W1_Pro Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 Hello folks, I'm looking for a distortion pedal to do a nice warm bluesy drive sound. Any thoughts? I've also been looking for a Cali compressor pedal. They seem to be quite expensive secondhand atm, so I was thinking of maybe a rack mounted DBX 160A. In fact for the same money that one of the secondhand Cali's is going for, I could buy a DBX 165, which is a lot of compressor.....Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 In true Basschat tradition I will recommend something entirely different. TC Spectradrive. It is an eq, DI, compressor and drive unit all in one. You can download different patches for the compressor and drive - I used 'clean boost' patch which gives a decent approximation of valve break up when balanced with the gain. I play in a blues/rock trio and it is my 'on all the time, take it anywhere' sound. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W1_Pro Posted December 1, 2023 Author Share Posted December 1, 2023 20 minutes ago, Paul S said: In true Basschat tradition I will recommend something entirely different. TC Spectradrive. It is an eq, DI, compressor and drive unit all in one. You can download different patches for the compressor and drive - I used 'clean boost' patch which gives a decent approximation of valve break up when balanced with the gain. I play in a blues/rock trio and it is my 'on all the time, take it anywhere' sound. I've got a Boss pedal that I use 'always on' to get a little bit of breakup into the tone. I need this OD for one specific song where I do a little riff at the top. Sounds nice ehough clean, but I just want to lift it a bit... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisisswanbon Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 46 minutes ago, W1_Pro said: Hello folks, I'm looking for a distortion pedal to do a nice warm bluesy drive sound. Any thoughts? I've also been looking for a Cali compressor pedal. They seem to be quite expensive secondhand atm, so I was thinking of maybe a rack mounted DBX 160A. In fact for the same money that one of the secondhand Cali's is going for, I could buy a DBX 165, which is a lot of compressor.....Thoughts? Way Huge Pork & Pickle or Pork Loin is the best I've used for this...the hot tubes side of the EHX Hot Wax is also great for this... Cali76 wise... I took a punt on the DemonFX Call76 clone; and honestly, it's great! I'd had a Cali76 previously but sold it on as it just felt like such an extravagant purchase. I'm not sure how the Call76 would fare in a blind test, but it's close enough that I love what it does regardless, and for £55 delivered from https://www.affordaboard-pedals.co.uk/ you just can't complain. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stofferson Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 Lusithand pedals, both the Ground and Pound distortion, and the Alma comp https://lusithanddevices.com/product-category/pedals/ both awesome! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osiris Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 7 hours ago, W1_Pro said: Hello folks, I'm looking for a distortion pedal to do a nice warm bluesy drive sound. Any thoughts? Shameless plug but this does the warm bluesy drive thing better than most pedals I've tried over the years. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAdder60 Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 TC Spark Booster would be my choice 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 2 hours ago, BassAdder60 said: TC Spark Booster would be my choice Which is the same as the 'clean boost' patch on the Spectradrive, as it happens. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krispn Posted December 4, 2023 Share Posted December 4, 2023 On 01/12/2023 at 15:20, Osiris said: Shameless plug but this does the warm bluesy drive thing better than most pedals I've tried over the years. I have one of these and it’s a cracking pedal. It’s a low gain unit which is very tweakanke to get it dialled in to suit. I’ve used a spark booster and would place the BetaV as the love child of the of the original Beta, the Spark booster and EHX bass soul food. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W1_Pro Posted December 4, 2023 Author Share Posted December 4, 2023 Thanks for all the thoughts and advice folks. Very helpful. I'm going to be in the smoke for a few days next week, so I'll try and audition a few of these suggestions from the many helpful local pedal retailers therein. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Japhet Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 EHX Bass Soul Food would do the job. TC Mojomojo also. Joyo American Sound works well too. None of those cost much. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigwan Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 Bearfoot bass overdrive or one of the many variants of it... Maybe the One Control Blackberry, which is probably the most available, or the Fuzzrocious Dark Driving. I built my own from a kit and loved it... then modded it so extensively that it lost the magic. Need to go back to that one again as it was a very nice pedal... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bagman Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 On 04/12/2023 at 20:54, krispn said: I have one of these and it’s a cracking pedal. It’s a low gain unit which is very tweakanke to get it dialled in to suit. I’ve used a spark booster and would place the BetaV as the love child of the of the original Beta, the Spark booster and EHX bass soul food. Yeah the SGFX Beta V is excellent. well voiced EQ section, a non abrasive drive. it’s very useful 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baloney Balderdash Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 (edited) On 01/12/2023 at 19:10, Paul S said: Which is the same as the 'clean boost' patch on the Spectradrive, as it happens. Well, except, for what it is worth the Spark Booster is all analog, while the Spectradrive "Clean Boost" Toneprint is a digital emulation, and that the regular big version of the Spark Booster offers far more options for shaping your drive tone. The "Clean Boost" Toneprint of the Spectradrive in other words is just a digital emulation of one setting of the Spark Booster. Edited December 10, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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