Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Good to see you back here Ted...

I've owned a bunch (Maestro BB, Zvex, Prescription Electronic) and have settled on running my bass in stereo using the Black Cat Bass Octave Fuzz and Marshall Guv'nor. I use both, but not at the same time.

I use a Tube Works Blue Tube pedal... which hasn't been made in quite a while, so this is useless info... But if you can find one used, they work great. It's a nice 12AX7 based unit. The 12AX7 actually produces too much distortion for some things, so sometimes I replace it with a 12AT7 tube for more overdrive instead of distortion.

I used to also use a Big Muff, which I sold not too long ago.

I used to love my Maestro Bass Brassmaster... I've been planing on building a new one.

There seems to be a bunch of distortion and overdrive pedals out for bass now.

I've got a Brassmaster clone I built years ago - it's the gnarliest bass fuzz I've ever heard.

I also use a homebrew Big Muff clone with lots of tweaks, and I've got a Turbo Rat that someone gave me but I haven't tried it out yet.

I prefer to push my amp to get distortion. I like to boost the bass and the upper mids (~3K) and then push the amp gain till it is just about to overdrive... so if you play light it is clean with a little bite, but if you dig in you get some crunch.

Works best with a tube amp but my hybrid (tube preamp) comes pretty close (all tube is breathtaking though).

It goes to 20, thas nine more innit?

I use a Sansamp bassdriver; works beautifully on the sound, and keeps the lows intact. Goes from ampeg "almost overdriven" until Motorhead over the top.

John,
I get the exact same crunch from my SWR. I got mine at Musicstop in Moncton. Cost me around $1600
for the head & 4X10 cabinet. Just nudge the gain 'till it starts to clip, then back off a touch.

Hi Scott.
Slightly late responce to a old post but nobody mentioned the Roger-Mayer "Vood-Doo Bass" Overdrive pedal. Its analogue and generally sounds fantastic, from tight driven lows to gnarly in your face distortion, I love it!! Also, Digitech, yes a Digital pedal, but I find this pedal fantastic and Bands I engineer often end up using my pedal cos it sounds so great, its the "Bass Driver", might be digital but it does not contaminate your chore tone, retains all your lows or adds some extra if you want, and can be tweaked to your harts content to get anything from very slightly overdriver to Crazier that a Big muff, its worth a try. I try avoiding the purists opinions and go for what sounds best and this is pretty much right at the top.

I bought the Digitech bass driver. Got a brand new, still in the box one on the 'bay for reallllllll cheap.

Great sounding little unit. Thanks for all the info guys.

what would one use to acheive a death from above 1979 bass sound?

From what I know, he has a monster of an effects chain. I have a distortion box that my friend made that's even a little beyond the DFA sound.

His bass is wired in a way that gives a full on sound from both pickups all the time (pickups wired direct???). He also uses natural overdrive from his amps. I think he uses maybe one pedal after that (flange or something).

I was able to get a similar tone using a boss Super bass overdrive pedal and a pick.

Okay, I just got a Fulltone Bass-Driver for Christmas. If you want great, almost infinitely variable overdrive and/or not-over-the-top distortion, buy it. It's AMAZING! THE BEST pedal I've played through, ever. You can get pretty much any sound from it, barring synth, phaser, and delay/octave effects. You can even use it as simply a gain booster or even a transparent volume pedal, OR EVEN a mid-scooper. It's crazy.

REALLY late into the game, but I'll throw another vote out for the Big Muff. My friend used one in a prior band, and it was MONSTROUS, to say the least.