Bass dirt pedals

[alex.s]

Hi everyone, since I know there are a few bass players on here I thought I'd look for a couple words of wisdom if any can be spared.

Although a guitarist by trade, I will be on bass duties for a friend for a few upcoming gigs and I'm in the process of putting together a little pedalboard. This won't need an awful lot, but apart from the clean sound I'd like a slightly more driven/punchier sound (without being properly distorted) and a good fuzz suggestion.

I have a few ideas in my head but will let you guys come up with yours first :) Also if there is any circuit that lends itself well to a blender (perhaps a Shin Ey fuzz to mix the bottom end of the clean signal and the nastiness of the "exit music"-esque fuzzed out sound) I'd love to hear more about it.

I'm tempted to actually split my signal and send a DI'd clean bassy tone to the desk (perhaps through a Sadowski pre with a nice round bottom end) while running the chain with pedals to the amp. Any good reason to desist or go ahead with the splitting?

Many thanks in advance for any suggestion you may have about this!

Alex

[Beaker]

As a bassist who sometimes plays guitar, I can certainly reccomend the Runoffgroove Ginger, as an awesome bass overdrive / tone shaper. The BJFE Blueberry is great too.

The Shin-Ei Superfuzz is an awesome bass fuzz, as is the Acetone Fuzzmaster.

Your idea of splitting your signal is a good one - it's used by a LOT of pros and works really well, so go for it.

Any further questions, just ask.

[rocket88]

depends on how much dirt you want. like beaker i'm also a bassist, who sometimes play guitar.

my various top 3 list

OD
1- bjfe blueberry
2 - barbershop
3 - wampler ecstasy

Distortion
1 - DAM ezekiel 25:17
2 - Germanium Giant
3 - Proco Rat with Ge diodes and added blend

Fuzz
1 - EHX Russian Green Muff V7 1994
2 - Fuzzface Ge & Si
3 - Modified Oracle

there's a bunch more that i have to build, like the superfuzz and fuzzmaster, but if beaker says they're good, they have to be. i've really wanted to build an okko diablo modded for bass it should be amazing, ans so should the frantone bassweet.

notable mentions the batw pharaoh, on knobbie fuzz, SFT, blackout effectors mantra

[Travis]

I tried Rocket's Blueberry build (with my guitar) and I can see how it could be the ultimate bass OD. It's got a really natural, transparent voicing for bass. Very nice pedal

There isn't much that can beat the green sovtek muff as a bass fuzz.. It kills. I built the bassist of my last band a silicon fuzz face which was really really excellent, but probably not a good choice for active pickups

The Radiohead bass fuzz action seems to be a Shin Ei FY-2. That's a cool circuit, but very mid scooped and low output. I dig it's stock sound, but it's ripe for modding. The regular ol Univox Superfuzz (6 transistor circuit) is also really sick on bass

Another one that I like that isn't vintage is the Devi Soda Meiser. I used that a lot when I was playing bass. It's fat, and has a subtle upper octave which sounds badass on bass

[Ross]

The Barbershop, IMO, is the best "almost dirty" pedal out there. I built mine as a 2-knob (no sag control), and it creates this transparent bit of extra compression and snarl. It also seems to bias beautifully with every FET I've thrown in.

[rocket88]

If you play bass, trust me on the BJFE. They're similar in the tone, but the blueberry is just more organic. I really love both, and both had spots on my pedalboard.

[Silver Blues]

Lol well it looks like I don't have anything to contribute that hasn't been said already. But definitely check out JohnK's pedal page, probably the largest collection of bass dirt I've ever seen. I have yet to build some of the great stuff here, though I have the Bearfoot Blueberry and the BJFE is next on my list.

[cylens]

my personal favorites (just to give other ideas)

"almost not there overdrives":

Bearfoot Blueberry Bass OD
ROG Ginger!!!!

"overdrives"
Fulltone OCD v4, provided you change the 68nF cap to 100nF or add a bass pot "a la timmy"
DAM Ezekiel (features a blend pot)

"distortions"
Idiotbox Blowerbox
Wampler Triple Wreck

"fuzzes"
Mountainking Megalith
Shin-Ei Companion Fuzz
Brassmaster
Blackout Effectors Fnord

[alex.s]

Wow, thank you all so much for the suggestions!

First off, I've gone ahead and sent the split signal diagram for stage plans (DI into desk/link out to pedals and into SVT II). This will mean I don't have to worry about my low end being consistent throughout.

In terms of pedals, I've been enjoying my IC Big Muff clone but have no good reason whatsoever NOT to build a russian Muff as well, so that'll be put together in due time I think..! :)

Barbershop/Blueberry look like very solid choices for the low gain setting and will give either/both a go! Also interesting Rocket mentions the Ge Giant, as I had thought about trying some kind of Electra for the slightly more saturated/punchier sound, as they work very well for that purpose on guitar. Might try a sockets monster to experiment with and hopefully will have something interesting in to report back...

Now, to find the time to fit all the builds in...!

Once again, thanks a lot for all the suggestions and do feel free to keep them coming! Especially interested in hearing if anyone has experimented much with Electra derivates, perhaps tuned for bass.

[Beaker]

Go ahead and try the Germanium Giant - it is as good on bass as it is on guitar.

[rocket88]

just make sure you play with the input and output cap values. I think in mine both were raised the 470nF.

[Silver Blues]

Yeah you'll almost certainly need to increase them. I'm likely going to go for 330nF in mine just because I'm out of 470n, but even that will work fine.