The MOTÖRBASS by OKKO FX is one of those pedals I honestly didn’t expect to fall for. I’ve never been a Motörhead devotee, and recreating Lemmy’s bass tone isn’t exactly on my to-do list. But what OKKO has built here goes well beyond a tribute. It’s a straightforward, punchy bass distortion that plays well in a rock mix without eating your low end alive.
The way the bass functions in Motörhead is almost like a second rhythm guitar: heavily distorted, loaded with mids. That’s not a tone I’d reach for in most of my mixes. But the MOTÖRBASS surprised me by adding mids and highs in just the right proportions, so the bass still sounds like bass. It cuts through the guitars without turning to mush. That combination of aggression and clarity is harder to find than you’d think.
Three controls, clearly named. FASTER is gain, running from almost clean up to full blast. LOUDER is volume. HARDER shapes the upper mids: turned down it stays rounded and thick, turned up it adds aggressive bite and attack.
Panel order from left to right: FASTER and LOUDER sit side by side as the two large knobs, with HARDER as a smaller knob tucked below center. In the demo above I’ve set up sweeps for both FASTER and HARDER so you can hear what each one does across its full range.
“Tamed Beast” shows the pedal at restrained gain with a moderate HARDER setting, just enough grit to give the bass presence without shredding the signal. Crank FASTER and HARDER up for “Bare Teeth” and the upper mids bite hard while the low end holds firm underneath. “Full Roar” pushes gain and volume both to ten: grinding, full, and surprisingly usable in context. “Fat Punch” brings everything to noon as a balanced reference point.
What I keep coming back to is how little I need to touch the EQ after recording with this pedal. The gain structure is gnarly but controlled, and the HARDER knob handles the tonal shaping in a way that lands without extra surgery in post. It also works as a light boost to push the front end of an amp. And yes, I’ve tested it on guitar: it stacks well and sounds great, though bass is clearly where it lives.
The ZVEX Basstortion is the obvious cross-shop here: three controls, designed specifically for bass, and built around retaining low end under distortion. The Basstortion leans brighter and more open-sounding, especially in its Bright mode, which gives it a more guitar-like clang. The MOTÖRBASS is thicker and more mid-forward by default, sitting deeper in the mix rather than cutting across it. The Basstortion also has a DARK mode that smooths the top end out considerably, making it the more flexible option between the two if you need a wider range of characters. The MOTÖRBASS has a more focused identity: aggressive, punchy mid-driven rock distortion. Less range, but a stronger personality in that lane.
Rock and hard rock bass players who want a distortion that adds mid-range presence without thinning out the low end. It’s well suited to shortscale basses, flatwounds, and pick playing, which is how I run it. If your ideal bass distortion is bright and cutting rather than thick and grindy, the MOTÖRBASS probably isn’t your pedal. If you want something that gets out of the way and makes every heavy backing track sound better without a second thought, it’s hard to argue with.
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