# Bass Pedals



## Flying (Jun 8, 2020)

Hello,
I'm beginning to get the itch to play some bass guitar and was wondering if anyone could recommend any pedal builds, I've only discovered the Obsidius Preamp so far. It would be great if there were a bass category on the left hand side.


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## soothsayer86 (Jun 8, 2020)

FWIW I have the Obsidius and it is a killer pedal. I am primarily a bass player but I also use my pedals for synths. Right now I have the Cataclysm delay on my board, also the Abyss optical vibe, and I built a Circulator for a friend, all of which sound amazing on bass but are not bass specific of course.


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## Flying (Jun 8, 2020)

Thanks Soothsayer86,

I have already built the Abyss, but never thought of it for bass, so that’s good and your positive comments on the Obsidius have put that to the top of the list. I wonder if there will be ‘Vintage OD’ from the same family in due course?


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## BatBastard (Sep 5, 2020)

Another vote for a “Bass” category please.


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## dgrainger (Sep 5, 2020)

My M800 sounds good with bass with the gain dialed way back.


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## Devoureddeth (Sep 5, 2020)

Most can be modded for bass. The Palisades and plumes sound good for bass. What sort of tone do you want


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## Danbieranowski (Sep 6, 2020)

The Muroidea sounds great on bass. So does the Muffin. The Ionizer. The Parentheses. There are tons. Don’t let “guitar pedal” fool you. Tons of these sound great on bass.


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## Untro (Sep 6, 2020)

I was thinking about building a Unison Double tracker for my rig, I have a Rat i built that is a permanent part of my setup, and I'm def gonna try the Abyss when i complete it here in a day or two.
 Question: what are the most common 'mods' for pedals that make it handle low frequencies better? Or more accurately, in a distortion circuit, how do we set the high pass of the harmonic distortion? I've inferred that monolythic capacitors are preferred to ceramic disk when available in terms of low frequency response, is that true, and if so, does it apply to Film Box capacitors vs Mylar/coated? 

TL;DR: what are we looking for when designing/modding a distortion circuit for bass applications?


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## Chuck D. Bones (Sep 6, 2020)

Untro said:


> TL;DR: what are we looking for when designing/modding a distortion circuit for bass applications?



It all depends on the specific tones you want.

As stated earlier, many "guitar" pedals are suitable for bass without any mods.  

Have you tried listening to some demos on YouTube?  If so, tell us which ones you liked.


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## Untro (Sep 10, 2020)

Well I was actually talking about this with a friend last night
We were both complaining that many pedals marketed for bass overdrive actually seem to suck low end out (we both play bottom heavy, loud 'metal'), and it's much easier to find OD pedals I dont like for bass. My entire bass rig is designed around the fact that I didnt want pedals in fact, and landed on a Traynor TS140 + Pbass combo for my crunchy 'Jesus lizard' tone. But recently, I built a Rat clone that completes the sound (which is the Jesus lizard rig exactly lol)

I am brand spanking new at all this so my understanding of IC chips is limited at best, but it is my understanding that using different value capacitors in between particular pinouts will adjust at which frequency above which harmonic distortion is introduced. For instance I am making a guvnor, Little green, and Sabbath pedals soon: if I determine any one of them to have the 'low suck', I'd like to modify it so it fits better with bass. Ive read about mods that actually include a low mid scoop, which would be ideal

The eqd Life is an example of a pedal that does this well, as it's basically a rat + a super low octave. Thats next on my build list 
Edit: the Big Muff Pi is an example of a bass pedal that I despise. It takes all the bottom end out of any signal!


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