Recording bass with some fuzz

[gtrguy]

I record music (mostly originals, but some for clients) and I saw a Youtube 'how to' video recently on how to record bass by some well known producer.
In it he said he liked to add some fuzz tone to the bass tracks. I thought he was crazy, but then I tried it on one of my songs and the bass sounded good.
I just dialed in a bit of fuzz, not on the whole sound of the track though. It cut through nicely without being overblown.
Anyway, I guess I am still learning new tricks for an old dog!


Anyone else tried this or have any thoughts?

[rv_bass]

I haven't tried it, but maybe it preserves the low end while adding just a little "white noise" boost in the high end that lets it cut through, I'm assuming it's just a small amount of distortion that you are using.  Maybe sort of like the Q switch giving a little boost in the upper limit of the signal?  Just a thought. 

[StephenR]

I have never been a big fan of using effects, or distortion, on bass . The few times I did so it was with a Series bass run in stereo, treble pickup went through the effects, bass pickup was not processed. If you do it that way you can mix the pickup with effects on it "to taste" with the unprocessed pickup and not lose the sound of a solid bass fundamental. If using a mono bass in the studio I imagine you could dupe the bass track and then either re-amp the duplicated track or run it through an effects send and return before mixing with the source track. Endless amount of things to try but there are probably also players that just want a buzz saw bass sound and are less concerned about loosing the impact of the low end.

A bit of grit added to a bass track that isn't sitting well in the mix seems like a logical thing to try and probably just the ticket for certain mixes.

[glocke]

Just did that..

https://soundcloud.com/bassgl/fuzz-bass?fbclid=IwAR2oY8CXPArDcRmG7rw3tOfnrSg-j0qIENFqrPXLwL9Kkqgn8e5dIckyzFw

Overdrive is a Broughton Sunray

Playing with others, i like to add a little fuzz/overdrive to bass if Im soloing (trying to solo rather)...

Been spending A LOT of time with effects lately and it's sparking an interest synth/Eurorack stuff

[peoplechipper]

always have sansamp DI overdrive on, but I am peoplechipper...

[paulman]

Just did that..

https://soundcloud.com/bassgl/fuzz-bass?fbclid=IwAR2oY8CXPArDcRmG7rw3tOfnrSg-j0qIENFqrPXLwL9Kkqgn8e5dIckyzFw

Overdrive is a Broughton Sunray

Playing with others, i like to add a little fuzz/overdrive to bass if Im soloing (trying to solo rather)...

Been spending A LOT of time with effects lately and it's sparking an interest synth/Eurorack stuff

As a person who went down the eurorack/synth rabbit hole (thanks to someone on this very board posting a link to a little mad scientist machine with blinky lights and cables plugged in everywhere) I say " come on in!" 

I love using a EH Big Muff Russian on my bass, more of a full on application though.

[edwin]

There are some classic fuzz bass lines. This was the song where I realized at age 12 or 13 that bass could have a variety of sounds (I'm pretty sure it's right after Jack got the Versatone and cranked it to 11). It comes in at about 1:15. One of my all-time favorite bass tones.

In the meantime, I've been trying to figure out how to get a box that will provide the edge of overdrive that Phil got with his Showman heads and Sunn cabinets ca. 1969-71. I might have to just get my Bandmaster and a single 15" on a volume pedal to bring that tone in.

[gtrguy]

The bass overdrive I am using you can't really hear. It just helps the bass cut through and sit well in the mix. I think it was a Warren Huart video on Youtube that talked about it.
It was not his, "how to record bass" one though.

BTW, on that one he shows a Peavey T40 as his go to bass for recording. Now I want one!

[glocke]

Just did that..

https://soundcloud.com/bassgl/fuzz-bass?fbclid=IwAR2oY8CXPArDcRmG7rw3tOfnrSg-j0qIENFqrPXLwL9Kkqgn8e5dIckyzFw

Overdrive is a Broughton Sunray

Playing with others, i like to add a little fuzz/overdrive to bass if Im soloing (trying to solo rather)...

Been spending A LOT of time with effects lately and it's sparking an interest synth/Eurorack stuff

As a person who went down the eurorack/synth rabbit hole (thanks to someone on this very board posting a link to a little mad scientist machine with blinky lights and cables plugged in everywhere) I say " come on in!" 

I love using a EH Big Muff Russian on my bass, more of a full on application though.

Ok..Im sold...Mother 32 showed up yesterday and I spent much of yesterday afternoon playing around with it.  A lot to learn and a lot to wrap my head around with the patch bay...admittedly I don't understand a lot of the concepts involved, but my brain will appreciate working that stuff out.

[hydrargyrum]

I had a dying 9-volt battery in an Elan and it sounded awesome! I can't play anything like John Entwhistle and I would never claim that I had anything like his talent.  But I have to say that for just a second there the sound reminded me of him.  It was awesome trying to pretend that I had anything close to his talent.

[mavnet]

Dying battery was the best sound ever. Like a smoother, creamier (pun not intended) jack bruce sound.
Has anyone ever done a power supply mod to reduce voltage/current/whatever-it-is-that-makes-it-do-that to ge tthat sound as long as you want? Would it hurt the onboard circuitry?