Bass Fuzz????

Anyone know how to get a lovely bass fuzz like the one in Sonic Youth's "100%"?

Any help would be appreciated.

Deadwing

I just took a boss turbo overdrive pedal and stuck it on my bass, worked nicely, got a feckin savage growl out of it. If you want a really good example of bass distortion used to brilliant effect, check out a song called small crimes by failure

Doctor J

Not sure of what '100%' sounds like, but I've used a DOD FX59 "Thrash Master" on bass for many years and think it's the best bass distortion I've encountered. It was designed for guitar but has tonnes of low end in it so, unlike a lot of fuzz/distortions, it doesn't remove the bass from your bass. They stopped making them years ago so you'll have to dig one up second hand on ebay, but it's worth investigating IMO. You can't miss it if you see it

I'm using the mighty Dan "O" Wah at the mo, but I find the volume drops off when I put the distortion on. I've heard of fuzzboxes. Anyone try these out yet?

Rustar

Does anyone own a Boss ME-50B bass effects unit? Seems to me the 7 or 8 different drives on that unit which are geared for bass frequencies would be the perfect thing. Not to mention the compressor/limiter, eq, and stuff like wah and delay.I've been using my ME-50 guitar processor to record with bass, but the distortions don't work too well and the octave thingies have no clue. The reverb, delay, wah and compressor work well though.

Mongo

I use and I'd reccomend the russian Electro Harmonix Big Muff.The russian retains loads of low end unlike the American.Seriosuly it's savage!

Zapp Brannigan

Rustar wrote:

Does anyone own a Boss ME-50B bass effects unit? Seems to me the 7 or 8 different drives on that unit which are geared for bass frequencies would be the perfect thing. Not to mention the compressor/limiter, eq, and stuff like wah and delay.I've been using my ME-50 guitar processor to record with bass, but the distortions don't work too well and the octave thingies have no clue. The reverb, delay, wah and compressor work well though.

I owned one, quite a poor unit, FX weren't too impressive. Sold it and bought a BodXT instead and I've never looked back.

Steoob

Mongo wrote:

I use and I'd reccomend the russian Electro Harmonix Big Muff.The russian retains loads of low end unlike the American.Seriosuly it's savage!

unbelievable pedal id recommend it to anyone.. listen to the start of hysteria by muse that is the EXACT tone you get from it

fish-head

You might wanna look into the EH Bassballs too.

Steoob

fish-head wrote:

You might wanna look into the EH Bassballs too.

isn't that a synth/envelope filter pedal thingy?

Beren

EH baseballs is a cool pedal. Really mad f**ked up sounds. Top notch

Rustar

Slurms wrote:

I owned one, quite a poor unit, FX weren't too impressive. Sold it and bought a BodXT instead and I've never looked back.

How well would the BodXT work live? There's a lot to be said for tapdancing your tones on and off...

bombidol

Mongo wrote:

I use and I'd reccomend the russian Electro Harmonix Big Muff.The russian retains loads of low end unlike the American.Seriosuly it's savage!

Its the other way around isnt it? USA muff for bass.

Zapp Brannigan

Rustar wrote:

How well would the BodXT work live? There's a lot to be said for tapdancing your tones on and off...

As a bassist you dont really need a variety of tones and your rarely ever gonna change in the middle of a song so its not too much hassle to bend over and change patch, or just buy a footboard.

John

Slurms wrote:

As a bassist you dont really need a variety of tones

:rolleyes:

Rustar

Slurms wrote:

As a bassist you dont really need a variety of tones and your rarely ever gonna change in the middle of a song so its not too much hassle to bend over and change patch, or just buy a footboard.

I disagree with the first part, but I think I've found the answer.

http://line6.com/basspodxtlive/index.html

Could be just what I've been looking for.
Maybe Papa Smut too.

Mongo

bombidol wrote:

Its the other way around isnt it? USA muff for bass.

No it's defo the Russian one for Bass.Don't I have one!And the tone off it is nothing like the "Hysteria" tone.Maybe add a synth into it and see....

Zapp Brannigan

John2 wrote:

:rolleyes:

Forgive me, I meant for one song.

feylya

Slurms wrote:

Forgive me, I meant for one song.

I would completely disagree with that. IMO, bass could have as many different sounds as the guitars in a song. Example, Orion - Metallica.

bombidol

hmm im pretty sure its the USA one. ill check. I have both of em.

John

Slurms wrote:

Forgive me, I meant for one song.

Nah, why should a bass be limited in any way?

jcoote

a good bassist with a variety of sound eliminates the need for constant guitar playying or a second guitarist...listen to rush lads...seriously

Zapp Brannigan

I'm not limiting my bass. I just like to have the one patch, a bigger proportion of your tone comes from your fingers anyway.
And feylya I said rarely, not never

Rustar

Heheh, Slurms is now thinking, "Man, maybe I should have just said, 'Yeah'"


Gonna run in to the store and try out both the PodXBLive and the ME-50B. Read like 1000 reviews in the last 2 days and the ME-50B gets impressively high marks (with a few caveats, like the synth sounds). The ME-50B is a lot more 'out-of-the-box ready to go, with a minimum of fiddling. Plus if you threw the XBLive at a wall it might drop to the ground broken, whereas the ME-50B will go *through* the wall.

feylya

I dunno about the build quality of the Bod XT Live. Looks like you could keep a few punters at bay and still play on for the rest of the show.

Rustar

Yeah, it's prob'ly fairly sturdy. One of the biggest complaints I read about, with the Bodxt, the Roland units, and the higher Boss multi-effect units was those teeny tiny switch pedals that force you to become a ballerina on stage. They be Manly Man sized on the ME-50 units.