dannybuoy

I don't see these discussed much on here or Talkbass lately, and it looks like they may have ceased production. Their website is down and their last Facebook post was from last May... Anybody around here have one? I've got a custom made Bass Drive pedal that I've had for a few years. Note complete lack of power socket and mechanical on/off indicator! I hadn't played it for ages because I always thought it was too dark sounding and muddy, but I just tried using it again with a buffer in front (either a Boss ODB-3 in bypass or SFX Thumpinator does the job) and it sounds incredible. Really warm, smooth, bass-heavy overdrive that doesn't fart out when you dig in. It can even get into fuzz territory with the gain maxed. It does a pretty good impression of a pushed tube amp, along the lines of the Catalinbread SFT or Fuzzrocious Dark Driving. Of course, if you play a passive bass, you'll still need a powered pedal in front to get the best out of it!

A grand is a very good price, was it in good nick?

Wow thanks, hopefully I won't win that auction then! I retract my earlier statement - bid away!

I'm still struggling to imagine which kind of tribute band would demand a C64 bass? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kDhpFaf4EY

The American and British Sound pedals are apparently very good for bass also. The American being a clone of the Tech21 Blonde, and the British, the, er, Tech21 British. American clip: https://soundcloud.com/johnk_10/joyo-jf14 Another cheap pedal to look out for is the Earthquaker Devices Speaker Cranker. It's a one-knob overdrive, with just a gain knob. Unity gain is around 9 o'clock which gives a nice mild drive but has a lot of bite if you play with a pick. It kicked the Phat Phuk B out of the house anyway!

Whilst checking up the price I realised I didn't actually buy it! D'oh! What I did was put a bid on this one which ends today and is currently £22.99: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JOYO-JF-02-Ultimate-Drive-Overdrive-Guitar-Effects-Pedal-AMP-FX-Stompbox-/321333391477?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item4ad0f67075 I'll disclose that I bid £24 on it, so you'd have to bid £25 to get it, and there are others going for that much or less already - so please could you all refrain from bidding on that particular item? Here's the search you need: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=joyo+ultimate+drive&LH_PrefLoc=3&_sop=15

There is a site selling Chinese fakes but the links get taken down to avoid the wrath of Lord Rick Enbacker.

...Boy gets bored playing said bass and wants to bring in another one to 'spice things up'

Get the Joyo clone, fraction of the price and has more low end! I ordered one for £25 delivered from eBay, might be arriving today! Clip: https://soundcloud.com/johnk_10/joyo-ultradrive

Yes! I lugged a Line6 300W 15" combo to an open mic once upon a time and felt like a right wally. Best to take a DI or some kind of pedal, most places have simple mixers and simple soundmen that will plug your passive bass into a standard low impedance line input which won't sound very good. Don't have to spend loads, a Behringer BDI21 or a Joyo/Harley Benton American/British Sound pedal would be perfect. In fact get one of those for the guitarist as well unless they're playing an acoustic!

Bass Direct is in Warwick, so that's a little bit closer at least!

Mostly, yes. It can also just be polished brass, or anodised aluminium, or just painted.

I normally can't stand gold on a bass either, except for on this Warmoth SG I used to own:

If you check the diagram in the manual, it looks like the second tube only drives the FX loop and DI so therefore shouldn't have an impact on the main tone - so just changing the V1 tube, which should be the one on the right nearest the input should be enough to change the sound. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/SXtkx8w.png[/IMG]

You have to order direct - it's £125 though: http://www.sfxsound.co.uk/order/

Check out the new MXR M81 preamp: http://www.jimdunlop.com/product/bass-preamp If you're looking for something small and simple, SFX may be an option: http://www.sfxsound.co.uk/microeq/ http://www.sfxsound.co.uk/b3/ A good cheap option though is a Zoom MS-60B - it's a cut down version of the B3 and has some very good clean DI/preamp models, as well as loads of other FX.

Chandler Guitars in Kew might have a few, their site only shows one 80s Fender on there right now but it's worth giving them a call just in case their site is not up to date. I popped in there once and they had a few to choose from: http://www.chandlerguitars.co.uk/bassespreowned.php?brand_name=Fender

Looks like you have a BDPG lined up now, but if you're after any of the other two pedals you were considering, it just so happens I've put mine up for sale... [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/230692-wren-cuff-phat-phuk-b"]Wren & Cuff Phat Phuk B[/url] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/230694-catalinbread-sft-new-version"]Catalinbread SFT (new version)[/url] I'd trade for a Rusty Box too if you still have it and want to move it on.

I would reverse the order of the first three, but that's just purely down to my personal preference which shows there are many ways to do it! Reasons are I prefer filter before fuzz, as filter afterwards sounds too much like a synth, and I prefer octave after fuzz to layer a clean sub tone under the dirty signal.

I'm not sure if changing the valves would give you a much brighter sound though - more range on the gain knob before things get too fuzzy, but the overall character won't change massively. It's a muddy sounding amp, and all the ones I've tried so far have been the same. Maybe they changed things a little on newer batches... or maybe it was just a brighter cab with the tweeter turned up on full?