Help My Bass Player Rebuild His Pedalboard!

donalddemon · #1 07-21-2010, 10:37 AM

I don’t have a pic right now but he has been selling a lot of pedals because he’s not happy with them. He is a bit cheap so he went for too many low-budget pedals.

Right now his chain is Brice Fretless/Mexi P-Bass --> Ibanez SBY --> Ashdown Suboctave --> Small Clone --> DD7 into a Hartke 3500 head and Peavey 15 cab.

His bass tone pretty much sucks, IMO.

He’s keeping the DD7 and Small Clone but wants dirt/fuzz and envelope filter. He is think the newer EHX Bass Big Muff and Bassballs. How do you guys like them for bass. I also recommended a compressor. Which lower-med priced pedals for these effects are worth looking into?

Nerotic · #2 07-21-2010, 10:49 AM

Both EHX pedals you mention are good bang-for-the-buck pedals.

Since your bass player doesn't want to spend a lot on pedals, make him have a look at this:

Cheap Padals Megathread

\\nero

donalddemon · #3 07-21-2010, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nerotic

Both EHX pedals you mention are good bang-for-the-buck pedals.

Since your bass player doesn't want to spend a lot on pedals, make him have a look at this:

Cheap Padals Megathread

\\nero

Cool, I will do some reading there. Thanks!

I figure you can't go wrong with EHX most of the time.

TehRoflCopter · #4 07-21-2010, 12:45 PM

This is not what you asked and probably not what you want to hear, but if your bass player's tone "pretty much sucks," I would take a hard look at the bass and the amp (and possibly playing technique) to get a killer clean sound that your bassist (or you) is happy with. Then you can start thinking about dirtying up the tone. Pedals can do cool things additively, but they won't turn poor tone into good tone.

Just my two cents.

Pandafist · #5 07-21-2010, 01:09 PM

Hey Donald

Pandafist = Prismatic Spray

bassman1185 · #6 07-21-2010, 01:23 PM

If your bassist has a solid clean/uneffected tone, the rest of the stuff should sound good too. I wouldn't blame the bad tone on the pedals, at least not yet, unless he's running effects ALL THE TIME.

donalddemon · #7 07-21-2010, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TehRoflCopter

This is not what you asked and probably not what you want to hear, but if your bass player's tone "pretty much sucks," I would take a hard look at the bass and the amp (and possibly playing technique) to get a killer clean sound that your bassist (or you) is happy with. Then you can start thinking about dirtying up the tone. Pedals can do cool things additively, but they won't turn poor tone into good tone.

Just my two cents.

I know, believe me. He just won’t put the money into gear like I (or most people on forums will). His bass is acceptable but I think what really hurts his tone is the amp and cab. He’s never really played through great equipment though so to him it’s good enough. I figure if he's willing to upgrade his pedals at least that's a start!

donalddemon · #8 07-21-2010, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pandafist

Hey Donald

Pandafist = Prismatic Spray

I thought I saw your board in the pedalboard thread.

Is this where you hide when the mids are full of sandy vags?

donalddemon · #9 07-21-2010, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassman1185

If your bassist has a solid clean/uneffected tone, the rest of the stuff should sound good too. I wouldn't blame the bad tone on the pedals, at least not yet, unless he's running effects ALL THE TIME.

Understood. I am being harsh on him I guess. His tone isn’t terrible, just could be much better.

bassman1185 · #10 07-21-2010, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by donalddemon

Understood. I am being harsh on him I guess. His tone isn’t terrible, just could be much better.

How often does he change his strings? That goes a LONG way towards getting good tone. Also, getting the EQ set up properly will make a big difference. Make sure he's not scooping out all his midrange or boosting his bass all the way.

**TheMutt** · #11 07-21-2010, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassman1185

How often does he change his strings? That goes a LONG way towards getting good tone. Also, getting the EQ set up properly will make a big difference. Make sure he's not scooping out all his midrange or boosting his bass all the way.

The strings are arguable. It really depends on the tone you're going for. Such as old school motown or just a thumpier sound in general.

I will agree with the EQ however. If the graphic EQ is set to a smiley face, it's bad news. Generally speaking (with exception), if the tone sounds good by itself, it will suck in the mix.

I don't think that his pedals suck all that much, but the Peavey 1x15 certainly isn't helping his tone all that much. (At least IME. They seem to put out only mud.)
My first move would be to a 2x10, 2x12, or 4x10 cab. Then upgrade the amp or bass. Then maybe look into the effects.

jmarnett · #12 07-21-2010, 01:59 PM

His rig can have good tone, I use to run a Hartke 5500 (500 watt version) into a Peavey 115 cab, its just a matter of his EQ settings IMO.

Pandafist · #13 07-21-2010, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by donalddemon

I thought I saw your board in the pedalboard thread.

Is this where you hide when the mids are full of sandy vags?

You know it

This is the only other forum I belong to... well, at least the only other forum I go to. There's another "secret" circle-jerk type forum made up of a bunch of dudes I'm pretty sure you don't get along with (lol)
But I pretty much NEVER go there for anything other than lurking.

The Mids would cover most, if not ALL of my forum needs... if only there were a few more bassists around.
As it stands, there's like, maybe 10 of us on there.

donalddemon · #14 07-21-2010, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassman1185

How often does he change his strings? That goes a LONG way towards getting good tone. Also, getting the EQ set up properly will make a big difference. Make sure he's not scooping out all his midrange or boosting his bass all the way.

Put it this way, whatever a bass player should do to get good tone, he does the opposite. LOL, I don’t know, maybe he changes them once every 5-6 months. He doesn't scoop the mids.

donalddemon · #15 07-21-2010, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheMutt

The strings are arguable. It really depends on the tone you're going for. Such as old school motown or just a thumpier sound in general.

I will agree with the EQ however. If the graphic EQ is set to a smiley face, it's bad news. Generally speaking (with exception), if the tone sounds good by itself, it will suck in the mix.

I don't think that his pedals suck all that much, but the Peavey 1x15 certainly isn't helping his tone all that much. (At least IME. They seem to put out only mud.)
My first move would be to a 2x10, 2x12, or 4x10 cab. Then upgrade the amp or bass. Then maybe look into the effects.

His eq on the amp is more like a soft V but he only uses that setting with the P-bass.

The Peavey cab could definitely use a better speaker and I think he is looking onto that. He also has a Warwick 4-10 but that needs speakers I think, it sounds very muffled. Any thoughts on those Hartke 3500 heads? They just sound kind of lifeless to me.

Some of his pedals are good but the synth bass sounds bad with is rig and the Ashdown octave tracks very poorly. Not noticeable live, but we couldn’t use it in the studio at all.

donalddemon · #16 07-21-2010, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmarnett

His rig can have good tone, I use to run a Hartke 5500 (500 watt version) into a Peavey 115 cab, its just a matter of his EQ settings IMO.

tips?

stflbn · #17 07-21-2010, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TehRoflCopter

but if your bass player's tone "pretty much sucks," I would take a hard look at the bass and the amp (and possibly playing technique) to get a killer clean sound that your bassist (or you) is happy with.

Great advice.

Get a tone that's great first... then 'enhance' that tone with effects. Otherwise you're only putting effects onto a tone that you're not happy with.

donalddemon · #18 07-21-2010, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pandafist

You know it

This is the only other forum I belong to... well, at least the only other forum I go to. There's another "secret" circle-jerk type forum made up of a bunch of dudes I'm pretty sure you don't get along with (lol)
But I pretty much NEVER go there for anything other than lurking.

The Mids would cover most, if not ALL of my forum needs... if only there were a few more bassists around.
As it stands, there's like, maybe 10 of us on there.

I know about your little secret tea party, lol.

This is the best bass forum by far. I got some good advice here for looking into a bass for myself.

stflbn · #19 07-21-2010, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by donalddemon

Understood. I am being harsh on him I guess. His tone isn’t terrible, just could be much better.

I wonder if he's on a guitar forum trying to get advice on how to get his guitar player better tone because his bass tone rocks and the guitar tone is bad.

donalddemon · #20 07-21-2010, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stflbn

I wonder if he's on a guitar forum trying to get advice on how to get his guitar player better tone because his bass tone rocks and the guitar tone is bad.

Haha, definitely not, He doesn’t do forums or even the internet for that matter! Which is why I am here doing it for him. BTW, he asked me to research it because I have more time to sit on the computer.

..oh and my tone flat out ROCKS!