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Which Overdrive Pedal??
- Thread starter Julian G
- Start date
I was just in your position a month ago... bit of 'pedal space' and always fancied a mild overdrive... something that sounded like actual tubes being driven hard. After MUCH searching / listening to youtube clips, I went with the Mad Professor Blueberry Bass Overdrive.
Blueberry Bass Overdrive
It was just the ticket for a vintage, 70s sound (I'm going for a 'John Wetton in King Crimson' type vibe), sounded very close to really driving my Mesa Boogie Walkabout amp (don't want to being doing that much!) and does go from grindy growl to fuller rasp very well! It just misses a BLEND knob, but I could work round it.
What I seem to use more regularly than that is a Strymon Deco!
The 'Saturation' side is amazingly subtle and very vintage-sounding but can get up to a solid warm drive tone, has a blend knob AND you get a phenomenal phaser / chorus style effect depending on where you set it. It's a different option and really works well on bass!
Blueberry Bass Overdrive
It was just the ticket for a vintage, 70s sound (I'm going for a 'John Wetton in King Crimson' type vibe), sounded very close to really driving my Mesa Boogie Walkabout amp (don't want to being doing that much!) and does go from grindy growl to fuller rasp very well! It just misses a BLEND knob, but I could work round it.
What I seem to use more regularly than that is a Strymon Deco!
The 'Saturation' side is amazingly subtle and very vintage-sounding but can get up to a solid warm drive tone, has a blend knob AND you get a phenomenal phaser / chorus style effect depending on where you set it. It's a different option and really works well on bass!
I’ve only played one of the OD pedals in your original post - the Bass Soul Food. Based of my experience and your description of what you’re looking for, I think it could suit your needs pretty well.
It’s definitely not a high gain pedal and it doesn’t have a wide range of dirt. However, for a use case like you described, I like that because it enables me to fine tune the amount of gain much better. The Blend is very useful for retaining as much low end as you want and, when my BSF is on my board, I usually have the blend between 11:00 and 1:00. I find it to sound a little thin if there’s not enough dry signal blended in. Also, the Treble knob only affects the wet signal, which makes it easy to have a raspy high end with a cleaner low end. The pad switch might be useful to some people, but I never engage it.
I’ve seen a lot of people on TB, especially soon after it came out, complain about buying it only to find out that it doesn’t have enough gain for them and it doesn’t get as dirty as they wanted it to. To me, that’s the buyer’s fault and not the pedal’s. If you understand what it can do and what it can’t do and accept it for what it is, I think it’s a pretty nice mild OD. I’ll admit that mine isn’t on my board right now, but I sold off a lot of OD pedals I wasn’t using yet purposely kept the BSF (and a few others) because they did a great job and are a slightly different flavor of OD that I wanted to still have at my disposal.
I know I’m in the minority on TB, but I think it’s a good choice for what it was designed to be. It may not turn out to be the one for you, but it seems like it would be worth checking out given what you’re looking for.
It’s definitely not a high gain pedal and it doesn’t have a wide range of dirt. However, for a use case like you described, I like that because it enables me to fine tune the amount of gain much better. The Blend is very useful for retaining as much low end as you want and, when my BSF is on my board, I usually have the blend between 11:00 and 1:00. I find it to sound a little thin if there’s not enough dry signal blended in. Also, the Treble knob only affects the wet signal, which makes it easy to have a raspy high end with a cleaner low end. The pad switch might be useful to some people, but I never engage it.
I’ve seen a lot of people on TB, especially soon after it came out, complain about buying it only to find out that it doesn’t have enough gain for them and it doesn’t get as dirty as they wanted it to. To me, that’s the buyer’s fault and not the pedal’s. If you understand what it can do and what it can’t do and accept it for what it is, I think it’s a pretty nice mild OD. I’ll admit that mine isn’t on my board right now, but I sold off a lot of OD pedals I wasn’t using yet purposely kept the BSF (and a few others) because they did a great job and are a slightly different flavor of OD that I wanted to still have at my disposal.
I know I’m in the minority on TB, but I think it’s a good choice for what it was designed to be. It may not turn out to be the one for you, but it seems like it would be worth checking out given what you’re looking for.
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The Aguilar Agro is a pretty good one too. Aguilar does real good with their pedals.
I had it for a while. I do not use OD, but I miss it.
I also had the EHX bass soul food and sold it. It was ok.
Big muff, both versions not really OD more fuzz.
I had it for a while. I do not use OD, but I miss it.
I also had the EHX bass soul food and sold it. It was ok.
Big muff, both versions not really OD more fuzz.
I just received my Darkglass Vintage Microtubes and I am in overdrive heaven! Among the pedals I've tried and heard over the years, it's the one that emulates tube overdrive the best. It's also very good at responding to your playing: the overdrive gets deeper as you dig in the strings. Finally, if you take into account the "blend" and "drive" knobs, you can definitely dial in exactly the amount of growl/drive that you want. It can add just a touch of bluesy tube growl all the way to high tension, almost distortion that you'd want for metal.
My quest for OD is quenched!
EDIT:
Sorry, I read the OP too quickly. Didn't realize you meant only among the choices in the picture. (I guess I just saw the word "overdrive" and my brain immediately wanted to brag about my new pedal...)
My quest for OD is quenched!
EDIT:
Sorry, I read the OP too quickly. Didn't realize you meant only among the choices in the picture. (I guess I just saw the word "overdrive" and my brain immediately wanted to brag about my new pedal...)
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Another vote for the EHX Bass Soul Food. Excellent pedal for coloring the sound. Just accept you are going to have the "treble" knob turned almost all of the way down.
I actually liked the guitar Soul Food on bass better than the Bass Soul Food. I thought the blend control on the Bass Soul Food would be cool but I preferred the sound of the regular Soul Food. My favorite pedal for "grit" is the Bearfoot Blueberry. I keep trying other pedals "just to see" but I keep coming back to that one. The distortion section of my Genzler Magellan is also really good.
I bet it's easier to find an abandoned super car than it is an effects pedal in Dubai !
Out of the ones listed, Bass soul food, really nice overdrive that is very usable! Sounds a lot like the drive on Fenders rumble amps.
100%. Plus it's usually, "hey OP, yah a, b, c are good but get dark glass."OP: "Hey guys, only a few pedals are available where I live, help me choose between A, B, and C."
Talkbass: "I like pedals D to Z."
Never fails.
I've written before that the Green Russian Nano Muff is v.g. with the sustain near all the way down; I like the regular Bass Muff that way, also, so I bet the Nano would work well.
The Bass Soul Food is always on my board - the Green Russian Nano is sometimes, or it's changed out for other Muff types.
The Bass Soul Food is always on my board - the Green Russian Nano is sometimes, or it's changed out for other Muff types.
My favourite replies, when someone mentions limited availability and/or budget, are the ones along the lines of "You should really try pedal X. It was made in super small batches, decades ago, by a one-man company. I bought one and had it custom-modded to add unique features. The guy sadly passed in '94. Keep an eye out on Reverb...ya never know!"
Like that helps anybody.
That Billy pedal has some interesting features, and though this demo is focused on the dirty sounds, there some lower gain settings with a clean blend which aren't bad for the OP goals.
I'd give this a look.
I'd give this a look.
