Distortion is distortion right?  
   
Nope.  
   
There are many different ways to clip your signal. In Hazel Blackburn, I use a couple of FX to get a variety of distortion sounds. First off, I’m almost always clipping the pre-amp on both my Traynor TS-120B and Music Man HD-130 and the Master Volume is also distorting when I’m playing hard. So I’m pretty dirty all the time but I like to step it up and throw a Fuzz in the mix for bass lines that need sustain and don’t have much chording going. To get the fuzz I like I have an old DOD FX25 envelope filter that I have set to max filtering and no envelope, basically making it filter out all the treble before it hits my Buzz Bomb (fuzz). I do this so that all the harmonics I get from the Buzz Bomb are directly related to the fundamental frequency of the bass note I’m playing and I still get a nice top end that’s in tune with the note. It helps me make the bass scream like Godzilla on occasion. Another way I like to get distortion is with overdrive. To get the overdrive I want, I use a Pro-Co Rat pedal. These things are pretty insane with the amount of drive you can get (especially with the amount of distortion from the amp) so I just turn the gain up till there’s just a bit of crunch. This sound is very useful when I need to palm mute. Bass doesn’t normally sound too good when trying to get a good “Jugga,” but if there’s just enough drive you can get an attack and sponge that can gallop like Iron Maiden. Bassically you can do whatever you want with a bass :) 

~Shawn