Bass rig / effects setup suggestions

K.Boxingham · #1 10-04-2010, 06:08 AM

I'm seeking some suggestions or ideas for how I can get the best sound out of the gear that I'm using at the moment. FYI - I'm new to bass this year after my mates and I started a band, and soon realised we needed someone to make the band sound good!!!

I'm playing an Ibanez SR300, a Hartke LH500 Head and VX410 Cab (and after reading the number of people praising Larry Hartke for his customer service, I'm glad I did - way to go champ! I bought this amp for it's simplicity...then went and bought a heap of effects pedals!!), Boss ODB-3, Boss LMB-3, Crybaby bass wah, and a Korg Pitchblack tuner (just incase it matters).

So my guitar guy and I were playing around with my rig this arvo and I think the way I am setting it up might be on the right track, but I'd like feedback from any experts please.

Originally I was running my effects through the active input on the front of my amp, but I was getting a lot of hissing, so today I plugged them in through the effects loop and the hissing disappeared, but the volume seemed to drop a little too (I know I can increase the volume on my pedals, which is my to-do list for next practice). I have also played with my pedal order - currently: guitar-> wah -> ODB3 -> LMB3 -> Tuner -> Amp. Does this order sound right?

We mostly play loud rock (I bought the wah for fun last week), so I'm looking for an overdrive setting for noisy rock, a limiter setting that will help cover / blend in my twangy stuff ups, and any hints for the wah. Any suggestions besides "find something that works for you" will be appreciated. I live in the middle of no where and I don't have anyone nearby to help me otherwise!!

Thanks in advance.

smo · #2 10-04-2010, 08:34 AM

Try axe - ODB - Wah - tuner - amp.
I'd only use the limiter if you feel you need it, and if so,use it first or last - whichever sounds the best with the ODB.
I find the crybaby bass wah sounds better after almost any effect IME/IMO.

bassman1185 · #3 10-04-2010, 11:08 AM

How do you have the limiter and the ODB set up? The LMB-3 is known to be somewhat noisy when you crank the "enhance" knob up, and pretty much all distortion/drive/fuzz pedals will amplify whatever noise your bass produces by quite a lot. Try turning the enhance knob all the way down for the time being, and lowering the gain a bit on the OD.

The reason why you are getting a volume drop when you plug into the effects return is because you are running into a line-level input, which is expecting a much hotter signal than you are sending it. You are also bypassing the head's preamp, so you won't have the option to use it for tweaking your sound as it stands now, and the DI probably won't work, as it is generally tied into the preamp. If running into the effect return works for you, then go for it, but you won't get the full volume or utility of your amp that way.

Also, you are running your effects in exactly the opposite way that I would be running them. I would go tuner->compressor->dirt->wah, but that's just my take on it.

cheapbasslovin · #4 10-04-2010, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassman1185

How do you have the limiter and the ODB set up? The LMB-3 is known to be somewhat noisy when you crank the "enhance" knob up, and pretty much all distortion/drive/fuzz pedals will amplify whatever noise your bass produces by quite a lot. Try turning the enhance knob all the way down for the time being, and lowering the gain a bit on the OD.

The reason why you are getting a volume drop when you plug into the effects return is because you are running into a line-level input, which is expecting a much hotter signal than you are sending it. You are also bypassing the head's preamp, so you won't have the option to use it for tweaking your sound as it stands now, and the DI probably won't work, as it is generally tied into the preamp. If running into the effect return works for you, then go for it, but you won't get the full volume or utility of your amp that way.

Also, you are running your effects in exactly the opposite way that I would be running them. I would go tuner->compressor->dirt->wah, but that's just my take on it.

+1 to all of it. But that doesn't mean that you are running the order wrong, just that we'd do it differently.

K.Boxingham · #5 10-05-2010, 04:14 AM

Thanks for your replies! You know what? I actually had my effects set up in the reverse order originally, but then my guitar playing friend suggested the swap after following some information on a website that we found. I will swap them round again next practice to see how they run, but it's a damn shame about the effects loop because the sound was better, I thought, without the hissing sound.

@ bassman1185 - The limiter is new, so I have been trying it out as per the suggestions in the manual to see if it suits my taste, but I feel that it is dulling out my sound too much, if you know what I mean. I think it will be a trial and error type thing. I was hoping that it would blend the highs in a bit for songs that have a particularly prominent bass line, like I've noticed in under the bridge or Santa Monica for example, which involve playing on the D and G strings. I have been setting the OD with the Level at 12 oclock, less high boosting the low, balance between 12 and 2, and gain is low, maybe at 8 to 9 oclock. Wah has so far been set at flat out on both selections to try to pull some noise out of it. It does little on the E string, which apparently is to be expected, starts to kick in on the A string, but makes a racket on the D and G strings.

So my plan for Friday's practice - effects through the front, I'll go back to my original plan of tuner->compressor->dirt->wah as you guys have suggested, and I'll see how that noise works for me I guess.

Thanks heaps for writing back - first forum thread ever so I'm glad someone replied!

K.Boxingham · #6 01-25-2011, 04:59 AM

Right - new problem folks. I have just bought a Zoom B2. Where do I put it?

I have been playing with axe > tuner > ODB > Limiter > Wah

Thinking of dropping the limiter for the Zoom. Ideas / thoughts?

Knuckles

Von Felgenhauer · #7 01-25-2011, 05:20 AM

If you put the tuner at the end of your chain it will actually mute everything for you when you tune

NortyFiner · #8 01-25-2011, 05:35 AM

The tuner will mute just as well at the front of the chain. That doesn't really matter except for personal preference. I have my Korg Pitchblack at the front of my chain.

K.Boxingham · #9 01-26-2011, 11:39 PM

Thanks, but I'm not concerned about the tuner, it's staying at the axe end if the chain. I'm more interested in where I should place the zoom, especially in relation to the wah and the ODB3. An ideas?

dirtytone · #10 01-14-2013, 03:22 AM

axe, tuner, wah, odb3, (or vise-verse, your ears here friend

into compressor, then amp. if you switch them out, use the zoom in place of the lmb3.. or use all and put the zoom at the end. or you can try using it in the amps effects loop.. honestly, just play around. half the fun of finding YOUR sound is tweeking and playing with YOUR setup..

. i currently run axe, boss tuner into boss ns-2 with my weeping demon, digitech bass driver, lmb3, in the gate loop, with my mxr chorus and dd3 delay in the amps effects loop.. im sure someone will say i should try something else instead, but i am happy with the tone, responce and sound to noise level (no hum, hiss, etc etc) with my rig..

cheers,

ga_edwards · #11 01-14-2013, 04:03 AM

Remember, that LMB3 is a compressor/limiter. Any compressor will raise the ambient noise in the signal - it's the way compressors work! Overdrive/distortion usually carries background noise too, so putting the limiter after overdrive is going to be hissy, especially if used quite heavily.

However, putting overdrive after compression makes the overdrive less responsive to playing dynamics. So it's a trade off between the two, and a fine balance when you get it right.