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Getting a good tone for fuzz bass


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to my knowledge the bassist in muse uses a big muff pi

i have been trying to find a good fuzzy bass sound too lately

the proco rat is quite nice on bass, not exactly the sound i am trying to find myself, but the best out of the pedals i have, and definately worth a try at least (i have tried a high quality fuzz face clone, zvex fuzz factory, rat, marshall amp)

i am intending making a fuzz pedal sometime, so i will see how well that works on bass

if you can afford it, the zvex wooly mammoth looks awesome, only problems being the price (200 odd i think) and the lack of an led (which should be fixed soetime soon)

one thing i would like to try is something to put half the signal through the fuzz, but leave half of it clean, so you get both the nice fuzzy sound, but also the clear defined clean sound, another diy plan for the future...

David

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the pod alone can make quite nice fuzzy sounds, just play with the different amp simulators, not the fuzz one. for example, here's a preset i have for a nice distorted bass (apologies if you don't have some of the knobs, i have a pod pro rack thingy):

Amp: Rectified

Drive: 8.30pm

Bass: 1pm

Middle: 11.30pm

Treble: 12pm

Effect: Compressor

Effect Tweak: 12pm

all the times represent the position of the knobs, so 12pm would be bang centre (sorry i'm simple like that).

just play with the drive, bass, middle and treble knobs and see what you come up with. i've also had a lot of success with the tube pre amp simulator setting.

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I know it's pretty obvious, but the Boss ODB isn't a bad way to go either - you have a blend control to mix the clean and distorted sound, and if you put the gain up high but blend in only 5% of the distorted sound, you get a defined fuzz sound without the bottom end vanishing.

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Chris (Muse Bassist) uses clean bass from amp 1, Microsynth (square wave setting) and a bit of fuzz. then just mixed together in amp 2. recording it, Take the clean Amp mic ch 1, DI into the FX into Ch 2 the FX can have the bottom rolled off to stop it altering the clean bass, The fx is blended in to the clean until you have the right sound..

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Chris (Muse Bassist) uses clean bass from amp 1' date=' Microsynth (square wave setting) and a bit of fuzz. then just mixed together in amp 2. recording it, Take the clean Amp mic ch 1, DI into the FX into Ch 2 the FX can have the bottom rolled off to stop it altering the clean bass, The fx is blended in to the clean until you have the right sound..[/quote']

I've always meant to experiment with a x-over, put fx on the high but keep the low clean. It might work, it might not.

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I know splitting the signal and distorting one feed works' date=' I'm just not sure if splitting it with a x-over would give satisfactory results, mainly because I've never seen anyone else do it yet, which makes me wonder why not.[/quote']

i think the bass would be the wrong levels for it, as crossovers are used in pa's, so will work on at least line level, so you would want something boosting it beforehand at least

for an electronics project at school i was making a pedal that used filters and so on to put a fuzz on only the treble side fo the signal and leave the bass clean (designed for guitar frequencys, though that could be changed)

i really need to get around to redoing that, as my first attemp at building it failed...

David

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Why not try your pedal into an Amp and then mic the amp. Thus by passing any digital devicies. Mic the speaker and maybe mix in some clean DI as well. That way you are using a real amp and it should sound better.

That works as well, although I'm not sure which digital devices you're by-passing and where anyone suggested not using an amp.

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Prob. should have quoted. I was replying the very first post where he lists what he is using just now. I though using a real speaker cab + mic would be better as it takes off a lot of horrid frequencies that using distortion pedals directly can cause. Apprently the speaker takes out some of the highs the pedal will produce and makes it a more appealing sound.

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I used to use the following setup:

Bass ->Tuner ->Big Muff-> ProCo Turbo Rat -> Marshall Guvnor -> Pitchshifter -> Delay -> Digital Wah -> Flanger -> American Route 66 (Compressor & Overdrive) -> AMP

I also briefly used a LIne 6 Distortion Modulator in with that between the Guvnor and the Pitchshifter.

Really cool for recreating a Superfuzz or a Tubescreamer.

Use a compressor. I blew an amp in Lava one night the day after I got it.

I think i still have most of these pedals.

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Bass ->Tuner ->Big Muff-> ProCo Turbo Rat -> Marshall Guvnor -> Pitchshifter -> Delay -> Digital Wah -> Flanger -> American Route 66 (Compressor & Overdrive) -> AMP

I think i still have most of these pedals.

you interested in selling any of them on cheap to a loving new home?

/x

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  • 1 month later...

Fuzz Bass

You can get a great fuzz bass thing by one of two methods:

1: Fiddling about with a Bass Pod XT for a while (the POD v2s just don't do the business). Not absolutely ideal, but convenient if you don't have your own soundman that does all of your gigs

or (preferably):

2: Split your signal through a DI. Send the balanced output straight into the desk, bung wads of compression and bass boost on it, try and lose all the detail, make it 'whoomphy'. send the unbalanced output to your big muff on 'the too trebly setting' and then into an amp( doesn't have to be a bass amp, feel free to use a guitar amp), and fiddle with the sound until it sounds nothing like a bass and everything like a fuzzy guitar. mic this up, with a condenser if possible, to get all the sizzle, then mix these signals together to your liking, with the DI panned centre and the mic'd amp panned to the opposite side of the rhythm guitar, and hey presto! Just remember to hit the strings with the plectrum, don't tickle them, or you'll never get the full benefit of this marvelous fuzzy woomp! I guess you could always print an abridged version of these instructions and give them to soundmen if you think they'll listen(shout, though - most of them are pretty deaf!)

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