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What's wrong with me and overdrives?
- Thread starter Kijuer
- Start date
If you are turning down your high frequencies, either with your eq or the bass's tone knob, you will not get much breakup out of some overdrives. The classic P-bass with flats and the tone rolled off can sound great, but it's not going to push an overdrive very effectively. The first thing I would try is tone all the way up, volume up, and play with a pick.
You probably don't want to play that way all the time, so try stacking two overdrives, or put a booster before the overdrive.
You probably don't want to play that way all the time, so try stacking two overdrives, or put a booster before the overdrive.
hopefully the first thing you try is just going from bass to OD pedal to amp, no wireless or any other pedals in the chain. Or even, just go bass straight to amp to see any volume difference than going through all your pedals/wireless. See if it’s a drastically different volume.
I have the MultiDrive as well, and like you, I really need to crank it to 3 o',clock or more. It might be necessary to cut lows or low mids for any OD to work live. OD that have a crude, raspy low mid crunch might work better than ones with some compressed tonal "frosting" in the high mids or treble.
Or maybe try a fuzz. It might seem radical, but could be what it takes to cut through better.
Your volume is determined by the low end, not the high end. It sounds loud to do that by itself, but in a mix, your bass will disappear if you don't. Here's what has to happen for overdrive to pop:
---Your low end has to be consistent or slightly boosted when you kick the dirt on.
---You need to turn all the highs above 5k off. Tweeters need not apply. You can also turn more of them off, but between 4 and 5k are my preferred settings.
---Your low end has to be consistent or slightly boosted when you kick the dirt on.
---You need to turn all the highs above 5k off. Tweeters need not apply. You can also turn more of them off, but between 4 and 5k are my preferred settings.
The Tech 21 Geddy DI-2112 has been the only dirt/distorsion/over drive that I really like on passive and active basses.
It bassicaly has 3 signals; a clean blend with the distored sound (that would be 2 signals), the 3rd is the Deep channel. These can all be put onto one output or 2 outputs.
It may take a bit to learn how to get the sound you like, but it can do alot of different sounds from clean, warm, and many levels of drive.
I alos like the DigiTech Bass Driver, it has a clean blend and some different modes, the drive is digital but is real good, does not sound digital. Pro, Bryan Beller and the Chevell bass player I think still use this pedal.
I find that some dirt and drive pedals didn't get the sound I like on my Active Music Man basses.
JimmyM is correct with on the EQing, the DI-2112 does this.
It bassicaly has 3 signals; a clean blend with the distored sound (that would be 2 signals), the 3rd is the Deep channel. These can all be put onto one output or 2 outputs.
It may take a bit to learn how to get the sound you like, but it can do alot of different sounds from clean, warm, and many levels of drive.
I alos like the DigiTech Bass Driver, it has a clean blend and some different modes, the drive is digital but is real good, does not sound digital. Pro, Bryan Beller and the Chevell bass player I think still use this pedal.
I find that some dirt and drive pedals didn't get the sound I like on my Active Music Man basses.
JimmyM is correct with on the EQing, the DI-2112 does this.
Most people are trying to get this. Maybe OD isn't for you or you "just aren't getting it". You seem to have tried many good OD pedals that some people swear by.
Try it with a lead instead of the wireless. If you then get good OD, the wireless is outputting too low.
I'm confused. Are you saying you can't get these pedals into overdrive? Or are you saying that you have to turn the knobs too high to get them to overdrive?
There's a huge difference.
But I'm with a few others. It's likely a signal strength issue.
There's a huge difference.
But I'm with a few others. It's likely a signal strength issue.
If you don't have highs enough in your signal you may need to push dirt pedal a lot to hear significant difference. Some things to check:
- Dead or very dark sounding strings
- Fingerstyle playing in some cases
- Low attack/light touch
- Dark sounding amp or cabinet
- Dark sound from the bass itself
- Highs turned down somewhere in signal path
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Every bass has different pickup designs which means different impedance (it's not all about sound volume). Active and passive basses' impedance vary wildly. This causes different OD / Fuzzes to react differently. If you have a buffer (like a Source Audio Zio) to standardise your pedal board's signal / impedance then you can easily balance between different basses. A lot of analogue dirt pedals assume a low impedance passive bass (like a P bass). Give that pedal a hot signal from an active Music man...then you might find that the pedal is always overwhelmed and can't be dialled bac.
Your playing style also comes into the equation. Some guys play a lot harder, liking that "digging in" sound. Others play very gently...enjoying the cleanness of that tone.
Some dirt pedals have a harsh dial in. I find OCD's are generally wanting to play hard and it's difficult to dial in a low OD sound. It can be done, but it needs a bit of patience. Other pedals like a Fairfield Barbershop can be difficult to get beyond light break up from a low impedance passive bass. Take something like an MXR El-Grande fuzz where the first 5% of the volume control was usable, The other 95% of the volume dial was just bonkers gain for a bass pedal. However great if you are overdriving a valve amp.
These days I prefer digital dirt. I use a Source Audio Aftershock and Ultrawave as my only two distortion pedals. They are very versatile and comprehensive. I get a lot of patches and engines to play with between these two devices.
Your playing style also comes into the equation. Some guys play a lot harder, liking that "digging in" sound. Others play very gently...enjoying the cleanness of that tone.
Some dirt pedals have a harsh dial in. I find OCD's are generally wanting to play hard and it's difficult to dial in a low OD sound. It can be done, but it needs a bit of patience. Other pedals like a Fairfield Barbershop can be difficult to get beyond light break up from a low impedance passive bass. Take something like an MXR El-Grande fuzz where the first 5% of the volume control was usable, The other 95% of the volume dial was just bonkers gain for a bass pedal. However great if you are overdriving a valve amp.
These days I prefer digital dirt. I use a Source Audio Aftershock and Ultrawave as my only two distortion pedals. They are very versatile and comprehensive. I get a lot of patches and engines to play with between these two devices.
SOLVED!
TL,DR: my P bass has a f....ng weak output.
I did some tests, signal with both cable and wireless unit was basically the same volume.
I took my passive Warwick Corvette $$ and immediately noticed how f...ng loud it was compared to the P, or, to say it right, how weak the P was compared to the W.
Playing my board in its current settings with the W ended up with OD sounding tremendously buzzy and super-distorted and I had to dramatically dial back the controls.
I tried to match the P output to the W's one by boosting the output on the Shure receiver and that was it. Modulations work just as fine and my OD pedals sounds great at "decent" settings (pretty much everything between ten and noon).
All in all an easy thing to do but I didn't mind to check the P with other basses and make sure the problem wasn't in it in first place, which turns out that's where it lies.
I did a quick test to my neglected, never-used SBMM Stingray, with same results.
I guess there's definitely something wrong in the bass then...whether it's pickups,pots, or wiring I still don't know. I've never suspected anything as the clean sound was just plain awesome, and there was no hint of something wrong, assuming there really is.
If you tell me that such a weak output level is not normal, I'll have it checked out asap.
I was already thinking about some changes anyway....I fell in love with demos of Seymour Duncan Antiquity I pickups, as well as DiMarzio Model P. I don't recall DiMarzio manufacturing custom 5-string pickups on request, as opposed to SD though.
Anyway, thanks everyone for all your tech tips, suggestions and support. I love this community!!!
TL,DR: my P bass has a f....ng weak output.
I did some tests, signal with both cable and wireless unit was basically the same volume.
I took my passive Warwick Corvette $$ and immediately noticed how f...ng loud it was compared to the P, or, to say it right, how weak the P was compared to the W.
Playing my board in its current settings with the W ended up with OD sounding tremendously buzzy and super-distorted and I had to dramatically dial back the controls.
I tried to match the P output to the W's one by boosting the output on the Shure receiver and that was it. Modulations work just as fine and my OD pedals sounds great at "decent" settings (pretty much everything between ten and noon).
All in all an easy thing to do but I didn't mind to check the P with other basses and make sure the problem wasn't in it in first place, which turns out that's where it lies.
I did a quick test to my neglected, never-used SBMM Stingray, with same results.
I guess there's definitely something wrong in the bass then...whether it's pickups,pots, or wiring I still don't know. I've never suspected anything as the clean sound was just plain awesome, and there was no hint of something wrong, assuming there really is.
If you tell me that such a weak output level is not normal, I'll have it checked out asap.
I was already thinking about some changes anyway....I fell in love with demos of Seymour Duncan Antiquity I pickups, as well as DiMarzio Model P. I don't recall DiMarzio manufacturing custom 5-string pickups on request, as opposed to SD though.
Anyway, thanks everyone for all your tech tips, suggestions and support. I love this community!!!
I love its tone actually. It's the stock pickup. 2012 American Standard 5 string. No idea of the pu model.
Interesting. I have a 2012 American standard 4-string, and the stock pickup is just as loud as, or even slightly louder than, my active Warwick Fortress One. My fender is also pretty close to the same signal strength as my Stingray.
I’m guessing something is going on with your p bass where the level isn’t correct.
