Best Bass Distortion Pedals

BOSS pedals have always been known for one thing, and that’s their reliability. You would be hard pressed to find any piece of gear that will hold up to the rigors of performance as well as a BOSS pedal, making it the perfect option for the gigging musician. The Boss ODB-3 is a no-frills bass overdrive pedal that’s reliable and sounds great.

From left to right, it features a LEVEL knob which sets the effect’s volume, a 2-band EQ in a neat little 2-in-1 knob configuration (which helps you combat the loss of low end frequency that plagues many distortion pedals), a BALANCE knob which is essentially wet/dry, and a GAIN control to set how much overall distortion you want.

It comes in the standard indestructible BOSS stompbox enclosure we all know and love, and just like any other BOSS pedal the ODB-3 will compare well against just about any pedal on the market when it comes to sound. Quality, simplicity, reliability, and bass distortion for days - it’s all here.

The MXR M85 Bass Distortion pedal is a great option for the bass player who wants more control and versatility in their gear. What’s cool about this pedal is that it’s a collaboration between MXR and Ryan Ratajski of Fuzzrocious pedals (known for their dirt pedals). The M85’s coolest feature is a switch in the middle which lets you select between LED or silicon diodes, with the LED diodes offering a smooth and open sound while the silicon diodes offer more aggressive and biting tones.

Unlike the Boss ODB-3, the WET and DRY controls are separate on the M85, for added versatility. The TONE control only affects the distorted bass signal, so you can dial in the perfect amount of crunch or distortion without sacrificing your precious bottom-end. The knobs are nice and large and easy to see and adjust, which is a plus when you’re doing a show with harsh lighting conditions.

While the Boss ODB-3 is more straightforward, the MXR M85 is a little more customizable and selecting between Silicon and LED clipping diodes gives it two pretty distinct characters. To sweeten the deal further, this pedal is made in the USA and is True Bypass.

A companion to the incredibly well received Electro-Harmonix Soul Food, the Electro-Harmonix Bass Soul Food Distortion is a great option for the bassist on the hunt for a smooth and versatile overdrive.

This New York City-built pedal has four easy-to-use knobs to control the effect’s volume, dial in the amount of overdrive, BLEND between wet/dry, and a TREBLE knob that only affects the overdriven signal. As an added bonus, the pedal also has a switchable -10dB pad for bassists with higher output instruments (e.g. active pickups). An internal selector lets you choose between Buffered or True Bypass.

From Geddy Lee to Muse, the no-nonsense Electro-Harmonix Bass Soul Food will let you dial in your perfect bass distortion tone, all for under $100.

The Tech 21 RIP Red Ripper Bass Distortion Pedal is a great fit for any bassist who won’t compromise on his/her tone. The all analog construction ensures that your instrument retains its signature sound, and the solid metal housing ensures that the pedal won’t let you down when you need it the most.

With the r.i.p. knob all the way down and the drive knob halfway up, you can achieve a pretty basic, classic, and warm distortion tone. Crank the drive up and things get quite a bit more gnarly. Turning the r.i.p. knob up functions as a sort of compression, and eventually you’ll be getting an almost synth-like sound. The 3-band EQ is the icing on the cake, and really lets you sculpt your tone to perfection.

It’s a little on the pricey side, but such is the cost of this level of build quality and all-analog circuitry. If you can afford it, it’s absolutely worth it.

The Darkglass Electronics B3K CMOS Bass Overdrive is tweaker’s dream. If you love sculpting your sound you are going to love this pedal. The pedal allows you to tweak every facet of your instrument’s tone, which will guarantee you’re always able to dial in your perfect distortion.

The knobs should be familiar if you’ve been looking at dirt boxes - LEVEL is the volume of the pedal, DRIVE is the amount of overdrive, and BLEND is the mix of clean tone and drive. There are also two toggle switches, ATTACK and GRUNT, which let you add more attack and bass to your tone.

This reviewer sums up the versatility of the B3K:

It can be used as a small overdrive to warm up your tone, boost your signal. It works as a overdrive/small distortion to pump up the low end, or it can work as a heavy distortion or even fuzz for the dirtiest of sounds. But it will never lose the low end-natural sound of the bass.

This is a boutique pedal through and through, True Bypass, and is made in Finland. Be aware that it does not take batteries, and the power adapter plugs in on the same side as the input jack, which is a bit peculiar. It’s the priciest of the best bass distortion pedals on our list, but such is the cost of having this level of build quality and tonal versatility.

If you’re still not convinced, check out this excellent bass guitar cover of Muse’s Hysteria with no other effects pedals in use aside from the Darkglass Electronics Microtubes B3K:

(If you own this pedal and want to replicate this tone, the author recalls the BLEND and LEVEL knobs at 12 o’clock, the DRIVE between 2-3 o’clock, and both toggle switches in the up position)

If you can't decide what flavor of drive you want for your bass guitar, how about about a pedal that does it all? The Source Audio Aftershock is an insanely versatile bass distortion pedal that is capable of anything from warm subtle tube overdrive, scooped-mid distortion, to over the top fuzz - and it sounds great doing it.

In the middle of this very attractive pedal is a 3-way toggle switch which lets you select between 3 drive engines - TUBE, HEAVY, or FUZZ, representing overdrive, distortion, and fuzz respectively. In each mode you can sculpt your tone using the 4 knobs, DRIVE LEVEL CLEAN and TONE. All are pretty self explanatory, with CLEAN being your dry/wet blender.

As if this level of versatility wasn't enough, you can hook the pedal up via USB to the Neuro editor (available on Mac, Windows, and an app is available for iOS, and Android). In the editor you can tweak more parameters, upload presets back to your pedal, stack multiple gain engines in series, or split up different ones to go to each output - did we mention it has stereo inputs and outputs?

There's not much the Source Audio Aftershock can't do. But it's not just feature laden, this digital pedal also sounds fantastic. The overdrive is transparent and warm, the distortion is rich and the fuzz sounds huge. Best of all, while it's not exactly cheap, considering all that it can do and how good it sounds we're surprised it doesn't cost twice as much.