low end fuzz/od help plz

[omarwhite]

so I'm still struggling to find the exact fuzz/OD to fit my needs... of which the struggle is, of course, part of the fun.

I think what i'm looking for is somewhere between the lines of a Megalith and Pharaoh. was maybe thinking a Ruckus would fit the bill, but haven't seen enough adequate demos to reach a justified conclusion. basically I love the low end and oomph of the Megalith. blew me away: almost literally. could feel the speaker throwing all that low end air at the back of my legs....was awesome. just had too much gain and not enough note definition. eighth note strums were invisible and indecipherable. on the other hand, I love my pharaoh but it doesn't have that low end. tried boosting?EQing it with a Boneshaker to beef it up, but didn't yield the same push as the Megalith.

part of me wonders if I should be favoring straight OD instead. I heard a rough recording of a practice from a few months ago where I just used a Blues Driver with the Pharaoh out of one of my amps (I run two separate signals stereo to two separate amps/heads), and it sounded killer. but it was just a phone sample and low end is lost anyhow.

the struggle is real.

outside of talking to the builders to do a custom (saw Mountainking isn't doing any customs currently according to their website), anyone have any ideas of a pedal i'm not thinking of that would suit these needs?

thanks

[calfzilla]

Maybe a bearfoot pink purple 4 knob? stacking fuzz into it is excellent, has bass and treble controls, and the fuzz isn't anything too crazy. Might work running the Pharoah into it. That's about the only thing I can think out outside of getting a bass version of a big muff or OD.

[Jwar]

Have you thought about emailing Alan directly and asking him? If you dug the Megalith, there's a solid chance he'd make a great recommendation or be able to mod something of his for you. Hardly anything comes close in terms of smashing your chest in as the Megalith.

[AZX309]

If you can find one an EAE mu blaster has huge low end. Its not a big gainmaster by itself but it will push some air

[fuzzonaut]

Maybe the new Megalith with the 4 internal dip switches might work better?

The RML Mig Fuzz could do it, I think.

Also, the EFE Dope Priest #7 is worth considering, I'd say.

And if you go OD: obviously Ezekiel - but also Aguilar Agro, tons of low end in there.

Good luck!

[dubkitty]

Tall Font Russian with the tone knob rolled off?

[JTurbide]

Big Game Solace looks pretty awesome

[omarwhite]

Love these suggestions. Both the Big Game Solace and EAE my blaster were on my radar but wasn’t sure how much balls they possessed..

Might contact Mountainking and ask about the Megalith then. Was curious about the dipswitches on the new models.

Feeling the Mu Blaster if it’s lower gain because I kind of think that might be what I need anyhow

[omarwhite]

Also, I may not have pointed this out but this is for guitar and not bass.

[BetterOffShred]

I have a mastotron and if I'm hearing you correctly.. it does a lot of what you say. Maybe peep a video of it.

[whoismarykelly]

What tuning/guitar? 8th notes at normalish tempos should be pretty easy to keep clear but if you're tuning to A on a Les Paul or something like that then clarity is going to be a serious struggle if you also want to keep a lot of low end in your signal. You could cut bass going into the pedal and then boost it later or you could just accept the tradeoff that more bass and gain will always mean less clarity. Leaving some room for the kick and bass guitar down there is also a huge plus and then you can focus on all the mean cutting power in the midrange. The subs in guitar never cut through the mix anyway. They just mush out the mix.

In terms of actual solutions I would try a pedal more focused on distortion or overdrive than fuzz. The grain size of fuzz pedal distortion is just too big and loose to retain definition. A good cheap alternative is the DOD Gunslinger. I tune to G on a 27" scale baritone and the Gunslinger holds up well for fast playing with lots of articulation. A good high gain amp with a boost to make it a little looser will do even better but since you're playing fuzz pedals I assume that's not your thing.

[omarwhite]

What tuning/guitar? 8th notes at normalish tempos should be pretty easy to keep clear but if you're tuning to A on a Les Paul or something like that then clarity is going to be a serious struggle if you also want to keep a lot of low end in your signal. You could cut bass going into the pedal and then boost it later or you could just accept the tradeoff that more bass and gain will always mean less clarity. Leaving some room for the kick and bass guitar down there is also a huge plus and then you can focus on all the mean cutting power in the midrange. The subs in guitar never cut through the mix anyway. They just mush out the mix.

In terms of actual solutions I would try a pedal more focused on distortion or overdrive than fuzz. The grain size of fuzz pedal distortion is just too big and loose to retain definition. A good cheap alternative is the DOD Gunslinger. I tune to G on a 27" scale baritone and the Gunslinger holds up well for fast playing with lots of articulation. A good high gain amp with a boost to make it a little looser will do even better but since you're playing fuzz pedals I assume that's not your thing.

Believe it or not, you have actually met my guitar and head in person. I’m the one with piss all over my pants who bought that the Delorean cab off you!

Anyhow it’s a Gibson firebrand through a music man HD 130 on this side of my signal chain which we are talking about. I tune to drop C. My bass player does not have a beefy sound whatsoever. He plays through a music man Combo and an ampeg v4 with a 4x12 cab. His bass has a tele bridge pickup in it. No clue why. Well, actually I do know why: he built it himself and loves it. He kind of gets a lemmy sound, which is cool and contrasts with the two tones I get. This is where my desire to push more lows is born.

So yeah, leaning towards OD sort of. But emailing with Alan also to see what his advice with the Megalith would be...

[Jwar]

Make sure to share with us what Alan says!!!

[omarwhite]

Yeah def

[Jwar]

You know, I just looked at your tuning and I actually play in drop C#. I'm a bass player mind you, but the Depth Charge works fantastic at keeping note clarity. It's however not widely available anymore. The other pedal that's the most similar to it is the DMB Bumble Fuzz. Discontinued as well, but pops up for a decent price more often than the Depth Charge. Both have extremely well blended circuits and great low end retention.

As far as overdrive, the Dove by Toneczar has been my favorite so far. It's expensive but it's amazing. I wonder if there's something comparable that's not nutso priced.