Housing a pedal within a bass?

totallybacan · #1 07-11-2009, 10:11 PM

Has anyone tried Matt Bellamy instrument and added a fuzz or other effect directly to their bass? This would seem like a space saver and would be great if there is one pedal that is always on. Another use I could see for this would be to have a built in tuner, such as some AEB bass. Thoughts on this, given that there would be room to wire everything up?

J. Crawford · #2 07-11-2009, 10:15 PM

Could it be done? Probably.

Would most people do it? Nah. Its just not the best way. It would add to cost, a power supply would be needed, and the mod would cost a lot with a lot of effort.

A simple pedal would be much safer, smarter. IMO.

insomniac2295 · #3 07-11-2009, 10:28 PM

The guitarist from Muse implanted Korg Kaos pads into some of his guitars. I believe he did it himself too. It could be done, for sure. But, not without large costs to both your wallet and your instrument.

bassist4dalord · #4 07-11-2009, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jordasch

Could it be done? Probably.

Would most people do it? Nah. Its just not the best way. It would add to cost, a power supply would be needed, and the mod would cost a lot with a lot of effort.

A simple pedal would be much safer, smarter. IMO.

+1 And imagine what a bass with a pedal built-in would weigh! All those extra electronics really add up.

J. Crawford · #5 07-11-2009, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by insomniac2295

The guitarist from Muse implanted Korg Kaos pads into some of his guitars. I believe he did it himself too. It could be done, for sure. But, not without large costs to both your wallet and your instrument.

He did it in a few of them, actually. But thats because he is the guitarist for MUSE. Any other person couldnt pull it off, IMO.

thesmallprint · #6 07-11-2009, 10:37 PM

I've put a circuit bent distortion pedal into a guitar, put a few switches in as well, once you take everything out of the casing it doesn't weigh much, there's just a 9V battery in the back for power.

You can see it here. (I know it mostly sounds horrible, but it was my first effort)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60hd3IgqCC0

Also not me in the video.

gregoire1 · #7 07-11-2009, 10:41 PM

I believe you can buy special pots with some effects integrated right into them. I know I've seen them for guitars.

dangorange · #8 07-11-2009, 10:42 PM

A buddy of mine who played in a real heavy band in town 10 years ago had basically a rat pedal built into his Precision. He used a couple extra rats on the floor but had a button he could hit on the bass to make all sorts of ungodly noise, good stuff.

**Bryan R. Tyler** · #9 07-11-2009, 10:43 PM

The old Electra MPCs used to have interchangeable effects modules, but they were limited to the effects that Electra made for them. The problem with with adding effects into any bass is that you'll likely want to change out that effect for a different one at one point or another, which would take an extensive amount of work/money.

bobbass4k · #10 07-11-2009, 10:46 PM

I can maybe see the advantage of having it for something you have on all the time, like a compressor or a toneshaper, and would probably be a good idea as a feature on a custom, but it just wouldn't be worth it on an existing bass, unless you've got enough space in your control cavity you'd have to route a new space to put it in, which seems a little extreme when you can just have it on the floor

groooooove · #11 07-11-2009, 10:53 PM

zvex used to make a guitar (the drop..drip..something like that?) with a seek-wah under the pickguard. the wah is controlled by the distance your foot (or in this case, picking hand..) was from the sensor, rather than a normal manual wah.

and coincidentally, i'm pretty sure i heard about someone building a wolly mammoth into their bass, wired before the active electronics.

can it be done? sure. should you do it? probably not.

totallybacan · #12 07-11-2009, 11:40 PM

I'm just curious thats all. There are some basses that have light bodies, massive neck dive, and a blank spot on the body for carving a hole, so i thought kill two birds with one stone by solveing neck dive and adding a tuner, compressor, noise gate, whatever else you want. And i'm sure you could easily have the controls routed to the exterior of the bass if necessarry. Worth it? No. If you have an extra pedal AND and extra bass AND the luxury of not needing to do anything for a few days, then i could see this being a cool project.

Another idea would be directly incorporating a D.I., such as a Sansamp box, so that you have the balanced right there off the bass. Another scenario where all the work wouldn't give the same pay off as having a pedal on the floor, but it sure would be cool to see the soundman's face when he asks for a DI and i show him the bass!

sonic assassin · #13 07-12-2009, 12:58 AM

matthew bellamy has a phase 90 and some fuzz pedal (zvex i think) installed in most, if not all of his guitars. his setup is so complicated.. im not sure how he fits it all in his head.

he's also got a midi strip to control his whammy pedal and the aforementioned kaoss pads.

you would have to route a LOT, but if the pedal was normally controlled with a 9 volt, sure, it can be done. have all the controls mounted on top and a toggle switch instead of a stomp switch and you're golden

i think this would REDUCE weight. cut out a half pound of wood and put in a PCB and a couple switches.. less weight by far.

**DosiYanarchy** · #14 07-12-2009, 03:09 AM

i've got a battered Jaguar bass i was thinking about wiring like an ordiany passive jazz bass and ripping out all the rest of the wiring and sticking a pedal in there - and use the 9v battery housing to power it. Problem is, you'd get through a hella lot of batteries if the pedal is technically always 'on' - ie, circuit is complete and battery is draining.

I heard that Jerry Only from the Misfits (one of my favourite bands and an early bass-icon for me) had built-in distortion, but i think he just uses his Acoustic 270 amp's distortion.

Higgins666 · #15 07-12-2009, 06:34 AM

If you had something like a passive Jazz you should be able to fit a small fuzz or phaseer in there, something like a Phase 90 or an El Grande fuzz, I know my friend installed a Boss DS-1 into his fat strat (yep, he's a guitard) but he had trouble with the volume pots. It could be worth a try.

Darkstrike · #16 07-12-2009, 06:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jordasch

He did it in a few of them, actually. But thats because he is the guitarist for MUSE. Any other person couldnt pull it off, IMO.

Why not, why is he the only person allowed to break the norm, and try something different?
By that post we should all stick to passive P 4's and tube amps.... thanks but no thanks.....

Oh, and its been done a few times, Gibson RD Artist?

Or on a severly simple form, what about the Black Ice capacitor, that turns your tone pot into a distortion control?

Really, its much like an active EQ, in a way, just dose something other than adjust frequencys.

KarateKid25 · #17 07-12-2009, 07:06 AM

There was a TBer SEV (SirEdwardV or something?) who had a stab at putting an effect in a guitar. It was ghetto, but a working effect in a guitar non the less. It was a fuzz from memory.

Personally, I can't see the point. The Kaoss Pad that the Muse guy has is kinda cool, and make sense as you need to touch it, but otherwise, I think a pedalboard is the go. At least you can swap things around easily and don't trash instruments in the process.

SteveC · #18 07-12-2009, 07:13 AM

I wouldn't mind an on board compressor but my Bartolini preamp is taking up all the space in my existing control cavity.

Sundogue · #19 07-12-2009, 07:33 AM

I plan on putting my Samson wireless transmitter into my bass (I did it on the last bass I had), so why not effects or anything else?

Life's too short to be so worried about such nonsense. Innovation never came from doing the same things over and over.

If you have no problem cutting into a bass (concern over resale value, which I never am because I always buy cheap basses and mod them to my liking), then go ahead and try it.

Unless you have an extremely expensive bass, you really have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

There are people who tried talking Edison out of that crazy light bulb idea too.

My attitude is in my sig. Go for it.

Stealth · #20 07-12-2009, 07:50 AM

There's always using the Black Ice Distortion (basically an anti-parallel pair of Zener diodes placed instead of the tone cap) to provide some extra grit. Other than that, power consumption would be my biggest worry - those effects would probably need either a decent pair of batteries inside the bass or an XLR to power them from the outside.