Looking for good audio samples of an overdriven F2B

[Picure]

I am looking to getting an F2B in the near future and I want to know if anyone here has an audio sample or any recommendations of where I can listen to an overdriven F2B? Im asking this is because I am also looking into the Frog FX1(F2B inspired circut) also and that can be overdriven pretty well. I currently have the F1X and the SF2.

Thanks in advance!

[gtrguy]

The Soldano SP 77 is also a good one, if you want nice overdrive. It normally has a Soldano SLO100 tone, which is very overdriven. You can re-tube it with 12AT7s for a fantastic Marshall sound as well.

[Picure]

The Soldano SP 77 is also a good one, if you want nice overdrive. It normally has a Soldano SLO100 tone, which is very overdriven. You can re-tube it with 12AT7s for a fantastic Marshall sound as well.

Thanks for the suggestion! However I am looking to get a preamp for bass guitar. 

[hieronymous]

Once I tried going into channel one, then taking the out from that into channel two. I didn't experiment much, I just came up with this sound and recorded it. Not sure which bass it was either, this is from maybe 15 years ago!

http://hieronymous.us/music/alembicfuzztest.mp3

I can try and see what kind of sound I can get with lower gain - will try by tomorrow.

[jazzyvee]

Sounds really synth like with a subdued attack. Interesting.

[Picure]

Sounds really cool man! Very 8bit-ish.

[gtrguy]

SWR made a nice bass overdrive pre.

[hieronymous]

Sounds really cool man! Very 8bit-ish.

Thanks! That brings up a good point - what kind of sound are you looking for? I'm not sure that overdriving the F-2B is the best way to go, I think you can push it pretty hard and it will still stay relatively clean. My recording is totally over the top. Are you looking for mild tube-overdrive for some parts or a generally overdriven sound or full-on distortion? There are a million pedals for each approach now.

Sounds really synth like with a subdued attack. Interesting.

Thanks - it might have something to do with the bass - I have a feeling I was using my Gibson Melody Maker with the big ol' mudbucker pickup, so no high end at all and huge pillowy sub-bass which might have something to do with the attack.

[hieronymous]

OK, experimented a bit with overdriving my F-2B. I used my Custom Audio Japan V-COMP tube compressor - just compressing a teeny bit, it shouldn't add to the overdrive, then cranking the gain into the F-2B. I started with a P-Bass with flats, then moved on to my AlFeMbic, the Alembicized PJ, strung with rounds (Dunlop Marcus Miller strings maybe?). I used just the P-Bass pickup, with the filter turned down a bit and Q at zero, played with fingers. Here are the settings on the F-2B:



I got some yucky sounds with the flat-strung bass at first - had the bass up to 8, cranked the volume to 8 too - it was mushy and bad sounding! I got worried, but finally came up with the settings here.

I played along with a drum track I have in my computer played by Greg DeGuglielmo. Here it is with both drums & bass:

http://hieronymous.us/music/F-2Boverdrive_AFMBC_Ppup.mp3

And here is just the bass track:

http://hieronymous.us/music/F-2Boverdrive_AFMBC_Ppupbassonly.mp3

I did a bunch of takes, this is the last one where I kind of made it all through! I was going to use up my energy if I kept playing, I'm out of shape! It was a good workout though.

Here is a version with the original bass track - my TeleMbic (Alembicized '70s Tele Bass) and turntables by DJ TAKA - might be louder than the other tracks so watch out! (Edited to add: This track was also played through a different F-2B, but with the baked in +8 Q on the bass and the filter set quite low, also Chromes flatwounds)

https://soundcloud.com/hieronymous-seven/aka-dj-taka-mix

[mario_farufyno]

Totally love that Fuzz tone you get, Harry.

[Picure]

Thanks to all for the replies!

To hieronymous: your demo totally has me sold and yes, that kind of overdrive was exactly what I was looking for! Not too much but gritty! Thanks for your hard work!

[hieronymous]

Totally love that Fuzz tone you get, Harry.

Thanks - fuzz is always fun!

To hieronymous: your demo totally has me sold and yes, that kind of overdrive was exactly what I was looking for! Not too much but gritty! Thanks for your hard work!

It was fun! In fact, I liked what I came up with but there were some (to me) glaring goofs, so I took a few more passes and came up with this:



Still a couple of places where I'm rushing, so I plan to re-do it again at some point. I messed with the drums a little bit, adding some distortion and saturation, and also did my budget mastering to it with some compression and loudnessing.

I'm considering using this set-up for an upcoming gig, but I think it might be a little bit too much set-up complexity to be worthwhile. Picure, would you be using this sound all the time or only for certain songs/sections? I might experiment with this a bit  during rehearsal, see what happens when I decrease the gain - that was the hardest part, getting the various gain stages set.

Also, I think I was finally able to get the Soundcloud tag to work! They appear backwards, so you have to reverse them (though that wasn't working most of the time) - I think by manually typing them it helped.

[Picure]

It was fun! In fact, I liked what I came up with but there were some (to me) glaring goofs, so I took a few more passes and came up with this:

Nice groove once again man! IMHO It wouldnt sound good if you are too quantized.

Picure, would you be using this sound all the time or only for certain songs/sections?

My idea is to have the amp cranked and use my master volume to control the amount of drive I want, but I still have to get used to that way of playing. I wouldnt be driving the amp for every song, but I want to be able to do that when overdive is needed.

[hieronymous]

Nice groove once again man! IMHO It wouldnt sound good if you are too quantized.

Thanks - agreed, I'm not into complete perfection at all. But there are a couple of parts that felt really good when I was recording, but listening back I feel like my time issues detract from the finished product. It's funny how subjective it can be!

My idea is to have the amp cranked and use my master volume to control the amount of drive I want, but I still have to get used to that way of playing. I wouldnt be driving the amp for every song, but I want to be able to do that when overdive is needed.

I've been thinking about it as well - if you could play normally kind of just at the edge of the overdrive, then turn up just a bit for the drive, but how much would it affect the output volume is the question I have. It's not like an effects pedal where you can adjust the input gain and the output volume. It's basically all gain (I think the volume on the F-2B is input gain since it has an effect on the overdrive?) so putting more gain in by the bass or whatever will probably also result in more output volume.

I wonder if there is a pedal out there that can do this kind of sound??? I think I might ask over at TalkBass...

[Picure]

I think the best way to overdrive without the volume being too loud is to add a compressor after the F2B and tune it to where it only compresses when there is overdrive.