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Honestly for me this is top of the list. Can’t find anything to beat it unless I fire up an actual all tube amp(which can beat it, but not for portability).
if course it depends on what you like.
Do you know what "Ice 9" is? I know that's an old pedal because they're quoting Kurt Vonnegut. I think it was around 1972 we were talking about Ice 9. Back to the disscussion about the quest for the holy grail
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Yeah read up on the history … but also refers to a track by Satriani on one of his albums
a doomsday weapon. A molecule of frozen water that teaches all other water molecules in contact to freeze like a crystal, eventually freezing all the water in the world. Mr Satriani is in the generation that read Vonnegut. It's very easy and fun reading. Someone must have made a Chronosynclastic-Infidibula delay.
I was clued to the VOX ice 9 by another bassist, he called it his “secret weapon”, don’t know about that, but I really like it.
My favorites:
Walrus 385 mkii - Full range tube based drive with 4 gain stages. Has unique breakup sound. Great if you want a slightly distorted tone that you can hear the breakup in mix.
Vintage Microtubes - I really enjoy how this pedal helps cut through mix via wide mid boost. Breakup not very audible in a mix.
Spaceman Saturn VI - Like the VMT it’s more of an eq mid boost than a distortion drive. Not much break up at all
Walrus 385 mkii - Full range tube based drive with 4 gain stages. Has unique breakup sound. Great if you want a slightly distorted tone that you can hear the breakup in mix.
Vintage Microtubes - I really enjoy how this pedal helps cut through mix via wide mid boost. Breakup not very audible in a mix.
Spaceman Saturn VI - Like the VMT it’s more of an eq mid boost than a distortion drive. Not much break up at all
My 'tone sweetener' of choice, dialed in for a subtle bit of 'grid'.
Throwing my cards in for the Genzler 4 on the Floor as the best fit for me. I've tried so many ODs its not funny, the dealbreaker for me was always the distortion in the low end - I want overdrive, not fuzz( to me, distortion is very different than OD). At first when I tried it, I was not impressed, but then I read Genzler's instructions carefully and have finally found what I am looking for. Their key is that the distortion path goes through a high pass filter (hpf) and low pass filter (lpf), then you can dial in distortion and clean to get the sound that you want. Each has a separate volume control, and the hpf and lpf only affect the drive signal. So I set the hpf at about 100 hz, and set the drive volume at about 1 o'clock and the clean about 12 o'clock - this meant that I could get OD breakup without fuzztones in the lower register, since I set the hpf to filter out anything below 100 hz (or whatever I wanted). I t works amazingly well - can even dial in a fair amount of distortion without getting "fuzz bass", which I hate. Kudos to Genzler.
I rotate between a BJFe Blueberry ,Dark glass Vintage 1st version ,Dirty Little Secret set on Super Bass ,and a Boss SD-1.
I like to emulate Ampeg amps through the 60s and 70s
I like to emulate Ampeg amps through the 60s and 70s
Someone earlier stated it but I'll sum it up with YMMV.
Over the past 15-20 years I've most likely played just about every bass overdrive / distortion out there and prob half of the guitar pedals as well. Originally I was playing Passive Jazz Basses and now I'm playing Active Spector Euros. The things I learned over the years:
1. The pedals that were my Holy Grail for my Passive Jazzes mostly are trash for my Active Euros
2. The pedals that get so much acclaim here on TB NEVER live up to the hype IMO
3. People's opinions of what good OD is vary beyond belief
Having said all of the above FWIW, the only pedals that I have found to be consistently excellent for MY needs:
1. Low Gain/Warm to mid gain: Greer Amps Lightspeed
2. Mid Gain: Darkglass B3K and Hamstead Subspace
3. Honorable mention: Emerson Paramount
4. CAL Grizzly and Holy Fire
Best of Luck.....Looking forward to seeing if anyone mentions anything that I haven't tried yet!
Over the past 15-20 years I've most likely played just about every bass overdrive / distortion out there and prob half of the guitar pedals as well. Originally I was playing Passive Jazz Basses and now I'm playing Active Spector Euros. The things I learned over the years:
1. The pedals that were my Holy Grail for my Passive Jazzes mostly are trash for my Active Euros
2. The pedals that get so much acclaim here on TB NEVER live up to the hype IMO
3. People's opinions of what good OD is vary beyond belief
Having said all of the above FWIW, the only pedals that I have found to be consistently excellent for MY needs:
1. Low Gain/Warm to mid gain: Greer Amps Lightspeed
2. Mid Gain: Darkglass B3K and Hamstead Subspace
3. Honorable mention: Emerson Paramount
4. CAL Grizzly and Holy Fire
Best of Luck.....Looking forward to seeing if anyone mentions anything that I haven't tried yet!
This didn't last long. I went back to the SA Multiwave because it's easier to dial in. And I just got a Damnation Audio MBD3, which is probably the best bass dirt pedal I've ever played.