A nice Fuzz that works on Bass VI and on Jag/JM?

[kgbAttack]

Hi guys,

I am re-doing my pedalboard and I am looking at reducing the number of pedals I have - in my band I play as bassist with my Bass VI and I'd like something that works well on both bass VI and guitars.

A friend of mine showed me his germanium fuzz and how he uses it to produce many sounds using the volume pot. He uses that on a slightly cranked up amp with a boost for leads and essentially that's all he needs. I could do this when I play my guitars, as I have a gain knob on both channels - but with the bass amp I use for rehearsal has no gain knob therefore I would need to keep an OD (or my Keeley DS-1) at the edge of breaking up.

Has anyone tried a nice versatile fuzz that cleans up at low volumes and that could give me, with the addition of a compressor and a booster, vintage to modern sounds?

When I play guitar, my sound of reference is post-rock/grungy/alternative stuff (mostly Radiohead, Pearl Jam, Mogwai, Smashing Pumpkins) but I do not need to go into super high-gain territories as my Mesa's second channel can get pretty heavy.

For my bass I have no reference in mind, as long as the fuzz sounds good and not too shrill I'd be ok.

At the moment I have in mind the Keeley Fuzz Head - I've noticed the Fuzz Factory is also germanium based, though I am afraid it's too crazy.

Right now I have: HBE Dos Mos, Turbo Rat, Keeley DS-1, TS808 and a Micro Amp: I'd be happy to keep two of these, buy a fuzz and sell the rest.

[s_mcsleazy]

meleko b assmaster

[kgbAttack]

meleko b assmaster

Nice, thanks - though it's pretty expensive, big and kind of whacky. Would you think it works well on a guitar as main distortion?

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

DBA Fuzz War, or a clone of it (I'm selling a clone of Thee Fuzz Warr Overload atm 'cause I purchased one of the last Super Fuzz War units available in Europe) their Fuzz Channel sounds really almost identical. And it sounds killer on Bass as it does with guitar and stacked with other Fuzzes/ODs...

Or a Tonebender variant. Got a Blackouteffector Fuzzbear (first version, the one Andy demoed 3 or 4 years back)
Cleans out really well - but also does some crazy stuff with the "right" Bias and Sag settings... so maybe a more straight forward version of it.

Also a KMA fuzzly bear (all those confusing name) could also do the trick!
I don't own one but two friends do... great as it has both sizzling trebly and the thunderous bassy fuzz sounds!

[Shadoweclipse13]

I've never tried the B:Assmaster, but I know a ton of people that use the green Russian EHX Big Muffs on bass and guitar. Great sound.

[fuzzjunkie]

A three knob Tone Bender.

A useful variant is the Earthquaker Devices Park Sound Fuzz. There is also a Rat/Tone Bender Hybrid called the Katzenkönig. Anything else would probably be boutique and have expensive hand wired Germanium components.

You can boost one of those with a Tube Screamer to get Muff gain levels. A Silicon version of this, the Jumbo Tone Bender is basically a Big Muff without a makeup gain stage and a slightly different tone stack, put a Tube Screamer as a boost in front and it sounds like an OpAmp Muff, without you can get vintage 60s tones.

[MechaBulletBill]

Lucifer Rising - tonebender built for doom and low-end. Fuzz War is a good shout too.

[scottydanger]

If you're into the muff sound, the deluxe has crazy tweakability and a bass boost switch. My Jag and VI both love it.

[s_mcsleazy]

meleko b assmaster

Nice, thanks - though it's pretty expensive, big and kind of whacky. Would you think it works well on a guitar as main distortion?

yeah, i had a clone of one for a bit that was pretty good. also, i recently repaired/modded a black russian muff and that's a great all rounder.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

If you're on a tight budget, you might want to consider some flavour of germanium fuzz face, or a clone thereof.

If you can afford to spend a bit more, the Fulltone Catalyst is quite a versatile pedal, covering everything from creamy fuzz to clean boost.

In my experience, both of these respond well to your guitar's volume pot.

[kgbAttack]

Thanks guys!!! I am digging the Park Fuzz actually! Hopefully I'll be able to put one on my pedalboard soon

[kgbAttack]

After a few weeks of thoughts and considerations, watching tons of videos and trying whatever I could find in the stores around here, I have finally bought the pedal I was looking for. I opted for the Chase Bliss Audio Brothers! This pedal has essentially become my only distortion pedal on my board (with the exception of the DOS MOS which I now use as clean boost.

What I love about the Brothers is its high versatility, due to the stackable A and B channels in various manners. Each channel sounds great, with the B channel able to deliver great fuzz tone which can clean up rather well. I do not have an expression pedal yet, but I can only imagine how great would it be to alter settings with an exp pedal.

The price point is high, but fortunately I found it second-hand on Reverb. I'm re-wiring my board, I'll post something up on the "effect setup" thread soon!

[jorri]

sometimes harder to find one to work with JM. I think bass VI just sounds cool regardless but i use both these and the following:

they are all DIY clones by the way, self-built but stock apart from a few switches:

superfuzz- for leads.
DBA fuzzwar-also cleans up well, i recorded with this and my guitar's volume dialed back and its a preferred 'breakup' sound. otherwise, its a big muff but scarier.
DAM meathead clone- i add EQ to this but i like how this works. its pretty close to a basic fuzzface
RAT- can't really go wrong with that! i use as an overdrive mostly, for trebly sounds. but you can dial up gain and back off the tone and its my 'normal' distortion sound with a bit of fuzzy compression. they essentially are overdrive>dist>fuzz

[dezb1]

Sovtek black russian muff.

[øøøøøøø]

The first thing I thought of reading your wish list was a green (important!) Russian Big Muff