I need some insight into my Prometheus

[Noshtero]

OK so I have this prometheus, and all I can get are weird sounds..... What I mean is, I can get the crazy sounds like these pedals are known for being able to produce. Like the "Step" mode where you pluck a single note and it modulates all over the place. What I can't seem to find is good usable sounds. I watched a youtube vid that went through a bunch of sounds, and I can get close to them. I swear I have the dials and switches in the same spots, but the sound is different.

Does anyone have any sort of "my favorite Prometheus" settings they would want to share?

Right now, I barely use the thing because it seems so specialized. Makes me almost wish I had gone with a different pedal. A Groove Regulator, or Fatman perhaps. I've seen some good vids on the Groove Regulator that give good usable funk sounds. I assume since the Prometheus competes directly with it, it should be able to do similar things.

[RCCollins]

from what I have read, the prometheus prefers a fairly hot signal from your instrument. So if you're using a low-output passive bass, a simple boost may get you closer to the sounds you're looking for.

That said, a filter like that will need different settings with different instruments to get the "same" effect. Even rolling off your onboard tone will significantly effect the filter function.

To be honest, I don't think the prometheus is a very good first filter.

[Noshtero]

I'm using a Fender American Dlx Jazz bass. It's pretty hot (I think).

Perhaps I'd be better off with a simpler filter? Micro Q-Tron or something? I'd like the versitility of the Prometheus, but I know next to nothing about filters. I don't know what the knobs are going to do, I just experiment. I would think one can get to a point where they're like "I like that sound, but I could use a little more on the Step knob" and know what a little more on the Step knob is going to do to the sound.

[rcubed]

Every pedal has different component tolerances and can have the knobs put on differently so it's not too surprising you're finding the settings to be producing slightly different sounds. Keep playing around with it and try it with other pedals.

[RCCollins]

Originally Posted by Noshtero

I'm using a Fender American Dlx Jazz bass. It's pretty hot (I think).

Perhaps I'd be better off with a simpler filter? Micro Q-Tron or something? I'd like the versitility of the Prometheus, but I know next to nothing about filters. I don't know what the knobs are going to do, I just experiment. I would think one can get to a point where they're like "I like that sound, but I could use a little more on the Step knob" and know what a little more on the Step knob is going to do to the sound.

Yeah the otput from that fender should be fairly hot.

read up on what the different filter modes do. Keep in mind that sensitivity control (forget what it's called on the prometheus) is key. The step knob only functions in step mode.

read the instructions, in other words

[Chronicle]

The Groove Regulator is nothing like the Prometheus. I have both and they don't even sound the same. The Prometheus is more of a spacey filter while the GR being a funky one. I usually put on fuzz or a light OD in front of my prometheus to get a better sound out of it for the S/H mode. You also need to be handy with the FREQ knob to make the filter react to your bass frequency on up/down/s/h modes.

[kevteop]

Originally Posted by Chronicle

The Groove Regulator is nothing like the Prometheus. I have both and they don't even sound the same.

They don't even sound same?

[fightthepower]

I really like the Prometheus, but I don't use the step mode at all. I just keep the left switch up, right switch down- and the middle switch doesn't matter as it's only related to step mode. Frequency knob and depth somewhere between 9 and 3. Intensity knob is the resonance, so the high the 'intensity' knob, the more pronounced the 'wah' effect will be. Step and Rate knobs don't do anything in regular envelope filter mode either.

If you don't figure out how to use the Prometheus as a regular envelope filter, then a Groove Regulator or (especially) a fatman won't do you any better... they just have more knobs. Read the manual!

[Noshtero]

I'm getting somewhere. Tigerbass and fightthepower had some good points to get my started.

The biggest thing so far is I turned off my VTBass and immediately started getting better results. I'm playing with the pedal on its own for now. I'm gotten so used to having the VTBass on all the time, I never considered using the Prometheus without it. So far so good.

I still may step back to a simpler pedal like a QTron+ or something.. but we'll see.

[fightthepower]

I haven't used the VT Bass but I've heard that it has a lot of gain on tap, and could be giving you less than stellar results with a filter in front of it- using it on it's own for a while is a good idea, and once you're comfortable with the filter, then start adding other effects into the mix- with regards to changes in volume level, gain, compression, etc as they will all change the way the filter reacts-- this can all be balanced though, just takes some time and experimentation.

I personally find the Prometheus to be a much more tamable filter than the Qtron (i just had the original big box). The Qtron was much more sensitive to to small adjustments with considerable volume spikes. The Prometheus on the other hand I find to be very tame and easy to dial in nice envelope sounds.

When using a clean or mostly clean signal into the Prometheus I keep the intensity at noon or higher (even dimed it isn't out of control), and when running dirt into it I like the intensity at or below noon(the dirt resonates much louder than clean signal, making the filter overpowering for my application if I dont turn the intensity down, but others may like the more pronounced/high pitched filter sounds). In the manual they show a setting in the step mode that works as an auto wah (i think the 'step' dimed, and then control speed with rate, or something like that)- in that mode with a dirty suboctave, I keep the intensity very low for a deep wah-wah/wub-wub sound.

If you think of it as two separate pedals, it's quite easy to use--- especially as an envelope filter, which seems to be what you're mostly looking for. The 'depth' is basically where the sweep is starting from and closing to, and the 'freq' is the focused resonated frequency range (or something like that). Balance those two knobs and don't worry about the other ones- if you want a fatter deeper sound keep the depth lower(between 9-11 for me), and set the frequency to taste(just after noon for me for quick fat notes synthy notes), based on whether you want a quick open and close of the filter, or longer sustained notes/filter sweeps. For faster funkier finger style stuff, you may life the depth at or above noon and the frequency at or past noon as well.

[Deluge Of Sound]

Originally Posted by kevteop

They don't even sound same?

Simples

[Jazz Ad]

It's one of these pedals everyone raves about because it's so versatile.
That is, until you realize that most settings are useless IRL. You end up using a handful of MuTron style settings like with all other filters.
It doesn't sound like they tweaked for bass either. For the price I really don't recommend it.

[TheMutt]

I liked the Prometheus, but found that the sounds were just too standard to keep on the board along with my Grinder. I also wished that the steps went a little deeper than they did. Sounded a whole lot better on guitar though. TBH, I'm not too sure where I would use S/H type modulation in a live setting, but it's a lot of fun to play around with. I recently replaced it with a ModFactor, which has true S/H modulation in it, and it's nice to have a pedal on the board that is useful, but has a lot of other things that are fun to play around with and find new sounds.

[jbybj]

I have found the Prometheus to be like making love to a fine woman, the more patient you are, and the more effort you put into it, the more you get out of it.

My experience with the Prometheus has been truly orgasmic, but it took a lot of fiddling about to get there.

JBY

[kevteop]

Originally Posted by jbybj

I have found the Prometheus to be like making love to a fine woman,

Are you Swiss Toni?

[Noshtero]

I'm starting to get some usable tones out of it. Mostly on slap stuff. Fingerstyle seems to be off limits at this point.

I'll get there. Thanks for the help.