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Best Budget OD/Distortion?


thisisswanbon

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So I was looking for a replacement for my Bass Soul Food, and saw a few recommendations for the TC MojoMojo.  After looking for a local supplier to try one it seems that both guitarguitar AND PMT have stopped selling them, and Anderton's have them on what seems like an end of line deal for £40 (plus P+P).  I've made the mistake of jumping head first into pedals before and coming out with a loss so I'd ideally like to try before buying...

So I ask you... What other budget friendly dark horse distortion/OD pedals are great for bass, whether it be intentional or happy accident?

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What kind of sound are you after and what don't you like about the BSF? That would help, as there are just as many that love the Mojomojo as there are that didn't like it. It's quite dark and squishy, great for Motown / Blues etc, but not really bright or aggressive if you want a more modern sounding pedal - for which it would be hard to go wrong with one of these:

 

Edited by dannybuoy
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21 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

What kind of sound are you after and what don't you like about the BSF? That would help, as there are just as many that love the Mojomojo as there are that didn't like it. It's quite dark and squishy, great for Motown / Blues etc, but not really bright or aggressive if you want a more modern sounding pedal - for which it would be hard to go wrong with one of these:

 

I find the BSF great is a grit pedal, but as our repertoire has changed I've got less use for a grit pedal and would prefer something with a bit more gain and body.  At present, the BSF is being used to stack into a SA Bass OFD for the Kasabian club foot tone, but even then it seems out of it's depth.  At current, I have 1 control on the OFD set for the club foot fuzz, and the other for an all purpose tube drive with clean blend.  The OFD, unfortunately isn't great for changing on the fly, so it's sort of stuck at that.

The Behringer may be a bit too big, as there's literally space on the board for a standard sized pedal unfortunately, it's a very tight board!

 

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Ive got a Mojomojo and its ok. I liked it at first but found it a bit 'meh'. Thats me though, i know lots of people like them. Certainty no loss of bass tone when using it. I agree with DB, its a dark tone, not a lively in your face type of box. i only used it a couple of times and while it did indeed work on the older 60's songs i found it lacking on the more modern covers we do. Just lacked that openness and sparkle that some other boxes can do. Still a nice box though.

I do love the Joyo Ultimate drive though. Even cheaper and to my ears much more lively, although can still do tame. its the best, by none, that ive used, at any price. I should add that ive not used many though, but it beats the Darkglass stuff ive had, along with a Way huge Pork Loin. Its just a powerful, open tone to my ears.

Joyo do lots of good OD's, well worth investigating if on a budget. I also have a Joyo Orange juice, very small and very gritty. looks cheap but sounds impressive.

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My experience is that if you try one pedal in a shop, use similar instrument you have i.e. active (lo-Z) or passive (hi-Z). I had lots of issues with different setups until I talked to a pedal manufacturer. His guide was that I should try to find the place in the signal chain (after any active pedal the OD will receive a lo-Z signal!) and take the type of an instrument into account. So, now I have two pedal boards: A and P. (Actually a tiny third one with just a tube OD and a comp - which equals rock. :)

A list of some units I have tried. OK, many of these pedals are not from the lowest price points but there are many used and kit units that may have tempting price.

An old Russian Big Muff Pi (we just did not get along), Jan Rey Vemuram (so guitar), RAT (thin, but I heard few days ago that it could be customized), ebs multidrive (just thin), WH pork loin (very close, but no), Mög (4 channels, pretty heavy), rainger FX (possible), Rochambeau Crustacean (strange; still have it), IE Oxide, Sparkle Drive (actually quite good unit for bass), Darkglass B3k (metal) and Duality (that I liked a lot), OmkartGromt Grombass (not my cup of tea)...

Now I have Spruce OGF for passive, an amptweaker BTF for active, and that Overlord for - fun.

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I use an Ampeg Scrambler as an 'always on' pedal which I like. Plenty of drive and a clean blend to maintain the low end. I also have a One Control Hookers Green on my board which is a cracking pedal. I've heard good things about the Caline Orange Burst on the really budget end of the scale as well but not actually tried one.

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11 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

+1 ^^

I shouldn't have sold mine to @Painy - who seems to be very happy with the pedal :) 

I'm loving it. Not only no low end loss but it can even get quite Subby if you really boost the little trim pot on the side.

I've found that it's a nice growly drive but can also do a fairly modern, aggressive sound if you put a bright enough sounding bass through it and crank the drive and treble up. 

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9 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Good shout. I've been very tempted to go for DB's OJ on several occasions and it's taken a surprising amount of resistance but which, for once, has not been futile 😂

Haha glad I could be of assistance (potentially) 😆.  I'm going to do a bit of digging tonight before committing; I'd like to be sure it's not too similar to the bass soul food it'd be replacing. 

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On 11/09/2018 at 11:03, Al Krow said:

This?

 

 

I like this one, but the loss of bass was a little annoying. 

I've substituted it with a Caline Orange Burst CP-18... which at around £20-25 is a steal. For a mid-gain well defined kind of distortion, it's pretty cool. It does get quite dirty too if you want it.

For higher gain... I've recently gone back to my Joyo Ultimate Drive. It just works. I was using a Source Audio Aftershock but honestly, I need to edit it too much for what I want... and it can do everything and more, but it's not the pedal to adjust in a hurry. The Ultimate Drive just does it for me. I keep trying other things and going back to it. It's time I admit that it's the sound I want. Again, quite inexpensive.

So, for nice  yet inexpensive dirt... I'd try those two: Caline Orange Burst for low/mid gain and Joyo Ultimate drive for... everything, really. A little tweak of a knob there goes a long way, so be gentle ;)

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17 hours ago, mcnach said:

For higher gain... I've recently gone back to my Joyo Ultimate Drive. It just works. I was using a Source Audio Aftershock but honestly, I need to edit it too much for what I want... and it can do everything and more, but it's not the pedal to adjust in a hurry. The Ultimate Drive just does it for me. I keep trying other things and going back to it. It's time I admit that it's the sound I want. Again, quite inexpensive.

So, for nice  yet inexpensive dirt... I'd try those two: Caline Orange Burst for low/mid gain and Joyo Ultimate drive for... everything, really. A little tweak of a knob there goes a long way, so be gentle ;)

Totally agree. I too have the AS and while it seems to do it all i find the Joyo UD just does what i want without the need to fuss around with programming. I also find the UD has a more lively tone without any loss of punch. It just seems more lively and bigger, without sounding too wild. Also agree that drive knob is very dangerous. I dont think ive been over 9 o’clock with mine,. 

I have replaced it with a COG 66 but the COG doesnt quite have the same tone. Still very usable though. Just shows you don’t have to spend a lot to find ‘your tone’. 

Edited by dave_bass5
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On 15/09/2018 at 17:39, mcnach said:

For higher gain... I've recently gone back to my Joyo Ultimate Drive. It just works. I was using a Source Audio Aftershock but honestly, I need to edit it too much for what I want... and it can do everything and more, but it's not the pedal to adjust in a hurry. The Ultimate Drive just does it for me. I keep trying other things and going back to it. It's time I admit that it's the sound I want. Again, quite inexpensive.

i love the ultimate drive, went through a period of trying all the cheap and cheerful OD and this worked out as my fav. but i also have the MojoMojo still, and the orange burst by Caline as my spares (Mojo in my gig bag for using at practice and the orange burst at home in case one goes nipple north) 

there all good pedals i think the ultimate drive is the best for me. i also got it back when they were about £20 something a real bargain.  

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2 hours ago, Andytre said:

i love the ultimate drive, went through a period of trying all the cheap and cheerful OD and this worked out as my fav. but i also have the MojoMojo still, and the orange burst by Caline as my spares (Mojo in my gig bag for using at practice and the orange burst at home in case one goes nipple north) 

there all good pedals i think the ultimate drive is the best for me. i also got it back when they were about £20 something a real bargain.  

i too have the Mojomojo but doubt ill ever use it again. Its nice but it sounds a bit tame for what i want.

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On 15/09/2018 at 17:39, mcnach said:

 

I like this one, but the loss of bass was a little annoying. 

I've substituted it with a Caline Orange Burst CP-18... which at around £20-25 is a steal. For a mid-gain well defined kind of distortion, it's pretty cool. It does get quite dirty too if you want it.

For higher gain... I've recently gone back to my Joyo Ultimate Drive. It just works. I was using a Source Audio Aftershock but honestly, I need to edit it too much for what I want... and it can do everything and more, but it's not the pedal to adjust in a hurry. The Ultimate Drive just does it for me. I keep trying other things and going back to it. It's time I admit that it's the sound I want. Again, quite inexpensive.

So, for nice  yet inexpensive dirt... I'd try those two: Caline Orange Burst for low/mid gain and Joyo Ultimate drive for... everything, really. A little tweak of a knob there goes a long way, so be gentle ;)

I did have the Pure Sky - How would you say the Orange Burst compares? 

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So I did like the budget Fulltone OCD clones, I had the Joyo Ultimate Drive but believe the Mosky Obsessive Overdrive and Mooer Hustle Drive are the same pedal.

I actually replaced my TC Mojo Mojo with a v1.3 Fulltone OCD and then I think I replaced that with my Joyo which I then sold to my guitarist. I was always a bit sketchy about the low end loss. Sometimes I thought there was none and sometimes I thought there was some, but I'm very picky in that dept. 

I did love the Mojo Mojo, but the OCD/ultimate drive was just a bit more aggressive and exciting sounding.

The Mojo Mojo was thicker and sounds great low gain too. 

I thought the one control hooker's green was just too compressed for me but I loved it for Motown tones.

I've heard that the Caline Pure Sky is great on bass and it's a Paul Cochrane Timmy clone.

 

Obviously these are all super budget pedals, increase the budget and there are loads more options.

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for a timmy type sound - the v1 danelectro transparent overdrive is great and keenly priced.

the mojo was ok but I found it a little farty for my taste

I recently picked up both the joyo OJ and the Orange burst. 

Both are bloody good pedals for the outlay.

To be honest I have hardly looked at any drive pedals since I bought them - in particular the burst. I have had compliments wherever I have used it, saying that the bass sound has so much authority and substance to it

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