Overdrive - why bother?

[dincz]

I've been playing around with a BDI-21 and a Bad Monkey recently. Both give a little bit of dirt that sounds fine with the bass alone but in a band setting, the effect is almost lost among all the other stuff going on in the mid frequency range - hence the "why bother?".

Meanwhile I came across some ancient cassettes of jams/rehearsals from 20 or more years ago. The bass in the attached snippet has a mild growly distortion on the lowest notes that isn't masked by the band. Back then I was using a clean preamp and a mosfet power amp with the clip light almost permanently lit. I guess this accounts for the sound.

Anyway, I'm a lot gentler on my ears these days, but would still like to achieve something like the growl on this recording. As far as I remember, the bass was a cheap Samick P/J.

Any ideas?

The mp3 has somehow acquired an "ipb" extension. Try [url="https://soundcloud.com/dincz-1/growl"]https://soundcloud.com/dincz-1/growl[/url]

Edited January 9, 2014 by dincz

[thisnameistaken]

Could you upload that sound file to Soundcloud or something? I can't tell what the filename extension is supposed to be, I think the forum software has mangled it.

[dincz]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1389297124' post='2332605']
Could you upload that sound file to Soundcloud or something? I can't tell what the filename extension is supposed to be, I think the forum software has mangled it.
[/quote]

There's a link to Soundcloud just above "attached files"

[0175westwood29]

well what your getting is a hint of overdrive, what i will say and im guilty of this is when you have a good sound on your own or "design an od at home it sadly does normally get lost in a band mix, i try and find a hole for the distorted bass to fit in. im also insanely luck in having a guitarist that is willing to work with me to make space for each other.

also ive been surprised sometimes as i think ive got lost listen to a recording and my bass sound fit really well.

but from your clip something low gain maybe even something like what you have the behringer set to have no impact or change sound but just with a small gain boost, i did this before i got my overdrive pedal to push the amp a tad, or in your case the pre amp.

andy

[Musky]

[quote name='0175westwood29' timestamp='1389301786' post='2332693']
well what your getting is a hint of overdrive, what i will say and im guilty of this is when you have a good sound on your own or "design an od at home it sadly does normally get lost in a band mix, i try and find a hole for the distorted bass to fit in. im also insanely luck in having a guitarist that is willing to work with me to make space for each other.

also ive been surprised sometimes as i think ive got lost listen to a recording and my bass sound fit really well.

but from your clip something low gain maybe even something like what you have the behringer set to have no impact or change sound but just with a small gain boost, i did this before i got my overdrive pedal to push the amp a tad, or in your case the pre amp.

andy
[/quote]
I think this is spot on.

Listening to the clip it's quite a middy sound, which always cuts through and there's nothing near it in the mix. I think the problem is less one of the right overdrive, but one of finding the right EQ to suit your current band.

Oh, and hang on to that guitarist Andy!

[thisnameistaken]

Yeah to me it just sounds like a Jazz bass with both pickups full on, maybe with the pickups set a bit too high.

[Sibob]

Also, try an OD pedal that utilises Mos-fet clipping perhaps? The Fulltone OCD (and derivatives) is probably the most well known.

Si

[Guest FretNoMore]

As with many other effects a sound that works "in the bedroom" doesn't necessarily (I should say "usually") work in a full mix. You need to crank up the effect a little if you don't want it buried in the mix.

In my case I'm not fighting a wall of heavily distorted guitars (i.e. I don't play in a metal band ) so a little bit of overdrive is still heard in our mix. I don't go for outright distortion though, just a tiny bit of drive to make the bass sound less "polite".

Edit: Could be it's not you but them, meaning perhaps your band mates aren't leaving any sonic space for the bass. Some guitarists today have too much power and too much low mid and bass in their sound, and don't consider the overall balance of the instruments.

Edited January 19, 2014 by FretNoMore

[topo morto]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1389310500' post='2332843']
Yeah to me it just sounds like a Jazz bass with both pickups full on, maybe with the pickups set a bit too high.
[/quote] I only listened to it once but that was my impression.

I don't think a great jazz bass 'growl' comes from putting loads of distortion - I've got best results from blending the output from both pickups, with a nice high J, setting the action to introduce a little string clank at the start, picking aggressively between the pickups. That can already give quite a lot of interest to the note attacks - add a bit of actual distortion and you get a really savage sound.