drive the tube hard or clipper fuzz ?

blaise · 09-14-2009, 02:08 AM

still undecided about my bass preamp project, several ideas (so many)
looking for opinions on what others find pleasing to the ears.
musical style is basic RnR 60's to present, some jazz, funk.
i don't slap, don't use pick. i like a little growl from time to time.
a little black sabbath (geezer) sound.
play ibanez 5 string w/passives, mostly
other times 4 string ib w/actives.
through eden wt 400 full stack.
looking to build a preamp like "alembic f2B" but maybe add soft clip led fuzz.
or should i use tube for my overdrive sound.
what do you think ?

6267 · 09-17-2009, 05:40 PM

Allowing both shouldn't be too hard...leave enough gain to overdrive the last tube or so, and have a pot (with internal switch) that puts reversed diodes across one of the later intermediary grid resistors. I like to use a 250k audio pot with switch, reversed diodes at ground, the 250k pot wired as a rheostat between signal and diodes via the switch. Switch off, no LEDs, switch on, and you can "dial" the LEDs on. The value of the pot is not really all that important, experiment. Also, there are single LED packages that already contain reversed LEDs...these look really cool as they alternate red/green on pos/neg signal cycles. It's important to NOT match the LEDs, by the way, even two in one direction one in the other may sound great.

09-14-2009, 02:08 AM	#1
blaise Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 35	drive the tube hard or clipper fuzz ? still undecided about my bass preamp project, several ideas (so many) looking for opinions on what others find pleasing to the ears. musical style is basic RnR 60's to present, some jazz, funk. i don't slap, don't use pick. i like a little growl from time to time. a little black sabbath (geezer) sound. play ibanez 5 string w/passives, mostly other times 4 string ib w/actives. through eden wt 400 full stack. looking to build a preamp like "alembic f2B" but maybe add soft clip led fuzz. or should i use tube for my overdrive sound. what do you think ?

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09-17-2009, 05:40 PM	#2
6267 Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 255	Allowing both shouldn't be too hard...leave enough gain to overdrive the last tube or so, and have a pot (with internal switch) that puts reversed diodes across one of the later intermediary grid resistors. I like to use a 250k audio pot with switch, reversed diodes at ground, the 250k pot wired as a rheostat between signal and diodes via the switch. Switch off, no LEDs, switch on, and you can "dial" the LEDs on. The value of the pot is not really all that important, experiment. Also, there are single LED packages that already contain reversed LEDs...these look really cool as they alternate red/green on pos/neg signal cycles. It's important to NOT match the LEDs, by the way, even two in one direction one in the other may sound great.

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