I am looking to getting an F2B in the near future and I want to know if anyone here has an audio sample or any recommendations of where I can listen to an overdriven F2B? Im asking this is because I am also looking into the Frog FX1(F2B inspired circut) also and that can be overdriven pretty well. I currently have the F1X and the SF2.

Thanks in advance!

The Soldano SP 77 is also a good one, if you want nice overdrive. It normally has a Soldano SLO100 tone, which is very overdriven. You can re-tube it with 12AT7s for a fantastic Marshall sound as well.

Quote from: gtrguy on June 26, 2019, 12:00:07 PM
The Soldano SP 77 is also a good one, if you want nice overdrive. It normally has a Soldano SLO100 tone, which is very overdriven. You can re-tube it with 12AT7s for a fantastic Marshall sound as well.

Thanks for the suggestion! However I am looking to get a preamp for bass guitar. 

Once I tried going into channel one, then taking the out from that into channel two. I didn't experiment much, I just came up with this sound and recorded it. Not sure which bass it was either, this is from maybe 15 years ago!

http://hieronymous.us/music/alembicfuzztest.mp3

I can try and see what kind of sound I can get with lower gain - will try by tomorrow.

Sounds really synth like with a subdued attack. Interesting.

Sounds really cool man! Very 8bit-ish.

SWR made a nice bass overdrive pre.

Quote from: Picure on June 27, 2019, 12:10:17 AM
Sounds really cool man! Very 8bit-ish.

Thanks! That brings up a good point - what kind of sound are you looking for? I'm not sure that overdriving the F-2B is the best way to go, I think you can push it pretty hard and it will still stay relatively clean. My recording is totally over the top. Are you looking for mild tube-overdrive for some parts or a generally overdriven sound or full-on distortion? There are a million pedals for each approach now.

Quote from: jazzyvee on June 26, 2019, 11:01:30 PM
Sounds really synth like with a subdued attack. Interesting.

Thanks - it might have something to do with the bass - I have a feeling I was using my Gibson Melody Maker with the big ol' mudbucker pickup, so no high end at all and huge pillowy sub-bass which might have something to do with the attack.

OK, experimented a bit with overdriving my F-2B. I used my Custom Audio Japan V-COMP tube compressor - just compressing a teeny bit, it shouldn't add to the overdrive, then cranking the gain into the F-2B. I started with a P-Bass with flats, then moved on to my AlFeMbic, the Alembicized PJ, strung with rounds (Dunlop Marcus Miller strings maybe?). I used just the P-Bass pickup, with the filter turned down a bit and Q at zero, played with fingers. Here are the settings on the F-2B:



I got some yucky sounds with the flat-strung bass at first - had the bass up to 8, cranked the volume to 8 too - it was mushy and bad sounding! I got worried, but finally came up with the settings here.

I played along with a drum track I have in my computer played by Greg DeGuglielmo. Here it is with both drums & bass:

http://hieronymous.us/music/F-2Boverdrive_AFMBC_Ppup.mp3

And here is just the bass track:

http://hieronymous.us/music/F-2Boverdrive_AFMBC_Ppupbassonly.mp3

I did a bunch of takes, this is the last one where I kind of made it all through! I was going to use up my energy if I kept playing, I'm out of shape! It was a good workout though.

Here is a version with the original bass track - my TeleMbic (Alembicized '70s Tele Bass) and turntables by DJ TAKA - might be louder than the other tracks so watch out! (Edited to add: This track was also played through a different F-2B, but with the baked in +8 Q on the bass and the filter set quite low, also Chromes flatwounds)

https://soundcloud.com/hieronymous-seven/aka-dj-taka-mix

Totally love that Fuzz tone you get, Harry.

Thanks to all for the replies!

To hieronymous: your demo totally has me sold and yes, that kind of overdrive was exactly what I was looking for! Not too much but gritty! Thanks for your hard work!

Quote from: mario_farufyno on June 27, 2019, 09:33:23 PM
Totally love that Fuzz tone you get, Harry.

Thanks - fuzz is always fun!

Quote from: Picure on June 27, 2019, 09:40:55 PM
To hieronymous: your demo totally has me sold and yes, that kind of overdrive was exactly what I was looking for! Not too much but gritty! Thanks for your hard work!

It was fun! In fact, I liked what I came up with but there were some (to me) glaring goofs, so I took a few more passes and came up with this:




Still a couple of places where I'm rushing, so I plan to re-do it again at some point. I messed with the drums a little bit, adding some distortion and saturation, and also did my budget mastering to it with some compression and loudnessing.

I'm considering using this set-up for an upcoming gig, but I think it might be a little bit too much set-up complexity to be worthwhile. Picure, would you be using this sound all the time or only for certain songs/sections? I might experiment with this a bit  during rehearsal, see what happens when I decrease the gain - that was the hardest part, getting the various gain stages set.

Also, I think I was finally able to get the Soundcloud tag to work! They appear backwards, so you have to reverse them (though that wasn't working most of the time) - I think by manually typing them it helped.

QuoteIt was fun! In fact, I liked what I came up with but there were some (to me) glaring goofs, so I took a few more passes and came up with this:

Nice groove once again man! IMHO It wouldnt sound good if you are too quantized.

QuotePicure, would you be using this sound all the time or only for certain songs/sections?

My idea is to have the amp cranked and use my master volume to control the amount of drive I want, but I still have to get used to that way of playing. I wouldnt be driving the amp for every song, but I want to be able to do that when overdive is needed.

Quote from: Picure on July 05, 2019, 01:21:46 PM
Nice groove once again man! IMHO It wouldnt sound good if you are too quantized.

Thanks - agreed, I'm not into complete perfection at all. But there are a couple of parts that felt really good when I was recording, but listening back I feel like my time issues detract from the finished product. It's funny how subjective it can be!

Quote from: Picure on July 05, 2019, 01:21:46 PMMy idea is to have the amp cranked and use my master volume to control the amount of drive I want, but I still have to get used to that way of playing. I wouldnt be driving the amp for every song, but I want to be able to do that when overdive is needed.

I've been thinking about it as well - if you could play normally kind of just at the edge of the overdrive, then turn up just a bit for the drive, but how much would it affect the output volume is the question I have. It's not like an effects pedal where you can adjust the input gain and the output volume. It's basically all gain (I think the volume on the F-2B is input gain since it has an effect on the overdrive?) so putting more gain in by the bass or whatever will probably also result in more output volume.

I wonder if there is a pedal out there that can do this kind of sound??? I think I might ask over at TalkBass...

I think the best way to overdrive without the volume being too loud is to add a compressor after the F2B and tune it to where it only compresses when there is overdrive.