Boneless Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 (edited) Hi, unfortunately, all my equipment has been stolen my T-40, my pedals... luckily they didn't take my amp and my cheap basses away Anyway, I used to have a Russian Sansamp GT-2 copy, which quite satisfied me. It was very responsive, very bright, rich upper-mids, it really had this nice "percussive" tone (if you wanted), unfortunately getting the pedal from Russia has been, and will be a nightmare, so I was looking for something else. It must be warm-ish and quite aggressive. IT MUST BE CHEAP I was looking at some AMT stuff, maybe the Communist Pig... and the MXR M-80, although it isn't exactly warm (but it is easy to find second hand, not very expensive as well). Another choice might be the Guv'nor, although I tried it once and it wasn't exactly that good to my ears. I'd get the VTBass, it looks like the obvious choice, but it's hard to find 2nd hand... Just know that I have a blender/line selector, so I might as well use bass-shy overdrives, I can always put some bass in it from the clean signal. Edited March 19, 2009 by Boneless Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dubs Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 sh*t man, really sorry to hear about your stuff getting stolen. Hope you find the f***ers that done it. Have you tried an EHX Little Big Muff? They’re very cheap, very aggressive, and full of rich harmonics in the upper mids. Worth a try if you can get hold of one to have a go on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorick Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 Try the Ibanez PD7, it has various modes(boost/overdrive/distortion), pretty good eq and is usually pretty cheap secondhand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boneless Posted March 19, 2009 Author Share Posted March 19, 2009 I already had/am getting a Ibanez PD-7, but it's more of a strong distortion. I'm looking at an overdrive, really, and both the PD-7 and the Little Big Muff are too strong. I actually used my Sansamp GT-2 copy as a... let's say harsher version of the Bad Monkey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 Have you tried a marshall jackhammer? I think the only way to get real aggressive attack is very biting overdrive combined with around 50% clean signal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boneless Posted March 19, 2009 Author Share Posted March 19, 2009 [quote]I think the only way to get real aggressive attack is very biting overdrive combined with around 50% clean signal.[/quote] Which I was going to do... That's the word, "biting". Anyway no, I haven't tried a Jackhammer. I will as soon as I can Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 The most biting overdrive i've ever had was with a Boss AW-3 with EXP pedal set so that it basically made my bass extremely clicky - into an ibanez overdrive, both blended with 50% compression, all blended with around 20% clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon1964 Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 Have a look at the Ashdown James Lomenzo hyperdrive. Very versatile, great sounds, and cheap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 Sorry to hear about your loss mate. Have you considered 'Red Lama' or similar clone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 Try to source the Owen Bass Gremlin. Don't think you can get em anymore but they change hands on here for about £70. Very versatile pedals yet really easy to use, the best OD i've heard. Starting to regret selling mine now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boneless Posted March 19, 2009 Author Share Posted March 19, 2009 [quote]Have you considered 'Red Lama' or similar clone?[/quote] Didn't know of them. Are they any good with bass? I know I have a fx blender, but still, I'd like it to fare nicely with bass for starters, to then just "adjust" its tone better for my taste. I'll look for the Owen one as well. Of course, if I can't find neither, I guess I'll try the Ashdown Drive Plus, costs next to nothing and I heard quite good things about them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umph Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 [quote name='benwhiteuk' post='439259' date='Mar 19 2009, 02:11 PM']sh*t man, really sorry to hear about your stuff getting stolen. Hope you find the f***ers that done it. Have you tried an EHX Little Big Muff? They’re very cheap, very aggressive, and full of rich harmonics in the upper mids. Worth a try if you can get hold of one to have a go on.[/quote] muffs scoop the upper mids ;< +1 on the gremlin and red llama clones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 [quote name='Boneless' post='439635' date='Mar 19 2009, 07:53 PM']Didn't know of them. Are they any good with bass? I know I have a fx blender, but still, I'd like it to fare nicely with bass for starters, to then just "adjust" its tone better for my taste. I'll look for the Owen one as well. Of course, if I can't find neither, I guess I'll try the Ashdown Drive Plus, costs next to nothing and I heard quite good things about them [/quote] If you've got a blender all the better, opens up more choices of overdrive/distortion - hopefully finally finish my 'paralooper' this weekend. I like the 'Red LLama' on bass, I built a clone. Its basically same as Tone Factor Mule & quite a few other derivatives. To my ears it's got more of an edge to it than a 'Bad Monkey', which I like too. Gave mine away to a guitarist friend, miss it so much I'm going to build another. Fair amount of love for the 'Red Llama' & it's clones over on talkbass, if you're after more info... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boneless Posted March 19, 2009 Author Share Posted March 19, 2009 [quote]If you've got a blender all the better, opens up more choices of overdrive/distortion - hopefully finally finish my 'paralooper' this weekend.[/quote] Yeah, that's the whole point of it, since I really like the tone (or at least find it "interesting") of many guitar pedals, but find them not very useful in a band context (ie. RATs). Not mentioning the fact that guitar pedals are the majority and is easier to find them for cheap, and for a gearhead like me, having the possibility to actually use them with success is of great importance [quote]I like the 'Red LLama' on bass, I built a clone. Its basically same as Tone Factor Mule & quite a few other derivatives. To my ears it's got more of an edge to it than a 'Bad Monkey', which I like too.[/quote] But how more? The Bad Monkey is "edgeless", I'd say (and it's nice for this reason as well, it "glues" everything together), keep in mind that I have kind of a modern sound (strong upper mids and treble, a bit of a scoop around 500-800Hz, slight boost on the low mids), and that I actually use distortion through a tweeter as well, even though it is harsh sounding, it gives me loads of edge, which is important (for me anyway) to set a rhythm in a very crowded mix (two guitars, mostly distorted, keyboards, loads of delay and reverb, etc.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dubs Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 [quote name='lemmywinks' post='439542' date='Mar 19 2009, 06:32 PM']Try to source the Owen Bass Gremlin. Don't think you can get em anymore but they change hands on here for about £70. Very versatile pedals yet really easy to use, the best OD i've heard. Starting to regret selling mine now![/quote] +1 I love mine, best 60 odd quid that I've spent in 2009. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 [quote name='benwhiteuk' post='439755' date='Mar 19 2009, 09:26 PM']+1 I love mine, best 60 odd quid that I've spent in 2009.[/quote] plus the one on that. great pedals !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDaddy Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 If you want cheap 'n cheerful how about the Behringer - Sansamp clone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boneless Posted March 20, 2009 Author Share Posted March 20, 2009 I don't like the Behringer - Sansamp clone on high gain settings... it sounds a bit boxy and "plasticky" to my ears. Very nice for colouring the tone, of course. Anyway, I'll have a look at the pedals you suggested, thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alun Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 [quote name='Boneless' post='439318' date='Mar 19 2009, 03:30 PM']I already had/am getting a Ibanez PD-7, but it's more of a strong distortion. I'm looking at an overdrive, really, and both the PD-7 and the Little Big Muff are too strong.[/quote] What about the PD7 on the "clean" setting with the Attack switch on? Or on OD with hardly any gain? I've been able to get anything from clean to Chris Squire with the lower settings, and then anything up to out and out noise. Alas, the switch has gone on mine so waiting to get a new one Cheers Alun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boneless Posted March 21, 2009 Author Share Posted March 21, 2009 The thing is, it doesn't seem to do low gain settings nicely... it sounds better with the drive half-way (a bit like the ODB-3, which sounds crap at low gain settings, and only sounds good with drive between 9 and 11 o'clock - although I think there is only one useful setting on the ODB, actually, all those knobs and they could've just hard-wired the right settings my opinion of course). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I think the ODB3 IS low gain at 9 o'clock, and I like it! I really think you need a guitar pedal and a blender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boneless Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 I hated the ODB3 at low gain settings... it sounded lifeless and sterile, to my ears. Anyway, I'll just make do for the moment... I have a blender and a Bad Monkey, I'll just have to switch through different settings between songs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I used to get a great sound that could be described with the words you use. I used a zoom GFX707 blended with a compressed signal using a boss LS-2. The 707 can be quite noisy but in a gigging context was not noticable, and it was easy to work around in the studio. The newer zoom pedals do a similar job. Perhaps a multi-fx unit would be appropriate if you're looking for versatility and the ability to switch between different settings. I had mine set so that the exp pedal controlled the gain on the distortion patch and it was really useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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