Help : Ibanez AF9

[i2k]

I have an Ibanez AF9, it sounds good with my Status (and on guitar too) but I can't seem to make it sounds good with my Fender Geddy Lee and Clover Apeyron . With these two basses I have to dig in real hard to make the pedal sing. My setup is : bass > Ibz AF9 > EBS Multicomp > EBS Microbass II > ****** Laney amp.

Is it a problem with the basses output as IMHO the Status has bigger output ? If that's the case do I have to put some kind of booster in front of it ?

thx in advance...

[bongomania]

Originally Posted by i2k

Is it a problem with the basses output as IMHO the Status has bigger output ? If that's the case do I have to put some kind of booster in front of it?

Yes and yes.

[fuNKmaster83]

i have no problem geting my Maxon AF9 to sing on passive P basses... but if i want more edge then i use some drive device

[willsellout]

Playing my passives through the AF9 was pretty meager as well. It just didn't sound good and I had to work hard to get it to trigger. That's why it's not with me anymore.

[The Lurker]

Spot on.

[i2k]

Thanks guys, seems that I'm not the only one with this problem.....
Do you think that putting Fulltone Bassdrive in front of AF9 will solve the problem ? I'm in a process of making a clone of Bassdrive, it's difficult to find some free time & energy to complete it...

[bongomania]

You mean you're making a clone of a tubescreamer? Anyway the Bassdrive is capable of a lot of boost, and you need boost, so yes.

[The Lurker]

yeah, a bassdrive will do it, but there's plenty of cheaper pedals that would work just as well.

[fuNKmaster83]

i am speaking from the point that maxon and ibanez are some what identical or similar... but i don't have problems with my AF9 when it is used all on its own...

when i do want more edge my custom clockwork orange overdrive /distortion does the trick

[Hoover]

I've been using the same Ibanez AF9 since 1985, have used it with at least a half dozen different basses (most active, some passive) and I've never had a problem making that pedal do what it had to do.

Not sure what OP means by "sing" but judicious experimentation with the Peak & Sensetivity controls should get it to work with any instrument regardless of output level.

[i2k]

Originally Posted by bongomania

You mean you're making a clone of a tubescreamer? Anyway the Bassdrive is capable of a lot of boost, and you need boost, so yes.

Very true indeed......like any other FoolClone products.
I was thinking to build a Bassdrive or a Xotic BB (yet another TS clone, as usual, but with active tone stack) then modded for bass. At the end, I decided to build Bassdrive as it's simple & I dont want to add another active tone stack on my setup.

Originally Posted by Hoover

I've been using the same Ibanez AF9 since 1985, have used it with at least a half dozen different basses (most active, some passive) and I've never had a problem making that pedal do what it had to do.

Not sure what OP means by "sing" but judicious experimentation with the Peak & Sensetivity controls should get it to work with any instrument regardless of output level.

I mean it doesn't trigger well with some of my basses, unless if I work real hard with the strings. With Status & guitars it works very well. And I've played with Sens & Peak a lot, nothing works well so far. It comes from 80s, perhaps some components needs to be replaced.

Anyway, do you mind to share your controls setting ? so I can try it on mine.

Thanks.

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by i2k

Anyway, do you mind to share your controls setting ? so I can try it on mine.

I tend to use a lot of different settings on my AF9, but the 4 that I go to most often are probably:

#1 - Sensetivity @ 60%, Peak @ 70%, Filter = lowpass, Drive = Up, Range = Low
(pretty standard Mutron autowah sound, but very sensetive to dynamics and with more subtle timbral variations when playing around the threshold than #2 below)

#2 - as above, but with Sensetivity & Peak @ 100%
(This is the archetypal "bow wow bwap blarp" Bootsy Collins sound...totally over the top for most applications but still useful in the arsenal, especially for Old Skool Funk™)

#3 - Sensetivity @ ~35%, Peak @ ~35%, Filter = bandpass, Drive = Up or Down, Range = Low
(With careful adjustment of the sliders this can sound like a Fender Precision through an SVT; a real throaty almost overdriven rock sound with very little movement of the filters except when you really lay into it)

#4 - Sensetivity @ 0%, Peak @ 0%, Filter = hipass, Drive = Down, Range = High
(my personal favorite: this sounds nothing like a bass guitar, and more like distorted RotoToms as heard through the broken headphones of a homeless person sitting 30' away from you on the subway. I use this a lot to "seed" delays and loopers with thin, weedy, buzzy electric crap that won't mask big low frequency bombs that I subsequently drop underneath them. Plus, if you screw around with the sliders you can usually get the AF9 to self-oscillate in this configuration...sort of sounds like what I imagine a dog whistle does -- albeit audibly of course)

[i2k]

At last it works !!! It seems that AF9 doesn't like the Microbass, and vice versa. I plugged AF9 directly to my amp & it works well now. I've tried to find a good setup on the Microbass to make it work with AF9, but no positive result so far. The Microbass has been replaced by Boss PQ3B (works well with AF9) but now I have to struggle to find my favorite tone from the Microbass.

Hoover: thanks for the settings, I'll try them out tomorrow.