What drive pedals are you using infront of valve Ampeg?

[Old Ozzie Guy]

To elaborate more, what Overdrive, Distortion or Fuzz pedals are folks using infront of SVT, V4B, or PF-50T?
Iv recently purchased a PF-50T, and I'm not happy with any of the drive pedals, I currently own. They have worked really well with my other 2 amps, a TT800, and an AG700, but the PF-50T is proving hard for me to get sorted. Ideally, i use a clean tone, ad add a mid drive, or a heavy drive. I have tried DG VMT, DG AO, Zvex Basstortion, and for lighter drives, Barbershop and a Origin dcx bass, but nothing sofar has got me excited. I will add currently im using the DCX bass for low drive, and the Alfa Omega the Heavy tone.
I am toying with the idear of a DG Microtubes Infinity, as a 1 purchase solution..
Any suggestions of what you have used successfully, for light or heavy tones, would be much appreciated.

 

[gtirard]

I would recommend the Jad Freer Capo - it ended my search for dirt pedals.

I don't own an Ampeg tube amp, but I've just tried a simulation on my DAW with a Capo NAM model followed by a SVT NAM model, it sounds great - for what it's worth.

The problem is that you'd have to try (it's mostly a matter of personal taste), but Capo is not easy to find or try, and it's expensive.

I can send you my simulation, or if you send me an audio recording I can make the simulation for you, or if you have a DAW you can make the same simulation with a NAM plugin.

 

[GrowlerBox]

I don’t have an Ampeg tube amp, but in front of my little Ashdown, I have a couple that work well — Hudson Broadcast and Crowther Hotcake.

 

[Old Ozzie Guy]

Tha

I would recommend the Jad Freer Capo - it ended my search for dirt pedals.

I don't own an Ampeg tube amp, but I've just tried a simulation on my DAW with a Capo NAM model followed by a SVT NAM model, it sounds great (for what it's worth).

The problem is that you'd have to try (it's mostly a matter of personal taste), but Capo is not easy to find or try, and it's expensive.

The capo is a 2 channel? Can u get get a low gain, and a high gain f/switchable?

 

[gtirard]

Tha

The capo is a 2 channel? Can u get get a low gain, and a high gain f/switchable?

Yes, that's how I use it (and it's the reason why I bought it, other than the hype).
You can that the A side with a low gain and the B side with a high gain, then activate nothing, or A, or B, or A+B
You can also do the opposite (set the A side with a high gain and the B side with a low gain)
Infinite possibilities, but intuitive and rewarding.

 

[Old Ozzie Guy]

I love the idear of having knobs to access parameters.. I just don't go well with scroll down menus, ect.. they 'do my head in'. And , for me , are useless for gigging in a wide variation of stages,.. small, large, indoors, outdoors..
I will definitely have a good 'look ', at the Capo.
They sell in Australia for $1000, but, if it does what I want, I'm willing to pay that. I had been thinking of a Microtubes Infinity, it sells here for same. But I would much prefer NOT having a phone 'app' to access all functions. ...

 

[Martin Beer]

I don't know if I'm just particularly unfussy, I play through a PF50T and none of my pedals are particularly exotic. I have a Mosky MM silver, a light overdrive that I think is based on the Timmy circuit. I set that where it's only slightly driven by itself but a few dB louder than the bypass signal, so it's pushing the front end of the amp a little and adding some upper mid grind with the pedal's treble control cranked.
Then for louder sections I have a homebuilt Univox Superfuzz clone. I used to have trouble dialling that in, but adding a scoop depth control to bring some midrange back in between the two stock filter settings helped a lot.

 

[Old Ozzie Guy]

This just showed up in a email alert for Talk Bass.. weird !!
Has anyone else received this ?

 

[gtirard]

This just showed up in a email alert for Talk Bass.. weird !!
Has anyone else received this ?View attachment 7300147

It's just a spam, it was inserted as a new comment on your post, so you have received an email alert like for any new comment, then I have reported it, and the moderator removed it, that's why you don't see it anymore.

But now, we see it again, in your comment

 

[Old Ozzie Guy]

Oops. Sorry. I really have no idear about this sort of 'thing'.
PS. Thank for mentioning the Capo, I had looked at it a while ago, but I hadn't thought of it for my new circumstances.. It may be perfect for what I want.

 

[Fortyweight]

Have you tried the dcx as the heavy gain? I feel it is very underrated in that role.

 

[crguti]

Vintage Microtubes works very well for low gain.

 

[Old Ozzie Guy]

Have you tried the dcx as the heavy gain? I feel it is very underrated in that role.

I used the DCX bass in high gain mode to push the boogie channel in my TT800. It sounds epic ! Unfortunately I haven't been able to dial the dcx into the PF-50T. So far, it's the dcx is the best low gain I have for the Ampeg

 

[Old Ozzie Guy]

Vintage Microtubes works very well for low gain.

I agree, iv kept my VMT for years because of that. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get a good tone out of the VMT into a Pf50t..

 

[EtoBb]

Try the sushibox Dream Catcher.

I use a pf50t and try to run three independent tones like you’re describing.

The dream catcher has independent eq as well as level and gain for each channel which makes it super useful for balance and blend in the mix.

 

[elgranluis]

I have an svt. I’ve always used the boss odb3. Other pedals I’ve used with great results are the behringer super fuzz , behringer big muff (sounds better than the actual big muff), and one of those mini pedals “in the style of” the rat. Black mouse I think it was called.

 

[jvdb]

I play either a vintage SVT or a V4b through an 810. I have the Bassrig SV by Origin Effects to go to front of house and into my amp to give me the Ampeg some tube drive at lower volumes (it does that extremely well). For some extra drive I have the DCX Bass on drive mode and I think it’s a killer sound with my Precision with flats. Works great with the SV too.

 

[_Some Dude]

I use an SVT-CL and SVT-3. My low gain option is the SVT. I dial it in so it has a bit of dirt when I dig in and cleans up as I lay off. This level of dirt is going to sound clean in a mix, but the added harmonics make the bass have more presence.

For dirt, my personal favourite is a B3K or B7K. I'll use it with the gain low where it's more for the EQ to get the high end ping going through the cab, and the other is gain full to get dirt you can actually hear over the guitars.

Also, consider old school options like the Rat, Muff, Tubescreamer, etc.

I use a BDDI in parallel to feed FOH, but a BDDI into the front end as a distortion is also classic and works quite well.

I liked the Ampeg Scrambler with passive basses (turn the tone down to 0900-1000). An active bass may overload it in a not so good way.


I have an Infinity, and that's the absolute last pedal I'd recommend for something like this. It's a dedicated preamp that's meant to produce your sound, not a distortion pedal that can be turned on/off easily.

 

[sunbeast]

Something that guitarists figured out with pushing tube amps long ago is that pushing a tube amp hard with a full-range signal can lead to mud and fuzz tones rather than the desired warm drive- hence most guitar drives and boosts cutting some bass at the input (and/or boosting mids/treble). Back in my SVT playing days I found that very mild overdrives and boosts worked best for pushing an SVT without losing my "base" tone, and often pedals that seemingly didn't work all that well for bass when played through solid-state rigs (too little bass response or too much midrange). I don't really care for Tubescreamers with bass in most cases, but I had a Keeley modded TS back then that worked surprisingly well to push the SVT into a nice mild drive that sounded little like a soloed Tubescreamer (it was the sum of the parts). The TS cuts some bass that can sound thin through a clean/hi-fi bass rig, but when pushing tubes it can help even out the sound (pushing a lot of bass into clipping tubes tends to create mush or fuzz) and to my ears back then it sounded great. Ditto a Keeley-modded Rat pedal in the "no diodes" mode for a heavier drive.

I haven't owned an SVT for a very long time now, but I did like the Darkglass VMT paired with my Mesa prodigy tube head- that head has a very different voice than an Ampeg though. The VMT is also not capable of low-enough gain for me with most basses (I was using very low output Rickenbackers in this case that allowed me to get very low gain from the VMT). These days my low-gain drive of choice is a Blackstone Mosfet, which does everything I want when pushing a tube head (tightens up the lows, adds midrange and attack, touch-sensitivity, etc). I think it would work really well pushing an SVT

 

[P-oddz]

I own two Ampeg V4Bs (reissue and early 70's). As a previous gear-aholic, I've owned/played/sold a decent number of pedals in my playing history. The ones that I ultimately kept and still play today and that I feel deliver the best drive tones for me are below. Granted some of these might be hard to get a hold of anymore, but:

Drive:
1. A clone I built of the Catalinbread SFT MK1. It's super responsive to touch and doesn't have a baked in compression. Great bit of hair at softer touch or grind and midrange vintage bite at heavier attack. It's a great EVERY situation and always on pedal. I owned the MK2 and I never felt the same magic with it - so I think the key circuitry was in the 1st edition.

2. A clone I built of the Mad Professor Blueberry Bass Overdrive. I keep this at low/mid gain with the "nature" knob turned lower. It adds some compression to the signal and achieves a meaty kind of vintage drive. Overall a nice bit of hair, if you will.

Fuzz:
1. EQD Dirt Transmitter - gnarly/gated fuzz that can almost get into synthy territory, but if you turn the gate down it still rips as a fuzz that sits well. Also pairs extremely well with octavers if you want to create some neat tones.

Distortion:
1. Big Game Pedal F800B - Grind for days when played with a pick. Tends to sit more in an upper-mid bite territory, so EQ'ing is a big consideration with this one.

2. Zvex Distortron - Another grind pedal. Has a little bit more low end push on tap than the F800B mentioned above. Very responsive to dynamics as well.