Need some mild bass distortion

  • Thread starter Thread starter thebigcheese
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thebigcheese

thebigcheese

"Hi, I'm in Delaware."
I have a Schecter Stiletto Custom-4 and I'm running it into an Acoustic B200H head. The problem I'm having right now is finding a good solution for slight distortion, kind of like overdrive. I have a Big Muff that works great for heavy fuzz, but that's really not what I'm looking for. The sound I want is kind of like:

-Lamb of God's album Wrath
-Tool's album 10,000 Days

So I guess mostly metal, but they don't seem to have heavy distortion, it seems more like overdrive. I tried looking up what they're using and a lot of those sounds seem to come from a Mesa 400+ and a Sansamp. I can't imagine they are overdriving the Mesa, but I tried playing around with a Sansamp at GC and couldn't get the sound I wanted (I only tried with my bass, seeing as how that's what I'd be using). I also tried a Boss Bass Overdrive and a Fulltone Bass Drive, but neither of those were that great, either. Anyone have any other suggestions? Bass distortions are harder to come by than guitar ones...
 
TURN. UP. THE. GAIN. MAX. THE. TONE. CONTROLS. (On the amp)

Basically. Find a tone you like with the tone controls on your amp all turned up past 2 or 3 o'clock. Then add gain. Use the volume like a master. I personally don't think the new Acoustic amps are good for what you're going for. A vintage Peavey Mark III or a vintage Fender Bassman head would get this tone more easily. As least if we're on the same page, because those are the amps I use and I get wonderful overdrive out of them.
 
Which SansAmp, because that's what I would have recommended. You might try looking at a Bass V-Amp (ducks quickly).

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with the songs you referenced, so I can't really point you in a specific direction to find that particular sound. I might try looking them up on youtube.

One thing I can tell you, though, is that you're only going to get an approximation of what you're looking for. There is no way you're going to make that Acoustic sound like a Mesa. There's a huge price difference for a reason.

I would like you're opinion on how that amp handles a clean sound, though.
 
Fulltone Bass Drive is fantastic for this sort of thing. It can go from slight overdrive to full on punishing distortion. Trust me, my bassist has used just about every drive pedal under the sun and the Fulltone is definitely my fav besides the built in dirty channel in one of his Aguilar heads but that one is not cheap! haha
Also might look into a Keeley modded Rat but it is probably dirtier than what you are seeking.
 
Wireneck said:
Fulltone Bass Drive is fantastic for this sort of thing. It can go from slight overdrive to full on punishing distortion. Trust me, my bassist has used just about every drive pedal under the sun and the Fulltone is definitely my fav besides the built in dirty channel in one of his Aguilar heads but that one is not cheap! haha
Also might look into a Keeley modded Rat but it is probably dirtier than what you are seeking.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but I tried that and it really didn't give me what I wanted, at least not with my bass. I can always play with it some more, I guess. It's not like I have to pay to try it or anything :)

My amp isn't a tube amp, so I really don't think cranking the preamp is going to give me much distortion, or at least not very pleasant distortion. On the other hand, I tried a bunch of tube amps at GC before I settled on this amp and I couldn't get any of them to distort, even with the preamp cranked. So I'm really looking for a pedal.

I tried the regular Sansamp DI thing. I was thinking about trying the VT, but they don't regularly carry that at GC, so I can't try before I buy. The regular one gave me some really icky high end that I just couldn't get rid of without totally sacrificing tone.

I bought the Acoustic amp after trying out all the other amps at GC. I don't think it's possible to find a better value. I bought it factory restock from MF for $180, and at that price (or even double, maybe triple), it absolutely cannot be beat. Obviously, you're going to need something to complement it for overdrive/distortion tones, but it is otherwise phenomenal. I'm not too keen on the Acoustic cabs, though, except for maybe the big huge one. I bought a Laney cab for cheap ($60) on Craigslist that I like much better than any of Acoustic's smaller offerings. It's a bit rattley, though. Only rated for 150w...
 
Peavey Mark III heads run about $150-$250 if you can find one. But you're not looking for another amp, you're just looking for what you can do to get some overdrive. I dont really know how to help you there, the amps I use get some nice overdrive.
 
no overdrive out of a Sansamp???:confused:
Hard to imagine. Also, do you ever EQ the bass track once it's tracked? Boosting in the 3Kz region makes it growl a bit more.
Of course, I'm imagining the question concerns recording with your amp. Playing live might be a different thing, but an acoustic amp is not the way to go.....
 
Active or passive electronics in your bass? My bassist has two Zon basses that he runs into an Aguilar DB-750 with the fulltone and it rocks. I guess your overall volume level could come into effect as well. We rehearse at a pretty moderate to loud volume. I am guessing if the sans amp or the Fulltone isn't doing it for you, then something else in the chain is mucking things up. You are playing with some mids in your tone right?
 
The Sansamp has the gain/overdrive setting, I just didn't like it.

It has EMGs, so active. Some of you guys seem to think Acoustic heads are crap for reasons that are beyond me, so if we can just get past that, that would be great. Like I said, I tried all the big fancy Ampegs and I thought they weren't anywhere near as nice as the head I got. So let's just move on.

I don't have anything scooped out of my tone. Here are my settings on the amp right now (on a scale of 1 to 14):
Gain: 9.5
Volume: 2.5 (for practicing by myself, otherwise the speaker complains a bit)
Frequency notch: right in the middle, just about
EQ section
63: 11
150: 10
350: 6
800: 7.5 (right in the middle)
2k: 9
5k: 8
I left the gain turned pretty high because even though it's a solid-state amp, it does seem to growl a little bit more that way. I'm plugged into the active input.
 
So I thought I'd try an experiment today, and it turns out to have gotten me pretty close to what I'm looking for (probably exactly what I want if I tweak it some more). I plugged my bass into my ART Tube MP Studio preamp and ran that into the FX return of the Acoustic and that seems to get me that nice bass overdrive tone. Didn't even have to spend any money to do that!
 
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