Distortion/eq for Baritone Guitar

[deigam]

Hello guys!

I guess I'm not the only bass player who also uses a baritone guitar, so I'm posting here to have some suggestions!

I use a liuthier custom baritone, tuned C to C, and a '79 P-bass. I have an old ashdown 200W head, with 2 ampeg cabinets (1x15 & 4x10).
My current pedalboard: korg tuner, electro harmonix lpb-1, vintage rat, ashdown lomenzo hyperdrive, mxr carbon copy, BBE sonic stomp

Until a couple of months ago, I used a VERY old boss ds-2 to compensate the volume drop when I switched to the baritone (with distortion set to 0), then I bought a ex lpb-1 to boost the volume, but now I'm missing the slight eq change I had ... and moreover the distortion boxes I have in my pedalboard are now totally different, of course ...

I don't want to switch back to the ds-2, I'd like to use something that allows me to change the eq and a distortion ... I was thinking about something like sansamp bass driver programmable di, but I don't want to mess my tone! I don't know if this buddy will be ok.

What do you think?

Thanks!

Diego

[thombo]

i found your post a little confusing- you say that you miss the slight EQ change, and maybe the distortion (?), but you want something that doesn't effect your tone?

i suggest an MXR micro amp if you only want to adjust volume.

otherwise, i think you are on the right track with the sansamp stuff. if you leave the EQ flat, it will do just that. Maybe you should conider one of there progrmmable or deluxe pedals, that way you have a multitude of options at your toes (boost only, boost and eq, boost and eq and drive, etc).
if you want more guitar like sounds, check out the tri-ac. i know someone that uses it w/ a fretless jazz into a svt rig and it slays!
i am really happy with my BDDI Deluxe- it is my #1 pedal.
the new VT Deluxe has been getting some love around here... it has a mid control.

[faceinbass]

rustybox sounds incredible on a Bass VI.

Search youtube if interested.

Its a preamp but it can get 'mean' with gain.

[deigam]

Originally Posted by thombo

i found your post a little confusing- you say that you miss the slight EQ change, and maybe the distortion (?), but you want something that doesn't effect your tone?

i suggest an MXR micro amp if you only want to adjust volume.

otherwise, i think you are on the right track with the sansamp stuff. if you leave the EQ flat, it will do just that. Maybe you should conider one of there progrmmable or deluxe pedals, that way you have a multitude of options at your toes (boost only, boost and eq, boost and eq and drive, etc).
if you want more guitar like sounds, check out the tri-ac. i know someone that uses it w/ a fretless jazz into a svt rig and it slays!
i am really happy with my BDDI Deluxe- it is my #1 pedal.
the new VT Deluxe has been getting some love around here... it has a mid control.

hello!
well, maybe I wasn't clear enough, I'm not a native english speaker (Italy! pizza mandolino & stuff)

About my tone, I am very happy with the bass tone I have, it's just the baritone that needs some adjustment.
I used the boss ds-2 before in my pedalboard to adjust the volume drop when I switch to the baritone guitar, and it worked quite good, but after a while I thought maybe a volume booster could be better, so I got the lpb-1, that is like mxr micro amp, just a 1-knob tool to raise volume (more a gain, though).

Now, it does the job, but I realized that the subtle distortion the ds-2 added (even with dist set to 0) was crucial, because the mid boost & low cut let me use the other 2 pedals I have in my rig.

I specify, I love more warm overdrives, not distortions.

The point is: I'd rather not switch back to the boss thing, and I don't want to add 2 more distortions to my pedalboard to use them for the baritone sound, and I am wondering if any of the sansamp-like boxes could do the job with only 1 pedal.

The not-mess-my-tone affair means: most of the tools that could be a solution for me, are more preamp boxes than just stomp boxes.
For example the sansamp bass driver d.i. programmable ... it has 3 custom sounds I could edit, so perfect, I could use 1 for clean baritone, 1 for crunch and the 3rd for heavy dist sound .... but it's possible to bypass it to keep my p-bass sound?

I hope it's clearer now!

[MR PC]

I play electric Baritone guitar as well. A to A standard tuning, and another for "altered" tunings.

When I wanted to share one input for both instruments, I found that it never really was optimal for either instrument. These days I'm using old tube amps for the Bari. Another amp that was great was SWR California Blonde.

Maybe try a two channel amp with independent eq's, or better yet a dedicated amp for both. Tube amps have great sound for Baritone guitar.

Does your amp have an effects loop? Maybe you could use that as an input for your Baritone signal chain......the sansamp would probably be splendid for the job that way.

Anyway, adding the sansamp in front of your signal chain shouldn't hurt your bass tone, but it will change the tone IMO.

[deigam]

Using 2 amps would be ideal, but it's not the best solution for playing live, since I don't have a roadie yet :P

I could use the fx loop of my bass head, as you too suggest, and split the signal with an ABY pedal (I have a good lehle for this, I used two amps until a few weeks ago, one only for overdriven sound )

The only problem I see, if I route the sansamp on the fx loop, I'd lose the delay and BBE I have on the other path, the one that goes in the normal input of the head.

I mean the pedalboard would be like this:

guitar/bass
|
lehle A/B --> vintage rat --> ashdown od --> mxr carbon copy --> BBE sonic stomp --> hi gain input
|
--> sansamp programmable --> fx loop return

But I still have the option to use the sansamp as a stomp box, without any lehle, so that everything goes in the normal input of my amp.

Anyone here has some experience with the sansamp, in particular the BASS DRIVER D.I. PROGRAMMABLE I'd like to buy? I read some reviews, and in general it looks like anyone who already has a good amp and a good tone is not particularly impressed, unless it goes in the fx loop, so bypassing the eq and pre-amp of the head, and I like mine SO much.
Moreover, I have the delay issue, I guess putting an analog delay after a preamp could be a disaster.

Cheers!

[Mark Olson]

Sansamps do a whole lot more than just give you some EQ and/or drive. They totally rape your tone, destroy anything good about it, and leave you sounding terrible with a lot of hiss. If you don't want to "mess your tone" a sansamp is the absolute worst option because it totally changes your tone completely.

My question is, why bother looking at these complicated setups? If you want an EQ, buy an MXR 10 Band or something, that can do volume boost too. If you want drive, buy a drive, a Tubescreamer would work good. If all you want is the bass cut/mid boost EQ, along with volume boost and dialable gain, a simple Tubescreamer will give you all of that at once, while costing less than a Sansamp and without horribly disfiguring your tone.

[deigam]

Originally Posted by Mark Olson

Sansamps do a whole lot more than just give you some EQ and/or drive. They totally rape your tone, destroy anything good about it, and leave you sounding terrible with a lot of hiss. If you don't want to "mess your tone" a sansamp is the absolute worst option because it totally changes your tone completely.

My question is, why bother looking at these complicated setups? If you want an EQ, buy an MXR 10 Band or something, that can do volume boost too. If you want drive, buy a drive, a Tubescreamer would work good. If all you want is the bass cut/mid boost EQ, along with volume boost and dialable gain, a simple Tubescreamer will give you all of that at once, while costing less than a Sansamp and without horribly disfiguring your tone.

Yes Mark, I know this option is the easiest, and as usual, the easier the better.

Basically, I have 2 overdrive sounds for my bass (a crunch, and a more distorted one), and I need 2 similar sounds for my baritone, plus a very slight crunch for the "clean" sound, seeing that I will never use the baritone 100% clean.

I was thinking of getting a dual overdrive pedal (like t-rex bass juice), so in the end, together with the other od/boost pedals I already own, I'll have the right sounds for both bass and baritone.

So you confirm that sansamps are not the case for a bass player who already has a good instrument/amp/pedal set?

[Mark Olson]

It is impossible to EQ a sansamp to sound anywhere near natural. It dramatically reshapes your sound in many ways. If you're at all happy with the tones you're getting, don't go with a sansamp. Personally I don't think a sansamp is the way to go even if you have a crummy rig, the only thing a sansamp is good for is crapifying your sound and adding a ton of hiss. I've owned the full range of sansamps, and none of them have come anywhere near ANY tube amp or even tube preamp I have ever played.

[deigam]

My ashdown head (abm200h) is an old one, it sounds different and much better than the new ones.
It's got only 1 tube, and you can mix the "dirt" and the clean sound with a knob.
I absolutely love it, his sound is unbeatable(*) even now that the tube is blown out... so I'm not going to mess it up.

(*) I know that an aguilar, or the like, would probably be better, but we're talking about something that costs 5 times more.

That said, I've explored the internet for days now to find out a solution, and I think I'll get a nice overdrive, so that I can try what gives me the best sounds on either bass or bari, between this new pedal and my current favourites (ashdown hyperdrive and vintage rat) ... and then decide what I'll use for bass and what for bari.

Do you have any hint for a creamy, fat, greasy overdrive sound, with a "mix" knob that lets me keep part of the original sound? I hate distortions and buzzes
do you think something like t-rex bass juice would be a good choice?

[MR PC]

Originally Posted by deigam

Moreover, I have the delay issue, I guess putting an analog delay after a preamp could be a disaster. Cheers!

OTOH, if your analog delay has bucket brigade chips and doesn't have tru bypass, a nice overdrive can be achieved if needed.

Maybe try plugging your Bari chain into the effects return only, bypassing the preamp on the Ashdown.