Bass fuzz

[tmoney61092]

i'm looking for a good bass fuzz pedal and have watched a couple demonstrations of the Russian Big Muff and the ZVEX Wooly Mammoth, i was wondering if anyone can give there opinion of these and how it went with your bass(active/passive) because i heard the Wooly Mammoth wasn't that great for active basses. of course any and all suggestions on different pedals are welcome
 
~Taylor

[pauldo]

Taylor -
I sadly cannot help with your questions but would like to tag along and add if ayone knows what Jack Bruce used for the fuzz on the song Apostrophe - as that is probably my favorite fuzz tone on bass - it would be greatly appreciated.

[hydrargyrum]

Hi Taylor,
 
Just this morning I finished building a NPN Fuzz Face clone, and my next project will be building a Woolly Mammoth clone for our bass player.  I used to own two Alembic guitars, but ultimately sold them because of the way they interacted with my fuzz pedals.  I can't speak for the Big Muff, but I know the Zvex will sound bad.  All of the Zvex pedals I tried sounded bad with active electronics (Octane III, Fuzz Factory, and Mammoth).  The good news if you like Zvex is that one of his newer pedals, the Mastotron, has adjustable source impedance, which means that active/passive shouldn't matter. And he says in the literature that supposedly it works just as well with keyboards, bass, or guitar.  I've not personally tried one of them, but it may be what you're looking for.  It is also $150, versus $360 for the Mammoth.  
 
http://zvex.com/mastotron.html
 
(Message edited by hydrargyrum on June 26, 2010)

[edwin]

My favorite all out distortion for bass has been the Digitech PDS 1550, if you can find one. There are a lot of tonal options, including a parametric eq and it can really create a huge fuzzed out tone without losing the bottom end. It's definitely more of a distortion than overdrive. It doesn't care about active or passive, I used mine with both, mostly active. Mine finally crapped out and I've been using the distortion in my Lexicon G2, which is pretty good, but definitely not as huge sounding.

[hieronymous]

The Mastotron definitely works with Alembic electronics. Here's a sound clip - not great sound quality, but you can get a general idea:
 
a brush with fuzz
 
Stanley Clarke Sig Standard through Z Vex Mastotron. I like the Mastotron - I'll see if I can dig up any more clips.

[jbybj]

I have used and been very happy with the EH Bass Big Muff. One of it's three modes emulates a traditional Russian (I think?) BM. I also really like the sound of the Way Huge Pork Loin, though this is an overdrive pedal, not a fuzz. But my most recent acquisition, and what at first blush holds tremendous promise, is the Source Audio Soundblox Multiwave Bass Distortion Pro. This thing is way too cool and deep to confer here in words. Search the net.

[David Houck]

Cool tone Harry!

[hydrargyrum]

James,
 
I've always been interested in those multiwave pedals, and whether they live up to their hype.  I take it you like yours.

[jbybj]

Kevin,
 
Regarding the Bass Multiwave Distortion, I have only had it for a couple of weeks, and have yet to see how it plays in a group setting. It does some things that are very different, and some things that are very familiar. Some modes are very touch sensitive. The Pro model can save presets, and you can use an expression pedal to morph between presets. It has a 7 band graphic EQ, that can be blended into the dry signal, much like the architecture of an SF-2. These are just a few of the highlights.
 
So yes, I'm very impressed at the start. I will be really interested to see how it plays in a loud combo setting.