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Fuzz sound fer Bass players

Hey hey hey GP gang!

I'm gearin' up (literally) fer the start of my new band which will entail sax, bass and drums only...

As the bass player, I really wanna killer fuzz sound ...something gnarly yet not makin' my bass sound too treble-ly...ya dig?

Also, if I go the pedal route, I needs something that will allow direct (aka un-effected) signal through in addition to the fuzzed out signal to my amp...gots to maintain a true-blue bass thump!

Any and all help/talk appreciated, 'natch

Tags: band, bass, fuzz, help, pedal, sound

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by The Branded on April 14, 2009 at 2:48pm: bass sounds good with a fuzz face; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by EEGAH! on April 14, 2009 at 7:15pm: I use a Maestro FuzzTone for bass. The only negative is that you may need to compensate and add some additional bass tone.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Wipeout! on April 14, 2009 at 8:44pm: Thanx Branded and EEGAH fer the advice...

Never used a Fuzz Face on a bass...intriguin', may try

Never gotta a chance to drive a Maestro FuzzTone (an original would be my cherry creme, baby)...

Both would lose the direct bass signal I need to maintain I imagine ...so keep 'em suggestions comin', kids; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by The Branded on April 14, 2009 at 11:39pm: Use the new blue fuzz face, its silicon transistors, much darker and a very bassy tone, you dont lose the bottom end, in fact it gives you more.

Wipeout! said:
Thanx Branded and EEGAH fer the advice...

Never used a Fuzz Face on a bass...intriguin', may try

Never gotta a chance to drive a Maestro FuzzTone (an original would be my cherry creme, baby)...

Both would lose the direct bass signal I need to maintain I imagine ...so keep 'em suggestions comin', kids; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by The Cavestompers! on April 15, 2009 at 7:42pm: If you're really into this take a look at - MXR Bass Innovations - try this one JIM DUNLOP MXR M182 El Grande Bass Fuzz or Big Muff Bass by Electro Harmonix, it should not lose your direct bass signal.

Wipeout! said:
Thanx Branded and EEGAH fer the advice...

Never used a Fuzz Face on a bass...intriguin', may try

Never gotta a chance to drive a Maestro FuzzTone (an original would be my cherry creme, baby)...

Both would lose the direct bass signal I need to maintain I imagine ...so keep 'em suggestions comin', kids; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by High Lord Mardy Pune on April 16, 2009 at 1:53am: Get a Bass Big Muff like The Cavestompers said. it's big and nasty.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by The Cavestompers! on April 16, 2009 at 5:51am: There are also some vintage bases with buil-in fuzz effect, for example Vox Astro 4(1967 made in England, i think the guy who owns it, got it on ebay, it travelled all the way from the owner in Mexico in non-assembled shape, and then he assembled it here on the spot) http://vintagerecords.narod.ru/BassVox.html here is a page about it(unfortunately in russian), http://vintagerecords.narod.ru/photoBassVoxAstro4.html - another photos and an audio sample of it's use in one of the songs by local r'n'b band Thunderbirds http://files.realmusic.ru/download/390205/thunderbirds_-_Bo_s_Fuzz_... We (The Cavestompers!) used a modern semi-acoustic bass Washburn AB-90(2humbuckers on it) which with some decent preamp and amps gave a natural light distorted fuzz sound, which we liked a lot. That's the story.

Wipeout! said:
Thanx Branded and EEGAH fer the advice...

Never used a Fuzz Face on a bass...intriguin', may try

Never gotta a chance to drive a Maestro FuzzTone (an original would be my cherry creme, baby)...

Both would lose the direct bass signal I need to maintain I imagine ...so keep 'em suggestions comin', kids; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Wipeout! on April 17, 2009 at 1:54pm: A-thank-ya to everyone fer the tips...that MXR M182 or Bass Big Muff...too many options...now I just gotta find one a these bad boys used or on the cheap.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Liquid Omar on April 21, 2009 at 8:56am: I think most fuzz pedals (at least the new ones) sounds too much stoner/grunge/metal and lacks bottom. What kind of amps did the bassplayers use in the 60´s? I guess they didn´t have pedals, just overdriven (is that a word?) amps. Also, from what I´ve heard the new Big Muff isn´t as good as the old ones. Here´s a guy showing off the new Big Muff with a terrible riff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeCAJQcgeTA&annotation_id=annota...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Simon on April 21, 2009 at 12:33pm: I'm with the idea of over driven amps... (though I've used big muffs for recording). Depending on how loud you are going to be, what kind of sound reinforcement there will be changes which amp is the most rockin' Best bang for the buck is a Supro Taurus, though Bassman 100's break up quick if you use the right cabinet, and if you have the money and need to get silly the original Ampeg SVT shit thumps and gets fuzzy.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Wipeout! on April 21, 2009 at 1:34pm: SNMC said:
I'm with the idea of over driven amps... (though I've used big muffs for recording). Depending on how loud you are going to be, what kind of sound reinforcement there will be changes which amp is the most rockin' Best bang for the buck is a Supro Taurus, though Bassman 100's break up quick if you use the right cabinet, and if you have the money and need to get silly the original Ampeg SVT shit thumps and gets fuzzy.

Thanks gang fer keepin' it comin' ...unfortunately I'm sold on my current amp set-up: a late 1960s(maybe very early 1970s) Sunn tube amp head runnin' a cheap-o Peavey full stack...most venues I can only "crank" it to 3 or 4 on the volume before ear drums split!! so I can't easily overdrive it all natural-like ....hence the need fer a pedal (much to my dismay as I loath bassists with pedal rigs)

AAhhhhhh! Wish I could just test out a bunch o' the above suggested pedals...& the search continues...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Wipeout! on June 9, 2009 at 7:36pm: UPDATE TIME:

So after all this discussin' I went with my wild hare and tapped a friend into buildin' me a bass fuzz pedal from scratch!

Haven't got it yet but he promises a sound between a Mosrite Fuzzrite and a Big Muff (esp. EQ'd fer bass 'natch)

Will report back once I get a chance to test drive the sucker...thanx again fer all the help and info, gang...; ▶ Reply to This