Heavy Bass Distortion?

[guitarded2]

I heard this band that wasn't exactly my slice of pie but I loved their bass sound it was a death/grind sort of band and I was just wondering who if anyone has experimented with adding really heavy distortion to a bass and came up with a good sound with enough low end to cut through? I was thinking of maybe purchasing an effects pedal or something for the bass and I would like some suggestions on where to start. I'm not looking for a light overdrive nor a clipping fart sound.

thanks

 

[antichef]

how's this? (punjabicore song slightly updated from my clinic post a while back). There are two bass lines - the first (and more prominent) one is pretty distorted - the other one follows the bass drum and is clean.

(we were calling it "sludge bass" in the thread)

 

[owwmyfoot]

HEy guitarded, I would highly recommend looking into purchasing a tech21 Sansamp. They come in a few different flavors and can be found here http://www.tech21nyc.com/sansamp_intro.html

You can achieve a variety of truly overdriven bass tones with a sansamp (ranging from slight to raw and aggressive) and you will also get a fuller sound generally. Most of the dedicated "bass overdrive" pedals I have tried gave really really fuzzy sounds not suitable for metal at all, with the exception of the big muff which gave me that cliff burton sound from kill 'em all.

rock on

 

[guitarded2]

how's this? (punjabicore song slightly updated from my clinic post a while back). There are two bass lines - the first (and more prominent) one is pretty distorted - the other one follows the bass drum and is clean.

(we were calling it "sludge bass" in the thread)

I like that bass sound but thats not quiet what I'm looking for. Thanks for taking the time to respond. The statement about mixing a clean/dirty bass track does spark some ideas. thanks.

HEy guitarded, I would highly recommend looking into purchasing a tech21 Sansamp. They come in a few different flavors and can be found here http://www.tech21nyc.com/sansamp_intro.html

You can achieve a variety of truly overdriven bass tones with a sansamp (ranging from slight to raw and aggressive) and you will also get a fuller sound generally. Most of the dedicated "bass overdrive" pedals I have tried gave really really fuzzy sounds not suitable for metal at all, with the exception of the big muff which gave me that cliff burton sound from kill 'em all.

rock on

It does sound "really fuzzy" with alot of low end but you could still easily distinguish between notes I guess its hard to explain without a sample which unfortunately I do not have. It does seem as though this wouldn't mix well with heavy guitars and stuff but somehow their sound guy made it sound good to me. I guess I liked it so much because it made the bass stand out unlike it usually does in --dare I say-- modern metal. It definately wasn't a Metallica sound I'm by no means a bass player but man this sounded awesome and it sure made me want to pick mine up. thanks for the response I'll be sure to check out that sansamp.

 

[Jouni]

I've gone through LOTS of bass fuzzes/overdrives/distortions.

Overdrives are ALL the same, slight crunch, after that you loose bottom end. Everything with a tube is pretty useless. Distortions are pretty much the same, maybe excluding Zoom Tri-metal.
Fuzzes come in a million flavors, they tend to keep the bottom end best.
Black russian muff has IMHO the best grind and bottom, Zoom uf-01 is something I'm experimenting now, good bottom, VERY NASTY SQUEALS, but I may have to mix it with a clean sound for note clarity and punch.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

I might be way off-base here, but maybe you should try to look in to how Ben Folds Five got their bass tone back in the day. They didn't use guitars, so they tended to distort the bass a lot to fill out the sound. (Also, you'd get bonus irony cred for being the only death metal band to cite Ben Folds as an influence )

 

[guitarded2]

I might be way off-base here, but maybe you should try to look in to how Ben Folds Five got their bass tone back in the day. They didn't use guitars, so they tended to distort the bass a lot to fill out the sound. (Also, you'd get bonus irony cred for being the only death metal band to cite Ben Folds as an influence )

Thanks for all of your suggestions I'll have to check those things out on payday hopefully my local music store will have some of these products in stock. Haha Ben Folds. I'll have to check that out too.

 

[JG96]

hahaa ive tried that sounds so cool i use a korg pandora witch is more of a guitar effect box but you can make custom tones so i can get some great stuff. kinda a queens of the stone age sound.

 

[Farview]

Get an old SVT and turn it up. All the distortion and low end you need.

 

[woodpeckerproxy]

Many bands use the bass distortion as a way to round off the guitars distortion and create a huge sound. Bands like Nirvana and Weezer have incredible distorted bass tones that add to the guitar tone. Using a tube amp and good distortion is key here it seems

 

[rayc]

Combine a Behri BDI21 and a fuzz pedal. Cheap and easy (the BDI is really quite good - almost on a par with the sansamp & about a quarter the cost).

 

[zazz]

sansamp is ok for the valve ampeg type thing but the electro harmonix big muff is considered the other side of the coin..get both and have both aspects covered....mix them together and enjoy.

 

[Whale Bone]

I've been struggling with this for a while and the one constant I've found is the need to blend the dry signal in. Then it becomes a matter of the flavor of the distortion without trying to find one that sounds right and has the bottem-end. I use an Boss LS-2 with a Line6 DM-4. The DM-4 is certainly not perfect but it gives me choices. There was way more mojo in plugging in my Big Muff instead of the LS-2/DM-4, but when traded for actually being able to hear and feel the bass....

I found the SansAmp when used for anything but a clean DI scoops mids, which is particularly not helpful when trying to cut through - and even less so with distortion.

 

[zazz]

if the muff boosts the middle and the sansamp scoops it maybe they are a match made in heaven...but i usually find u need to seriously eq these pedals to get to the place you want to be.

 

[rayc]

The sansamp is TOO EXPENSIVE, try the BDI21 before you spend money.
Big Muff is good - expensive though Morrison Big Fluff is at least as good & MUCH cheaper.