i see alot of users here posting about what kind of effects to use for this kind of music quite frequently. moreso than many other types of music, aside from heavier metal, in which a light overdrive is usualy the first answer. in this genre, bassists are almost expected to use at least some kind of effect pedal, most notably a fuzz. in this thread, i will provide a list of good threads to read which should help someone wanting to know more about this topic, a list of bands to get one started on the basics in this genre, and a list of effects to use and reccomendations of which kinds to get. if anyone has more information for me to add to this thread, please let me know. so here we go...
effects used: dirt: why didnt i just say 'fuzz'? well, i and many other people find that the best way to get good tones for this type of music is not fuzz alone, but rather a mixture of fuzz and overdrive. many people achieve this by putting an overdrive or fuzz in their chain, and then using another dirt pedal with a dry blend after it to allow the 2 sounds to blend together
a few od/fuzz pedals available with a dry blend:
ehx bass big muff
sansamp bass driver or para driver
wren 'n cuff pickle pie b
voodoo labs sparkle drive
boss odb-3 bass overdrive
place one of these after your favorite dirt and tweak your setting to your minds desire!
*note* for dirt, fuzz, and filter reviews, check out grygrx's site,
http://bassfuzz.com/ modulation: chorus is the most common option, but flangers, phasers, and tremolos may also be used. some phasers such as the boss ph-2 have the ability to have the depth and rate knobs turned all the way down to be used as a different, spacier, more muffled tone, especialy when placed after dirt. some people use it to thicken up a dirty sound, or to give a little more depth on those clean tones. i recently listened to a few sound clips of the ebs unichorus. the ability to switch between chorus, flanger, AND pitch shifting vibrato settings made it sound like it was MADE for psychedelic rock. i use a digitech bass multichorus, and even with a fuzz before it sounds way too digital. its good for getting an idea of what a chorus does and experimenting with it, but it distorts way too easily for my taste
modulation pedals:
digitech bass multichorus
boss...
ceb-3 bass chorus
ce-5 chorus
ph-2/3 phaer
bf-2/2b/3 flanger
mxr stereo chorus
mxr flanger
ebs unichorus
analogman chorus
ehx...
small stone (phaser)
small clone (chorus)
stereo electric mistress (chorus/flanger)
clone theory (chorus/vibrato)
octave: people can find alot of different reasons for using octavers/pitch shifters. us 4-string players may use a pitch shifter to hit notes lower than we care to tune down to. some use it just to thicken up the low end. one of my favorite times to use an ocatve is after a fuzz, while playing on the higher frets/strings. a good octave wont clip after distortion. the digitech bass synth wah has an ocatasub setting (mode 7) on which the filter can be dialed out for just an octaving function. however, its very crude so i only use it when using distortion
octave/pitch shifting pedals:
digitech whammy (or bass whammy, if you can find one)
boss...
oc-2/3 octave
hr-2 harmonist
ps-3/5 pitch shifter/delay
ebs ocatabass
ehx micro pog (has an octave up as well)
mxr bass octave deluxe
filter/synth: feeling funky? filter pedals are everywhere, and are capable of many different kinds of sounds. the most common being the typical auto-wah sound found in the ehx q-tron. for its price, the ibanez weeping demon is the most adjustable wah available. i and many other users could type whole threads on this pedal, wondering why more bassists arent using it. theres so many sounds available from synths that ill let you surf youtube or the clip database to find something you like
filter/synth pedals: (excluding standard wahs)
boss syb-3/5
digitech bass synth wah
mxr bss auto q
ehx q-tron/micro q-tron
ebs bassiq
ehx bass micro synth
ehx bassballs
delay:
not the most common effect used on bass, but capable of some cool things. alot of people prefer analog delays for their more natural sound, but digital delays can be found for much cheaper. personally, the only time i could ever find myself using a delay is for lspacy drone-style riffs, or just as a weird sound effect
delays:
mxr carbon copy
fuzzrocious night of the walking delay
deltalab dd1
digitech digidelay
boss dd-3/6/7
ibanez ad-9
bands:
this is a very broad genre. still able to be called 'stoner metal', bongzilla and om sound nothing alike, do they? so dont listen to one or two random bands from the list and assume thats a good representation of what all these bands sound like. there is a VERY braod range in sounds. heres a few of my favorites:
acid king
asteroid
black sabbath
bongripper
bongzilla
boris
candlemass
electric wizard
fu manchu
goatsnake
green machine
isis
kyuss
magashira
mastodon
melvins
monster magnet
neurosis
orange goblin
om
sleep
sons of otis
sunn 0)))
weedeater
wooly mammoth
threads to read:
i took the liberty of using the search function to find some good threads with information that may help budding stoner/doom bassists in creating their tone, finding influences, etc.
stoner rock settings on the ehx bass big muff stoner/doom effects The OMGZ I LUVZ ME SOME "ŜЌЦĿŁ ŠΜΔŞΗĨИĠ/βΘИΞКЯŲŜĦÏИĞ" tonez club stoner/sludge bliss stoner/doom sound effects used in doom/sludge metal
and, last but not least, a few users' pedalboards that either are used for this kind of music, or i think would be great with this kind of music. hopefully they dont mind me showing their boards off
Snakeman1066:
J-chot:
Thunderscreech (at one point in time):
SG-Jazz:
rratajski:
Chronicle:
Bassenstien:
The Ethanator (myself):
enjoy! as stated before, if you feel there is any more information i should include in this thread, post here or shoot me a pm. thanks!
oops, my bad. i think i found that pic in a quoted post somewhere, must have labeled it wrong. fixed
Won my second Sunn Concert Slave the other day. Hopefully I'll get it by early next week. Already have a 5th cab to use with it. I'll probably get a 6th eventually.
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