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Distortion


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Distortion...the good kind.

 

I've been auditioning a lot of distortions and overdrives in the past week. I have a new project in mind, and it definitely calls for some processing. I'm purposely avoiding modeled and software overdrive and distortion for now because I'm looking for simplicity and immediacy.

 

Oh, and no fuzz. There are plenty of great, well-known options for that.

 

But I've come to the conclusion that I have never really heard an heavily overdriven bass tone live that I have thought of as acceptable. Am I going to have to go the route of ClatterAmy and run a clean signal parallel to the overdriven one? That's too much of a pain.

 

Is there a really good distortion that lets you only distort certain frequencies? I'm not talking about EQ per se. I'm talking about distorting everything over 20k, for example, while leaving the low end pristine.

"For instance" is not proof.

 

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While I'm pretty happy with my Home Brew Electronics © Hemotoma overdrive, it doesn't have a variable/biamp type of selection of which ranges get distorted. It's all or nothing!

 

Taking a quick look online, I would recommend checking out some Dark Glass products. Their MicroTubes, MicroTubes X7 and Vintage Deluxe pedals have hi and low pass filters and blend pots to distort only certain frequency ranges. I've never played them, but heard nothing but good things about them.

 

The new Tech 21 Geddy Lee YYZ preamp has a blend pot, so the clean signal can be blende with a grindy overdriven path. Might be what you need.

 

The Electro Harmonix Battalion and Nano Battalion have blend pots, plus a switch for the distorted signal path of Distortion > EQ; EQ > Distortion to fine-tune your drive.

 

And maybe the Mad Professor Blueberry will work. It's "Nature" pot is "a tone control for filtering and to control what register distorts."

 

Happy hunting, and let us know what you end up buying.

 

But remember - the tone is all in your hands.

"Am I enough of a freak to be worth paying to see?"- Separated Out (Marillion)

NEW band Old band

 

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Thanks Dan! A bunch of ex-Lowdowners just went crazy getting Darkglass stuff, so I will give it a listen.

 

AndI didn't know Tech21 had a blend. Will check that out as well.

 

Much obliged!

"For instance" is not proof.

 

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Is there a really good distortion that lets you only distort certain frequencies? I'm not talking about EQ per se. I'm talking about distorting everything over 20k, for example, while leaving the low end pristine.

 

check out my friend, james brown's pedals with amptweaker. i have come close, dozens of times, to buying either the bass tightdrive jr. or tightrock jr. also, the tightfuzz combined with the swirlpool is a ton of fun.

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I use the Tech21 SansAmp Programmable Bass Driver DI. Seems like it checks all the boxes for you. Pretty simple setup - 3 channels. Each one you can set Drive, Bass, Treble, Presence, Blend, and Level. Can be battery powered or phantom powered through the XLR out. Has 1/4" in and out as well.

 

I have mine set up with channel 1 being basically direct (no effect...I think I may have a little EQ), channel 2 with just a little gain and EQ so that I get just a little grit if I really dig in, and channel 3 a fair amount of OD, but I also blend in some clean.

 

CLONK

 

 

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I always thought bass and distortion just didn't go together. A nice, clean "boom" with some high mids to provide definition was what I thought it should sound like.

Then I heard John Entwistle's bass track from a tune on "Live At Leeds", and it surprised me how much distortion he used. It was a tone that held together, but had a beautifully ragged edge to it. It blended so well with Townshend's "edge of distortion" sound through those Hiwatts that it sounded a lot cleaner in the mix than it did by itself.

That really changed my idea of what a good bass sound for rock music is.

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

 

 

 

 

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I don't own one, but I kind of like the Billy Sheehan-endorsed pedal from EBS. Been toying with the idea of getting one.

 

https://ebssweden.com/content2/effects/ebs-billy-sheehan-signature-drive/

 

I have one but haven't used it much yet (not applicable to current band) I really like the simple built in compressor. Very aggressive distortion that takes a bit of monkeying around with.

You can stop now -jeremyc

STOP QUOTING EVERY THING I SAY!!! -Bass_god_offspring

lug, you should add that statement to you signature.-Tenstrum

I'm not sure any argument can top lug's. - Sweet Willie

 

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OK, revisiting this topic, I have an additional question.

 

I think I have figured out the sound I want.

 

If I'm playing a low A, for example. I want the fundamental tone to come out clean and an A an octave higher to be distorted.

 

Or if it's more practical, I'd like an octaver that puts the original and octave signals out separately, and although I'd like an octave up rather than down, I could work around playing an octave higher as long as the signals are physically separated.

 

So any solutions? Does the OC3 do part of this?

"For instance" is not proof.

 

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OK, revisiting this topic, I have an additional question.

 

I think I have figured out the sound I want.

 

If I'm playing a low A, for example. I want the fundamental tone to come out clean and an A an octave higher to be distorted.

 

Or if it's more practical, I'd like an octaver that puts the original and octave signals out separately, and although I'd like an octave up rather than down, I could work around playing an octave higher as long as the signals are physically separated.

 

So any solutions? Does the OC3 do part of this?

 

Sounds like an Akai UB1 Unibass pedal.

You can stop now -jeremyc

STOP QUOTING EVERY THING I SAY!!! -Bass_god_offspring

lug, you should add that statement to you signature.-Tenstrum

I'm not sure any argument can top lug's. - Sweet Willie

 

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