Effects newbie ready to jump in…Please offer your wisdom!!!

[nismaniac]

Alright, so I’ve never been an effects guy, but now I’m ready and I’m really excited about the possibilities this will open up. My rig is a Mesa Titan V12 and Mesa 410 cab. The V12 offers a nice tube OD that is kept on at subtle levels all the time.

Not every song I play will require these effects, so I’d say in general I would lean to the more subtle side of things. From the research I’ve done so far I’ve determined that I need a good Fuzz, Synth and maybe one or two other things. I’m not looking for a crazy huge board, but I could see it easily being 5-6 pedals once I’m done. I’m still trying to get familiar with this stuff so let me know if some of the pedals I list overlap each other, I really don’t want any duplicates at this time.

FUZZ- At some point I really want a Wooly Mammoth, I’ve heard one in person and like what it can do, however for now I’m looking at the Bass Big Muff…it has a sound I like and is definitely cheaper and seems like a good place to start with Fuzz.

SYNTH- Right now the EHX Bass Micro Synth looks like a great option. Seems pretty flexible and would probably sound good in combination with the Bass Big Muff. Let me know if there is something else similar in performance and price that I should check out.

This is the point where I’m not too sure what else I should do….

Fulltone Bass Driver- I’ve heard one in person and liked it, but between the Mesa head with OD and the Fuzz, is this necessary?

Octave Multiplexer- sounds really cool online, never heard one in person. The only reason I’m interested is that it might sound cool in combination with the Fuzz or Synth or both. Are there other things out there that would better serve this purpose, or is this pedal even necessary?

Chunk Systems Brown Dog and Agent 00Funk- Watched the awesome review that Ed Freidland did with these pedals and they sound so cool, they sound amazing hooked together. Would these pedals kind of duplicate what I would already have going with the Synth and Fuzz or would they be good in addition?

Sorry for the long post and tons of questions, but I really appreciate your insight!!!

[Jacob J]

I own Bass Micro Synth, and although it was quite expensive (at least in my country), it is great, and I´m big fan of it. Always have been. Really one of a kind pedal. You can´t go wrong with it. I believe there are other great synth pedals too, but they are either in another price range (Chunk Systems Octavius Squeezer) or are rare, or both (Akai Deep Impact). As for BMS, there is almost everything you might want in bass synth pedal. And it´s fully analog.

I wouldn´t have bought another OD if I had head like you have. Most of us want OD for that tubey warmth, which I believe V12 delivers.

If you would get Bass Micro Synth, there is really great octaver built in. I even sold my Boss OC-2 (one of the most popular octavers out there) after I purchased BMS.

Chunk Systems Brown Dog and Agent 00Funk is nice synthy combo. Don´t forget that Brown Dog is fuzz, so maybe you don´t need two fuzz pedals.

So here is my conclusion : as fuzz, get either Brown Dog or Bass Big Muff (as you said, it´s good place to start with fuzz). For synth I highly recommend Bass Micro Synth. If you really want an envelope filter, purchase also Agent 00Funk. I don´t know what kind of music do you play, but as other pedals I would recommend you some kind of modulation effects. For instance I run chorus (in my case EBS UniChorus) after BMS and it makes it even better sounding, it just breathes.

Hope that helped you a bit

[nismaniac]

Originally Posted by Jacob J

I own Bass Micro Synth, and although it was quite expensive (at least in my country), it is great, and I´m big fan of it. Always have been. Really one of a kind pedal. You can´t go wrong with it. I believe there are other great synth pedals too, but they are either in another price range (Chunk Systems Octavius Squeezer) or are rare, or both (Akai Deep Impact). As for BMS, there is almost everything you might want in bass synth pedal. And it´s fully analog.

I wouldn´t have bought another OD if I had head like you have. Most of us want OD for that tubey warmth, which I believe V12 delivers.

If you would get Bass Micro Synth, there is really great octaver built in. I even sold my Boss OC-2 (one of the most popular octavers out there) after I purchased BMS.

Chunk Systems Brown Dog and Agent 00Funk is nice synthy combo. Don´t forget that Brown Dog is fuzz, so maybe you don´t need two fuzz pedals.

So here is my conclusion : as fuzz, get either Brown Dog or Bass Big Muff (as you said, it´s good place to start with fuzz). For synth I highly recommend Bass Micro Synth. If you really want an envelope filter, purchase also Agent 00Funk. I don´t know what kind of music do you play, but as other pedals I would recommend you some kind of modulation effects. For instance I run chorus (in my case EBS UniChorus) after BMS and it makes it even better sounding, it just breathes.

Hope that helped you a bit

Thanks man, that is some great info. There are so many different effects and pedals out there, it becomes a pretty daunting task to research and learn about them all.

[warwick.hoy]

Originally Posted by nismaniac

FUZZ- At some point I really want a Wooly Mammoth.....

Looking at you sig immediately throws up a red flag. All your basses are belong to active (well maybe not the 'Vette or the DJ) which the WM is known to be hit or miss with (usually miss).

Muffs are fine with actives. If you like the brown dog,...that may be all the fuzz you need. YMMV

[edot3021]

I have an old Sovtek Big Muff Pi that I would not trade for any of the new stuff. I've had a Protone BFD, EHX Double Muff, EHX Russian Big Muff, but they just don't match up. I like the EHX Bass Micro Synth alot. I run it right before an MXR Blue Box (C11 Mod) and it makes some crazy sounds. The Blue Box by itself has a great fuzzed out synth sound I've been using lately. I've always wanted a Wooly Mammoth, but just can't bring myself to spend that much on a pedal. My bandmate just got a Mastodon and it sounds pretty rad on bass. I can't wait for Z.Vex to start selling the Inventobox either. Hopefully they put out the Mammoth module in the future.

[BruceBass3901]

Originally Posted by warwick.hoy

Looking at you sig immediately throws up a red flag. All your basses are belong to active (well maybe not the 'Vette or the DJ) which the WM is known to be hit or miss with (usually miss).

Muffs are fine with actives. If you like the brown dog,...that may be all the fuzz you need. YMMV

How does the Bass Synth work with an active bass?

[warwick.hoy]

Originally Posted by BruceBass3901

How does the Bass Synth work with an active bass?

Fine AFAIK,...I've never owned one.

[nismaniac]

Originally Posted by warwick.hoy

Looking at you sig immediately throws up a red flag. All your basses are belong to active (well maybe not the 'Vette or the DJ) which the WM is known to be hit or miss with (usually miss).

Muffs are fine with actives. If you like the brown dog,...that may be all the fuzz you need. YMMV

I'm assuming the Brown Dog works fine with active basses too?

[cheapbasslovin]

Originally Posted by BruceBass3901

How does the Bass Synth work with an active bass?

Spectacularly. Great versatile pedal.

[warwick.hoy]

Originally Posted by nismaniac

I'm assuming the Brown Dog works fine with active basses too?

Yes as evidenced by the Ed Friedland vid of the BD and the OOFunk played on an EBMM SR 5?

Some fuzzes have a reputation of not being active friendly,...the Fuzz Face and the WM are the two that I know of off the top of my head.

That isn't to say they don't work with actives,...they just aren't known to sound very good. Who knows,...you may actually like the sound.

I've heard of remedies to these problems such as placing the offending fuzz after a buffered pedal but I'm probably the least qualified to comment on how effective (or not) that is.

EDIT: Here is some interesting takes from Jared Lash on the Brown Dog (I'm buying that Chunky Cheese in the thread off of Freaky Freq).

Interesting (Brown Dog vs Big Cheese)

[RandomBass90]

Ill mirror what others have said in recommending the bass big muff. Very good fuzz, starter or otherwise. Im a Muse fan, so my fuzz bias is a tad skew, but you just cant go wrong really. Of course, if you can get a brown dog, go for it by all means, ive heard nothing but good things about it. As far as the BMS, i cant comment other than the fact that i really want one myself. I too am a relative effects newb and what i did was simply grab whatever relatively cheap pedals i could find that i thought i could implement and played with them. If i find that i really like the effect, ill spend more on a higher quality pedal, and if all else fails you can sell them used and get most of your investment back.

Best o' luck.

[nismaniac]

Thanks for all the info and suggestions from everyone so far. From my own research and the advice of others, It's looking like the best place for me to start is with the EHX Bass Big Muff and the EHX Bass Micro Synth.

From there I think I will look into envelope filters. Right now it's looking like the Brown Dog/Agent 00Funk combo based on what I've read and heard in demos. The other pedal that sticks out to me is the EHX Enigma Qballs. It looks like the Qballs has distortion which I guess would make it similar to running the Brown Dog/Agent 00Funk combo.

Anyone have any thoughts or experience with the Brown Dog/Agent 00Funk combo vs. the EHX Enigma Qballs???