enhance and tone effects

[manchild]

Just wondered what people thought of effects for the above purpose - i am considering getting one of the following;

Aphex bass exciter - boss limiter/enhancer - boss GEB-7

I am wanting to create a distinctive sound without altering too much, if anyone has any experience with any of the above or knows any other pedals that would be a good/better alternative - please let me know

Much luv - play on!

[bongomania]

Hi man,
As a friendly heads-up it may help people know how to respond to you if you indicate a little more what you hope to achieve with the pedal. A "distinctive sound" can mean a lot of different things.

The Aphex is known to help clarify the highs and lows, especially when using a small amp; yet it can also scoop the mids if you turn it up too much, which will actually make a small amp even less efficient (in terms of projecting "good" bass tones). The Boss is a compressor, and you can read what it does by checking out the compressor FAQ in my sig. It's "enhance" function is just a mid scoop. The GEB7 is an EQ- it allows you to boost or cut whichever frequencies you wish (within its available parameters), yet it will not perform the exact same tonal function as the Aphex, and it is not a compressor.

They are each different, for different purposes, and will work better or worse in different rigs and applications.

You can find a great deal more opinions on each by searching on the terms "exciter", "maximizer", "LMB", and "GEB".

Let us know what gear you've tried so far that isn't doing it for you, and we can help you more.

[manchild]

Thanks bongomania - thats some good advice. When i mean distinctive sound, if you think that all guitarists use a distortion/overdrive of some sort yet they all sound different, ie oasis - velvet revolver - ozzy etc, i am just trying to find ways of making distincitve sounds with a bass so that it is just not a bass and amp sound. i dont want to choke the sound with too many effects or alter it a lot, and im not into dist/overdrive on a bass. I know a lot of people use chorus and was just wondering how the above effects and others that im not aware of may work for me

You have clarified a good few things about the ones i listed, thanks for that - i think the aphex is what im looking for. If you have a graphic eq on the amp do you really need a pedal like that too?

Thank for your reply

[bongomania]

Here's what I would recommend:

Get a Boss LS2 or a Barge VFB or a similar active blender-loop device that will allow you to blend your clean signal with the effected signal. That way you can run all kinds of effects for "spice" without choking or overwhelming the clean bass tone.

Go to a shop that will let you try out various multi-fx units by Boss, Zoom, Korg, Line 6, etc., and try out all the different effects to hear what they sound like, and take notes on which ones have sort of the type of "spice" that suits you. Then, let's say you decide that you like chorus and flanger, you can come on here and read a bunch of threads we've had on choruses and flangers to see which ones are well-liked and in your price range.

Also be sure to read the previous threads on enhancers and maximizers (mostly BBE and Aphex), as there's a lot of good discussion there, including at least one good recent thread.