NPD - (Don't Hate me But...) - Grizzly Bass

96Brigadier

96Brigadier

Apr 23, 2015
466
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Canada
#1
Alrighty, not trying to get into a debate on OD/Distortion pedals.. in particular because I have little experience with pedals in general and therefore have little ability to comment. This is just my VERY LIMITED experience.

So, I've been trying to find an OD through distortion tone that I like, without buying a crap ton of pedals and having to return them or sell them. Up here in the Great White North it's been virtually impossible for me to find pedals to try in person other than the mainstream ones. That limits me to Youtube and Talkbass.

I started out with a distortion pedal because I was hoping it would give me a range of subtle OD through full on distortion, with that pedal being an MXR M85 Bass Distortion, mostly because the local L&M had it in stock. It's a nice pedal, but I find the distortion gets very very honky with my active basses. It certainly hasn't been subtle in my experience (again, keep in mind I have little experience with pedals so this could entirely be user error). I also tried the new Boss BB-1X but returned it after not getting "that tone".

After a bunch of research I landed on trying the Grizzly Bass. From what I read online and from the Youtube videos it appeared to be able to handle hot active basses like my Bongo, and have subtle OD to full on distortion. It also appeared to me to be able to cut out a lot of the honk that I get with the MXR and also got with the BB-1X with active basses. (again, not suggesting that wasn't user error, just my experience)

So, the Grizzly Bass arrived on Monday, and I love it. I've tried it with my passive Jazz bass and my Bongo, and can get really nice tones out of both that range from tone shaping with no OD to subtle OD to lots of OD to full distortion. I can pretty easily cut out the honk that I get on my Bongo with full distortion. Maybe there are better pedals out there for my application, but based upon my limited experience I'm pretty damn happy with this buy, even with the cost up here.

GrizzlyBass.jpg
 
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#2
That tears it...I hate you!

:D

Heh...glad you found a pedal you can relate to! Finding distortion that you like is a very personal journey, and a pedal you flip over could be one that someone else dislikes intensely and vice versa. My only advice is that when you find one you like, don't flip it in order to buy the next new greatest distortion pedal ever like most of these whackos in here!
 
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#5
Rat clones generally add a lot of mids to the mix and Muffs generally cut a lot of mids but at different frequencies. Neither is transparent in that regard...but can sound amazing if that's the EQ you like. The MXR Bass distortion is a Rat clone / variant and is a great example of that type of pedal. The Grizzly is a circuit design that I'm not familiar with (although I am aware of it as a product). A swollen Pickle (for instance) is a Muff variant.
One of the reasons some bassists look for transparent overdrives is that our last pedal in our chain is usually a big EQ and we then dial in the EQ to our tastes and not that of a pedal designer. This opens us up to a more versatile OD...and a lot more tonal options / applications. It separates the quality or flavor of a pedal's grit from the baked in EQ.
 
#7
LOVE the Grizzly.

I'm a huge fan of tonal variety, and love colored ODs such as the SansAmp Bass Driver and the Darkglass products, but when I wanted a transparent OD that worked with my hot active basses as well as my passives, I got the Grizzly and stopped looking. I have no trouble dialing in the gentlest barely-on OD with my hottest actives. On top of that, I can use the hi cut and mid cut controls to give my modern actives a vintage tone -- but only when I want to. The EQ can be set essentially flat to deliver overdrive without altering my tone.
 
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