(almost) always on for grit: Markbass Distorsore
Screaming overdrive: Markbass Mini-Distortion
Screaming overdrive: Markbass Mini-Distortion
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What Overdrive pedals are you using?
- Thread starter Doomfynder
- Start date
I run a Fairfield Barbershop for the touch sensitive mild Overdrive and a solid Gold Beta For the just a touch more and less touch sensitive Overdrive. Either can be used as always on .
Currently on board:
*Fairfield Circuitry Barbershop. The closest effect that I use as always on.
*Catalinbread WIIO. I'm trying to fully replace my longstanding VT Bass with this pedal. I'll use it when I want to add more breakup. The tone isn't quite as tasty as the VT, in my opinion, but it handles playing dynamics so much better, insofar as when I'm digging in (never really loved the VT for that). Also, it's my favorite pedal for my Bass VI.
Off board and probably being sent packing:
*VT Bass.
*ss/bs Mini. Great pedal, but with all of the other OD's and fuzzes I have, I don't really need it.
*Fairfield Circuitry Barbershop. The closest effect that I use as always on.
*Catalinbread WIIO. I'm trying to fully replace my longstanding VT Bass with this pedal. I'll use it when I want to add more breakup. The tone isn't quite as tasty as the VT, in my opinion, but it handles playing dynamics so much better, insofar as when I'm digging in (never really loved the VT for that). Also, it's my favorite pedal for my Bass VI.
Off board and probably being sent packing:
*VT Bass.
*ss/bs Mini. Great pedal, but with all of the other OD's and fuzzes I have, I don't really need it.
My favorites?
Fairfield Circuitry Barbershop
Bearfoot FX Blueberry Bass Overdrive
Way Huge Pork Loin
Xotic BB Bass Preamp
Cusack Bass Screamer
Tech 21 VT Bass DI
It's kind of a grey area, but the easiest way to explain it with well known pedals would be:
Fuzz = Big Muff
Distortion = Rat
Overdrive = Tubescreamer
Fairfield Circuitry Barbershop
Bearfoot FX Blueberry Bass Overdrive
Way Huge Pork Loin
Xotic BB Bass Preamp
Cusack Bass Screamer
Tech 21 VT Bass DI
It's kind of a grey area, but the easiest way to explain it with well known pedals would be:
Fuzz = Big Muff
Distortion = Rat
Overdrive = Tubescreamer
I, too, am a huge fan of this pedal. The tone is phenomenal, and it's truthfully the only OD that I've ever really loved.
Best,
~Nick "Klaus" G.
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I use a fuzzrocious dark driving into my Mesa d180 for warm, thick, and round tones, it can be vintage or metal depending on how much and with which bass
I use a combination of:
-SGFX Beta
-SGFX Beta (custom LM308/MOSFET)
-JohnK Gamma Bass OD
-JohnK Orange Pre
-Fairfield Barbershop
-Cave Passive Super Grunt
-SFX Micro Red Dragon
-Way Huge Swollen Pickle
-Hudson Electronics Broadcast
-JohnK/ Frank Appleton Transboost
-Blueberry clone
-SA OFD
I have dirty pres/boost I also use, but I guess I am not allowed to list those
(Saturn V, RustyBox, Rails, etc...)
-SGFX Beta
-SGFX Beta (custom LM308/MOSFET)
-JohnK Gamma Bass OD
-JohnK Orange Pre
-Fairfield Barbershop
-Cave Passive Super Grunt
-SFX Micro Red Dragon
-Way Huge Swollen Pickle
-Hudson Electronics Broadcast
-JohnK/ Frank Appleton Transboost
-Blueberry clone
-SA OFD
I have dirty pres/boost I also use, but I guess I am not allowed to list those
(Saturn V, RustyBox, Rails, etc...)
Fulltone used to make a Bass Driver that was awesome. They are hard to find. I just surrendered and got a Multi Effects Pedal, the Boss ME50-b. It has knobs instead of endless digital readouts. Most of the effects, including several types of Distortion are easy to sound good with. So, for approx. $300. you can have many effects. Plus it's fun to come up with different sounds using it.
Moody Sounds Hjart Muller Lo|Fat Bass Overdrive-grunt without 2 much grind
Joyo California Sound- Mesa smooth in a cheap box
DanElectro Daddy O- fave on gtr and octave up sounz.
My main always on sound is the Bassman model on a Zoom B2 set up just slightly warm.
Joyo California Sound- Mesa smooth in a cheap box
DanElectro Daddy O- fave on gtr and octave up sounz.
My main always on sound is the Bassman model on a Zoom B2 set up just slightly warm.
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Been through them all. Well, most of them
Cream of the crop no matter of price on my main board:
Darkglass B7K is on most of the time.
SolidGoldFX Beta is on when I want more old school.
Wren & Cuff Phat Phuk B adds a bit of stank to either one.
Cream of the crop in bang for the buck on my secondary board:
TC Electronics Spark Booster
EHX Bass Soul Food
Honorable Mentions/Not on board now
TC MojoMojo. Blueberry substitute that costs $50
Hardwire CM-2 Tube Overdrive. Fantastic pedal that's dirt cheap. Would replace my Bass Soul Food if it weren't so darn large.
Cream of the crop no matter of price on my main board:
Darkglass B7K is on most of the time.
SolidGoldFX Beta is on when I want more old school.
Wren & Cuff Phat Phuk B adds a bit of stank to either one.
Cream of the crop in bang for the buck on my secondary board:
TC Electronics Spark Booster
EHX Bass Soul Food
Honorable Mentions/Not on board now
TC MojoMojo. Blueberry substitute that costs $50
Hardwire CM-2 Tube Overdrive. Fantastic pedal that's dirt cheap. Would replace my Bass Soul Food if it weren't so darn large.
There's a lot to choose from, but each Overdrive has it's own voice and style of grit. Each one will react to your bass and amp differently, so don't expect every Overdrive to work for you in the same way that it does for other bassists. Your gear is different and that will cause an Overdrive to react differently too. So here's my take on dirt.
The MXR bass overdrive is an OK overdrive, it's not particularly dynamic or transparent...but it plays really well with other XMR pedals. Pop it between an MXR Bass Octave Deluxe and MXR Envelope Filter and it really shines.
I have three fuzz boxes, so lets get that out of the way too. Fuzz isn't overdrive...but some fuzzes can overdrive and some overdrives can fuzz...but they never quite sound right in my opinion. So I like my fuzzes to be very heavy and have a certain sound mashes my bass into. So I use a Woolly Mammoth, a Swollen Pickle and a MXR El Grande. All of which I really like as stand alone sounds. But they also shine with strong ambient reverbs places after. If you are going to do "whale song" sounds...I do it with a heavy fuzz and my base tone.
In overdrive land...your original request...
My favorite three Overdrives are a Wampler Euphoria/Ecstasy, a V4 OCD with various mods and a Fairfield Barbershop. The Wampler is a very smooth unit but offers three clipping modes and has a bass / treble controls which work well on bass. The grit can be very light, smooth or quite aggressive and this pedal can also be used as a clean boost or a bass and treble cut /boost EQ. It's very versatile and if I was to choose only one OD...it would probably be this one. I place this in front of my Barbershop so I can clean boost it and get more grit out of it. It also cascades with other OD's well. Which leads me to the Barbershop...a very transparent OD, which seems to affect a narrow tone band (mids?) with its grit. It's only got one grit sound and all of my basses still sound like my basses through this pedal, but with added grit. It's quite a light overdrive, but can be pushed (using another pedal) into quite heavy overdrive /fuzz with a boost. It gets quite gnarly and has a unique sound in that zone...but it's not for everyone. As a light overdrive, it's amazing...it can do tubey pre-break up...it can so just breaking up...it can do mild overdrive...it's very touch sensitive and a lot of fun. The sag control brings in a level of compression, which is better served with a full compressor...but it does add another "sound" to the pedal. My last OD pedal, which is placed first in my chain, is my mk4 OCD. This is a clone supplied by Fuzz dog and it's got the more bass switches and 18/9v option too. I REALLY like this pedal and it's very versatile. It can go from completely clean to very heavy overdrive. It's got a great grit structure and it seems to work well with a lot of basses. It will add an OCD stamp on your tone, but it's ok because it really does sound like a heavy tube amp being punished with some high gain (every type of tube amp had it's own sound and it's true of OD's too).
Other worthy mentions are the Joyo American Sound...it's an amazing unit, the Blueberry (in all of it's guises) is excellent too. Dam Ezekiel is uber-versatile and again excellent. The Timmy is awesome too, but the tone controls are cut only and the frequencies need tweaking to make them right on bass. The Sweet Honey Overdrive is a little bass light but makes a really nice sound on most of my basses.
The MXR bass overdrive is an OK overdrive, it's not particularly dynamic or transparent...but it plays really well with other XMR pedals. Pop it between an MXR Bass Octave Deluxe and MXR Envelope Filter and it really shines.
I have three fuzz boxes, so lets get that out of the way too. Fuzz isn't overdrive...but some fuzzes can overdrive and some overdrives can fuzz...but they never quite sound right in my opinion. So I like my fuzzes to be very heavy and have a certain sound mashes my bass into. So I use a Woolly Mammoth, a Swollen Pickle and a MXR El Grande. All of which I really like as stand alone sounds. But they also shine with strong ambient reverbs places after. If you are going to do "whale song" sounds...I do it with a heavy fuzz and my base tone.
In overdrive land...your original request...
My favorite three Overdrives are a Wampler Euphoria/Ecstasy, a V4 OCD with various mods and a Fairfield Barbershop. The Wampler is a very smooth unit but offers three clipping modes and has a bass / treble controls which work well on bass. The grit can be very light, smooth or quite aggressive and this pedal can also be used as a clean boost or a bass and treble cut /boost EQ. It's very versatile and if I was to choose only one OD...it would probably be this one. I place this in front of my Barbershop so I can clean boost it and get more grit out of it. It also cascades with other OD's well. Which leads me to the Barbershop...a very transparent OD, which seems to affect a narrow tone band (mids?) with its grit. It's only got one grit sound and all of my basses still sound like my basses through this pedal, but with added grit. It's quite a light overdrive, but can be pushed (using another pedal) into quite heavy overdrive /fuzz with a boost. It gets quite gnarly and has a unique sound in that zone...but it's not for everyone. As a light overdrive, it's amazing...it can do tubey pre-break up...it can so just breaking up...it can do mild overdrive...it's very touch sensitive and a lot of fun. The sag control brings in a level of compression, which is better served with a full compressor...but it does add another "sound" to the pedal. My last OD pedal, which is placed first in my chain, is my mk4 OCD. This is a clone supplied by Fuzz dog and it's got the more bass switches and 18/9v option too. I REALLY like this pedal and it's very versatile. It can go from completely clean to very heavy overdrive. It's got a great grit structure and it seems to work well with a lot of basses. It will add an OCD stamp on your tone, but it's ok because it really does sound like a heavy tube amp being punished with some high gain (every type of tube amp had it's own sound and it's true of OD's too).
Other worthy mentions are the Joyo American Sound...it's an amazing unit, the Blueberry (in all of it's guises) is excellent too. Dam Ezekiel is uber-versatile and again excellent. The Timmy is awesome too, but the tone controls are cut only and the frequencies need tweaking to make them right on bass. The Sweet Honey Overdrive is a little bass light but makes a really nice sound on most of my basses.
Sansamp BDDI
EHX English Muff'n
Got a bass soul food, having a hard time getting any real breakup at a manageable volume.
The ones Ive gone through and don't like for bass
Way huge red llama
Ehx hot tubes
Ibanez bass tube screamer
Good luck on the search, way too many good products out there to not find a great one
EHX English Muff'n
Got a bass soul food, having a hard time getting any real breakup at a manageable volume.
The ones Ive gone through and don't like for bass
Way huge red llama
Ehx hot tubes
Ibanez bass tube screamer
Good luck on the search, way too many good products out there to not find a great one
