What are some good pedals for light/reactive overdrive?

[bitterminnows]

I was messing about with a Magus Pro on bass yesterday to see how I liked it, since I think on guitar it sounds pretty good.

It did alright, but it wasn’t quite what I was looking for in terms of dirt on bass. Even when I backed off the gain a bit, it was still a little too much for me.

I don’t often use any kind of grit on my bass, but were I to put some on, I would want it to not be so heavy and I would ideally like it to vary with how hard my attack is.

Anyone know anything like that?

 

[urkel3000]

I use a wampler belle for this, I think a nobels odr-1 would be good too, possibly a little too hairy though

 

[bitterminnows]

I use a wampler belle for this, I think a nobels odr-1 would be good too, possibly a little too hairy though

I’ll listen to some demos when I can, thanks! Not too familiar with Wampler products.

 

[monsterthompson]

What’s your budget? What bass and amp and cab are you using? Any examples on YouTube of what you’re after? This is a very common question with many existing threads on the topic. These questions can help narrow down the options. There are a few TB darling pedals and I’m sure the regular suggestions are going to show up.

 

[modbass]

I used the Trickfish Overdrive Preamp pedal to get more of a vintagey driven tone. More on the subtle side but it worked nicely.

 

[Ritter667]

Joyo Orange Juice!

 

[Bill the Cat]

Ampeg V4B or Sunn Model T is a soft grind that works with attack at band levels. Otherwise dirt pedals wont have that Attack feel
Even GK400 or older 200 watt Hartke. For practice dont care because a turned down dirt pedal wont do it. Be typical diode or opamp crakle.
They only sound good with more saturation.
Actually sure to make fun of, the little junk 40 dollar Behringer BDI21 has a light drive all the way through most the drive rotation, and then kinda slightly blooms up to typical too much hair of a typical distortion pedal turned down. But that is not till the very end of the rotation. Thing is with the blend you can then take it out. It wont feel like good amp attack, but no pedal does. You have to have good EQ and not too aggresive drive pedal with blend to hide the typical opamp/diode crakle distortion. And no, many tube drives are crackle fart too

 

[HueyFreeman]

TCE Spark Booster

 

[onda'bass]

Damnation mbd

 

[dougjwray]

Creation Audio Grizzly Bass

 

[2saddleslab]

TCE Spark Booster

Amazing piece of gear.

 

[projectapollo]

I used the Trickfish Overdrive Preamp pedal to get more of a vintagey driven tone. More on the subtle side but it worked nicely.

This is interesting.

 

[projectapollo]

The Greer Lightspeed is very good on bass. A bit pricey. So easy to dial in and the sound is a winner.
Thanks to @NickyBass for recommending it.

 

[the_hoople]

Your descriptors are what I look for in my dirt pedals and my favorites are the Sansamp YYZ and the Way Huge Pork and Pickle. I find them to be pretty similar after adjusting the internal trimpots in the P&P to my liking. The YYZ is a little more versatile/adjustable on the overdrive front but the P&P has a very usable fuzz side, so I keep both around. I run the P&P at 18V for some extra headroom.

Joyo American Sound is great for the budget-minded.

 

[Zooberwerx]

Are we talking tube grit, OD, distortion, etc? The best / simplest / affordable unit I've found is the Fairfields Barbershop. It has the soft break-up of a full-blown tube amp pushed to the rails without the hassle of hauling around the real thing. I had mine coupled with a QStrip to handle EQ.

Riis

 

[DuluthDank]

I went down a pretty long rabbit hole of transparent overdrive pedals. This ended up being my top five.

1. Broughton SV PRE
2. Sushi Box Slampegg
3. Greer Lightspeed
4. JPTR Jive (original)
5. Sushi Box Underground Accelerator

I currently only own the Broughton SV Pre and Greer Lightspeed, as I'm not much of a collector. The Broughton is on my bass pedal board (pared with a Way Huge Pork and Pickle for higher gain), and the Greer lightspeed only for guitar. IMO the Greer is better for guitar than bass, but still good on bass.

Despite being billed as an SVT Pedal, the great thing about the Broughton is that it can be as transparent or colored as you like. Set it at noon, and it's quite transparent, but with a bunch of additional EQ options. Based on sound, the Sampegg is pretty comparable to the Broughton. I just got rid of it because the high power requirement wasn't convenient.

 

[BaltBass5]

I’ve literally tried them ALL (no joke) and the Greer Amps Lightspeed is the correct answer.

 

[DuluthDank]

I’ve literally tried them ALL (no joke) and the Greer Amps Lightspeed is the correct answer.

I have the Greer. To my ears, the overdrive on it mostly impacts higher frequencies. This has the effect of blending the bass into the mix really nicely, but at the same time, the overdrive itself gets covered up by guitar. I think this could ether be a good thing or bad thing depending on what you are going for. I use the Greer for guitar, and the Broughton SV Pre for bass since I tend to find that the "hair" on the Broughton pokes through the mix a bit better.

 

[bassbrad]

I like using an amp style pedals for light drive touch reactive drive and find that added tone controls very helpful. Favorites include the Joyo "Sound" series of pedals that are very affordable and my @Sushi Box FX tube preamp pedals Underground Accelerator, Bass Dude and JC Emerald.

 

[BassBrass]

Broughton Fliptop, Damnation MBD2, EQD Blumes, Devi Ever Darkboost, Grizzly, Mooer Thunderball, Joyo Orangejuice