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one minute im going tofgive up the next my friend decides he wants to re live our youth! hurrah i say and we dream up the following....

A grunge band (early grunge pre '91 ala mudhoney, TAD) where the guitar and bass are on a constant fuzz!
excellent we think, however insane/genius thios idea is i'm worried that playing a constant fuzz bass is going to get lost in the sound.
We have only got it on in the bedroom (OOOH!) so far so not played in a practice room with drummer, so havent been able to try out yet.
At the moment im playing with a boss odb-3 and mxr DI (a lovely distortion on its own.)
[list]
[/list]Shoul I try 'dial' in these 2 pedals to give fuzz without loosing bottom end? (tried in my sucky band but just cant seem to manage it)
[list]
[/list]Should i try another pedal?
[list]
[/list]Should a go through 2 amps, keeping one clean and one distorted? (say my laney 210 combo and me new ampeg 115 cab and head - sent back as its not working)

fuzz hurts my brain.

Edited by William James Easton
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[quote name='ARGH' post='439031' date='Mar 19 2009, 11:02 AM']Trying another pedal could be the answer....[/quote]
And finding the right pedal might eliminate the need for bi-amping and lugging two amps around! Try one with a clean blend function, like the Bass Big Muff or the Wren & Cuff Pickle Pie B (mine's on its way from the US right now :) ). That should keep your bottom end intact; having said that, I find the Bass Big Muff has plenty of bottom end without the clean blend.

Just be aware that it can be [b]very[/b] difficult to get a fuzz/distortion sound that sits properly in the band mix. If it sounds good on its own, 9 times out of 10 it'll sound like poop when everyone else kicks in.

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Ben Folds Five - fuzztastic early stuff.

I don't think it's a wise move to have the bass and guitar both fuzzing at once unless you're totally happy to be lost in the guitar sound. It may be workable though if you have a ton of bottom and top on your fuzz sound whilst the guitar sound is all midrange, so you can hear your fuzz above it and your bottom below. That kind of extreme EQ might must do the trick.

If I'm doing fuzz bass though I'd rather I'm the only fuzz on the block.

Alex

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[quote name='alexclaber' post='439195' date='Mar 19 2009, 01:19 PM']I don't think it's a wise move to have the bass and guitar both fuzzing at once unless you're totally happy to be lost in the guitar sound. It may be workable though if you have a ton of bottom and top on your fuzz sound whilst the guitar sound is all midrange, so you can hear your fuzz above it and your bottom below. That kind of extreme EQ might must do the trick.[/quote]
Every word true.

But if you don't want to go the route of extreme EQing like that, it really helps the sound if you're just riffing an octave down from the guitar, or occasionally playing some reasonably tight, consonant harmonies with the guitar (thirds and fifths). Then your sound can just meld with the guitar and you present a sort of unified, Phil-Spector-gone-grunge wall of fuzz.

If you're aiming for independent lines with full-bore fuzz, you're just going to have sonic mush. And very rapid ear fatigue.

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My tech 21 sansamp thing:



Has a 'blend' knob. For really fuzzy tones (drive post-12 o'clock') I tend to roll this back to a 50-50 split so that the unaffected bass tone can be heard. Helps with definition wonderfully.

Means I have to be more careful with the level controls but it's pretty effective.

You could probalby do something similar if you put a fuzzbox in the fx loop in your amp?

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[quote name='William James Easton' post='439016' date='Mar 19 2009, 10:48 AM']one minute im going tofgive up the next my friend decides he wants to re live our youth! hurrah i say and we dream up the following....

A grunge band (early grunge pre '91 ala mudhoney, TAD) where the guitar and bass are on a constant fuzz!
excellent we think, however insane/genius thios idea is i'm worried that playing a constant fuzz bass is going to get lost in the sound.
We have only got it on in the bedroom (OOOH!) so far so not played in a practice room with drummer, so havent been able to try out yet.
At the moment im playing with a boss odb-3 and mxr DI (a lovely distortion on its own.)
[list]
[/list]Shoul I try 'dial' in these 2 pedals to give fuzz without loosing bottom end? (tried in my sucky band but just cant seem to manage it)
[list]
[/list]Should i try another pedal?
[list]
[/list]Should a go through 2 amps, keeping one clean and one distorted? (say my laney 210 combo and me new ampeg 115 cab and head - sent back as its not working)

fuzz hurts my brain.[/quote]
your losing low end with an odb-3? have you tried turning the bass knob up?

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[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='439066' date='Mar 19 2009, 11:50 AM']I don't remember Mudhoney using fuzz on the bass?

But yeah it can be tricky to get fuzz going on both guitar and bass without it turning to slop. Maybe just a bit of grind on the bass might work better, a la Daisy Chainsaw. :)[/quote]

daisy chainsaw eh ?

that takes me back a bit :rolleyes:


back on top - how about an mxr blowtorch ? - it's got a really heavy fuzz sound with a blend control and a dry signal out.

Edited by ahpook
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