Clean sound with something added

[Toastfuzz]

I've done some research on this already but couldn't find a real good answer to my question. I'm into playing alot of Rage, Alice in Chains, Godsmack, Primus, Nirvana, Black Sabbath, misc. "heavy rock" music that I guess sits right on the edge of the metal pool. I bought Ibanez's bass overdrive pedal and usually use it set on overdrive with the knob set to 0 just to get dirt in it. However I've realized that alot of what makes the bass come out in this music is its clean sound, but even with pumped up mids, the dropped D string sounds almost hollow and the rest of the strings sound whimpy.

I'm thinking maybe a Chorus pedal set reasonably low would maybe work? Throw out some suggestions in the < $100 range.

Equipment: Ibanez GSR200 into Peavey 300 combo

[bongomania]

There's a few ways to look at this. One is what's called a "blender loop". Search on "blender" here for more details, but the gist is that it mixes your clean signal with your effected signal for the best of both. Another answer is bi-amping, where you use your bass rig for clean sound and a smaller guitar amp for effected/distorted sound. Another issue is that if your bass sounds bad, it just sounds bad. Try some different strings, and if that doesn't help then get a different bass. Another thing is that mighty metal sounds do not come from small combos. They just don't. I don't know the specs on your Peavey 300, but unless it's like 300W into a couple of large cones, you're not approaching Heavyrockland yet.

Forget the chorus for now, until you have the "it sounds crushing and killer even without effects" part down first. There are some pedals (such as the Aphex or BBE Exciter/Maximizers or the Sansamp BDDI) known to sometimes improve the tone of wimpy combo amps; try one of those (ideally order from someplace with a good returns policy), and read up on them here in the forum.

[Toastfuzz]

After thinking about this more, I think its my bass more than anything else, because when I was testing the amp in the store with Peavey's/Fenders they had a fuller sound, and I'm still using the Ibanez GSR series I learned on and the original (denatured alcohol-cleaned) strings.

Oh well, thanks for the advice on holding off on effects, I'd buy a new bass but financially it just aint happenin right now.

[dunce180]

I used to have a gsr 190, the one that comes with the begginer pack thing. The thing had no balls whatsoever. Definatly save up your money, and dont look into effects untill youve got a good setup (bass/rig).

[Trevor.A]

Originally Posted by Toastfuzz

After thinking about this more, I think its my bass more than anything else, because when I was testing the amp in the store with Peavey's/Fenders they had a fuller sound, and I'm still using the Ibanez GSR series I learned on and the original (denatured alcohol-cleaned) strings.

Oh well, thanks for the advice on holding off on effects, I'd buy a new bass but financially it just aint happenin right now.

Try new strings before you run off and buy a new bass.

[Oreomeister365]

Also, is your bass active? does it have some good tone controls?

I just started fiddling with mine a little more and it makes it sound so much better if used right and in conjuction with your amps tone controls.