The Dr. Green Bearded Lady is a bass fuzz distortion pedal from Ashdown, the British bass amp and effects maker. It was announced as part of the Dr. Green line of bass effects pedals, and Premier Guitar's press release described it simply as a "Bass Fuzz Distortion"1. For a bass player, it is a fuzz built around a specific problem: keeping the low end of a bass signal intact while the fuzz circuit does its work. If you are comparing it with other options, it sits in the broad family of Fuzz Pedals, and more specifically among bass-oriented fuzz designs rather than guitar fuzzes.
What it does
The Bearded Lady produces vintage-style fuzz tones for bass. Ashdown's approach, as described in the press release announcing the Dr. Green range, is to make the fuzz character adjustable rather than fixed: the pedal uses two rotary controls that shape the fuzz on the high and low side of the signal1.
The stated aim of that two-control design is tonal balance. In the maker's description quoted by Premier Guitar, the pedal works by "making sure you don't lose any of your bottom end while still maintaining those transient highs that define your tone"1. In practical terms, that means the pedal is intended to let a bass player dial in fuzz without the classic fuzz problem of the low notes thinning out or disappearing under the distortion.
Controls
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| hi | Rotary control shaping the fuzz on the high side of the signal1 |
| lo | Rotary control shaping the fuzz on the low side of the signal1 |
Build and enclosure
Ashdown describes the Bearded Lady as "housed in a custom designed steel casing that will stand up to being stomped on night after night"2. The steel enclosure is the maker's answer to the wear a pedal takes on a gigging pedalboard, where footswitches and casings are stamped on repeatedly over a long touring life.
What the maker states about the pedal, in brief:
- It is a fuzz distortion voiced for bass guitar1
- It aims to preserve bottom end while keeping transient highs1
- Its fuzz character is set with two rotary controls, hi and lo1
- It is housed in a custom designed steel casing2
Where it sits in the Dr. Green range
The Bearded Lady was announced as one of Ashdown's Dr. Green bass effects pedals, a line Premier Guitar covered at its launch in January 20121. The Dr. Green range puts fuzz alongside other bass-oriented effects; players looking at how a fuzz sits with light dirt on a bass rig may also want to compare it with Overdrive Pedals and Distortion Pedals, which clip the signal in different ways and with different effects on low-end content.
The Bearded Lady belongs to the Dr. Green line, which Ashdown launched as a range of bass effects pedals covered by Premier Guitar in January 20121. Pedals from the same line share the maker's bass-first approach to gain effects.
Videos
Ashdown Engineering
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Sources (2)
- Ashdown Launches New Dr. Green Bass FX Pedals, Premier Guitar, 2013-01-17
- Bearded Lady, Ashdown Engineering
