bass distortion shootout

[KaslarProductions]

digitech and boss make shit distortion to begin with. much less their bass versions. They are laughable. Thanks for the review/demo.. I'm getting the Markbass Distorsore and never looking back.

[SgtZaqq]

Sansamps and Behringer are real winners. Other pedals sound like sh*t.

[MadameMilluna]

learn how to play bass before make a video test about bass

[0Dargor0]

the sansamp and behringer are the best for me ... the drives are "less noisy" ... i imagine myself playing with my band with the other pedals ... my bandmates would kill me

[jacobcake]

Tech 21 kicks ass

[manchee3]

fuzz and active dont mix...sadly :(

[theillusionist6677]

am I the only here that thinks the digitech sounds fucking evil and awesome?

[paulloveslyd]

ewwwww that digitech thing is vile

[lionslicer9999]

@paulloveslyd because it's for guitar

[juffage2008tour]

they all sound like shit.

[audiogeekzine]

@juffage2008tour yup

[faithnoman]

@juffage2008tour Yeah - the treble and bass are boosted way too much on the Tech 21 pedal. It sounds a lot better with milder settings.

[Statik1482]

I've been using the ODB3 for a while now and I love it to death. I like the tone you got out of the behringer pedal.....I gotta check that one out. How much do they go for?

[d3210210]

In my opinion, the Old Dirty Bastard-3 wins hands down.

That's just me of course.

[EricfromWV]

Love the SansAmp <333 so dang expensive though :/

[WarlordKV]

I use ODB3 for years and I am very satisfied whit it.

That SansAmp thing sounds very nice.

I don't like the muff type distortions,

Behringer isn't bad.

Digitech just ate the low end with low maxed out. It makes bass sound too much like a guitar.

[16coreprocessor23]

what are you playing? :) i like

[brsrkr323]

i used to use an odb 3.... great pedal.. it lasted me ten years... boss is an awesome company... but now im using the rocktron zombie distortion... really cool for bass if you have a noise suppressor ...use the isp g-string noise reduction unit... sounds freakin great

[bluebass65]

Bought a Boss ODB3 today. Sounds killer. Just what I was looking for. Decided on this pedal based partially on this video. Thanks for posting this shootout. Rock on.

[ElectricBlueOil]

what about the ibanez phat-hed?

[DamienLeeBurton]

Sansamp is the best preamp/overdrivre/distortion for bass :)

[IntwatPapsmir]

Wow. A pedal "test" with each pedal set at completely different gain, eq, and effects levels than every other pedal in the test. Theeeere's a big fucking help to those people hoping to find the "right" pedal for them. Look everybody, it's simple: take YOUR bass to YOUR LOCAL music store and play pedals through the amp & cab that most closely resembles YOUR amp & cab, or even take your own amp if you're using a little combo setup. Then buy what sounds good to you in REAL LIFE, not a youtube vid.

[audiogeekzine]

@IntwatPapsmir hey Twat no reason to get your balls twisted over this.

Each pedal was set to the best distorted tone for that situation. There was no amp and cab involved.

I didn't make a video to try to help people choose a pedal to buy. I made a video because I wanted to make a video. Don't really give a shit if you like it or not.

I do agree going to a store and trying out stuff is the best way to do it, but that's not the point of the video.

[Lemming16]

@audiogeekzine Damn!, that was a beautiful comment

[JackCarver10]

I like the SansAmp most.

I want to find a drive / distortion similar to the bass drive on the album "Monotheist" by Celtic Frost... any idea?

[sXPhantomXs]

All have great quality song... for me the beringer is the best... good and super clear sound 

[StupidEarthlings]

The sansamp sounds best..(imo)..and strangely enough...followed by the behringer.

BUT..you should try the VT bass. That blows em all away.

;)

[kirbiak90ZX]

@StupidEarthlings is there i huge difference between the VT bass character series and the Sansamp bass driver?? im gonna get one of the two but cant figure out which one. whats better abt the VT bass???????

[bassespro04]

The one at 1:30 sounds blown. lol but its cool.

[jgsky]

behringer is not bad!

[4stringFanatico]

hahahahahahhahaa wow the behringer kinda suked, the big muff won, imo it just retained alllll of the tone, and didnt cut any bass out

[stonephone]

what di are you using?

[Pinstripedtie]

The Behringer sounded the best out of them all!! Go figure...

[emptythethrone]

sansamp sounds awesome

[Mightypaul]

I would say

#1 Big Muff

#2 Sansamp

#3 Boss

#4 Behringer

#5 Digitech

[werewolf12345666]

Yesterday I bought an Ibanez SR500 bass (like the one in this video) and when I connected it to my amp through BOSS ODB-3 (like the one used here as well) - the volume level turned very low, even when I turned all the knobs on the bass, pedal and amp on 10 simultaneously. Without the pedal - everything is just fine with the volume levels. Does anyone have any idea what the reason might be?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[audiogeekzine]

@werewolf12345666 sounds like a low battery

[Zkrudriverz]

you get the awesomezt sounds just by plugging your bass into a guitar amp

[nemakur]

I don't understand why do you need more than two bass distortions

[danielmistralbassist]

I like Tech 21, that sound almost vintage and worm like a Geedy Lee from Rush but isn't too agresive if you wonna more power. Is realy great with the Slapping and tapping

The ODB-3 is a tru Overdrive, is more agresive, you can hear the distortion signal with the dry signal and process the low range frequences. The only problem isn't TBP.

The Big Muff is a Fuzz Distortion, a very dirty sound, with out mid and hi range, doesn't work if you wonna play slap.

Bheringer an Digitech are the same.

[insaneYarche]

I thought that Digitech Metal Master is not for bass but it sounds great!

It is the exact sound I've been searching for!=)

[comet752]

METAL MASTER IS THE BEST!!! I have one i love it

[michael1400pizdec]

SansAmp is the shit!

[LouBass09]

I hate tone of the odb-3 is just an effekt where the overdrive signal gets added to the clean sound. i love my sansamp.

[yhtomitalmighty]

thanks for the vid man

[demoniacmilk]

Damn i like the beringer tone :P

[GreekAnimal1]

man,,, (audiogeekzine),, are these pedals the best of all distortion pedals...or there are better pedals in the same category(and price)...

[audiogeekzine]

@GreekAnimal1 There are a ton of options. These are just the ones I've collected over the years.

Go to your local store and try everything. Tech 21 makes some great effects for bass.

The bass you use also makes a huge difference.

For recording I always prefer to blend distortion with a clean sound.

[GnarCor]

I play in a punk/thrash band and used the odb-3 for the longest time. I play out of a peavey Mark IV out of an ampeg 8x10 and I had enough low end through the peavey to make it sound OKAY. But honestly it sounded like a bunch of rattling dimes, and I thought it was cool because I had a bunch of distortion. Lately I just play clean and I enjoy have a contributing tone rather than noise over my other guitars. I'm going to pick up a tech21 bass driver DI this week.

[freibierjohnny]

sansamp sounds best!

[astrozombie2099]

the first one!..rest were too much of a broken ttone like maxed tubes blah

[stevemend]

Sansamp's best feature is getting a biamp sound from single head/single cab rig-- And bass *ain't* guitar in case you haven't figured that out. Without the rest of the band rollin' its hard to tell what tones are gonna work.

[cougarcartel]

Hey guys. Bare in mind, you can do more with a sansamp than with the other pedals. But the best distortions always sound part of the tone. The cheaper ones like the boss sound like the sound is sitting apart from the guitar.

[Slipkyes]

My favorite out of these is the Sansamp, although you should try a Proco rat and an mxr, plus isn't their a muff specific for bass? That big muff and the metal master sound almost like lowtuned guitars haha and the bheringer doesn't sound too bad for the price, I have a behringer bass V-amp and can't get a decent overdrive sound out of it

[metalheadgreg13]

boss bass overdrive has better low end

[BazsiRamone]

Well, the thing is that the Sansamp pedal is quite expensive, and the Behringer pedal just has the same quality in sound, don't you guys think?

[audiogeekzine]

definitely not the same quality

[happyman3196]

how much does the sansamp and the metal master cost

[RadiumMetal]

@happyman3196 The SansAmp costs me $209.

[happyman3196]

why the hell does it cost so much?

[RadiumMetal]

@happyman3196 I don't know man. Learn by my mistakes and buy an MXR M80 if you need overdrive. It's $140 and you'll get a heavier, more refined distortion from it unlike the SansAmp. And btw, the metal master should be about $49, last time I checked on DigiTech's website.

[baronofbefoulment]

the mxr m80 and ibanez phathead are my favorite bass distortions. but the sansamp would be the best for this vid

[ithinkthatifiwritegg]

*_* I love the sound coming out of that sansamp

?ve noticed that you're using an active bass, there is no way I would get such a sound with my passive bass :-(

How could I boost the signal of my passive bass? Is it possible with a compressor (using the gain knob)?

[audiogeekzine]

I honestly hate the sound coming out of that bass with the Sansamp or really any of them.

I got a new bass since

[MattyFaces]

@audiogeekzine Could you demo the Behringer pedal as a whole with every setting. I'm really curious to how it sounds and if you would recomend it

[drowe77]

@ithinkthatifiwritegg Try Semore Duncan Quarter Pounder PU's. Still passive but much more boosted!

[RageicaNiels]

you should try them all at the same time ;)

BTW you should try the TC. Electronics Nova Drive. it is my all time favorite O.D./Dist. pedal. even though its made for guitar, it works perfect on bass.

[nidhawk818]

how much you expend on the digitech metal master

its really cool

[cruzalexsis17cbr600]

bheringer is good...

[jokersmile32]

cool shootout.

[PikaMarioMan]

kirbiak90zx.

U don't know nothing. all the rest sound dodgey becasues he's playing with a pick. If he were fingering like most bass players then the others wouldn't sound so overdriven

[SILENTBLISS520]

The Sansamp is the best. sell the all those pedals and buy a RBI

[guitar4life9]

why is everybody always hating on boss. i own the boss odb-3 and it's pretty good. ive tried the sans amp and i like it as well. maybe not as much as the boss though.

on of my favorites on bass is the boss md-2. and the mxr blowtorch. im a guitar player but when i play bass, the mxr blowtorch is my favorite!

[bingoturdhead]

id like to point out that a sansamp is not a distortion pedal it is ment to act as a valve emulater wich i own the rbi version and i cant live with out it but as far as distortion goes i use a ashdown hyper drive and it rips

[EuphorbusBTB]

Who's the BOSS?

[vintage514]

me i am the boss

[CodyGrey]

The Big Muff and the Sansamp win.

[kirbiak90ZX]

i like the Sansamp best cuz it doesn't take ur bass tone and shove it thru a diahrrea filter and make it sound like crap. The ultimate goal of any bass player should be to find the best TONE, all these other pedals totally destroy the integrity of the tone. maybe the behringer and sansamp but thats it for me Haha

[SooperPoopProduction]

I have a BOSS ODB and I am very happy with it, despite previous comments.

[ravenshadevox]

agreed! i rocked the boss odb for a couple of years until i stomped on it to hard and busted it. i miss that tone it was very good with a tubed head!

[ledzepfran]

El digitech parece que es una masa. Andaba dudando, pero me parece que me lo voy a comprar.

Gracias loco!!!

[larkvalle]

can i use a guitar pedal for a bass guitar? or it will have problems?

[palenoise]

You'll have problems

[ROONTANG]

@larkvalle

Other than a small loss of low end, you should be fine. Some guitar pedals work well with bass, others don't. Proof of this is that the Big Muff shown in this clip is a guitar pedal, there is a seperate one designed for bass. But they both work fine.

[lukebaumer]

I use a Tubescreamer with a blender to mix it with my dry tone, great clangy overdrive for punk bass

[rifat1984]

BOSS ODB is a big no no

Muffy if you neede heavy distortion

sansamp i like that kid faty overdriven sound....and the idea of imitates tube amp well it sound quite real!

thanks for your review fella!

[narcossintese]

The behringer is pretty cool. I´m surprised. But the sansamp is still the best hands down.

[zarigunn]

the muff tone chould be more at like 11 'o' clock or something

[cipshadow]

where do u get all this tabs to play ? cuz im a bass player n i want to play something else than excersices n the songs i already know

[Crossroads666666]

What song is he playing?

[Benji1138]

I use the same Berhinger, its a pretty good clone of the sans amp, super cheap too, I only paid $40 new.

[Soldier4Christ93]

I'm considering buying a bass distortion pedal. I'm liking the Digitech Metal Master and the Sansamp. I'm glad someone did have the effects on youtube so I could hear the difference.

[basshred]

imo a simple test of a good distortion pedal would be to see how well the distortion component blends with the original signal. odb3 sounds like it's producing a distortion/overdrive signal and making it go along with the original signal, not distorting the original signal. Big muff sounds like it is actually working on the sound and distorting it rather than adding a separate component.

[PoPwar1993]

I have the big muff Pi, but it sounds too fuzzy for the tone i'm looking for. sounds great for that stoner rock kind of tone, but im looking for a cleaner overdrive tone (geddy lee, chris squire, john entwhistle) what pedal should I get to get this kind of tone? please PM me if you have any suggestions

[vlsndgrdn]

A Tech 21 bass sans amp

[tla7777]

Well I've had a sansamp (1 channel version) about 9 yrs now. It alone is a vital pedal for me as a preamp.

I've had the ODB3 a couple of years now. I hate it by itself (extremely buzz-saw nasty gain), but sounds pretty decent set up prior to the sansamp in the chain(w heavy tweaking).

I just replaced ODB3 w Muff for bass, and it's the stuff! The sansamp distortion is ok, and def more useful if you have the multi-setting version. But for a single pedal, my emphatic vote is BASS BIG MUFF!!

[thatwhichidesire]

odb3 is a piece of shit.

[robdelabassist]

@thatwhichidesire i had that pedal and i have to say it sucks ass

[thatwhichidesire]

well i tried it out once, but i couldn't find a setting that I liked

[doc998]

@thatwhichidesire it actually kicks ass

[thatwhichidesire]

@doc998 i actually hate this pedal, but im glad you like it :)

[fabarbuck]

Yeah, they're presented from best to worse from what you can hear in this video.

Having the odb-3 I would just add that you can obtain different sounds from what you hear on this vid ; especially if you prefer the sansamp sample here, you can come pretty close to such sounds with the odb3 :)

[fukuufukingfuk]

i think theyre lined up from best to worst. not including the clean sound. im getting a sansamp!

[Voneid]

i prefer ODB3, but sansamp sounds great too.. and anyway, digitechs morph is interesting.

[MaverickJack21]

Bass Overdrive ODB-3 sounds the best, there all pretty dang cool sounding, but the Bass overdrive kills

[bassandguitargreg]

crazy

[bassandguitargreg]

dude the metal master is for guitar lol..... bye bye bottom end

[bertdorf4]

no, i got that same one today

it sound perfect on bass

[bassandguitargreg]

really? is there one made for bass or no?.....

[bertdorf4]

no, but it actually sounds better on my bass than guitar

[copecar]

ODB3 ROCKS!!!

[GOWfanEXECUTIONstyle]

yeah the Big Muff sounds awesome for some some Fuzzy bass for Stoner Rock

[alexfast666]

very cool- I was thinking of getting that 3 channel Sansamp DI- even compressed here it sounds great. I had the MXR Bass Blowtorch-but it was too muddy.

[0redthunder0]

And the digitech has loooads of overtone :P

[0redthunder0]

that big muff has some crunchy bottom!!!

[lefty5150guy]

I agree, the Big Muff can have a better sound. You gotta play with the knobs a bit more.

[Matt14500]

Nice demo, but I you made the Russian Muff sound pretty bad here. I have one of these and it sounds way better than this. Having the tone nob as far as you put it will make it sound to fizzy and nasty. Leaving the tone around noon will give a nice warm fuzz. Just my two cents.

[sanquilo]

yeah, but if you turn it counter clockwise, it will have a muddy and horrible tone. I use mine with treble eq (like on this vid). I like that way, but I have to agree, you can get that warm fuzz. But fuzz is about being nasty haha

[MUKGS]

The Sansamp and Boss ODB-3 are pretty cool

[eeefooleee]

i have both the Programmable Bass DI and the ODB-3. the sansamp blows away the boss. I havent had the boss on my pedalboard since i got the sansamp.

[80srockixass]

o wait nevermind didnt see the description lol

[80srockixass]

are you using a pick or fingers, and what are your amp settings please tell

[slumberjammer]

he's picking allright

[thescubacult]

Thanks. Sansamp.

[Heliodromus19]

A little less tone on the muff maybe...

[grafiti51]

the big muff pedal is tight

[CodyGrey]

Bass version of the Big Muff works best for me. I like that rackmount version of the sansamp though.

[KermitProductions]

What did u do to record sound?

[audiogeekzine]

The bass went through the chain of pedals, the sansamp was at the end. The sansamp has an XLR output and that went into channel 1 of an M-Audio Profire 2626 audio interface. The recording software was Pro Tools M-Powered 8 and the video was edited with Sony Vegas Pro 8

[THFClub]

Boss *_*

[MamoDad]

Let's see, the Behringer is only $30 compared to $200 for the Sansamp.

You do the math!

[nineandsevenandfive]

The sansamp wins out for me.

[maxxmaxxsbrot]

SANSAMP!! But it's very expensive.. in italy is 260 euro.. at the same price i can buy a good boss multi effect O_O

i have the odb.. i like it but sometimes is too much fuzzy..

i really don't like the russian muff..

[2Marcel1]

SANSAMP !

[Arahont1]

behringer lol

[SlappyTheElf]

I got a BOD100 and for £16 its pretty good although it looks like it would break if you looked at it to hard!

I like the sansamp but they are not cheap.

[dustyroot]

Sansamp makes a single button Bass Driver DI that sounds the same but doesnt have the 2 extra presets. You can find them used on CL or Ebay for around 125-150US usually

[milktasd]

Thanks for making this video. I was never very satisfied with my OBD3. After watching this video I went and bough a tech21 and I love it!!!!

[Morpheus2910]

Is this passage a part of a song?... I could swear i know this sound, if anybody knows the title pls tell me

[audiogeekzine]

I made it up on the day, I don't think it's from anything.

[anfield22]

not a good demo IMO. we didn't get to see the best out of the russian muff. it only works well at low sustain levels

[audiogeekzine]

I've never really been happy with any combination of settings on the Muff.

[bajistaimo]

sansamp just kick asses

[Hunterkiller667]

I don't really like bass mixed with dist, I played Boss ODB-3 balance all the way to OD.

[dlmandbtm]

-___- let me correct my self, Big Muff pedals are great...

[dlmandbtm]

I think regular Big Muff (green one) sounds cleaner and smoother, where the Big Muff Russian sounds more destorted to me. Big Muff has great pedals.

[NickLaim]

hey, how do you think, what is better for bass - russian big muff or bass big muff?

[audiogeekzine]

I'd love to try the Bass Big Muff, but I've already got too many options!

[80srockixass]

russian kicks ass

[joumasewhitewayne]

Man the odb3 really packs the bottom end! best od of the vid.

[AEduner86]

HAHA this is pretty awesome

Love the Big Muff sound

[Hatoakazo]

what´s the difference of that sansamp programmable of the other sansamp bass driver di (the simple one and small)?

[audiogeekzine]

I don't really know, I haven't tried the others.

[bish42]

You can programme 3 different tones and store them under each stomp button.

The Sans Amp isn't really a distortion pedal, it's a tube emulator with EQ settings. You can get a gritty tone by whacking up the gain (as shown in the vid), but it's not Fuzz.

[Cropsgrinder]

I'm going to buy an effect pedal to my bass.

I play mostly metal, and I've been thinking to buy that Boss ODB-3 one. Do you recomend any other Pedal?

[audiogeekzine]

Go to the store and try out as many as you can.

Whether for bass or not, try them all.

[Cropsgrinder]

I did excactly that :D

And the one i liked was the PD7 phat hed. :D it's awesome, but i havent owned any other bass dist pedals.

[gnrher]

muy say that the berigher does clone the sansamp tone VERY GOOD

[audiogeekzine]

For a $30 pedal, the Behringer is surprisingly great.

I like it more than the Sansamp for cleaner tones actually.

[dodgerbishi]

I actually own the sansamp and I must say... I LOVE IT! You can get some great Entwhistle quality distortions from it and best of all, you can switch back and forth to 3 different settings when ever you want! It's all I'll ever need and I wouldn't trade it for anything!

[audiogeekzine]

I like it a lot, but I wish it was just a bit more extreme.

[dodgerbishi]

More extreme eh?...

Then you should check out the ASSmaster pedal. Kind of a hefty price tag, but if you want extreme distortion, this is your pedal.

[audiogeekzine]

The Metal Master is comically extreme IMO. I can't see it blending well with other distorted instruments at all.

[BenjaminxkNight]

I use a metal zone, its pretty fucking crazy on bass.

[audiogeekzine]

do you blend it with the clean?

[mellifluously]

thanks, good stuff, like the podcast

[audiogeekzine]

Thanks!

[sydbryce]

great shootout. I like the sansamp most, then the behringer actually...