Effect Chain Advice and Fattening my sound

[Blah114]

I have an EBS compressor and VT pedal.. I prefer to keep them in my LMII's effect loop.. I don't like the sound of going straight through them.. I have an American Standard P bass.. in drop D, the bass is not there like I'd like.. I EQ the LM II as: gain 12 noon, Low 2 o clock, mid low 1 o clock, mid high noon, high noon, VLE 8 o clock, VPF 9 o clock.. I don't care for adjusting the EQ on the LMII.. I like my tone overall.. but want it "fatter.." more "wide..." I thought about going in stereo, one from each pickup..

I keep the compressor as "last" in my chain.. VT first.. I compress in normal mode, Comp at 9 o clock, gain at 11 o clock, VT as Level 11 o clock, mids noon, character 9 o clock, drive 11 o clock, lows 1, high 11.5.. almost noon.

I thought about maybe grabbing an MXR EQ.. I like my sound.. I just want it "fuller" .. I play in a 4-piece band.. I need the same tone, just thicker.." Am I nuts? ... anyway, I've looked around.. I cannot get a better bass tone than the LMII.. I love the VT pedal.. most of the time, we do our own sound.. when we use a soundman, all bets are off.. I eq everything flat.. leaving the pedals the same.. but I don't give a sound guy my signal flat.. I flipped the dip switch on the LM II so the DI is affected by EQ.

What do you guys and gals use to fatten up your sound.. ? I like my sound.. it's a bit thin.. I am more a Geddy-type of player.. I believe MIDS are CRUCIAL to a band.. especially live..... so I'd like to keep the mids, but double them.. lol

[Blah114]

any suggestions?

[faceinbass]

EQ is a good way to go to not change your tone so much as accentuate certain freqs. that need to be brought forward or squashed. I say EQ to the rescue!

I use an Arion Bass Eq pedal, and while "cheap", it does the job REALLY well.

Hope this helps...

[Blah114]

thanks for the advice.. I have thought about getting an MXR EQ pedal.. are you still running through an amp.. ? or a head, I mean.. I love the LM II.. I guess in the end my biggest problem is I sometimes don't run through a PA..

[loopee]

well I have the LMII and got myself a DHA VT1 EQ pedal and that did it for me. The DHA has a tube in it (plus boost, DI, et) and it's really fattened up my sound. I won't ge gassing for a few months hopefully.....lol....

[sonic assassin]

need more body? add low mids. turn the filters off. one scoops, one makes you low fi. kill them both. why buy more stuff?

[JimmyM]

you say nothing about your cab(s). that rig should have enough fatness to clog your arteries, especially with those settings, unless your speakers aren't getting it done.

[Blah114]

good point.. my speakers.. are two 12" Bergantino cabs.. One is the EX112S I think.. the other is an HT112 (I think).. one of them has no horn.. I am thinking maybe I need to cut the filters also.. it's amazing to me the LMII sounds SO good flat.. I think I am guilty of getting bored with my tone.. and buying stuff for that... I know I can't take the VT directly.. it sounds better in the loop as does the EBS compressor.. I am not entirely sold on 12s, either.. I am thinking someday I'll grab 1 15 and maybe a 2x10.. both 8 ohms.

[Blah114]

oh yes, I keep the HT112's horn nearly off..

[Blah114]

I just checked out a DHA pedal.. I had never heard of them.. could there be any more knobs?? I could never buy a pedal like that.. it's so flexible, to me, it would be dangerous (haha).. $350 also.. that's a lot of money for a mere pedal.. is it worth it?

[Joe Smithberger]

I would think that you have what you need already.

You may want to rethink your EQ on the LMII. IMO the bass control on the LMII only adds mud (flame if you like but it is voiced too low to boost much). When I had mine, I found that I had better luck running the Bass at noon, Low mids at noon, High mids at 9:00-11:00, and highs at 9:00. I generally ran the VLE off or 9:00 and the VPF anywhere from 9:00 to 11:00.

That said, if you are getting the majority of your tone shaping with the VT bass, I would try to running the filters off. The treble and bass controls of the LM and the VT are completely different frequencies. You may even find that you like to boost bass on the VT and cut slightly on the LM.

[jimmyjames77]

I also run the VT and EBS in my chain. I use the comp first, tube mode gives it a fatter sound. Try messing with the active passive switch on the side. That really affects the comp pedal, and a good comp can REALLY fatten up a chain. I also run the EBS valve drive between the EBS and VT. It is FAT in a box. The vintage mode is just magic for fat. Get it.
Also the cab you use will really change your sound.

[faceinbass]

Originally Posted by Blah114

thanks for the advice.. I have thought about getting an MXR EQ pedal.. are you still running through an amp.. ? or a head, I mean.. I love the LM II.. I guess in the end my biggest problem is I sometimes don't run through a PA..

Yes I run through heads that tend to only have "low, mid, high" adjustments. I like having some graphic control as well.

[Blah114]

Originally Posted by jimmyjames77

I also run the VT and EBS in my chain. I use the comp first, tube mode gives it a fatter sound. Try messing with the active passive switch on the side. That really affects the comp pedal, and a good comp can REALLY fatten up a chain. I also run the EBS valve drive between the EBS and VT. It is FAT in a box. The vintage mode is just magic for fat. Get it.
Also the cab you use will really change your sound.

So, you which are running first.. forgive me.. are you doing compression before the send? I assume so..

EBS is so expensive.. I am waiting for them to make a muti-effects unit.. I'd buy that anytime..

[Blah114]

Originally Posted by Joe Smithberger

I would think that you have what you need already.

You may want to rethink your EQ on the LMII. IMO the bass control on the LMII only adds mud (flame if you like but it is voiced too low to boost much). When I had mine, I found that I had better luck running the Bass at noon, Low mids at noon, High mids at 9:00-11:00, and highs at 9:00. I generally ran the VLE off or 9:00 and the VPF anywhere from 9:00 to 11:00.

That said, if you are getting the majority of your tone shaping with the VT bass, I would try to running the filters off. The treble and bass controls of the LM and the VT are completely different frequencies. You may even find that you like to boost bass on the VT and cut slightly on the LM.

very sound advice.. what I've been doing is leaving the VT basically out of the tone controls.. highs, lows, etc flat mostly.. to me, if the two filters cancel each other out if run that at similar levels.. right? I think so.. but from your decreasing the mids a bit, you're in effect bringing more bass into the mix.. I do actually find the bass in the LMII a tad muddy.. I never go past 1 o clock with the LMII's bass.. the amp sounds really great flat, if you ask me.. I'll keep the filters off for a set and see what happens..

[jimmyjames77]

Originally Posted by Blah114

So, you which are running first.. forgive me.. are you doing compression before the send? I assume so..

EBS is so expensive.. I am waiting for them to make a muti-effects unit.. I'd buy that anytime..

Comp-valvedrive-vt.
Yeah it is very expensive, but it does magic depending on your setup. It just has a thickness you can't mimic.

[Blah114]

to me, I don't know.. I would think the VT gets cancelled or dimished by the valve drive.. or does it.. not sure..I had thought if I got an EBS or DHall pedal.. I'd run directly through that.. into the input.. and see what would happen.. the appealing thing, to me, about the EBS pedal (the valve pedal) is that it can be a DI.. that's my HUGE criticism of the VT pedal.. no DI..

[Joe Smithberger]

Originally Posted by Blah114

very sound advice.. what I've been doing is leaving the VT basically out of the tone controls.. highs, lows, etc flat mostly.. to me, if the two filters cancel each other out if run that at similar levels.. right? I think so.. but from your decreasing the mids a bit, you're in effect bringing more bass into the mix.. I do actually find the bass in the LMII a tad muddy.. I never go past 1 o clock with the LMII's bass.. the amp sounds really great flat, if you ask me.. I'll keep the filters off for a set and see what happens..

If you look at the frequency plots for the two Markbass filters, the VPF boosts highs and lows and cuts around 500 hz. The VLE just rolls off the highs. They can be used together to get a boost around 80-100 HZ and a cut at 500 nz without increasing the high end.

[loopee]

Yeah, lots of knobs but you don't have to use them all...lol....so far I've only used the EQ part which I mainly keep nearly flat (just like the LMII) what it does is just give me the tube fatness I needed. I paid much less for mine because I wanted a different pedal and he couldn't build it right away and said he had one on hand ready to go for the price of the other pedal. If you contact their US website you might be able to get a much lower price, I hear they do that a lot.....also, if you figure all the things that pedal can do, you don't really need anything else. I got it mainly for studio work but it's so good that I use it live too, just my DHA and tuner and it's a DI too and also has a headphone out and passive/active input and boost and Q and (etc).....I don't need anything else.....lol

I'm very pleased with it and I didn't pay the full price either...

Originally Posted by Blah114

I just checked out a DHA pedal.. I had never heard of them.. could there be any more knobs?? I could never buy a pedal like that.. it's so flexible, to me, it would be dangerous (haha).. $350 also.. that's a lot of money for a mere pedal.. is it worth it?

[Bassmike62]

Originally Posted by Joe Smithberger

I would think that you have what you need already.

+ 1

If you're looking for an effect way to achieve a fuller sound, try something like the BBE Sonic Maximizer, Aphex Bass X-citer or Boss EH-2 enhancer.