Effects

Tim · Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 7:03 pm Post subject: Effects

Do any bassists here use many pedals?

I use a Boss LMB-3 Limiter/Enhancer (the guy I played for bought it me for Christmas...when I get excited/drunk I forget everything I know about dynamics! it allowed him to 'cap' me) Very good pedal, nice to be able to forget about levels when your rocking out, but one little stomp and you're in full control for the gentler bits.

I keep fancying an Overdrive pedal, possibly the Boss one...and the little kid in me wants a Wah but I keep telling myself I'd never actually use it, well not for anything practical anyway.

Tim.

1bassleft · Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 7:01 pm Post subject:

The Wah is something I never really got real use out of. A flanger is quite good for a slightly synth-bass or demi-Paladino "yeeoo-dee-yoo" sound. I like OD as an effect, but it is absolute murder getting a good OD for bass that doesn't lose all the bottom end and suddenly turn it into a rhythm guitar. Only the very expensive ones with a couple of 12AX7s (like the Mesa V-Twin or Matchless Dirtbox) come close.

One way around this is to split your bass signal with an ABY pedal (although I use the Nobels 4-splitter) and have a dry bass combined with the OD. I used to have a cheap little Boss digital multi-FX which was very simple. It had separate fottswitches for chorus/flange, EQ, Distortion/OD and Noise limiter. I never used the EQ and limiter, but I would set up the flange and OD to how I liked it then stepped on the relevant switch as/when.

Annoyingly, I gave it away when I got a Peavey Max100. The Peavey is too complex, loads of things I don't want, and has to be stepped up and down through unwanted patches. The OD is very noisy, too. I'd be much happier with a straight flange pedal and a good OD/dist and step on whichever I want.

Tim · Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 2:24 pm Post subject:

Might try with a splitter, makes more sense as I do like a definate punch to my sound.

The guy I used to play for always put me through a bass pod, he was so pround when he got it but it just had too many options for my taste, he tweaked for hours then I came along plugged in and played. Was apparently very good in the studio though (I was just the live bassist)

1bassleft · Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 4:25 am Post subject:

Modellers (like the pod) are fine and dandy for recording. How the heck anyone can use them live is beyond me. Twiddling with small knobs onstage only leads to embarrassment. I'm in the "keep it simple" (like the player) camp. Valve amp, step-on crunch, step-on flange. No nasty surprises unless I've overdone it on the "free drinks for the band" gig.

I rarely get those gigs, either Crying or Very sad

Tim · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:57 pm Post subject:

Never touched it on stage but a lot of rehershal tended to focus on knob-twiddling...

1bassleft · Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:06 am Post subject:

I just recently missed out on a potentially problem solving OD Crying or Very sad

Plexi Palace had a short-lived Bass section and I brought up that loss-of-bottom problem (I mean the bass disappearing when using OD, not the "curry before gig" problem). As mentioned only mega-quids Matchbox Dirtbox seemed to do the biz, but another player reckoned on the Budda Phatman so I looked it up.

All seemed good; twin AX7 blah blah blah. The only problem was that he got it on a special for $95 and the best of the net is $230. Dial in the ruinous British import duty and I'm looking at a hefty whack. Besides, if someone else can get a bargain them so am I Razz

Hey ho, I'm on FleebUS (rare for me) and one comes up with a BIN of $99, but it's a US only auction. 5am, too tired to swap emails with the seller so I emailed my chum in LA to handle it for me. In the time it took for him to read it and goto Fleeb, someone else had got in there. Rats Evil or Very Mad

Any other passing bassist with an op on the Budda or other good bass OD? I have to say I find the silicon pedals not so great and I'm not sure about geraniums (won't the scent be a bit overpowering?) but I'll shelve my pro-valve bias if any good suggestions are out there. Wav links even better.

1bassleft · Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 2:48 am Post subject:

Very indulgent and noodley, but I've started making use of the WEM Copicat style of valve echo amp I recently bought. The extremes of depth and repeat are the most fun, it's good for that "one of these days" from Floyd's "Meddle" album bass sounds. There is a song we did that I used flange for and it's much better with the echo.

Of course, with the bass being such a rhythmic instrument, it needs a bit of tweaking to get the values right to be used seriously. Otherwise it flubbles all over itself and the beat can disappear. Like I say, an indulgence really but I'm not the type who gets excited by a compressor pedal in my Christmas stocking.

Tim · Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 9:37 pm Post subject:

Before you say anything...I've used one before and they're absolute crap...Yes folks, today I bought a Zoom 506!!!

I've been looking at stomp boxes and they cost anything from £20 to crazy money so I want to get it right when I buy them but, crucially, I don't know how they'd combine, do I want an overdriven flange with delay? (probably not but you get the pic). So £24.99, get a (very) rough idea what works with what and sell it on for a tenner is the plan...I'll keep you informed, the presets are as nasty as I remembered Rolling Eyes

1bassleft · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:41 am Post subject:

Not a bad idea, really, Tim. I spent a lot more than that on the Peavey Max and found out I don't like it.

FWIW, I don't think these multi-FX, step-down, step-up patch selecting jobbies are what a bass player wants anyhoo.

Stomp. Overdrive on/off. Stomp. Flange on/off. That'll do. Acccidentally stepping on #99 and getting the Leslie speaker Sim with 2sec delay and reverse plate echo can really make you sound like a buttock.

I'm going back to a couple of stomps (with a splitter for continuous dry bass, though).

Tim · Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 8:32 pm Post subject:

Well after much pressing of tiny plasticky buttons I think I've reached a conclusion...I want a decent overdive pedal, and thats about it.
Very interested in the new Ashdown Drive Plus, got really good review in Bass Guitar Magazine, they specifically mention that it doesn't lose too much bottom, it has low freq drive and high freq drive knobs and a balance knob that pans between the two which seems to really make sense, it's true bypass...and it costs £99. The knobs on the pic on the Ashdown website are labelled differently to the pic in the mag tho, but the manual agrees with the mag pic, which is a little odd? But the whole new range seems worth a look.

http://www.ashdownmusic.co.uk/bass/detail.asp?ID=152

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