Bass Fuzz

Griffen · Post by **Griffen** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 7:18 pm

Hey, what fuzz pedal do you prefer with bass?

Gandalf · Post by **Gandalf** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 7:24 pm

Big Muff, Wooly Mammoth, SansAmp Bassdriver, Blue Box.

Post by **Doog** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 7:26 pm

From what I hear of the Wooly Mammoth, it's great- my ideal bass fuzz. Tight and grinding as fook.

Post by **Mike** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 7:29 pm

And the Mammoth retains bass, as does the SansAmp. The muff and the blue box tend to rob your low end when engaged.

Heavium is the expert on this stuff.

Gandalf · Post by **Gandalf** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 7:32 pm

Mike wrote:And the Mammoth retains bass, as does the SansAmp. The muff and the blue box tend to rob your low end when engaged.

Yes, the muff is my least favourite with bass, but I loved the blue box. It was better than it with guitar.

Post by **Doog** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 7:43 pm

The NYC Big Muff Pi is okay with very low tone and fuzz settings, but there's still a dropout of low end- obviously because it's a guitar pedal, not a bass one.

aen · Post by **aen** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 8:01 pm

Mike wrote:And the Mammoth retains bass, as does the SansAmp. The muff and the blue box tend to rob your low end when engaged.

Heavium is the expert on this stuff.

Blue box sux for bass, wicked amount of bass cut. Behringer's Vintage Distortion (Muff clone) is awesome for bass, and doesn't steal your rumblies.

kim · Post by **kim** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 8:10 pm

hm...it kind of depends on how fuzzy you want to make it or wether you just want a heavy overdrive..

over the top synthy fuzz i'd say ..woolly mammoth if you've got the money..
for a mellow warm fuzz with tons of low end: fulltone bass drive
i didn't like the fulltone because it wasn't really the sound i was after, sounded very good, but it didn 't make me feel like 'yes, that's what i'm after'
for a while i used an ehx big muff for 'fuzzy' sounds but, for me, it didn't keep enough definition, used it in combination with a boss bass overdrive and that way i could dial in a bit more treble/brightness tho
a blue box can be great on bass, you can get some very synthy sounds out of it with the right settings, i removed the c11 cap and in my opinion the volume drop isn't so bad anymore now, but i use it with a clean blend for the same reason as the big muff: lack of definition
there's a bass fuzz by colorsound called the 'tonebender'.. i was told it's just a glorified big muff with more mids... i never got to try it tho..

the big muff's no longer on my bass pedalboard but the blue box is, i only use it for higher region solos with a clean blend.

then the sansamp bass driver DI... well.. i can understand it's a love or hate-thing...but ever since i put it on my board ..well..i never really WANT to turn it off... it's not a fuzz tho..it can't give you the over the top sound of a big muff or something, and def not that of the woolly mammoth, the sansamp is a preamp that emulates tube overdrive..but it can still sound pretty nasty with max overdrive..and i love it..it can give you a very good clean boost, light overdrive and heavy overdrive, has lots of bite and growl but with the right settings you can get a vintagy tube overdrive too.
for the extra 20 euros you have three channels on the programmable one compared to the non programmable one, so i got the three-channel one.
there's a soundclip of it somewhere in an older thread.. a line-selector thread i think..i'll dig it up.

/edit: http://www.mediafire.com/?chwze3wunda

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 9:18 pm

Anything square-wave.

kim · Post by **kim** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 9:22 pm

..when you want a synth-like fuzz yes..

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 9:24 pm

kim · Post by **kim** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 10:14 pm

kinda

but

not really

why

bother

to post long replies ?

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 10:16 pm

theshadowofseattle wrote:Anything square-wave.

Griffen · Post by **Griffen** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 12:31 am

Thanks alot.
Have you tried the Ampeg fuzz box, Heavium?
I've been wanting to try it, and I figured since ampeg is mostly a bass-equipment company it might be good for bass. But thanks for all your info, it really helps.

aen · Post by **aen** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:08 am

aen wrote: Behringer's Vintage Distortion (Muff clone)

kim · Post by **kim** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 11:20 am

those ampeg scramblers are pretty exspensive (the reissues, the original ones go for like 1000euros on the bay, wtf ?)

i always wanted to test one but never found a store that had it in stock..it can give you an octave up on top of a fuzz too... that sounds pretty interesting since most octave pedals give you an octave or two octaves down..with an octave up you can do some pretty cool stuff on bass without making it too muddy (octaves down)

i found some samples at talkbass, here's the link to the topic:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=325270

i like some of the samples.. a lot of them remind me of things like Boris, Electric Wizard and other doom/sludge/drone etc, also thought about lightning bolt with the octave up (he uses an oc-2 i think), it sounds spretty dark, a little bit like a big muff but with more definition i think... i can imagine using it for 'regular' rock too

if i'd see one secondhand for less than 200 i wouldn't hesitate, but i could never spend 300 on this box...plus ..i guess they also take up quite a lot of space and weigh a ton

Griffen · Post by **Griffen** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 10:14 pm

Thanks, it means alot to me. I just recently made the switch over to playin mostly bass, and i've been trying to find soundclips of that ampeg fuzz because i had a feeling it would sound right. And it sounds exactly like the kind of tone i want. Especially that last clip, shows the pedal can make some real noise if you set the knobs up.

roachello · Post by **roachello** » Sat May 05, 2007 11:15 am

The Ultimate Bass Fuzz: Wooly Mammoth!!

Until my boyfriend stole it to use on his guitar and swapped it with this:

Fuzz Factory: Christ approved!

It actually sounds pretty badass on the bass even though its for guitars. Much harder than the wooly mammoth, less of the lows but more distortion.

Post by **Doog** » Sat May 05, 2007 11:19 am

Hey Roachello, welcome to the board! I edited your post since the forum doesn't use standard HTML codes, hope ye don't mind.

Sublimedo · Post by **Sublimedo** » Sat May 05, 2007 11:40 am

The Wooly Mammoth works great on guitars also. Adds a lot of low end to make it a thick thick fuzz that the Fuzz Factory can't cover.

Fuzz factory always rules, but it works awesomely for bass. I'm not into muse but i guess they use it on thier bass alot. Tight compressed fuzz, crazy octave stuff on the high strings, it basically gives a synth-like quality. The oscillation when a notes not playing is really fun to play with and makes way for some creative shit.

thats why i stole her woolly and gave her my FF.

Bass Fuzz

Bass Fuzz

Sublimedo stole my Wooly Mammoth