Fuzzrocious ram the man parts, a great OD on its own, but I use it with my rat tail to get a very nasty tone.
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What Overdrive pedals are you using?
- Thread starter Doomfynder
- Start date
Here's another one for the Tc spark booster. The thing is economical and versital, probably the best value you can get for a pedal. I think it's better then the barbershop and way more versital. I have a Lehle sonic spark that should be here any day now and am looking forward to how these two pedals will work with my Meatsmoke pre.
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I use :
_ Effectrode Tube-Drive ( modded for the bass by Phil Taylor himself )
_ Effectrode Blackbird
_ Owen Bomb Bass Driver
_ Pete Cornish BD-1
_ Brimstone Audio XD-1
_ Creation Audiolabs Gryzzly
_ JohnK Fat-Tone ( Greedtone modded )
I am going to receive the Wampler Low Blow soon.
_ Effectrode Tube-Drive ( modded for the bass by Phil Taylor himself )
_ Effectrode Blackbird
_ Owen Bomb Bass Driver
_ Pete Cornish BD-1
_ Brimstone Audio XD-1
_ Creation Audiolabs Gryzzly
_ JohnK Fat-Tone ( Greedtone modded )
I am going to receive the Wampler Low Blow soon.
I've been thinking about the MXR for a while now. Somewhere earlier on here someone says they work well with other MXR pedals. I have a Phase 90 also so could be quite a combo.
Interestingly enough, the Spark into the Beta is a killer combo. Let me 'splain!
Don't let me scare you with this statement, but the Beta can be a farty/raspy pedal. It all depends on how hot your signal is. A high output bass will sound farty on the Beta, but not ungodly farty like an SFT or Barabershop. If you go through the Spark first and lower the level going into the Beta, you'll get a nice fat warm growl with an almost 3D like character that the Spark by itself can't do. I do think the Spark is a fantastic sounding warm overdrive (it handily beat the Barbershop, Blueberry, and SFT for me) but the Beta has so much character. Moral of the story...experiment a little bit.
Great sleeper pedal. At low gain it's very much like a Blueberry. They really differ at higher gains, but if you like the Blueberry at low gain, you'll like the MojoMojo at low gain and it's not raspy like a Blueberry can be because you can't overload the input. At $50 it's a no brainer to at least try one.
Aguilar Agro...hands down! It's proven to be the most natural, versatile, and USEABLE overdrive with my particular setup. It can certainly get warm and tubey without coloring your tone too much to quite gnarly.
oh they do !.. a buddy of mine has a bk3 from darkglass and a phase 90.. killer sound. i have the m89 bass overdrive with a phase 90.. love the sounds i get out of it
I hear you - I just got one too, and am glad I did. I love the coloration, and with having so many tonal possibilities because of the way all three controls work together; it's a fantastic pedal!
Actually it's valve distortion and yes it is heavier considering that it's a distortion channel. I had one for a while and it was a great sounding distortion pedal. I later replaced it with a darkglass vmt and I've used it as my smooth overdrive. as for the empress multidrive, I do like the distortion channel based on sound samples I've heard on the empress website and the youtube clip I've looked up. I also like how the empress heavy sounded on bass. I plan to buy on of these pedals as my new distortion pedal as soon as I save a couple of bucks.
The only one I currently use is a Fuzzrocious Demon. I basically leave it always on for some minor (but noticeable) grit, and I use the second distortion circuit for higher-gain stuff.
I have a Hardwire CM2 that I played around with briefly, but it didn't retain low end well IMO and I wasn't too happy with the sound.
I have a Hardwire CM2 that I played around with briefly, but it didn't retain low end well IMO and I wasn't too happy with the sound.
Oops, LOL, sorry "valve distortion"
I couldn't get the multidrive to sound like the clips I heard, but then again I only found one bass demo of it on YouTube (also the reason I got it), but I really dug the overdrive channel on it, I couldn't find a distortion tone I dug out of it, I think the empress Heavy would do that much better
Oops, LOL, sorry "valve distortion"
I couldn't get the multidrive to sound like the clips I heard, but then again I only found one bass demo of it on YouTube (also the reason I got it), but I really dug the overdrive channel on it, I couldn't find a distortion tone I dug out of it, I think the empress Heavy would do that much better
I was leaning towards the empress heavy for it's metal distortion sounds. my other choice if my budget is tight would most likely be either the dod boneshaker or the digitech hardwire tl-2. speaking of which, I did briefly own a hardwire tl-2 and it had some great metal sounds. at a certain setting, you can get a peter steele kind of sound. also the toggle switch has two modes. tight and loose. on bass, I like how it sounds on loose mode because it adds warm lows to the distortion sound. anywho, I am looking to buy a new distortion pedal sometime soon.
I didn't mean to go off topic on this thread(considering that this thread is more focused on overdrives). I was just telling hintz about what distortion pedal I plan to buy. I got an overdrive pedal that I like and it's staying on my pedalboard. right now, I plan to buy a heavy distortion for my bass. speaking of overdrives, there some other great overdrives to choose from other than the darkglass vmt. there's also the mad professor blueberry, the solidgold fx beta, and the carl martin bass drive.
Thought I’d share this here too. This is my first bass cover video ever, so be kind, it’s not perfect. And the covered song is in Finnish so it might sound weird too. 
But nevertheless, there’s five stacked overdrives here (first one being a distortion actually):
- MXR M80 Bass DI+ (some EQ’ing with a really really slight distortion, blend almost off)
- Boss ODB-3 (slight fuzzy overdrive to the higher register, blend almost off)
- Darkglass Vintage Microtubes Deluxe (drive off, for EQ’ing purposes only, blend about 1/2)
- Darkglass Microtubes B3K (3/4 drive, blend about 1/2)
- SansAmp BDDI (for a loudness type boost, slight overdrive)
Of course the bass doesn’t quite sit in the mix, because the purpose was to make it pop out, and I’ve hi-passed the backing track at 180 Hz (really bassy song), so the low end doesn’t get any support from the drums. There’s also some EQ’d dry signal mixed in (form the M80 parallel output). Could’ve done some further EQ’ing, but hey, this is my first video. Be kind.
EDIT: New upload of the video, now with proper stereo audio.
But nevertheless, there’s five stacked overdrives here (first one being a distortion actually):
- MXR M80 Bass DI+ (some EQ’ing with a really really slight distortion, blend almost off)
- Boss ODB-3 (slight fuzzy overdrive to the higher register, blend almost off)
- Darkglass Vintage Microtubes Deluxe (drive off, for EQ’ing purposes only, blend about 1/2)
- Darkglass Microtubes B3K (3/4 drive, blend about 1/2)
- SansAmp BDDI (for a loudness type boost, slight overdrive)
Of course the bass doesn’t quite sit in the mix, because the purpose was to make it pop out, and I’ve hi-passed the backing track at 180 Hz (really bassy song), so the low end doesn’t get any support from the drums. There’s also some EQ’d dry signal mixed in (form the M80 parallel output). Could’ve done some further EQ’ing, but hey, this is my first video. Be kind.
EDIT: New upload of the video, now with proper stereo audio.
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Has the JHS "Low Drive" been mentioned?
Expensive (around $200) but oh so worth it!
I use it sparingly of course but have been playing more in a trio situation where a good OD comes in handy.
Expensive (around $200) but oh so worth it!
I use it sparingly of course but have been playing more in a trio situation where a good OD comes in handy.
I usually play active P-style basses, but I have a couple of passives I really love. I also have a couple of MM style basses (active, of course).
I haven't tried 'em all (very far from it), but I've been doing lots of research this year, and here are my favorites:
Darkglass B7K: Tilts toward the modern end of the tone spectrum, but amazingly versatile
Darkglass Vintage Deluxe: as you'd surmise, tilts toward vintage tones, also versatile
VFE Triumvirate: three band overdrive, you can adjust OD on treble, midrange, and bass frequencies separately. Capable of crazy synth-style sounds, but I use it for dirty highs and clean lows+mids -- it gets tones similar enough to a stereo clean/dirty rig
Ashdown LoMenzo Hyperdrive: very cool and underrated pedal that allows you to overdrive a sweepable band of midrange frequencies (goes from low mid into the treble range, actually). It's capable of heavier OD, but I use the Mix control to dial in somewhat-subtle always-on midrange distortion that sits great in the mix
Empress Multidrive has three channels: Fuzz, Overdrive, and Distortion. Sure, you can select just one channel, but the cool feature is that you can blend two or three together however you like. Also, each channel can be run lowpass, highpass, or full range! I typically use heavy Distortion on my highs, and blend that with the Overdrive channel run clean or with very light OD -- as with the VFE, it simulates a stereo clean/dirty rig. Despite my TB username I don't use fuzz when I gig, but that channel is fun to play with at home
Honorable mention to my SansAmps: Bass Driver DI and VT Deluxe. I've been spending more time with the newer pedals listed above, but these classics aren't going anywhere.
I haven't tried 'em all (very far from it), but I've been doing lots of research this year, and here are my favorites:
Darkglass B7K: Tilts toward the modern end of the tone spectrum, but amazingly versatile
Darkglass Vintage Deluxe: as you'd surmise, tilts toward vintage tones, also versatile
VFE Triumvirate: three band overdrive, you can adjust OD on treble, midrange, and bass frequencies separately. Capable of crazy synth-style sounds, but I use it for dirty highs and clean lows+mids -- it gets tones similar enough to a stereo clean/dirty rig
Ashdown LoMenzo Hyperdrive: very cool and underrated pedal that allows you to overdrive a sweepable band of midrange frequencies (goes from low mid into the treble range, actually). It's capable of heavier OD, but I use the Mix control to dial in somewhat-subtle always-on midrange distortion that sits great in the mix
Empress Multidrive has three channels: Fuzz, Overdrive, and Distortion. Sure, you can select just one channel, but the cool feature is that you can blend two or three together however you like. Also, each channel can be run lowpass, highpass, or full range! I typically use heavy Distortion on my highs, and blend that with the Overdrive channel run clean or with very light OD -- as with the VFE, it simulates a stereo clean/dirty rig. Despite my TB username I don't use fuzz when I gig, but that channel is fun to play with at home
Honorable mention to my SansAmps: Bass Driver DI and VT Deluxe. I've been spending more time with the newer pedals listed above, but these classics aren't going anywhere.
