Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Anybody got some advise on nice bass overdrive units that sound good with ricky basses.
I can't seem to find any I like. I tried voodoo-bass by roger mayer and hated it. I prever warm overdrive sound instead of that harsh awful metallic sound. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

I have used the Boss Blues Driver and the DOD Bass Overdrive for that Squire bass sound and it worked pretty well as long as you tweaked it to keep it under control. Most fuzz units sap all the bottom out of a bass sound, but these have worked for me well, although I have other DOD pedals that were too fragile and broke under NORMAL use.

Big Muff!!! I built one myself with a few tweaks - tone control modded to not suck out so much midrange, and input caps made smaller to take out some bass. A stock Big Muff has sooo much low end - too much I thought.
Another good one is a Maestro Bass Brassmaster(I built one of these too, the originals are 'impossible' to find), a good clone is the black cat bass octave fuzz, it's the same thing...

Alright I will give these a go and let you all know which one worked best.

thanks

marc.

Hey Rob, I read your post with a lot of interest 'cuz I have been looking for a Maestro Brassmaster for a LONG time, but everytime I find one, it costs as much as a beat up Rick!!! I have some old 70s interviews with Chris Squire in which he says he used this pedal during time of The Yes Album, Fragile, CTTE and I would love to have one to duplicate that elusive fuzz tone he gets. Are you sure the Black Cat Octave Fuzz is the same thing? I've seen them around but never tried one.... I figured they were for guitars mainly...
Thanks for any info on this subject

Squire - yup, the Black Cat is a Brassmaster clone, or so I've heard... I haven't tried one yet though to see how it compares to my home-brew (or the other way around!).

there's one on ebay right now:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=528621520

Also, http://www.analogman.com sells them for $175, not too bad i guess... could be worse! Just make sure it says "bass octave fuzz", I don't know if they make any other octave fuzzes, but you wanna make sure you get the right one!
I once saw an original Brassmaster for sale for, are you ready? $1200!!! ACK!!!

Rob

I just recently saw a Brassmaster for sale at a Boston vintage guitar site (I did a net search, and that was the only one I found). As you say, it was listed at $1200! I consider myself extremely lucky, because a couple of years ago I managed to convince someone to sell me one from their private collection for $500 - and at the time I felt kinda dumb for spending that much! Only time will tell if I did the right thing, I guess!:-) I am pleased with it though, so I guess that's what matters. I find that it especially excells at the really overdriven "Amazing Grace" type of Squire distortion, but it is also good at the warm overdrive with some tweaking. But...I'm thinking that the Marshall Super Bass amp is more important than this pedal when talking about Squire's sound.
If we're talking about the same aspect of his sound anyway, and I think we are.

Christopher

An added thought - maybe someone will agree with me on this!:-) I'm gonna assume that we're talking about, regarding Squire, that subtle 'grind' that underlies his classic era sound, rather than a full blown in-yer-face distortion. My experience has led me to go with as low an action as possible (which I prefer anyway), just a touch of 'sizzle' is what I'm talking about. I then approach playing in his style a certain way - defintely the antithesis of the clean, perfect technique. It's tough to explain in typed words, but I'll kind of 'drag' into notes, slightly behind the pick attack - coupled with the low action, I find that helps get closer to the sound for me. Also keep in mind that Squire seems to prefer to work up the neck rather than across, so you can put these various things together to help achieve this. I'm not very confident that I explained myself properly, but maybe someone knows what I'm trying to say!

Christopher

Christopher,
I hadn't really noticed what you are saying about Squire's style, but I think I know what you mean and I'm going to give it a try(I think an illustration of what your talking about might be on "Your's is no Disgrace"). I Have noticed that he is a a very "horizontal" player on the neck. He seems to prefer to stay on one string and move way the hell up the neck when he's doing one of those mandolin like strums, rather than stay in the box and move up to higher strings. I just noticed this when I saw Yes on their recent tour.

Rob:
Thanks for the info about the Black Cat -- I can't wait to try it. I also saw a Brassmaster for sale recently but it was about $1400 if I'm not mistaken. For that kinda money I'll play thru a DOD Bass Overdrive and hope for the best!

Squirebass - yeah, I think you've gotten what I was tring to say - thanks for understanding! Off the top of my head, I'd say another example is the intro to CTTE. Nothing really obvious or exaggerated, just another small piece of the puzzle. BTW, here's a link, if I do it properly, to that Brassmaster in Boston - save yer pesos!!

http://64.70.204.135/vfx.html

And try getting that Black Cat clone that's on Ebay - IIRC, when I checked it out yesterday, there weren't too many bids on it, so you *might* get a good deal. Either way, if you do get one from any source (and I've dealt with Analog Mike - he's a good guy), let us know what you think! I'd be interested myself!

BTW, off topic, but if you're interested in that great vowelly wah sound Squire got (think Yessongs version of The Fish), I've had *great* results with the Teese RMC III wah!

Christopher

remember the basics guys,alot of Squire's sound does come from a low action(probably .015 at 7th fret) and overdriven tubes from an amp. pedals tend to muff out the sound if not properly crossed over to just mids and hi frequencies. try bi-amping the hi's and lows,send the high signal to your effects pedals especially when octavers are involved. and always compress your signal first,even before splitting the signal.
frank rodio

Absolutely agree with you, Frank, with regards to the importance of a nice warm overdriven tube amp. I do believe the old Marshall was/is the key ingredient of his sound. The other stuff is just extra added fun!

Christopher

I spent quite a while trying to get "that sound" like Geddy Lee...easily heard on the bass solos in Camera Eye from the Moving Pictures album (a nice warm, grind)
I started using a "Snarlin' Dog- Tweed E. Dog" pedal... I love my sound now. When I play hard, I get more grind-fuzz.. softer playing keeps the tone clean but warm. (I play through solid state Yamaha)
However it is true that Geddy records using three lines... One clean, one with more low end, and one with some type of distortion/overdrive.
I think the Snarlin' Dog gets close to "that sound".. also, there is a switch that lets you go from a more "harsh" distortion to a more subdued tube amp sound.

Alright got that Big Muff. Sounds brilliant!
Thanks for the tip. Lots of low end end + nice overdrive. Just what I was looking for.
Just a little boost when you need it. Tried lots of units this is the only one I liked.
That black cat bass octave fuzz sounds interesting too but you can't get those around here in Amsterdam.

Thanks,

Marc.

Chris Squire sound?

Use STEREO wiring = FUZZ on 1 pick ip
Clean = the other pickup

+ Volume pedal for the fuzzed one

and you are done.
fabian
france