William James Easton Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 (edited) 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 March 19, 2009 by William James Easton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARGH Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 Bi amping might be the way! Combo for the dirt -- 1x15 for the clean Trying another pedal could be the answer.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomEndian Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 [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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisnameistaken Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 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 [url="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6vh2p_daisy-chainsaw-love-your-money_music"]Daisy Chainsaw[/url]. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William James Easton Posted March 19, 2009 Author Share Posted March 19, 2009 [quote name='thisnameistaken' post='439066' date='Mar 19 2009, 11:50 AM']I don't remember Mudhoney using fuzz on the bass?[/quote] dont worry, they didn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomEndian Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 Actually, if you can tell us what fuzz/distortion pedal/pedals the guitarist's using, that could help pin down some suggestions for bass dirt. I notice you're from Harrogate -- PMd you for nostalgic purposes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexclaber Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomEndian Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 [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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougal Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umph Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 [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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 (edited) [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 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 March 20, 2009 by ahpook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 I'm in 4 grunge bands. Tech 21 VT Bass all the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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