Animals Pedal Surfing Polar Bear Bass Overdrive Mod by BJF

The Animals Pedal Surfing Polar Bear Bass Overdrive Mod by BJF is a bass overdrive pedal built on the company's Surfing Bear Overdrive, a guitar overdrive, with the circuit modified for bass by the effects builder BJF. Animals Pedal describes the result as a superb overdrive for bass, made by borrowing the hand of BJF, whom the company calls an unorthodox effects builder¹. The pedal's full name carries the credit directly: Mod by BJF².

What it does for bass

Animals Pedal positions the Surfing Polar Bear as a way to get the sound of driven 60s and 70s classic bass amps, and says it is also effective when a modern electric bass doubles rhythm guitar in unison, producing a doubling effect¹. In other words, it covers two jobs players commonly ask of a bass overdrive: pushing a bass amp into a vintage-style grind, and helping a bass line cut through alongside a guitar playing the same part.

Pedal of the Day reviewed the pedal in February 2025 and described the sound this way:

The same review saw a specific use for it: the pedal "can really shine when the bass sound does not sit well within a track," and the reviewer pointed to "a more aggressive tone with light gain that retains the tone of your bass" as the use case³. That is a useful framing for bass players considering any overdrive: the Surfing Polar Bear is described as working at light gain, where the character of the bass itself stays audible under the drive.

The Surfing Bear connection

The Surfing Polar Bear is a variant of the Surfing Bear Overdrive, Animals Pedal's overdrive for guitar. The maker describes the Surfing Bear as an overdrive pedal for making the most basic distortion that guitarists need today⁴. Pedal of the Day called the Surfing Bear one of Animals Pedal's popular pedals and described the Surfing Polar Bear as based on it, created to be a bass overdrive³. The maker's pedal summary page puts the modification plainly: "Surfing Bear OverdriveをBJFEがベース用オーバードライブとしてモディファイしました," that is, the Surfing Bear Overdrive was modified by BJFE into a bass overdrive⁵.

The current Surfing Bear Overdrive itself has been redesigned: Animals Pedal says the new version makes battery replacement easier than before and places the footswitch further forward for better playability, with tonal refinements that widened the pedal's overall range⁴.

Power, size and price

The pedal runs on a 9V battery or a standard center negative DC9V adapter, and draws 4mA, a light load that any standard 9V supply handles¹. Its input impedance is 330K and its output impedance is 50K¹. The enclosure measures 64 x 112 x 50mm including protrusions and weighs 383g¹.

As of the sale period ending 26 October 2026, the Animals Pedal web store listed the pedal at £66.06 GBP, with a 10 percent off campaign price of £59.45 GBP¹. The store quotes these prices in pounds sterling; no US dollar price is given.

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