My Pedalboard, pt. 1

[andrew_over]

hey talkbassers! i've spent the day reading/learning/comparing pedals, and although all i have now is a tuner pedal, i'm pretty sure i've found the other 3 pedals that will really make my bass shine. So, with this this configuration, am i gonna run into any problems? anyone think my train is a path for success? Please, i'm the biggest PEDAL NOOB on the net. any input will help, i swear!

Man i'm such a noob i'm trying to explain how to express the pedals in the right order, without using ms paint. So starting from the left to right, the left is the amp side (output) and the right side is the bass side(input). so the signal here is going right, to left.



AMP....ELECTRO-HARMONIX HUM DEBUGGER....TURBO RAT....BOSS CS-3....BOSS TUNER...BASS

[GearHeadBassMan]

yuck, i hate noise suppressors.
its not a rat if it doesnt feedback. and you can just switch it on and off to mute it.

[andrew_over]

yeash, i was already planning on having the cs-3 off when the rat is on. so everything's in the right order? i just need to know if this chain will work effectively or if something(s) need to be switched around

[Slackerprince]

Look at a Tech 21 Bass VT.
Good luck with everything.

S.

[andrew_over]

woah, that bass vt is awesome! with my current pedalboard setup, would it basically be a toss-up between the vt and the turbo rat? from what i can gather the vt is just a big all in one tone pumper with an optional overdrive knob?

[newbold]

bass>tuner>hum>rat>chorus>amp

use your FX loop if you feel it works better, but those pedals might sound better before your amp.

Why distort your preamp tone?

The rat with chorus will sound awesome. deep, slow chorus. nice.

[B.C.]

Good luck bro. The best thing to do is just play around. I got back into the pedal game around 2 years ago, and I am really glad I did. Read TB reviews, but verify if they work for you. Looks like a good start to a board.

One thing I would suggest is to get the CS-3 modded by Humphrey mods, apparently this makes the compressor so much more useable on bass, or so I've heard

[andrew_over]

i'm not looking for a chorus-y sound. so newbold, the hum would work better before the rat? interesting...

[andrew_over]

b.c.

haha, man i would not dare to purchase the cs-3 without the mod! i found one for sale here on TB for 75 bucks i think i'll come up on it. yeah i'm actually getting into the pedal game for the first time...i've used one pedal (the boss distortion) about four times.

+1 to the reviews, i'm doing as much as i can, but on the websites of the pedals, the demos are all played on GUITAR!! hahaha

[andrew_over]

also, bc, you're in central illinois? i was born and raised till 16 in clinton!

[Slackerprince]

I'm not a big fan of fuzz and buzz with the bass, but, whatever you're into.

Try this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr8kdWpB3U4

And, this:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot6jQ...eature=related

I think it's the bass' job to hold down the low notes and work with the drummer.
Let the guitars buzz and howl.

S.

[andrew_over]

haha, slackerprince i've looked into this pedal for an hour and i'm almost sold! now i just have to get my hands on one!

[andrew_over]

if anyone wants to get a feel of the kind of style/sound i'd be going for in terms of the distorted sound....listen to the song BETWEEN US & THEM from the band MOVING UNITS

[cheapbasslovin]

Originally Posted by newbold

bass>tuner>hum>rat>chorus>amp

use your FX loop if you feel it works better, but those pedals might sound better before your amp.

Why distort your preamp tone?

The rat with chorus will sound awesome. deep, slow chorus. nice.

+1 My understanding is that the Hum Debugger somehow kills the hum from your single coil pickups leaving the rest of your chain quiet.... until you don't want it that way any more. You don't really want to kill the noise after a dirt as that's part of the fun.

[B.C.]

Originally Posted by andrew_over

also, bc, you're in central illinois? i was born and raised till 16 in clinton!

O yeah? I live in Decatur and am a musician in the central illinois area, mostly Decatur and Champaign. Small world isn't it?

[andrew_over]

Originally Posted by cheapbasslovin

+1 My understanding is that the Hum Debugger somehow kills the hum from your single coil pickups leaving the rest of your chain quiet.... until you don't want it that way any more. You don't really want to kill the noise after a dirt as that's part of the fun.

man, i'm all about fun and high output -dirt, heh. But for the 60% of times when i play clean the EHX will really come in handy.

...i think. man would i not even need the EHX in my chain? looking at it again, it seems unnecessary. i think i thought for some reason i would have alot of hum in my signal with the RAT off

or am i still not getting it...

[andrew_over]

Originally Posted by B.C.

O yeah? I live in Decatur and am a musician in the central illinois area, mostly Decatur and Champaign. Small world isn't it?

word!

[andrew_over]

nevermind. i've decided with the following...

bass<tuner<BASS VT<amp

i'll still keep the RAT in mind tho if i can't get a deep growl distortion from the vt, which is no biggie

at least it's going to be this way for now with my current band. thanks for all your replies, very appreciated. how do i close this thread?

[fightthepower]

Originally Posted by andrew_over

nevermind. i've decided with the following...

bass<tuner<BASS VT<amp

i'll still keep the RAT in mind tho if i can't get a deep growl distortion from the vt, which is no biggie

at least it's going to be this way for now with my current band. thanks for all your replies, very appreciated. how do i close this thread?

That sounds like great start to me. I wouldn't worry about the humdebugger... unless/until you have noise issues(ie single coil hum), and even then I'd try to fix the problem rather than pedalbandaid it. I've never heard this, but I'm assuming that the rat is known for being loud, and that's why you wanted the EHX? Either way you don't need it now... The cs-3 isn't the best compressor in the world, and you might not even want compression. I personally don't care for what it does to my sound, and only use it sparingly when dealing with envelope volume spikes.

If you're anything like the rest of us- This 'whole day reading on talkbass' will be just a tiny drop in the bucket by the end of the month lol The VT bass and tuner should hold you off for a while, and you can continue reading up on various effects, listening to clips etc, before making your next buy.

I've been thinking about the VT bass, sansamp paradriver, and a few others lately myself.

[cheapbasslovin]

Originally Posted by andrew_over

man, i'm all about fun and high output -dirt, heh. But for the 60% of times when i play clean the EHX will really come in handy.

...i think. man would i not even need the EHX in my chain? looking at it again, it seems unnecessary. i think i thought for some reason i would have alot of hum in my signal with the RAT off

or am i still not getting it...

It may not be necessary.

This is how I think it is supposed to work. (Disclaimer: I do not own a hum debugger) Your single coil bass makes a certain amount of hum just being what it is. Usually it is reasonably quiet; until you throw some high gain goodness in the chain, at which point it this minor noise becomes an ever-present wall even while muting the strings.

The debugger is supposed to silence your single coil hum so that when you throw a high gain pedal into the chain, it only amplifies the bass tones and not the hum created by your pickups. If you put the debugger behind the Rat, it will be forced to 'debug' the sound of the hum, and then all the amplified distorted hum on top of that. I don't think it was designed to do that.

You may decide that the Debugger is unnecessary, but you'd be somewhat surprised how much noise from a gain pedal originates from the input (I was when I started experimenting with it).

Good luck.