EBS Metaldrive vs MXR El Grande bass fuzz

[aldude]

I'm looking for a fuzz/distortion pedal with true bypass - I've whittled the possibilities down to these two.

However, the EBS goes for about £150, and the MXR £75. So, has anyone had any experience with either of these pedals, and what are their sounds and reliability like? Obviously if there's not much between them I'll go for the MXR as it's half the price!

Both seem suitable for what I am looking for, which is a sound a bit like the big muff, probably to play in covers of Hysteria (Muse of course) and Crawl (Kings of Leon). Don't want the big muff though as it's not true bypass and I don't want to mod one.

Thanks for any comments or tips!

[voxpop]

buy this...it so so much better than the other two.

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=126575&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=126575&hl=[/url]

[OzMike]

[quote name='voxpop' post='1170416' date='Mar 21 2011, 12:28 PM']buy this...it so so much better than the other two.

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=126575&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=126575&hl=[/url][/quote]

'Better' in what sense?

There's a reason there's so many different fuzz / overdrive / distortion pedals - there is no 'better', it's all a matter of preference. Unless one can try the pedal in person, preferably in their rig and in a live situation, getting a new pedal is a crapshoot.

[AttitudeCastle]

The Bass Big Muff Pi is true by pass, well the newer ones are at least!

The MXR will sound too off and wouldn't hit hysteria right, i've tried!

Never used the EBS though

(I still REALLY rate the MXR, borrowed one for almost a year, buying one asap haha)

[0175westwood29]

way huge swollen pickle?

the el grande is an insane fuzz! but was a bit to much for me.

andy

[OzMike]

[quote name='aldude' post='1170397' date='Mar 21 2011, 12:06 PM']Don't want the big muff though as it's not true bypass and I don't want to mod one.[/quote]

I checked:
[url="http://www.ehx.com/products/bass-big-muff-pi"]http://www.ehx.com/products/bass-big-muff-pi[/url]
... and it says this model is TBP. 63 GPB from Thomann.

[aldude]

Thanks to all the replies

I went for the MXR in the end, purely on cost. It's definitely a more extreme pedal but I'm liking it a lot so far. The deep switch is useful to give a big, fat sound. As for Hysteria, that one uses some kind of synth too so one fuzz pedal alone would never get there, but let's face it who in the audience would really notice or care if it's just fuzz? Apart from other bassists of course

Didn't realize the Big Muff Pi was true bypass, and might have gone for that if I'd known. Still, I'm happy with what I've got. Who knows, I might even add another fuzz pedal to my board at some point...

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='aldude' post='1174371' date='Mar 24 2011, 10:39 AM']Thanks to all the replies

I went for the MXR in the end, purely on cost. It's definitely a more extreme pedal but I'm liking it a lot so far. The deep switch is useful to give a big, fat sound. As for Hysteria, that one uses some kind of synth too so one fuzz pedal alone would never get there, but let's face it who in the audience would really notice or care if it's just fuzz? Apart from other bassists of course

Didn't realize the Big Muff Pi was true bypass, and might have gone for that if I'd known. Still, I'm happy with what I've got. Who knows, I might even add another fuzz pedal to my board at some point... [/quote]

The big muff gets rather synth when you saturate the fuzz