February 09, 2017
One of the biggest obstacles bassists face when trying to make a dirty or overdriven bass tone sit in a full band mix is preventing the loss of low end in their sound. Sure, a dirty bass tone can really liven up your band’s mix and fatten up the overall sound, especially in a power trio setting or for heavier styles of music, but the last thing you want to do as a bassist is compromise on holding down the low end. Many overdrive pedals, even those intended for bass, have varying degrees of low end loss which may serve as a deterrent to many players considering an overdriven bass sound. Fortunately, there are ways to beef up your bass tone with overdrive while still keeping the low-end fundamental intact.
Why Does Overdrive Cause Low End Loss?
When you run your bass through an overdrive pedal, you are compressing and clipping the signal- such is the nature of any overdrive or distortion. The resulting compression may cause an apparent drop in volume or low end response compared to a clean bass signal. The clipping depending on how it is achieved and how it is filtered creates harmonics. Except for some circuits that use tubes or JFETs, the harmonics are all higher frequencies (or octaves) than the original bass tone. This will drown the lower tones out, leaving you with a bright or mid range heavy tone.
This is especially pronounced if you are using an overdrive pedal intended for guitar, many of which have trouble retaining the low end or they are filtered for guitar.
Also the clipping squares off the low notes, so they don’t ring out as they would without the added overdrive.
With tubes and JFET transistors, the square law effect is in play, so if the circuit is done correctly you get a lower note harmonic from the math. This is why Carvin Audio bass amps all have a JFET discrete front end, and most models except the BX250 and MB Series have a tube driving the amplifier to warm up the tone.
Tips and Tricks for Making Overdrive Work
For some players, a clean blend creates too much separation between the clean signal and the distortion, creating a sound that’s somewhat disjointed. This is much more common with fuzzes and heavier distortions. However, in most cases, a clean blend is a great solution for an overdrive sound. In the case with heavy distortion, turn the clean high end and mid down if you can. Then you can just blend a clean low end. This may lessen or even solve the disjointed sound.
Have you ever tried distortion on bass, and if so, what results did you get? Let us know in the comments!
January 09, 2025
I once asked blues legend Walter Trout why he still plays his well-worn vintage Strat. The technology exists to digitally scan the guitar and make very accurate replicas. His response was he could leave it at home, but then it will never be played. Plus, someone could steal it from his home. At least the guitar is with him and he has the pleasure of playing it. But this may not be the same for everyone.
December 09, 2024
With modern day effects, it is possible to easily replicate guitar tones from early rock and roll in the 1950s to modern hard rock or metal.
October 25, 2024
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