GT-10B bass synth trouble

[miletown]

Hey there. First time poster here. I have the Boss GT-10B pedal and I'm having trouble with the bass synth effect. It sounds extremely garbled, muffled and cuts out, and this is with a dry signal and only the synth effect active. Does anybody else have this problem, or am I doing something wrong? My setup is an Ibanez 5 string with active bartolinis running straight into the pedal and out to my Hartke amp.

[pauliebass]

Synth effects like the neck pup and one note at a time. plucking close to the neck helps too.

[willsellout]

Have you played with the settings at all, or are you using the stock settings for the synth patches? Synth stuff is highly particular to your playing, gear, and settings.

[miletown]

Thanks for the quick reply. It doesn't matter which pup I use... same result. I've tried adjusting the settings, used all the presets and adjusted those settings, tried all the patch presets that have the synth effect and adjusted those settings, used different cables, stood on my head and spun counterclockwise while singing the Jingle Bells... same result. Also, this is the second pedal I've tried. The first pedal had the same problem so I sent it back in exchange for another one.

[pauliebass]

Damn, that sucks. I don't have this multi so I'm not an expert. I would almost say pick up the boss synth pedal with the intention of returning it (or try it out in a store) and see how that does with your setup.

[gastric]

* Make sure your overall input level as setup in the GT-10B isn't too low or too high, try at 0dB to start.
* Make sure your input level to the synth effect isn't too low or too high, my recollections is that it doesn't track off the dry input signal but off whatever signal is being fed to it so any blocks before the synth effect will affect the synth (pitch bend before it is great for fun bend sounds, octave before to shift it down, OC-2 before to make it simply sound better, etc.)
* Play mono. It should track pretty much the entire fretboard, but you need to play mono and reasonably cleanly.
* If it sounds "muddy" but otherwise good you have your cutoff too low
* If it sounds "warbly" or "unstable" that's a tracking issue of some sort, usually from bad bass setup or not playing mono
* If it triggers and audible synth but cuts out too soon, that's an input level issue, raise the input, or it could be your bass with action too low and is buzzing out or fretting out, etc.


Also, try posting in the huge GT-10B thread, you'll get a lot more responses that way as more people have that thread subscribed.

[RickenBoogie]

Playing technique is very important, I'd look there.

[miletown]

Well, I've tried all the suggestions posted and no change. Gastric: I assume by mono you mean running out of the Left/Mono output jack to my amp. Or is there an internal setting I'm not seeing? My playing technique isn't the best but it's clean enough. Is there a link to the huge GT-10B thread that can be posted? Thanks!

[gastric]

No, I mean you cannot play chords. Monophonic input is required. That is typical for most gear that tracks input notes.

[Explorer]

Originally Posted by miletown

I assume by mono you mean running out of the Left/Mono output jack to my amp. Or is there an internal setting I'm not seeing? My playing technique isn't the best but it's clean enough.

Originally Posted by gastric

No, I mean you cannot play chords. Monophonic input is required. That is typical for most gear that tracks input notes.

I use a GT-10 (the guitar version, since I play an 8-string guitar which covers the full range of electric guitar and bass, as well as an Ibanez SR506 six-string active bass and a Cort Curbow six-string bas), but wanted to comment.

gastric's post regarding getting better tracking is spot on. I own a ton of synth pedals, and there's a few more things I do to get great tracking:

I turn down the tone knob all the way. The synth pedal figures out what it should sound by what's coming into it, and if I have higher harmonics in the input, that can confuse it. Better to have no ambiguity in the pitch.

I also palm mute (more harmonic and inharmonic reduction), and make sure I only have one note ringing at a time.

I crank the bass' volume when putting it through a synth. That gives the synth maximum information.

I don't use compression before a synth pedal. Compression makes it hard for the synth to detect a new note being plucked/picked.

Your comment that you play cleanly enough doesn't really tell me anything, since your standards might be different from the pedal's required cleanness standard. Either it's clean enough to work with the unit, or it's not.

How does the unit track and sound when you play only one note, and let that note decay all the way? If you can pick one note, and the synth sounds fine through all but a long, sustained decaying note, then the issue is probably what you're trying to feed through it. Unless your playing is phenomenally clean (not just good enough), you're not going to get stellar results.

----

Lastly... some folks just don't have the knack for playing with synth pedals. One has to play different from one's norm to make it work, and some folks can't think enough like a synth pedal to make it work. I get great results from all kinds of synth pedals, and others have posted about how those very same pedals have terrible tracking. The only conclusion is that we're both correct, and need only to add that "with the way that we play them" to clarify that it's not just the pedal in that effect chain which affects success.

Good luck!

[miletown]

I tried everything you suggested, Explorer, but without luck. I actually do play clean. I've played through other synth pedals without changing the way I play and had absolutely no problems, even when I would intentionally bang on the strings, so it's not my technique. And there is no change in the horrible sound when I play just one note.

[Explorer]

Then sadly I have no suggestions. I'm a little surprised that a digital multieffect is having issues like that. Sorry!

[Swimming Bird]

I have an older active Ibanez 5, and I had to completely change the preamp settings to get it to play nice with synth pedals. My bet is that if your technique is indeed good and all else has failed, the issue is probably the bass. Do you have a passive bass you can try? If not, try running the EQ flat and soloing the neck pup.

It may also help to solo the synth sound so you can get a feel of what all it does and how it reacts to your playing. Synth pedals tend to have a mind of their own -- it's basically a different instrument, so you can't play it like a bass.

[gumtownbassman]

I have found with the GT-10B, it doesn't like the signal too hot. there is a system input level setting, which with active basses i have had to knock it back atleast 6dB.
Try the synth on it's own with all the other effects 'off' to see if the problem persists.
Also give the EZEdit thing a go, you can choose from many syth styles with it, an surprisingly some of the best synth tones didn't use the synth effect.

There is also the last resort, copy all your user patches to file, and do a factory reset.

[moles]

I always had some trouble with getting the input level to where it sounded good with the rest of the unit's effects, and where it was spot on where the synth module wanted to see the input level, when I had mine.
I resorted to always having a compressor and an eq module (with some high end rolled off) in front of the synth on those patches. I'm aware of the usual problems sometimes caused by heavy compression in front of a synth - but in this case it did fix both the tracking problems I had and the sustain issues. It's not the normal approach, but it worked for me and certainly worth a try for you.

[miletown]

Hey, thanks for all of your suggestions. Unfortunately, nothing worked. My last test will be with a passive bass. After that I'll call support and see what they can do for me.