Suggestions for a light bass overdrive

[deschete]

Does anyone have a suggestion for a light bass overdrive?  I just want it to sound rounder and fatter, just chopping off the tops a bit, getting a little dirty when I dig in.

I've built a Flipster and I'm just looking for other suggestions.  A lot of the projects that are out there seem guitar-centric, so if anyone's tried any of these on bass I'd love to hear your experiences.

[Renegadrian]

I built a DoD 250 grey specs with some mods (as you may read in my sig.)
It has a switch to change between 1N4148s and LEDs and another switch to change the input cap - actually it's like 4 overdrive in 1! While it does a great job on guitars, it sounds fine on bass too...It doesn't get muddy and it lets every note shine...both on min and max gain, the LEDs are great on bass!!!

Hey the Valvecaster too...Great sound!!!

My 2cents...

[Meanderthal]

 I never built the OD250, but the D+ is almost the same and really is a great bass distortion.

But, the TS is great for what you're talking about, the mid hump and mild clipping really bring out the growl. Raise the input cap to at least .1uf and you're good to go.

[Gus]

Other thing that are important if you want help are

Passive or active bass? signal level to overdrive

J or P or musicman etc style bass pickups 4,5 or 6 sting? sound and what you want to change about it, what part highs lows all etc.  A P,J and stingray have diifferent tones.

Amp and speaker size and sealed or vented? how much to push the lows without hurting the speaker

As posted above TS and D+ can sound good with bass, even stock.  A turned down FF can sound OK.  Other stuff can work.

BUT is depends a lot on the bass, amp and cab.    Bass fuzz and overdrives can be a pain to get right.

So the question is what do you have sound wise and what do you want to change

[deschete]

Well, I've noticed that drive pedals seem to like a lower output bass.  Some of the active basses push too much signal to allow the pedals to be useful, so I've been turning down the output volume of the bass I'm using to overcome this problem.  I'm using a Spector Euro LX with a P/J configuration.  For an amp, I have a GK 2001RB into a Bergantino 610 cabinet.  The cab is a sealed cab.

I built a Bazz Fuzz with modified input/output caps and found a great, bruising sound for when I need to get "tougher."  I'm looking for something that goes between that and clean, something that will just give a little grit and dirt and edge but without making the low end go away.  I like the Flipster that I built for that, but sometimes it can get a little plinky... I think that a mid control on there around 700-800hz would help, but I haven't collected enough knowledge yet to make that sort of modification.

I actually own a Fulltone Bassdrive and I find that I like the comp cut setting the best.  I may need to experiment with that more, but I find that something about the way it clips bugs me.

I tried a Rat and I liked the clipping but it totally kills the low end.  I'm sure there's a "bass RAT" (BRAT maybe?) out there somewhere, just I can't find a schematic that details what to change for that, to put the low back in.  I guess I could buy an EQ pedal and a RAT and be done with it if I need to, but I'd like to keep it all in one box with one switch to stomp...

I have a Sansamp BDDI and I like the way it clips, but it's got too drastic of a notch filter at 725hz.  If that filter was just attached to a knob, I'd really love the pedal a lot.  I'm thinking about a GT2 based on my reading.

I did not care for the Boss Bass Overdrive at all.  Too harsh and nasty with the clipping.

Right now based on reading today and yesterday, I'm looking at the two pedals suggested earlier in this thread and I'm also thinking about trying a Hotcake and a Red Llama.  It's so hard to figure this out because most people are buidling/using pedals for guitar, NOT bass.  And, as pointed out, getting gain/drive on a bass to work out is a tough nut to crack.  I'll get there though!