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Which bass overdrive to go with?

ilovenofrets

ilovenofrets

Bassist for The LP'S Acoustc Trio and Reckless
Dec 25, 2010
1,223
123
Pennsylvania
#1
I have recently made the switch from a multi (Boss GT-6B) to indivudual stompboxes. So far I have a Fender PT-100 tuner, Boss OC-3 Super Octave, Ibanez Soundtank CS5 Super Chorus, and my beloved Korg AX1B for my modulation(phaser, flanger and autowah). Now I need a dirt pedal. I have it narrowed down three: Boss ODB-3, Digitech Bass Driver, and DOD FX91 Bass Overdrive. I need the option of being able to blend the clean sound with the dirt. Any one with experience on any or all of these, give me your thoughts. Or if you know of something else that may sound better, let me know about it too. Again, must have a blend control. Thanks in advance for all input/advice.:bassist:
 
#2
Hi. The pedals you mentioned I have tried. The best one I ever owned was simply the electro harmonic big muff pi. I sold if to buy the bass muff. Have since sold it on and looking for a second hand electo harmonic big muff pi. To my ears it sounded a hell lot better in clarity and smoothness of bybass. Dam wish I hadn't sold it in the first place. Hope that helps.
 
#3
ilovenofrets said:
I have recently made the switch from a multi (Boss GT-6B) to indivudual stompboxes. So far I have a Fender PT-100 tuner, Boss OC-3 Super Octave, Ibanez Soundtank CS5 Super Chorus, and my beloved Korg AX1B for my modulation(phaser, flanger and autowah). Now I need a dirt pedal. I have it narrowed down three: Boss ODB-3, Digitech Bass Driver, and DOD FX91 Bass Overdrive. I need the option of being able to blend the clean sound with the dirt. Any one with experience on any or all of these, give me your thoughts. Or if you know of something else that may sound better, let me know about it too. Again, must have a blend control. Thanks in advance for all input/advice.:bassist:
Click to expand...

Amongst your three choices, give the digitech bass driver a shot. Picked mine up used for $30 and it's pretty darn versatile. Can do mild overdrive to a pretty good buzz. Clean blend and gain work in a more linear fashion than the ODB 3, which I own too.

The ODB 3 does have a pretty solid bass knob, but the treble is a bit shrill . . . Many posts and threads on that.

Interestingly, had some space on the board and was messing with those two pedals just this evening.
 
#4
I used to have the Boss years ago and it took too much low end away.

Have you considered the Digitech Bad Monkey? I haven't played with it but I heard it's good for the bass.

I have the Fab Overdrive which for the money you can't beat.
 
#8
bassburner said:
I used to have the Boss years ago and it took too much low end away.

Have you considered the Digitech Bad Monkey? I haven't played with it but I heard it's good for the bass.

I have the Fab Overdrive which for the money you can't beat.
Click to expand...

I would go with the bad monkey instead of the bass driver. Very good pedal for the price. Nice tube screamer type sound. The bass driver i didn't like a bit.

If you're willing to spend little more i would go with the way huge pork loin or green rhino. I have had both but i liked the green rhino better. Both awesome pedals and imo in totally different league than digitechs or boss pedal.
 
#10
I own or have owned all three.
For overdrive the fx91 is hard to beat. It sits really well in a band mix.
The odb has a fuzzy character going in to a Ss amp, but can make some nice sounds into a valve amp.
I wasn't at all impressed with the pork loin overall. Admittedly it sounded great on its own, but it got lost in the mix wherever I used it.
The ibanez bass tube screamer is worth a look. Can get really nice drive sounds from this, with a very useful blend knob
 
#11
Varying responses here. The Pork Loin seems to get a lot of love. Something I will take into consideration. To further elaborate; when using the GT-6B, I always gravitated to the Blues Driver model. I am looking for this type of drive, again, with a blend control. Keep those suggestions coming. Thanks.
 
#13
lijazz said:
Four Words:

Way Huge Pork Loin!

It has the clean blend you desire and does not color your overall sound too much. I got one a short while ago and love it.
Click to expand...

+1....the Pork Loin is my go to dirt of choice and I've tried a bunch (see my profile).

If you are set on choosing one of the three you listed, I would go with the Digitech as I liked it better than the Boss. The ODB-3 was just too harsh for my liking and I couldn't make it work well in a band setting. All alone in the studio it was okay but in a band mix, it just didn't work for me. The Digitech wasn't that much better but I found it slightly more usable than the Boss. I haven't tried the DOD so I can't give any help with that one.

But as I've said many times, you can't really go wrong with a Pork Loin.
 
#18
Bad Monkey is awesome for the money, but it's big brother, the Hardwire CM-2 sounded more clear and powerful, to me. I'd recommend the CM-2.
I'm also considering the MultiDrive.
As you can see, threads like this will provide more tangents and GAS than anything.
Good luck.

S
 
#19
I have an odd recommendation... Jet City Afterburner.

A neat thing with this is that you can get the overdrive from the pedal itself, OR use the pedal to push the front end of a tube amp harder and get the overdrive that way... i.e. it will also work as a two-stage clean boost, so it basically turns your single-stage amp into a three-stage amp.

Just recently got around to trying on bass after using it on guitar for several months now, but I like what I hear so far. For a guitar overdrive, it sure keeps alot of the low end when used on bass.

I'll try to get a video of it on bass this week :)
 

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