What bass distortion rocks your face?

wvukilroy

wvukilroy

New member
My bass player has just decided that he LOVES playing with distortion. I'm usually a pedal whore, but I know nothing about bass pedals. :mrgreen: So...anyone have a bass distortion to recommend?
 
zvex woolly mammoth. Hands down best sounding bass distortion, other than the way huge swollen pickle. You can pick up the mammoth relatively cheap on ebay.
 
Ahhh, ZVex...I really hope Zach defects over here. He makes some of the coolest pedals I've ever seen. 8)
 
im not a fan of bass distortion...just brings back memories of jamming with this kid who wished he could play guitar but was stuck with bass
 
I had my doubts at first, but I think the distorted bass sound adds a lot to some of our stuff. This guy is kind of like a mad scientist, always coming up with random ideas and projects to do. He told me the other day he wants to learn how to make custom pedals with me...how great is that? 8)
 
I suggest the Wooly Mammoth as well. If you're strapped for cash, the black Big Muff is quite excellent on bass.
 
Ok, if he's serious about getting into building, tell him to pickup a russian big muff pi, then put a blend knob in to let him blend between his clean signal and the dirty one. He can also ajust the tone stack to work better with a bass. The biggest reason bass distortion sounds like crap is because it clips the soundwave and gets rid of the smooth thunp that makes bass tone. So by mixing dry with distortion he'll get the best of both worlds. This will work with any distortion or other bass effect. He may just want to build a wet/dry loop so he can mix all of his effects this way.
 
freeeridstyl":fe789 said:
Ok, if he's serious about getting into building, tell him to pickup a russian big muff pi, then put a blend knob in to let him blend between his clean signal and the dirty one. He can also ajust the tone stack to work better with a bass. The biggest reason bass distortion sounds like crap is because it clips the soundwave and gets rid of the smooth thunp that makes bass tone. So by mixing dry with distortion he'll get the best of both worlds. This will work with any distortion or other bass effect. He may just want to build a wet/dry loop so he can mix all of his effects this way.
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This is where his mad scientist thing comes in...he was actually using a splitter and running a very primitive wet/dry rig with my Dunlop Fuzz Face that I never use. (Haggard setup, I know.) He already knows how to read schematics, so he won't be bashing his head against the wall for too long. 8)
 
flying_high":bad4a said:
im not a fan of bass distortion...just brings back memories of jamming with this kid who wished he could play guitar but was stuck with bass
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HAHA!! I have a friend like that.


I use a PSA-1 with my modded Squier P-bass.
 
Not a pedal, but you might be able to get a circuit diagram/schematic for the preamp.
Fender M-80 guitar preamp.
The distortion channel sounds HUGE on bass.

Like a Big Muff, but less sludgy, with a cleaner, tighter bottom end.

The clean channel is actually quite good for bass.
The bass that channel puts out is immense enough(to get a non boomy guitar sound you have to turn it OFF) that it's very effective. The problem is the Treble knob becomes sort of a presense knob, and the mids a high mid/mid highs control. I've found the 3 settings I'll ever use.

A Graphic Fuzz will also be good, though very different. Play with the envelope and you'll be able to keep the bass very punchy, or make it MORE punchy.
 
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