distortion pedals for bass

[jmb23]

hi,is it possible to use a distortion pedal design for guitar for bass use or will it damage the pedals?and if not,do you have any recommendations for distortion pedals for bass(fuzz too)

 

[alanchia]

you cant damage the pedal. but for the sound quality, you'll have to try it. some like it, some dont.

 

[rottenramone]

turning on distortion will lose the low end thump of the bass. i'll prob go with a fuzz if i were u

 

[shinobi]

not necessarily lah, it depends on the distortion. i've used the english muffn which is more of a tube distortion than a fuzz, and it is awesome although not specifically designed for bass. nowadays manufacturers are making pedals that have a full frequency response to cash in on the bassist market, like that new catalinbread sft.

but MOST distortions that are not specifically made for bass will cut low end. you can't bust a pedal, amp, etc by playing a bass through it, but the resulting tone might sound like crap.

 

[b33r]

the Catalinbread SFT is more of an overdrive than a distortion i think.

anyway, like shinobi said, any distortion pedal should work with bass. just expect to lose lots of low end and disappear into the mix once you engage it. some fuzzes cut low end too. try to look for pedals specifically designed for bass like the EHX Bass Big Muff (fuzz) and the Tech 21 VT Bass (drive/dist.).

 

[lordie]

try the HM-2 awesome distortion pedal for bass, check out bassfuzz.com for some crazy reviews and soundclips on dirt pedal.

but u can do what i do. blend distortion/dirt pedal for massive tonal possibilities.

 

[shinobi]

the clean lows can be very useful. if you want to experiment, you can try blending in a boost instead of merely just clean. makes it quite phat.

anyway, you asked for recommendations, so here they are

zvex woolly mammoth (think MUSE, expensive)
zvex vextron mastotron (think MUSE, cheaper) thinking of selling mine
big muff (what the guy from muse actually uses)
fulltone bassdrive

you could also check out devi ever's stuff. perhaps the... bass fuzz? i think they changed the name to supermassive black hole or something (once again, muse reference)

for something more 'natural' u got plenty of options like the vt bass, (theres one more extremely popular one i forgot lol) and as i mentioned, SFT.

 

[crajche]

are you in anyway tryna sound like Meshuggah's Bassist Dick Lovgren? if so, ur cool anyways, distortion on bass ftw the sound is eargasmic to me hehe!

 

[lordie]

are you in anyway tryna sound like Meshuggah's Bassist Dick Lovgren? if so, ur cool anyways, distortion on bass ftw the sound is eargasmic to me hehe!

i think that dude using a line 6 or mesa guitar head.

 

[matthewchj]

muse FTW! \m/

Personally for bass I use a Big Muff Pi (guitar version). Works fine, and with some tweaking can sound pretty awesome.

 

[jmb23]

thx guys,im actually asking for a friend who is interested in
getting a distortion/fuzz pedal.do you guys think that a old school type fuzz like the fuzz face would sound good for bass?coz it looks easy to DIY

 

[lordie]

if it did not soundgood, add a blender!

 

[shinobi]

www.bassfuzz.com

sound clips, videos, reviews.

 

[prophecy6972]

the boss ODB-3 works nicely for me. used it for a gig and it sounded pretty fierce...