Uncompressed Tubey Mild Transparent OD?

[donahue]

My first "which pedal" thread. What is your favorite mild overdrive pedal that is not compressed at all, not scooped, not a distortion or fuzz, is fairly to very transparent, and adds a nice amount of thick tubey, mild od goodness? Am I looking for a Fairfield Barbershop? Idk? Please suggest your favorite mild od and why please. I would like to get my hands on a real keeper od pedal. I have plenty of distortion and fuzz but want an awesome mild not wild overdrive. Thanks

 

[Beheroth]

something klon based ?

 

[JES]

I like the Xotic BB.

 

[GMC]

The standard Klon circuit has a lot of bass cut in the circuit design, but there are a few Bass friendly Klon clones out there. The Fairfield Barbershop is the most transparent and easily sourced that comes to mind. The Source Audio Aftershock has a very transparent overdrive (Smooth Tube) model if you don't mind going digital. It's the only pedal in 4 years that's actually kicked my Barbershop off my board.

 

[Orion1985]

I use the Wampler Tumnus (Klon based) and it seems like it would fit the bill for what you are asking. I don’t know how it compares to other Klon based pedals but I think it retains the bass just fine. It accentuates the mids in my opinion, I could see how some could perceive it as a bass cut but I hear it more as a little more mids. Give it a try if you can.

 

[Nunovsky]

The Aguilar Tone Hammer with agro on with low gain gets a really great tubey sound and the eq is really versatile. I also like the way that the Ss/Bs Mini sounds at low gain settings, it's very touch sensitive and it breaks up really well if you attack the strings harder.
I'm also curious about the new tube pedal from TC Electronics. They say it's very transparent but it's still early to get a review.

 

[Crazy Otto]

The Barbershop does exactly what you're looking for, as do the Grizzly and TC Spark. Of those three, the Grizzly is the most versatile, should you ever need a little more dirt in your tone.

 

[Roy Royerson]

tech 21 VT bass, BDDI, Para Driver and other tech 21 stuff is good. A blend knob on any drive pedal is Key for me to get the kind of tone you described. Of course all overdrive is at least a little compressed by nature but blending in the dry signal helps keep the dynamics and natural uncompressed bass sound. I also have had good success with many pedals having the gain knob turned way down getting a pretty clean sound, and then getting some overdrive when I really dig into the string. Hope any of that is helpful.

 

[grillman]

The Lazy J Cruiser is my favorite. The only thing annoying about this pedal is its price.

 

[navijaz]

Hey, I don't mean to be a hair splitter here, but "tubey" usually means slightly compressed and mid heavy.

I have and like the Darkglass Vintage Ultra, by the way. It is very versatile but I use it only as a clean preamp or to get some very mild OD. Might be what you're looking for.

 

[bassbrad]

EHX Hot Tubes with the tone bypassed with the gain very low.
ART Tube MP.

 

[moishelichtfuss]

Although I recently played around with a Hudson Electronics Broadcast, I think I'll go back to my Rawkworks Light OD for mild OD, which is...as far as I know...also basically a Klon clone.

 

[cnltb]

Uncompressed Tubey Mild Transparent OD?
Unpossible, as far s I was told.

 

[Crazy Otto]

Uncompressed Tubey Mild Transparent OD?
Unpossible, as far s I was told.

That's true, any OD will compress a little bit

 

[cnltb]

That's true, any OD will compress a little bit

That said...
I too would vote Barbershop.

 

[Ric5]

My first "which pedal" thread. What is your favorite mild overdrive pedal that is not compressed at all, not scooped, not a distortion or fuzz, is fairly to very transparent, and adds a nice amount of thick tubey, mild od goodness? Am I looking for a Fairfield Barbershop? Idk? Please suggest your favorite mild od and why please. I would like to get my hands on a real keeper od pedal. I have plenty of distortion and fuzz but want an awesome mild not wild overdrive. Thanks

 

[mmbongo]

Definitely not a Barbershop. Too farty and 'sharp peircing distortion' sounding.

Check out Creation Audio Grizzly, Solid gold Beta, and TC Spark.

 

[The Diaper Geni]

That's true, any OD will compress a little bit

This was my understanding, too.

Tone Hammer DI with the Gain set looowwww.

 

[NKBassman]

Barbershop adds some mild compression, but in a very pleasing way.

The Broughton Terraformer recently kicked the Barbershop off my board. 3-Band EQ and Blend make it very easy to dial in just the right amount of grit. Has some pleasant compression at 9V, but that goes away if you run it at higher voltages.

 

[The Diaper Geni]

And I just got a Beelzebub Tube Boost recently.

Want tube tone? Get a real tube!