Getting that "radio synth bass" sound

[halfhere]

Hello all,

I realized today I should consult the tone wizards at TB. I've bought (and quickly flipped) a Musket Fuzz and an Iron Ether Oxide fuzz trying to help me get the sort of dub-bass radio sound. I'm playing in a band that covers top 40 stuff (Ke$ha, Katy Perry, Cee-lo) and need to take my jazz from bass guitar to radio synth club-banger.

My current signal chain is:
Korg Pitchblack> V1 OCD> Sansamp.

I need suggestions for what could help me sound like a computer... do I need a compressor? A low pass filter? A fuzz? An octave? Any and all suggestions are welcome (especially if you're covering this type of music, too).

(and in case you're wondering, yes, my soul dies a bit every time I play "Teenage Dream" ...but it pays the bills.)

[DeltaPhoenix]

A fuzz pedal by itself cannot get you there but a fuzz is a part of the modular synth approach. I think you know the answer to this question by the questions you asked. Octave>Fuzz>Filter at the very least. I am sure that this will not get you the "radio synth bass" exactly..possibly a close enough approximation.
The other affordable option looks like a MarkBass SuperSynth. Yes it has limitations but I think it will get you way closer to the modern "radio synth" that you are wanting. Someone may say that all you need is a digitech Bass Synth Wah. I found that to be way more like a toy than something I would use at a gig. I owned both and found the MarkBass a much better option. Having said that, I sold both of them and got a Roland GR-55 guitar synth. Way more expensive, way better, still has some limitations. An option that is comparably in price to the MBSS is a Korg G-5, a bit more expensive but not much. You would to search High and Low for one, but they do pop up on EBay once or twice a month. I think the tracking is a bit better on the Korg.
So to wrap it up, the MarkBass will be passable, and easiest to find. You can check out Gastric's website and get some good presets that he made and upload them to your computer.

[waveman]

For Ke$sha and Lady Gaga songs I am using the EHX HOG. However, I have had some success with a Fuzz -> Chorus -> Noise Gate. The noise gate is essential to cut off the signal. I am getting a Source Audio Soundblox Pro to see if I can get something more synthy, but the band seems to like the HOG over everything. You can probably do the same thing with a POG.

I have also tried the Digitech Synth Wah, which gets a pretty good square wave thing going, but it gets lost at live volumes with my rig.

HOG setting -> Input Gain 90% -> Dry Signal %50 -> -1oct 25% -> original 95% -> +5th 33% -> +oct 50% -> + oct +5th 33%. This on it's own does not sound like you you would think makes it happen, but in the band mix, it works.

[rr5025]

The deep impact can do lady gaga pretty well. That of course isn't really a cheap option though. I'd say go with the super synth, I've had a BSW and while I enjoyed some of the sounds on it I didn't find it that controllable.

[sillyfabe]

I use a Behringer BSY-600 (Boss SYB-05) clone that is WAY better than the Boss. Tracks way better, you can stop the filter sweep and seems to have much wider range on its freq and res compared to the Boss. Amazing synth sounds in this box alone. I also use:

3-Leaf Groove Regulator
Boss OC-2
Digitech Bass Synth Wah
Wooly Mammoth
Tech 21 Red Ripper
POG2

[MOMANON]

I too am a club coverband warrior like you and I use a Line6 M9. It's got fuzz, octave, and bunch of way cool synths that you can tune to your needs. The synths track really well on both my active and passive basses. And the best part is it's only one pedal. I can leave all the weight of 10 pedals at home and not get all my other pedals smoky from the club. I can accurately nail Brittney Spears "Hold it aginst me" and Ke$ha's "Blow". Works for me.

[Vic Winters]

My recipe for synthy fun: Digitech Bass Synth Wah, Dunlop 105Q and Boss LS-2.

[IPA]

What I've been doing for some synth type sounds is big muff(as always) followed by digitech whammy. I leave it on detune for a little thickness, or i switch it to the whammy/harmony, and use the pedal instead of sliding to other notes. Kind of hard to explain but with a little practice it sounds pretty cool.

[halfhere]

Thanks, everyone! ...now, I need a lottery I can win so I can buy all this sweet gear. Any suggestions?

[recnsci]

Originally Posted by halfhere

I need suggestions for what could help me sound like a computer... do I need a compressor?

Since this is request for "working man tool" rather than strange stuff for experimental bass tone, you should IMveryHO consider actual synth as well. You will never ever cover whole range of contemporary synth bass tones with any sane FX setup, and you need to get job done, not love it. So, I would suggest Korg Microkorg or Alesis Micron. Both are small, quite capable, just over $300 new and can double as FX unit for your bass (Microkorg has one of better vocoders around on top of other stuff, Micron has slight edge on regular FX). Most of top40 bass lines are not pinnacle of complexity to put it politely, but rather revolve around very careful simple but effective arrangements and patch programming, so I guess you can get around learning 5-10 songs (most needed for your paying gig) rather quickly.
<I have Korg MS2000 which is just Microkorg in much larger and userfriendlier package; while not Moog by a long shot, it can sound quite nice, in particular if you push it trough bass/guitar FX->amp chain>
...
sidenote ranting: I don't get why more bass players don't go down the synth route when synth is needed. Colin Greenwood for example is more than capable player with gazillion options for FX on his bass, but he regularly uses synth for bass dutioes when that fits the context.

[gastric]

Not being a search nazi, but there are about 1,000 threads on "synth" in this forum.

For playing synth live and using pedal/rack effects you need to shoot for "sounds good enough" as opposed to "sounds exactly like the album". And when using effects you need to keep in mind they're finicky and you have to seriously adjust your playing to work with the effect. Most don't respond to fast, consecutive notes well, for example. Most don't support portamento (note blend), and only the Roland GR products can really do a huge wide swath of synth sounds in one box but are also finicky/troublesome, particularly when played with regular bass.

If you want perfection in the performance, and better sounds overall, you'd really want an actual synth. If you want general bass synth sounds and are happy with "sounds synthy but not exactly like the album" there should be plenty of usable options that are "good enough" for you. I'm not a pro but I've tested a variety of synth effect boxes, check my signature for sound samples.

[BassBrass]

That's a sound I look for too...I use 1. a Devi Ever Ruiner in an Xotic blender (LS-2 would work too because the Ruiner doesn't reverse polarity, I just don't like Boss's bypass at high volume) OR 2. a Team Awesome Fuzz Machine with bias low, about noon-ish or less; TAFM is also great after an envelope follower /auto wah OR an 3. Electronix (Ziebek) Cross Drive (which replaces my attack with it's own excellent dark envelope and rolls of highs) into an Attack Goat (that replaces the highs, makes a square wave when an octave down is used (MXR)). I also sometimes use a combination of Subdecay Tomato fuzz or a Fuzzhugger Ark Flash into envelopes or Attack Goat. Last a VT bass for tone shaping. Oh, I didn't mention, sometimes a Prunes & Custard (as an overdrive) or a Red Ripper (best by itself or into Attack Goat that preserves it's mids and adds upper fizz) for midrange accent and some sweep. By itself into VT, the Ark Flash makes a fine sounding vintage overdrive.

YES, slamming all this into a compressor is special fun. I use an Alesus Micro limiter in the amp's effect send/return, about 50/50 mix. Helps remove any unwanted human artifacts from the sound and makes it punchy.

[fuzz_factor]

Originally Posted by recnsci

Since this is request for "working man tool" rather than strange stuff for experimental bass tone, you should IMveryHO consider actual synth as well. You will never ever cover whole range of contemporary synth bass tones with any sane FX setup, and you need to get job done, not love it. So, I would suggest Korg Microkorg or Alesis Micron. Both are small, quite capable, just over $300 new and can double as FX unit for your bass (Microkorg has one of better vocoders around on top of other stuff, Micron has slight edge on regular FX). Most of top40 bass lines are not pinnacle of complexity to put it politely, but rather revolve around very careful simple but effective arrangements and patch programming, so I guess you can get around learning 5-10 songs (most needed for your paying gig) rather quickly.
<I have Korg MS2000 which is just Microkorg in much larger and userfriendlier package; while not Moog by a long shot, it can sound quite nice, in particular if you push it trough bass/guitar FX->amp chain>

This is what I was thinking. You could also use your bass as an input to the synth and process the signal that way.

Instead of a Micron, you can get the Akai Miniak which is a better build (but basically the same guts) and a little cheaper ($275 at Amazon).