BASS DISTORTION
The MXR Bass Distortion is a versatile distortion pedal designed for bass guitar, delivering gnarly tones with intact low-end. Developed in collaboration with Ryan Ratajski of Fuzzrocious Pedals, it offers separate controls for clean and distorted signals, a Tone control for high-cut filtering, and a Distortion control for intensity. The pedal features switchable silicon or LED clipping diodes for varied distortion flavors, making it a must-have for bassists seeking aggressive, biting, or open distortion sounds. Similar to the Proco RAT, this pedal offers a wide range of distorted sounds.
What MXR say about the BASS DISTORTION
The MXR Bass Distortion dishes out big gnarly tones with all the low end your bottom-dwelling heart desires. Working closely with indie pedal phenom, bass dirt guru, and Fuzzrocious Pedals founder Ryan Ratajski, we took a famously nasty sounding distortion circuit and re-tooled it for the modern working bass player.
Back in the day, if you wanted to use a distortion pedal and keep your low end intact, you had to split your clean and dirty signals between two amps. With the MXR® Bass Distortion, there's no such need—this pedal puts control over the clean/dirty mix right at your feet with separate Dry and Wet level controls. The Tone control, which only affects the distortion signal, is a simple high cut filter for dialing back the top end, and the Distortion control sets the distortion signal's intensity.
Finally, the MXR® Bass Distortion's raunchy sound comes in two flavors, selectable via the LED/SIL switch. The default SIL setting uses silicon clipping diodes for an aggressive, biting sound and a bit of compression, while the LED setting uses LED diodes for a more wide open sound and a nice gain bump.
What guitarists say...
Guitarists praised the MXR Bass Distortion for its ability to deliver a wide range of distortion sounds, from subtle grit to full-blown metal tones, without losing low-end frequencies. They liked the separate controls for clean and distorted signals, solid build quality, and versatility. Some users found the sound too thin, although they enjoyed the Wet/Dry controls.
BASS DISTORTION compared to ...