LeftyBassist.com

Can you guys recommend a good fuzz pedal that would work for bass and guitar?

Hey. I suppose there are as many opinions on this as their are players but...

I played in a piano, bass and drums thing for a few years - kinda Ben Folds meets Weezer - and got to experiment with lots of different noise. Without a guitar player it really allows for some stepping out on the bass.

Anyway, over the course of the bands existence I tried a whole whack of OD's and distortions. The best one - by far for me - was the Electro Harmonix Bass Big Muff Pi. It's very controllable, has an awesome sustain feature and has 3 different modes. It really handles the bass frequencies well without sucking out any of your bottom end. I've used it for some guitar stuff as well and it's great.

That's my pick.

+1 on the Big Muff, and that's the pedal that Robert Sledge (Ben Folds Five) uses too.

I dig my Tech 21 Red Ripper. I use it when we play "Mean Mr. Mustard", among other things.

I use the Little Big Muff, bought it before the bass version came out but kept it anyway because it works very well and keeps the lowend intact. I also have an original Big Muff Pi and it's great for guitar but too much lowend loss for using with bas in a live setting.

If you have deep pockets the ZVEX Wolly Mammoth is pretty awesome, there is a less expensive version call the Mastotron but i haven't played through that one.

The Malleko B:Assmaster is amazing but it is actually more of a distortion than a fuzz.

Many bassplayers like the Wren & Cuff boxes but I haven't been able to try any of those either.

Here is a great website for all things fuzzy for bass;
http://bassfuzz.com/

Thank you for the suggestions!
It confirms what I thought, the Little Big Muff (not the Bass one) is the way to go. Especially that a lot fuzz boxes out there are quite expensive whereas their use with a bass is usually too marginal to justify spending $200. I would use it for guitar too but I only play guitar for recording purposes. I already own the Sansamp Bass Driver which I like to add a little distortion (everything at 12 o'clock with only Drive at 5 o'clock sounds fantastic with a flat strung P-bass and a pick) and the Boss OC-3 which can sound like a bass synth with the octave/distortion mode. Now, a little fuzz is perfect for "obnoxious bass mayhem time"

How about this new stuff I just stumbled onto?

Not too shabby hey?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBLKVXgfDFg&list=UUgqWioTaKqlXpWw25jmHEVg&index=2&feature=plcp

I sure hope he dosen't carry it around loose in the case like that!
That sounds pretty awesome, might have to check that one out at close range.
MXR has certainly stepped up their game in the bass department over they last few years.

any of these.

haha.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny_pcNvCH7g

Cool, is it your own pedal board?

I picked up the MXR Bass Fuzz Deluxe and for smooth fuzz sounds it's really great. I'm really happy with it.

And fyi to anyone considering one, Bass Northwest has a used one for $80 right now.

Did you get a fuzz yet Frenchy? If not you should give the new MXR a try.

Yes I did get one, I love it and use it quite a bit. I first got a Swollen Pickle which sounded nice but the absence of clean blend and the accentuation of low mids would get you buried in the mix. The MXR is much more usable and your sound remains fat and supportive all the time. It sounds great with all my basses including the 5 strings when played on the B string. I even use it on Reggae gigs...
ElectroHarmonix is releasing an updated version of their bass fuzz which according to the pundits on TB sounds much closer to a Green Russian with the advantage of a blend and crossover frequency filter. It could be a nice complement to the MXR for a more abrasive sound. Hopefully it is a true bypass.

In other hand MXR will introduce a new bass overdrive during NAMM 2013. I might be interested in getting one to get some Ampegish tones while still using my Markbass LM II head.

Yes, I'm looking forward to trying the new MXR overdrive too, and the new EHX bass big muff as well.

I'm also planning to order a Swell B-Peg, which from what I've read it a wonderful tube overdrive that has lots of SVT vibe in it.

Andrew,

This Swell B-Peg seems to be exactly what I have been looking for for a long time. All those so called "Ampeg tone" emulations miss the mark if they don't use real tubes (i.e Tech21 VT Bass which I sold in a minute or the Catalinabred SFT)
If you use FET's to emulate a tube sound it sorta works in the high frequencies but it does not have this natural compression and the punchy lows only tubes can do.
Now, I doubt I'll be getting a Swell B-peg at this price! You could get a used Ampeg SVP preamp for that price. (given it's not a pedal format). I used to have a SVP Pro which died on me. The repairman could not fix it. Too bad it was awesome to get the tone without lugging an Ampeg.

I have a Prescription Electronic's Depth Charge on the way. I'll try to write a quick report on it in a few days.

I have several Stomp Under Foot fuzzes which work great in the bedroom, but just don't cut it on bass in a band situation. They'd probably work great in a two amp setup where one is dedicated for the upper frequencies. Killer fuzzes for guitar tho!

The Depth Charge is on my wish list right now.

I had the same feeling about Fuzz stomp boxes until I got the MXR. The blend make big difference.

Depth Charge sound clip is in Sights and Sounds: http://www.leftybassist.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4207

I did get a Swell B-Peg and it is all the tube-y goodness everyone gushed about on TB. If you use an amp with a less tube like tone the Swell is fantastic for giving your tone a very convincing all tube vibe. It's a great "always on" pedal for that sound, but it also gives out a wonderful overdriven tube amp sound.

Ironically my main amp (Aguilar DB750) has a tone that behaves really similarly to the Swell pedal so it's not adding much to my main amp's sound, but into a Mesa M9 it adds a really great tube sound. And it does that subliminal pleasing thing like a really good compressor can do; it can be really subtle but even though what it's adding isn't in your face it makes you want to play more and play longer.

That being said, I'm on the fence about keeping it because I gravitate to more harsh, artificial sounding overdrives/distortions/fuzzes typically and given the fat, tube like tone in the Aguilar DB750 already, I feel like it's a lot of money to tie up in a pedal for someone using an amp that doesn't get the most effective use from it.
I dunno, practically I shouldn't keep it, but it really is addictive...

If you don't mind doing a little foot work....
http://www.paia.com/proddetail.asp?prod=6720K&cat=14
this is paia's quadrafuzz. it basically divides you signal into 4 separate bands.
each band gets it's own fuzz circuit q' control etc.
the only problem (to me this an up side) is that you have to build the damn thing yourself.
I think it's very interesting. and also is on my "to get" list. since this is a d.i.y kinda of a gig I'm sure you can build other stuff into it.
for example. think of plugging all four filters frequency control to an expression pedal, you'll get a wah in four different registers.