high gain and gnarly.

 

[Gigabajillion]

Truetone VSXO has a lot of options and is like a stacked OD like Correlli was talking about.

 

[Frenchy-Lefty]

LeBass?

 

[sludgetail]

Hopefully you're talking bass pedals, though I usually hear the 'transparent' overdrive phrase thrown at guitar pedals...

As for bass OD, I'm a big fan of my Pork N Pickle by WAY HUGE. You can dial in the blend and cleans as well as the amount of OD or FUZZ (switch)... makes for thick juicy bass right under the OD/Fuzz + a tone knob to dial it all in. Pick one up used or buy at GC/Sweetwater and if you hate it, return it.

Some cool demos on YouTube as well. I went with this over the offerings by DarkGlass, just because I've owned Way Huge pedals and liked the options this had :: price point. The Darkglass stuff is killer too and there's a ton of those demos online.

 

[Veldar]

"Transparent" and "high gain" are pretty mutually exclusive: you're going to need to be a LOT more specific about the kind of sound you're after.

Audio examples in place of subjective nouns are usually helpful

That's kinda the problem though, my rig ATM is a 6 string Ken Smith into a Aguilar DB751 into a Fearful 1515/66/1, that tone is PERFECT for me, I know the baked in sounds of a lot of different dirt pedals. I've got maybe 4 - 5 baked in pedal sounds I like that could be used but I want to find my distorted tone. Essentially can I take my current tonal characteristics and have it dirty.

Have you tried compressing your clean signal so it integrates better with your OD signal. Compression is an artifact of OD, so adding some compression to your clean signal can help the two signals integrate better when you blend them together.

Another idea is to use multiple low gain OD stages in series instead of one high gain OD stage. IMHO, this can produce a more harmonically complex high gain sound with less fizz and better touch sensitivity.

Also, instead of blending clean and OD, you might consider blending a low gain OD just on the verge of breakup with with a higher gain OD.

I might have to at this point, I didn't think I realised how blasphemous it was to say transparent

I've got a multiband dirt pedal already and I've been eyeing off the pumpernickel for the last couple of months anyway.

If that doesn't work I'll just get a westwood and stick it before hand to dirty up the "clean" lowend