Anyone ever use a Fulltone Bassdrive?

hieronymous · Post by **hieronymous** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 8:12 pm

Glad I could be of assistance! It was fun to record, though I haven't been playing as much lately, and my left hand fingers really hurt by the time I was done!

One thing I realized that I should point out is that I recorded direct into Protools. How come bass sounds good direct, even with distortion, but (not including the Pod and other speaker emulators) guitar sounds better mic'd?

And finally, the Fulltone has another setting, I think it's called "comp cut" - personally, I have never found it useful. It is low-gain but high output, so not much distortion, but much louder than the other settings. I think it is more for driving an amp or adding just a little bit of fur, rather than full bore distortion. I think that I have seen other people post that they use this setting with good results, but if I want just a little bit of fur then I just push my Alembic F-2B preamp. Of course, in a live setting the Fulltone would be more convenient. OK, now I'm just rambling!

jps · Post by **jps** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 4:58 pm

How does the BD affect the tone of your bass? With the signal going through it but with no boost or distortion, does it change the basic tone of your Rick. As much as I like the Sansamp GT-2 I have it does make a major change in tonality.

hieronymous · Post by **hieronymous** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 6:15 pm

The Bass Drive is true bypass, so it shouldn't have any effect if it's not switched on (I assume that's what you mean). I regularly record with it in line but off, with no problems. I had an old Blue Tube rackmount distortion unit, and it sounded great when it was on, but made it sound like **** when it was off! So I feel your pain...

jps · Post by **jps** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 2:44 am

The GT-2 doesn't sound bad, but it does make the sound quite different tonally when engaged. I want to know if the basic tonality of the bass changes with the BD engaged beyond whatever distortion it may add. Do the mids drop out or the bottom end and high end sound different engaged? Or does it sound like you are playing the same bass with the pedal in and out of circuit?

hieronymous · Post by **hieronymous** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 6:00 am

Interesting - I haven't thought about it that way. It might be time for another soundclip!

ajish4 · Post by **ajish4** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 6:18 am

COOL!

jps · Post by **jps** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 6:46 am

Looking forward to it!

hieronymous · Post by **hieronymous** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 7:44 pm

OK, once again as promised, here are some demos of the Fulltone Bass Drive (hereafter FBD). (I suppose I should point out that I do not work for Fulltone, nor do I receive any compensation from them, other than the pleasure of using their pedal.)

All the demos (except the last one) are slightly compressed, then into the FBD, then into an Alembic F-2B preamp set close to flat, into ProTools.

This first one is the neck pickup played with fingers, and the FBD on the "comp cut" setting. First clean, then with the effect on, then with the boost on. (A note on playing technique for this one: I played each riff twice, the first time with "normal" fingerstyle, the second time a little bit more "John Entwistle typewriter style," i.e., hitting the strings against the frets.)

FBD demo - comp cut setting

Notice how much louder the boost appears in the comp cut setting!

The next one is more like the earlier demo I posted - first clean, then the "regular" setting (not comp cut), and then with the boost. Again, this one's played with fingers, but no typewriter style.

FBD demo - fingers

For comparison and ease of access, here's the earlier demo I posted:

FBD demo - original (pick)

The next two are just for fun, and I think the volume level may be a bit lower than the first two.

Up and down slap style, both pickups, regular setting:

FBD demo - slap

Here's a more "real world" usage, at least for me - an excerpt of a tune I've been working on for a really long time. The first bass is Gibson Melody Maker, then the melody basses are the 4001 through the FBD, probably on the regular setting with boost, heavily compressed, and played with a pick:

FBD demo - song

j_gary · Post by **j_gary** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 10:16 pm

Well done Harry.

On the song, it sounds like a muti-string bass line. What were you using for the cool sound?

jps · Post by **jps** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 4:58 am

Excellent! That answers my questions very nicely and this is what I am looking for in a distortion pedal. Thanks much!!!

hieronymous · Post by **hieronymous** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 9:05 pm

The first bass on the song is just a regular mudbucker-equipped '60s Gibson bass - one channel clean, the other through a fuzz (probably Z.Vex Woolly Mammoth) and MoogerFooger MF-101 Low Pass Filter, with the frequency being controlled by the LFO from the MF-103 Phaser. Oh, it's also going through a Roland Space Echo - it's actually kind of messy, but near the end you can kind of hear the Space Echo going crazy, kind of a low rumble. (I actually intend to re-record this bass part - it'll basically be the same, but without the Space Echo.) Then, the melody/harmony line that comes in is 4 tracks of 4001 through the FBD.

Jeffrey, glad I could help! Remember, this is all recorded direct, it might sound a little different through an amp, but I wouldn't think too much. You can dial in quite a bit of high end with the tone control. Post a review if you end up getting one!

jps · Post by **jps** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 4:03 pm

"I wouldn't think too much"

I try my best not to!

hieronymous · Post by **hieronymous** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 8:39 pm

Oops! Bad choice of words on my part! What I meant to say was "I wouldn't think that it would sound too different through an amp," but, well, thank goodness for smilies so I know you're not ******! (As in angry, not drunk, for any UK forumites out there.)

jps · Post by **jps** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:51 pm

Tha fact that you ran this test direct is best as it shows the true tone of the BD vs. running it through an amp first. I definitely need to get one.

cheyenne · Post by **cheyenne** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 4:03 am

Is Guitar Center a dealer for these? Or are they kinda hard to find?