Continued pedalboard refinement and experimentation.

[pickles]

You may have enjoyed my first foray into pedalboard design here:

My very interesting effects order experiment, and other pedalboard ramblings.


But that board had a very serious problem: tone suck:

Tone sucker inventory.

Now that I've solved the tone suck, I'm cookoo for cocoa puffs on effects. Since I've pretty much lost my mind and am going overboard on effects, I thought I'd document my pedalboard's evolution.

1.0:



2.0 with zero tone suck:



3.0 in progress - with an octave and two distortions!!!

[pickles]

Here are my notes that lead to embarking on major revision 3 ...

I love my TS-9DX on bass. It has a killer just barely overdriven sound, and the tone blends perfectly with a clean bass sound, retaining great dynamic sensitivity. I use the standard TS-9 setting at full gain with tone behind center.

But I also want a crunchier, more electronic sounding distortion sometimes.

I tried a new Guv'nor and it sounded really lame on bass, especially compared to my TS-9. It was just this cheap sounding fuzzy sound at high gain, and at lower gain it has absolutely no dynamic sensitivity. The EQ is OK, but the clipping stinks.

A DS-1 I just got here for $20 sounds WAY better than the guv'nor. Still not very sensitive for in-between sounds, but it has a great wall of gain sound, and sounds really good when both it and the TS-9 are on (TS-9 first). So I have 3 sounds. Tube breakup sound from the TS-9, grindy crunch from the RAT, full freakout with both. All of it buffered and blended with my barge so I keep all my lows! Really cools sounds.

I just returned the Guv and got a Keeley RAT Planning to use the RAT the same way I'm using the DS-1, but hopefully with even better tone and a stronger, more dynamic in-between crunch sound from the rat.

[pickles]

The Bass IQ is "just for fun" and for copping keyboard sounds or for funky breakdowns on the rare occasion I need to do that. But if you're going to have fun ... why not go all the way?

I heard the EBS Octabass + Bass IQ clip on basstasters and decided I had to have one. It tracks very well down to about Ab on the E string, which is a little disappointing, but its still very fun.

And when I play the hook from Parliament "Do That Stuff" with both pedals on ... all is forgiven. Its such an insane sound!

The octave + full freakout distortion also sounds pretty wild and very cool, but sounds a lot better with the octave before the distortion, which I don't think I'll be able to accommodate on this board. I need to have the BDDI on the unblended loop (since I like a very different blend setting on it than I do on my distortions, and I need to be able to set both distortions on then click them in and out with the barge, with the BDDI on for the whole song). OK, thats fine. Can't win 'em all.

[pickles]

Also, you may notice the trace is gone.

I've quit using compression of any kind and am digging it! Kind of a rough transition, but I like my tone better now overall. Even switching from fingerstyle to slap is fine. With the way I set my basses up I can control volume really well with my right hand.

[Joe P]

Originally Posted by pickles

...it has a great wall of gain sound, and sounds really good when both it and the TS-9 are on (TS-9 first...

You're maybe missing a great opportunity here: I run Diesel Dawg overdrive into ODB hard-clip - a similar OD into distortion setup - and what really brought it together is when I finally put a vib type chorus (CEB-3) BETWEEN them!

Joe

[Nils]

Originally Posted by Joe P

You're maybe missing a great opportunity here: I run Diesel Dawg overdrive into ODB hard-clip - a similar OD into distortion setup - and what really brought it together is when I finally put a vib type chorus (CEB-3) BETWEEN them!

Joe

Sounds awesome! I like to run chorus on fuzz or distortion, but never tried it between two drives. Need to gets me another drive Only 16 or so to choose from from my GAS-list

[pickles]

Oh dear, not more GAS

[magneezius]

may i recommend a Colorsound Tonebender....They sound great!

However Comparable to A Rat II (modded) Especially with a chorus

[Nils]

Originally Posted by pickles

Oh dear, not more GAS

Think it'll ever stop?

[magneezius]

Hey pickles did you custom order that barge concept looper? How much was that... It looks awesome..

[pickles]

Yea thats a custom barge. Its like two VFBs with no feedback in one case. I LOVE it ... was about $200. Its the whole reason I'm getting into effects.

[pickles]

Originally Posted by Nils

Think it'll ever stop?

No chance.

But actually chorus is one sound that I'm not really into on bass, for whatever reason. It just doesn't inspire me.

A phaser could be cool, but for the most part I like distortions and dynamic effects.