# Bass OD Help



## heavy7-665 (Jul 6, 2012)

My band is recording over the next week and I decided it's time I get some kind of Overdrive pedal for bass. Problem is I dislike 90% of distorted bass tones and absolutely HATE fuzz. I actually have been looking at a few pedals but it is really difficult to really hear the tones on a laptop. The tone I'm going for is the Karnivool "Goliath" "Simple Boy" kinda tone. Do you think I can achieve this with the Ibanez TS9B or Boss ODB3?

I know about the Tech 21. A tad out of my price range ATM.


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## dax21 (Jul 6, 2012)

ODB-3 alone won't get you anywhere near that Karnivool tone. I know their bass player used it for the recording, but I bet it was just one of the dozen layered tracks and that it's not even 5% of the overall bass sound.
You should especially avoid it if you can't stand fuzz. It's grainy as fuck and there is plenty of "sand", and it's as opposite from that tight Sansamp saturation as it can get. Not that it's completely unusable, but it won't get you what you want in this case. 
Don't know about TS9B, never tried it.

I'm not sure what kind of recording setup you got, but if you are going direct and recording on the cheap I would simply mess around with Ampeg SVX and this:

TSE Audio by onQel &bull; View topic - TSE B.O.D - Final version

Gets pretty close for a VST plugin. And it's free


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## Ocara-Jacob (Jul 6, 2012)

I've always found that the best bass overdrive tones are actually a clean bass tone mixed in with a distorted tone. Not sure about using guitar distortion pedals for it, but I know people who do it and it sounds alright.


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## skeletor88 (Jul 6, 2012)

Ocara-Jacob said:


> I've always found that the best bass overdrive tones are actually a clean bass tone mixed in with a distorted tone. Not sure about using guitar distortion pedals for it, but I know people who do it and it sounds alright.



+1 for this

Go for a really clean, scooped, bright tone (the kind you would use for a punchy slap sound) then blend it with a distorted tone. I use stuff like my pod X3 pro/pod farm where you can use 2 amps to achieve this sound. I literally use a guitar amp for my OD tone in that situation. Experiment with different applications of gain and unorthodox eq'ing on your distorted sound to make it work around your initial clean tone.


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## Adrenaline (Jul 7, 2012)

I patched a clean with low mids to really get the chunk into it. After that I used a grunge distortion and it sounded badass together. Im going to record for the first time with a pod coming up in a month or two and kinda excited for the amount of things I can try.


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## TRENCHLORD (Jul 7, 2012)

Have you ever tried an OD808? I was watching a Dark Tranquility DVD (in studio for We Are The Void) and they were tracking bass guitar through it.


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## Powermetalbass (Jul 7, 2012)

Try the Pork Loin by Way Huge (Dunlop). It's a soft clip injection, not really an overdrive pedal but gives a little boost. could also try the Chubby Pickle by Wayhuge for true "Overdrive".


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## BucketheadRules (Jul 8, 2012)

I tried the ODB-3 in a shop and was very disappointed by it.

I have yet to try a VT Bass but I REALLY want to - based on the sound clips I've heard, it should basically do everything I want and then some. This video is really great, shows it off extremely well - with some fantastic playing:



I have no experience with Palmer stuff, but this sounds pretty good too:

Palmer PEBUT Overdrive - Thomann UK Cyberstore


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## theo (Jul 8, 2012)

Look into darkglass dude


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## BucketheadRules (Jul 8, 2012)

theo said:


> Look into darkglass dude



This too.

As used recently by Alex Webster.

Probably even more expensive than the Tech 21 though.


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## Djdnxgdj3983jrjd8udb3bcns (Jul 8, 2012)

I have a similar problem with hating on bass distortion. If you have to do it, I'd recommend fairly, but not wholly scooped clean on one channel, and on the other a bucketload of low mids that are dirty and limited everything else. That way, you don't get mud from the lows being overdriven, you don't get that awful fizzy noise that accompanies bass when the high end is distorted, and you get a nice fat defined tone with a lovely rumble going on throughout.


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## TemjinStrife (Jul 8, 2012)

Tech 21 BDDI or VT Bass. Seriously. The Darkglass is nice, but it's pricey and not *that* much better than the Tech 21 stuff, especially if it's not your primary instrument.

Here's me using one for a good amount of punch, grind, and "clang."


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## Murmel (Jul 8, 2012)

The Tech 21s are amazing. I'll never regret getting mine, it can make pretty much any shitty amp sound good. I only have the VT Bass Character pedal, but the Bass Driver is awesome, and better suited for use as a boost or distortion.


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## MaxOfMetal (Jul 8, 2012)

Take a look at the MXR M-80.


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## Ocara-Jacob (Jul 8, 2012)

I know I already posted in this thread, but what the hec. 
I personally use a Line 6 LowDown HD400 for my awesome bass tone. The Grind model is actually a clean tone mixed with a dirty tone. It's more noticeable when playing chords than single notes, but it is much punchier than an overdriven bass tone without that clean clear tone. Just sayin', what I use works. For me. The Rock channel on that amp is awesome as well


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## Mwoit (Jul 8, 2012)

I have a B7K, and it's disgusting. (In a good way, of course.)


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## godhead3 (Jul 8, 2012)

i love my darkglass b3k


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## carcass (Jul 11, 2012)

Try Behringer BDI21, it is very cheap and soundwise, it is very similar to Sansamp BDDI, but costs few bucks, here is some video:

SansAmp Bass Driver DI vs Behringer V-tone BDI 21 - YouTube


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## All_¥our_Bass (Jul 11, 2012)

Try looking for pedals with a clean blend option or get a splitter, and a blender in addition to your dirt.


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## DavidLopezJr (Jul 11, 2012)

Here is the quote from Karnivool's bass player on how he got those tones.

"The bass sound on Simple Boy was combination of I think either the ODB-3 boss overdrive or XXL Tech 21 pedal through an ampeg rig with the valve being driven and then combined with the DI being distorted by Amplitude 1 plugin, live I just use the XXL through Ashdown ABM500/Ashdown fridge in combination with an Aguilar Tonehammer through an Ashdown/Ampeg fridge at the same time. The Aguilar is supposed to emulate the distorted DI tone I had on recording so it has lots of the bass pulled out and sounds kinda horrible by itself. Adds colour to mid range live though.

Goliath was a bit different, it was a combination of ODB3 and a pedal called the Black Stone, which is made in NY and is very small. That was then put through both an Ashdown ABM 500/Ashdown fridge and an Ampeg SVT-2pro/Ampeg Fridge (mind you the studio we did this in had a vintage 70's Ampeg cabinet so it sounded huge. Actually tracked that at same time as drums, so it was a bass/drums live recording. Did same with Deadman in that studio. All else were tracked elsewhere at another studio."


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## HotelEcho (Jul 15, 2012)

DavidLopezJr said:


> Here is the quote from Karnivool's bass player on how he got those tones.
> 
> "The bass sound on Simple Boy was combination of I think either the ODB-3 boss overdrive or XXL Tech 21 pedal through an ampeg rig with the valve being driven and then combined with the DI being distorted by Amplitude 1 plugin, live I just use the XXL through Ashdown ABM500/Ashdown fridge in combination with an Aguilar Tonehammer through an Ashdown/Ampeg fridge at the same time. The Aguilar is supposed to emulate the distorted DI tone I had on recording so it has lots of the bass pulled out and sounds kinda horrible by itself. Adds colour to mid range live though.
> 
> Goliath was a bit different, it was a combination of ODB3 and a pedal called the Black Stone, which is made in NY and is very small. That was then put through both an Ashdown ABM 500/Ashdown fridge and an Ampeg SVT-2pro/Ampeg Fridge (mind you the studio we did this in had a vintage 70's Ampeg cabinet so it sounded huge. Actually tracked that at same time as drums, so it was a bass/drums live recording. Did same with Deadman in that studio. All else were tracked elsewhere at another studio."



I read this stuff and I just think, "what's the point?" 

I mean, his bass tone is amazing - but using a completely different setup for two songs on the same album with very similar sounds? The man's crazy.


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## xchristopherx (Aug 4, 2012)

I have actually always liked the ODB3 more than anything else. But the trick was always cranking the distortion, but having the blend super low. So it was 95% clean with a 5% distorted bite on top. Also, kill the highs on it. Your Lows are where you want the distortion. When I was playing all five strings this made my rig sound enormous. And depending on the room I would tweak the highs to get more or less bite in our mix. The Odb always gave me really thick saturation and brought my rig to the forefront.


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## DavidLopezJr (Aug 4, 2012)

HotelEcho said:


> I read this stuff and I just think, "what's the point?"
> 
> I mean, his bass tone is amazing - but using a completely different setup for two songs on the same album with very similar sounds? The man's crazy.


Welcome to a non-metal viewpoint of tones  Those tones while similar but different enough that to me I would had done the same thing.


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## xxvicarious (Aug 14, 2012)

.......... I wanna know how John Campbell gets his bass tone.
Sicker than a basket full of cancerous puppies.


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## dax21 (Aug 14, 2012)

Jackson basses (he has a sig model with EMGs, 35dc in bridge and P in the neck) and Mesa 400+ cranked loud as fuck. He also used Sansamp RBI on albums which is rackmount version of BDDI, not sure about live. Though I am fairly sure that Mesa alone can get you in that grindy as fuck territory easily.

Also, play with a pick as near to the bridge as possible and palm mute everything. There.


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## DarkRain93 (Aug 15, 2012)

some guitar distortion pedals work well with bass. Not all of course. You looking for an amp like Overdrive tone?


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