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Two distortions are better than one !?!

Yonni

Yonni

Oct 31, 2016
1,893
6,597
Scotland
#1
I’m messing around trying to get a nice Hysteria type tone and discovered that my Sansamp BDDI into Rumble with drive at 3 o’clock is fun! This isn’t a thread about Hysteria so please lets not get into that. Id always thought my Rumble overdrive was a bit meh but not when used with another pedal. I was on the verge of disappearing down an expensive Big Muff v Microtubes type rabbit hole.

Just on the off chance that there are other fun options, does anyone else combine drives and what are you using? Any other Rumblers care to share how they use the amps effects with drive pedals?
 
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#2
Mixing various combinations of Muff, Rat, and Tube Screamer based circuits has long been known to give some pretty fun results, often greater than the sum of their parts alone.

Tube Screamers Midrange "hump" can do wonders to bring some much needed midrange to the typical midrange lacking Muff tone profile, and the "bite" from a Rat style circuit can help brighten up the often dark and wooly muff as well, while the muff fills in the low end that the other two circuits are lacking.
 
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#4
Combining dirt and drive pedals can offer interesting textures and sounds, that is one reason I have so many choices. 1+1 can often result in answers other than 2. Mixing fuzz, distortion and overdrive pedals is a different sort of tonal Alchemy, I have a diary where I keep a list of combinations of pedals and settings that I use on recordings.
 
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#7
I really love running a fuzz into distortion or overdrive. Right now I am loving the Broughton Calamity into Scorpion or Locust Star.

When I bought my first RAT style distortion the builder's website actually recommended buying his Model T style preamp (Gremlin Machine Shop Ceremonial) to run the distortion into. I had some money from selling basses so I took the chance. I didn't really like the distortion too much on it's own but running into the preamp (essentially an overdrive pedal) it was pure dirty, doomy bliss.

I really like having the second dirt pedal to have some sort of EQ so I can crank the lows if needed and adjust everything to what I want. My favourite ones are the Broughton Scorpion, Gremlin Machine Shop Ceremonial or the Empress Heavy. Great pedals for stacking.
 
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#8
Guitarists "stack" drives all the time - enough that they have a word for it. The challenge with bass is that drive pedals that work on bass (preserving low end, etc) are tough to find. Combinations of two (or more) that work well together are probably even more rare, but have at it - nothing at all wrong with trying new combinations.
 
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#10
Yonni said:
So any recommendations? I might just go down the rabbit hole anyway.
Click to expand...
I would go with @Trucker Bumptip and suggest a blender or parallel looper to stack signals. (My real suggestion is a ZOIA, but I'll get to that.)

When I was a teenager, I played into a 4ch mixer with a BDDI and Boss FZ-2 and would add a clean signal to stack. At the time I would EQ the fuzz to mainly affect the highs with the Sansamp taking up the low end and the (Stingray) clean tone adding definition in the highs. That was a messy setup.

Then I discovered parallel loopers (aka blenders). I got a couple custom units made over the years, and I would advise no less than 3 channels. Saturnworks does great work. The ultimate step is a Morningstar ML10X, as that can blend everything in every way possible.

However, I have found a solution with the Empress ZOIA. Yes, you can blend anything with that pedal internally, with EQ's before/after/wherever, but running it in mono means there is an unused input and output, so it essentially has a send/return. I still have the same FZ-2 (BDDI died) and made a dirt stack patch where you can stomp the loop on and off. Now, add a MIDI-capable drive pedal and you can have the ZOIA switching loops and turning off/on other pedals.

I cannot say enough good things about the ZOIA, and even if only used as a programmable 2ch blender it's worth the price. Got mine used here (thanks @benjobass !). If you just buy it as a pedal it's worth it. If you use MIDI or think you might want to (you do, trust me), it is so very worth it.

Empress fan boy out.
 
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#11
My recipe is:
fuzz with a mostly clean blend,
into a mildly overdriving transparent overdrive with a volume boost,
into a distortion with a clean blend (maybe 50/50 clean) with a less extreme volume boost.

For me, I find every configuration with that to be useable (all seven or eight combinations). Although I do use more of the variations with guitar than when I play bass.
 
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#13
Yup.

Effect stacking is totally a thing. It's like mixing paint. Drop here, drop there, splash here, bucket there - it all comes together. Sometimes in a good way. Sometimes in a bad way.

Don't forget that compression has a huge effect on any dirt in your signal, too. And then we go into post/pre compression, signal splitting... Post, pre or both.

I stopped at multiple dirts and a compressor :)
 
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#15

Daddy O - $50. It's a madhouse fuzz, when cranked. Maxon's OD-820 sits nicely under that budget. Any old tubescreamerish circuit, some cheap as chips, like Arion Overdrives, Soundtank etc. can hit the spot. Keep your eyes peeled, something like a simble may come along under-budget. I paid less than £200 for a brand spanking ktr. Anything's possible.
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#16
Stacking gain stages … no problem
C8E3C85B-B096-41F8-B645-5BEA22B282D2.jpeg
 
#19
Don’t forget about the EHX Hot Wax. Two overdrive pedals in one (Hot Tubes and Crayon). Can use either one or both and there is a bass control on each channel so this can work with bass or guitar. Maybe not for everybody but I like it. I usually just use the Hot Tubes side for some good grit but you can get some pretty cool distortion sounds when you combine the two.
 
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