How to Choose a Bass Drive Pedal: Overdrive, Distortion & Fuzz | Reverb
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ก.ย. 2024
- Bass players with access to dirt boxes like overdrives, fuzz, and distortion need not live in the shadow of lead guitarists. Today, bassist Jake Hawrylak is back in the studio to help you select effects that will lend character and richness to your bass tone.
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I tell bands all the time "you need to turn down the dirt on your guitar(s) and turn UP the dirt on the bass."
Just whisper on the side to the bassist to bump the mids. Nobody has to know 🤫 We already know how guitarists are.
@@Casual_Shots 😂
someone over here doing God’s work
Enki Ea why
@Jay Bee watch the video and appreciate the groove done too wrong
"Distortion is pretty simple it's just overdrive but more"
Yea, I lost it after this xD
Except that's not entirely true. Overdrive is generally soft clipping which is like gently stretching the waveform to the threshold. Distortion usually refers to hardclipping which pushes the sound over the threshold and chops off any part of the wave that goes over.
Reece Deyoung then fuzz just turns the wave into a square wave like an absolute unit. Simple, yet so god damn effective
@@reecedeyoung6595 this is the best explanation I’ve heard so far.
@@reecedeyoung6595 so its like overdrive but more....with compression
The green Russian muff is so good with a bass. The thump of the low end on the muff just complements basses so well.
To me the reissue was way too much on bass. I really like the Wren and Cuff Elephant Skin and now im also really excited about the opamp reissue!
@@HexBreakerDoom "way too much on bass"? - No such thing! :)
Agreed. You can’t get any better than a Green Russian or a Bass Big Muff. The first time I heard a Green Russian on bass was Robert Sledge from Ben Folds Five. Can’t get enough.
@@owenhodge4013 I like the new Green Russian a lot. One of the best for bass and costs a lot less than most of em.
@@bflo1000 Yeah, it’s a beast. You tried the Orange Fur Coat? If you’re a Green Russian fan, then you’d probably really dig it!
The Rat is my number one. It works well for most styles. Stacking dirty pedals is the what you need to do. Helps a lot on bass. Also, you can just use the boss LS2.
Just bought a Rad X by Pepers pedals which is a rat clone which has different clipping options and X mode which is like the ruetz mod on a rat. Bloody tasty 😋
Hard to go wrong with a ProCo Rat. I had one for a while with some capacitor mods and using 1n4001/1n5818+1n5817 clipping diode pair for slight asymmetry. Though these days, I use an EHX Op Amp muff clone I built with the tone stack removed and some cap mods...most guitar pedals on bass have way too small input and coupling caps... That circuit is the opposite. Caps are way too huge to make up for bass lost at the tone control.
Only thing you have to watch with the LS2 or any kind of split and blend is make sure the dirt pedal doesn't invert polarity.
@@isher9035 Any tips on a schematic? Was eyballing the prices on some of the more complex gear and I'm pretty sure I could build that stuff for way cheaper
@@SpaghettiEnterprises The opamp is externally compensated. You don't *have* to use an LM308. Just do the math and any single externally compensated opamp will work if you find out what cap will keep the same slew rate. The only other real difference between the versions is clipping diodes. Rat = 1n4148, Turbo = Red LEDs, YDR = 1n34a Germanium. You might try 1n4001's. I built one with a 1n4001 and 1n5817+1n5818 and actually really liked that.
the bassist in my band is very well appreciated, very loud and very well taken care of
Interestingly enough - the first pedal was a Maestro Fuzz, and the demo'd it on bass. So you could say fuzz was born for bass.
Yep, so it was...
It was also born of the bass and the first track with recorded heavy distortion was done so on a bass through a broken sound board.
You had me at sequined pants.
This is my first video seeing Jake and I hope you have him on a ton more. He really did a great job explaining things and giving an in depth view of what each pedal does and the sounds they are capable of. His playing gave great and clear examples of each pedal, please use him more!
I saw this video and recently picked up the EHX battalion and it is FANTASTIC, brings out all the best sounds in my jazz bass. Gritty, dirty, clean, all the best sounds.
Darkglass Microtubes B3K. I spent literally years looking for a fuzz, overdrive or distortion pedal that could make the sound I heard in my head. Then I saw a video with the B3K and it was close, really close. I bought it, and it with a bit of tweaking I had the sound. Raw, but with no loss of bottom end and the sustain is controllable so I can pick fast and still hear each note. I've run it into both valve (tube) and solid state amps, with great results.
The EvilFuzz sounds so broken. I love it
The first time I’ve worried that a TH-cam video might blow a speaker. 😄
We used to use a Marshall Shred Master for Bass distortion. We cranked the contour knob, it was beautiful
Way Huge Green Rhino has been one of my go to dirt pedals for the past few years
People ask me about my tone all the time, it's just a Green Rhino in front of a Sansamp. Sounds like heaven, cannot recommend enough
Not even a bassist and had to like this. Respect the passion. Rumble on bass bro.
The Almighty Bass fuzz sounds incredible. I love how clear and controlled it sounds. I also love the Op-Amp Big Muff, which I'd use if I want to blur the notes while getting a deeper fuzz tone.
Big Muffs are great on bass but get pretty much any of them except the op-amp one. It's not bad but the other all sound a little bit more full and deep.
Fender Jazz Bass overdrives beautifully. It has a grind with the SansAmp BDDI that I don't get with my other active humbucker pickup bass.
For me I prefer HBers, especially dirt pedals. First of all, you don't get the low end and depth w single coils. Second of they are noisy. Especially w the higher gain pedals.
this is the best bass effect video in youtube
With most of these pedals I can't help think of a lot of great bassists that used them, like Krist Novoselic for the ProCo Rat and Cliff Burton and Chris Wolstenholme with the Big Muff. Also holy hell that Evil Fuzz was something, it sounded like something from an old retro video game or something..
It kinda sucks going through and looking for these during this time to realize that everything is priced so much higher than it used to be. Take for example the Boss ODB-3, it used to be priced at 50-86$. Now it's priced around 90-130$...
Everything went up except my wages
Try Craigslist, we don't have it where I live but on the equivalent on my country there's like 3 for sale between 70 and 80 euro.
Wait til you hear about gas prices!
RIP OCD
the evil fuzz was something that Sunn O))) or Sleep would use, very heavy, very filthy and all awesome
Too choked.
I could never see Al Cisneros use one of those. It doesn’t match Sleeps vibe at all. I could see Electric Wizard using one tho
That LED on the Gemini is HUGE, need a dimmer for that ball of flame.
It’s so angry
That tube screamer had an awesome sound, very clean sounding distortion /drive.
one of my favorites that i wasn't expecting is the catalin bread sabbra cadabra, it rips so hard on bass
I'm new here, but your good speech at the beginning made me subscribe
DOD 250 is crazy good for thickening a bass line.
I'm a guitar guy who is now leaning into bass because that's what is needed, and I grabbed the Battalion along with a Sire P5, and it all works together very well. The XLR out is very quiet - low noise. The Blend knob is very useful, and with the separate level for the distortion, you can save distortion mode for the exact amount of volume/grit kick for that last bridge in the song. Just enough to punch through.
That TS 808 nuked the low end... Imho blend ist almost a must have on all bass dirt boxes for that reason.
I use a kma tyler the frequency splitter to have only the high-end go into my drive. Sending the low end to compression and then layering them over each other. It really helps keep low-end but also getting dirt.
Listen to “Life Goes on” by Toad. That bass player has so much overdrive on his bass it’s almost matched up with the guitar
Hey man, badass comment I never hear any one talk about Werner Fröhlich any bass players out there need to listen to toad pigs walk and that’ll show you what a fucking bass player can do!
This was very helpful. I got a Tech 21 Bass Fly Rig 2 with the built in Fuzz and Drive and I was confused by the difference between OD, Distortion and Fuzz. This video helped clear things up and also helped me understand that some of the awful noises I can get is somewhat nature of these effects.
Ehx Bass soul food and ampeg scrambler are tight.
If anyone is looking into the MXR M80 Bass DI+, the sound of the distortion sounds more like a trebly fuzz as opposed to a classic distortion sound. I regret buying this over the SCR-DI for distortion purposes, but the clean tone of the M80 is nice and warm. I use a separate Joyo Vintage Overdrive (TS808 clone) in tandem with my M80 for a "driven" sound.
Don't forget the effect a tube amp has when using dirt pedals. Tube amps seem to deal a little 'better' with the harsh edges of the texture of a distortion. And don't forget to defeat the tweeter ;)
3 words: Darkglass Alpha Omega. The best pedal i've ever bought, and it's not close. That thing has so many options it's not even funny, and will absolutely give me any distorted tone I want, from slight fuzz to punchy Geddy tones to full blown heavy metal mess. It's a bit pricey, but I will never EVER go to any gig or practice without it. It even has a parallel output so you can split your signal if you want to!
I just ordered a proco rat after watching this gives me old mayhem vibes😼🤘
Any one of Fuzzrocious’s pedals will work great on bass.
That Gemini IV sounded really interesting.
OCD rules! Stacks great with other overdrives too.
Favorite bass drive pedal is the EarthQuaker Westwood. Good blend and a bass knob. Keeps your lows in the mix
I think you're confusing "attenuate" and "accentuate"
Yeah, I thought that. A pedal that attenuates low frequencies is going to be one that isn't so good for bass as a result. I think he meant either accentuate or attuned.
all drive pedals attenuate low end, they have to otherwise it'll become overwhelming. he is saying that bass drives attenuate low end to different amounts for bass, to retain the same amount of thunk.
I'd love to have an EHX battalion, dig the blend. That said, I've had some amazing luck with my $15 Danelectro Fab Distortion fwiw.
Danelectro are the kings of cheap gold. Their original 18V Cool Cat chorus is the best bang for buck on the market. I use it all the time on harmonica. My student picked one up mint condition for $60 Australian (about $40 US), it's great on guitar, very unique and lush. Also their original brown Fab Tone pedal is totally nasty spitting distortion. It gets bad reviews all the time because it's like a large dentist drill but hardcore dudes love it and you can get them for $35 US online. It's like Danelectro's metal zone
Agree 100%. Danelectro has some great pedals...I've been using a FAB delay on my guitar board and my bass board for over a decade. Bought the pedal new for 25.99
I dig the Eisenhower fuzz as well
I really like this host, his videos are always very to the point.
What a beautiful sound
man there are some really killer tones in this demo. the ocd is my favorite but the rat is the meanest
Best intro of all time.
My bass player is in 3rd year Jazz...very competent. We did a punk / grunge song and tried every distortion and fuzz including bass specific distortion and in the end we just recorded it 100% thru Boss DS1 it was just cheap buzz saw nasty and spitting fury, I didn't even bother using the dry signal. On another track for the chorus I overdubbed some psychedelic bass chords high up the neck thru a Boss FZ-3 (a very smooth tasteful fuzz) into a Maxon PT 999 phaser, resulting in really lush and smooth phased fuzz. People often forget distortion CAN actually be kind of mellow too if used tastefully
It's all about context, experimenting with your gear can lead to doing great stuff that you wouldn't be able to do if you followed the walked path
@@jery3385 Yeah, it helps I'm s producer, I can HEAR the sound of the pedal in the mix before I use it.
thanks for demoing each pedal with a bassline likely to be appropriate for the style...but incidentally i invented the circuitry for evil fuzz when i was 18 months old and stuck a metal fork in an outlet, so i'm going to be in touch with them about royalties
Wow, I though I was hearing a dirty Rhodes when that Daredevil kicked on!🤘
Where we're going, we don't need Rhodes.
What riff is that song from un the Daredevil demo?
My weapons of choice are the Darkglass Alpha Omega Ultra and the DOD Carcosa
After years of being a purist running into an older than me SVT, I bought a Russian Big Muff to throw in front of my amp. I've since bought a slew of other pedals that get used, but the only thing people have consistently asked about is the big muff. There's always an "Oh man that thing sounds great, I play this that and the other and get these tones. What is it you like about the muff?". To that I say "I got it for $50 at a pawn shop". Find what you can afford and find a way to make it yours. If you can buy a fresh Wren & Cuff, go for it. If you can only afford a used Boss, do it. Every cunthair's width of a turn on the knobs offers something that can make you sound definitively like you. Dollars be damned. Also if you're thinking back to me owning a 70's SVT, I found it for $200 on Craigslist.
This dude was fun to listen to. Informative and fun. Thanks much
2:13 or the EBS MultiDrive which I also own. DI, Compressor, Distortion and Effectsloop.
Would have been nice to include the MXR, the Sans Amp, and the Bass Tube Screamer - possibly the best ones - in your little comparison, but you skipped them for some unknown reason. That was a missed opportunity to say the least.
Fuzzrocious Dark Driving is an awesome sounding low gain overdrive
Fulltone 69 is a surprisingly excellent fuzz on bass.
BAT Pharaoh, very versatile and awesome sounding fuzz
+1 for the OCD, or Olde Dirty Bass which is an OCD tuned by Dunwich Amplification. This means very tasty!!
B:Assmaster. King of bass fuzz.
Legend
Damnation Audio MBD-1, Dunwich Volt Thrower. Two great bass distortions.
Thanks Jake, this vid clears up somethings I was wondering about. Cheers.
Intro bass riff? OCD second riff? Please reply! Almost sounds Red Fang?
Here's a crazy thought. How about using actual bass OD pedals instead of guitar pedals? You neuter the low end when you do that.
Tell it like it is bro! I have to agree, it's 2019, we have bass pedals now. Like why choose the nano opamp muff of all the muffs?
@@PorchBass Because they're tone nerds. They think the magic tone box is gonna do for the bass what it does for guitar. They fail to realize you're working with an entirely different frequency range.
All you'd ever need for bass dirt are:
EHX bass big muff deluxe
EHX Bass Soul Food
Tech21 Sansamp
Darkglass B7K
YO anyone who is interested in trying uncommon dirt pedals check out Damnation Audio's loop blend pedal. Gives an adjustable low-passed blend to any pedal you throw into it. Only really see it have any hype on message boards like Talkbass for whatever reason but it's sick.
I use blend pedals all the time. It's bring more clarity and depth to the tone.
Useful demo. Funny commentary on the woes of being a bass player. Assert yourself bass-man!
Read it in a German accent:
*Assert yourself, Base Mahn!*
Really interesting video ! I tend to skip all dirt pedals on bass because it always makes the sound too thin, lacks of bass ...
EQD Westwood has been perfect for me.
one of the most simpatico pedal review videos!
What pedal for that first Glassjaw album, ‘Everything you wanted to know about silence’ bass tone?
If you can't hear bass in metal, you probably haven't listened to metal.
If you want to hear bass in metal just listen to electric wizard
Or you listened to Metallica during one particular era…
Really can't go wrong with a rat and a muff... You're covered for both guitar and bass. Rat more versatile, muff more angry and dirt, with more personality. Everything else is a take on these two pedals, with the exception of overdrive like the ts808 that you can still get in the ballpark with the rat.
Like most guitar overdrive/distortions, the tube screamer sucks all of the low end out. I have an EHX Bass Soul Food, and even though it is designed for bass and has a blend knob, I find myself cranking the bass on my EQ when I engage it. For $90 I guess I can't complain too much. The moral of the story is: Save your money for a Darkglass.
I had a Bass Soul Food and had the same problem. Now I'm using a Tech 21 VT Bass pedal as my preamp, with an EHX hot wax in front for more gain when I need it. Much happier.
I had a Bass Soul Food and had the same problem. Now I'm using a Tech 21 VT Bass pedal as my preamp, with an EHX hot wax in front for more gain when I need it. Much happier.
call me cheap, but the Boss SD1 is also an excellent overdrive that can be used with the bass
My bass player is in 3rd year Jazz...very competent, we did a punk / grunge song and tried every distortion including bass specific distortion and in the end we just recorded it 100% thru Boss DS1 it was just cheap nasty and spitting fury, I didn't even bother using the dry signal
I have some punk rock friends who swear by the SD1 on bass
@@davidjameschamberlain The DS1 and SD1: they're nasty, but if that's what you want those are you're best options
i was messing with a maxon 808 regular guitar OD pedal and it actually sounds MEAN in front of a super clean fender 1x15 combo. i really see no need for me to get a bass version honestly.
I would like to see a bass demo of fuzz pedals specifically: Old Blood Noise Endeavors Alpha Haunt. Thanks!
The Boss BB-1x Bass Driver is better than the ODB-3 i reckon :)
I set the gain fairly low and leave it on all the time as an amp sweetener and use a Bass Big Muff Pi for the gnarleyness :P
The bass player from Estrons has the one of the gnarliest sounds ever. But maybe it's because their guitar stays mostly clean.
Bass players being unappreciated is the oldest meme on earth and hasn't been true since the pedals shown were actually relevant. I mean seriously, a tube screamer, ODB-3 and Rat topping the list of bass overdrives? What year is it?
Rats are just still that amazing on bass.
@@DoktorDurum bass version of rat is called juggernaut and it is probably older than any person who contributed to this video.
0:27 to 0:45 is sooo true. his outburst at 0:51 is so funny, a lot of bassists feel that way.
I love my RAT. Great pedal for the money!
Great video brother!! Thanks!!
I thought this video would be helpful in narrowing down my options, but it was not. I want all of these pedals!
I like your demos, Jake. One thing, however ..... siliCON transistors distort bass and guitar tones. SiliCONE (which I think you said) is used to distort other things. ;-)
Please keep the cool demos coming.
Thanks for, expanding on your thought.
Key word point, you THINK he said that.
@@Hellspwn6 he says SiliCONE at 12:15
‘The number 4 is simple’
‘It’s just 1 but more’
The picked EH is pure Motorhead and the Rat is best tonally for pure distortion imo.
🙏🏼 I’m a big fan of the EQD Hoof Reaper V2
Excellent video.
U forgot the the really monstrously mxr m85... A brutal monster, with options to solve so many wishes...
Looking forward to more of this series.
Personally use the JHS Pandamonium, Way Huge Pork Loin and Green Rhino, VT also when necessary
Sweet video! Thanks!
I just choose them all with the source audio aftershock but close seconds are the dark glass b3k and amptweaker bass tight metal jr, yes, it's obvious that I play indie music
a good bass drive is very important, at least if you have a kinda dead sounding solid state amp. so far my favorites are the basic audio tri/ram muff or similar for fuzz, skychord truck loud for big op amp drive and for a versatile all-in-one, the ampeg scrambler DI.
Where did you get your truck loud? Been looking for one for about a year now!
@@cidicorp bought it almost ten years ago new from a dealer. you probably know they're discontinued now, but i see em pop up used sometimes. good luck on your quest!
Lemmy? Yo Lemmy? Did you ever have a utility pedal? Knock once for no, knock twice for eff off
@@MrFullCake I think he was joking man. Of course Lemmy didn't bother with dirt or electronic stuff because the guy would rather keep it analogue. He even liked some of the stuff that cliff did, and he always used dirt.(cliff I mean) Lemmy also didn't use dirt because it just didn't suit his sound. I believe he was referring to the use of drum sampling in pop songs, as that is something that us metalheads won't stfu about
@@fuckingmetalasfuck4718 I always thought that Lemmy used a distortion /overdrive etc. pedal, i thought that was how Motorhead got that sound? Seems like i was wrong?
@@daveharris514 Nah man, Lemmy played through guitar amps and drove the everloving shit out of them
@@Staniel42 Oh! Good grief - guitar amps? Thats a novel idea! So in other words, he did to them what Eddie Van Halen did! 🙂 (and every other rock guitarist)
He turned the bass-treble all the way down and mid-volume all the way up, if i remember
Weird not seeing Darkglass Mentioned on here.
They were mentioned, just not featured
Love my B7k Ultra... expensive but worth it!! So many tones.
Talks about bass drive pedal, doesn’t mention darkglass
Me: bold move boy
8:27
That evil fuzz will certainly get you noticed.
team awesome fuzz machine is my fav for bass dirt
That amp! 😀😃
I want a Bass with distotion but it seems expensive. I also bought a Uke for 60 bucks and bearly touched it. I wanted to use the Uke to get into the Bass :/
The sequin pants never work for me so im lookin to try a vest and overdrive.
What song is that first bassline in the intro from?
Wich kind of guitar is this yellow beauty in the background at right side? Thanks!
Why demo tones that would be buried in almost any live mix? Every single sample contradicts the opening statement.
tech 21 vt bass