A Unique Overdrive Issue

[fendsboy417]

I've encountered a very unique problem with my band.
Here's some important facts to know first:
1) I have not done much experimenting with bass overdrive or distortion pedals in the past.
2) My band consists of four members.
3) There is a singer, guitar player, drummer, and myself, the bassist.
4) My singer was supposed to play rhythm guitar behind my guitar player's solo-and just the solos, thats it.
5) My singer no longer wishes to play guitar; he says he would "rather not" but if it is like 200% neccessary he would.
6) I don't want to force him to play guitar if he really doesn't want to, that's just asking for trouble.

So here's the deal. I'm debating on what to do with my band. There are two options that I can think of immediately

1) Bring in a rhythm guitarist

2) I experiment with an overdrive pedal so that I can flik it on and I will sound somewhat like a rhythm guitar without losing my bass sound in the process. I would do this only for solos, not for the whole song obviously.

The first option will create many problems, a few being that I've had very bad luck in finding 4 fully dedicated members in the past (my 5 man bands have never worked out), gig money is split 5 ways rather than four, and being that I'm pretty much the "capitan" and leader of my band, another player is one more "guitarist" to deal with, with one more "guitarist attitude".

I favor the second option but I'm not quite sure if there's something out there to meet my needs. If you have any advice on how I could achieve the sound I need than please feel free to offer it.

One more option pops into my head now, and that's the simplest of all:
Just forget about the rhythm. Why? Because the songs we play (originals and cover) only require a second guitar during the solos. My drummer is loud as hell, and together me and him make quite a strong impact, if my guitarist just throws his volume up to 11 for the solos, will we sound alright?
Please offer any advice you can think of.
Thanks guys.

[CliftonBonney]

I'm in a three person band. I play bass and sing. I do your second option all the time (i.e., add a little distortion, etc. to the sound during solos, etc.).

I've tinkered with quite a few different effects to fill the space - the Woolly Mammoth, Polish Love, Hjart Muller, 3XFX Fatman, Devi Ever Year of the Rat, etc. I don't limit myself to just distortion pedals in order to fill the gap. I think fuzzes and overdrives can work as well. Currently, I do a combination between the Year of the Rat (a fuzz) and Fatman (a distortion). I think it sounds really good.

Alot depends on how much you want to spend. The Woolly Mammoth (a fuzz), Fatman (a distortion), and Hjart Muller (an overdrive) are expensive. The Year of the Rat and the Polish Love are fairly cheap - $95 each. I really like the Year of the Rat. Even though it's a fuzz, it keeps the fundamental note in addition to adding the fuzz. In other words, it kind of has a blend of the fuzz and the original note. Very nice sounding. I tack on the Fatman for that extra push over the top. Sounds great to me.

I've also tried the Fatman with the Xotic X-Blender. That sounded nice too. Let me know what you decide. I'm always up for trying new combinations.

[bongomania]

You want the Akai Unibass, it was designed for exactly this purpose. There are also a wide range of distorted octave-up pedals on the market, all of which do the job pretty well. And of course yes a general overdrive or distortion can do in a pinch. One way to make any of these options work best is to run the effect device into a guitar amp, with your clean bass signal running into your bass amp. Also a reverb can make the effect "guitar" tone more plausible and space-filling.

[dancehallclasher]

Originally Posted by fendsboy417

One more option pops into my head now, and that's the simplest of all:
Just forget about the rhythm. Why? Because the songs we play (originals and cover) only require a second guitar during the solos. My drummer is loud as hell, and together me and him make quite a strong impact, if my guitarist just throws his volume up to 11 for the solos, will we sound alright?

That's what the Who did. And Led Zep. And RATM. Why the hell not?

[Gearhead17]

Originally Posted by dancehallclasher

That's what the Who did. And Led Zep. And RATM. Why the hell not?

Umm Yeah! Right on! +100.

If it's really necessary, throw a distortion pedal in the mix and use it on the bass to cover any lost sonic space from having another guitarist in there. Plus, if you have a second guitarist just standing around the whole song and then playing for like 30 seconds each song, what's the point of paying him to play on stage? He will most likely be a statue!

I suggest the Tech 21 XXL Bass Edition - crunchy, fuzzy and distorted madness in a pleasing/controlled manner! Keeps your original tone in there too! No low end loss - not much anyways! You can dial it back if needed.

[JimmyM]

As a huge fan and a veteran of many guitar-bass-drums bands, I can tell you that there's a very fine line between filling in missing parts with bass and cluttering up a perfectly good sound.I also think the vast amount of responsibility for filling in the holes during solos is on the guitarist. The guitarist has to keep things moving during the solos. Hitting a single note and holding it for two bars, for example, is not a good thing to do usually. If you listen to Hendrix or Page, you'll hear that they did a lot of things like play two-note chords mixed in with the leads or single-note leads that keep movement happening. And the bass proceeds with business as usual, not doing things out of the norm.

So for that reason, I'd say if you use a clean sound during the rest of the tune, suddenly switching to distorted tone for the solos is probably going to be less effective than just playing what you'd normally play. I'd say if you do that, you're better off using a distorted tone through the whole song. I'm not saying that it won't be effective sometimes, but I don't thinkt you'll 100% achieve the desired effect you're looking for, which is to fill in holes. You'll just end up with a distorted bass sound AND a hole

One thing I used to like to do to fill in holes is play octaves. Sometimes a line doesn't lend itself to octaves, but sometimes it does. Double stops played along with a droning lower string is also a cool thing to do sometimes as well (check out "Ain't Talking 'Bout Love" by Van Halen for a primo example of that). But each song needs to be evaluated on its own merits for what needs to be done, and there's no one blanket answer. And most of the time, there's going to be some sort of a hole regardless of what you do. But people are more tolerant of holes than you think. Write a great song and have the guitarist play his leads in a way that doesn't sound ridiculously empty, and all you have to do is a minor assist now and then and the crowd will dig it even if the hole is bigger than an elephant's butt

[cheapbasslovin]

Tweak your lines a little, make sure the guitard's stuff is interesting, and go. You could try an octave pedal of some sort or dirt to try to fill in some more range, but without some experimentation you probably won't get the sound you want. I have always enjoyed my time in three piece setups more than four because you can let loose a little, you don't lose too much from the song, and you don't step on too many toes.

[rratajski]

If the Akai is too much $, what about a Tycobrahe Octavia clone/replica?

Octave plus some controllable fuzz......or what about buying BOTH the Unibass and Octavia...

[irvinz]

dont know if it was mentioned before. if you would like, send a dirty channel to a guitar amp...

[bassninja7]

bass big muff.

crank your clean sound, and set the fuzz low, unless you want fuzz, you mentioned OD....

well thats what i would do anyway

[mario222]

I'd go for the overdrive option. At least thats what I do in my band. Get an od pedal with a blend knob like the Boss ODB-3. You dont want something too fuzzy. I litle grit can go a long way in emulating or if like replacing a rythum guitar. Playing technique also has a lot to do wth it. Take bands like The Who and RATM. A more riff based playing with a gritty sound beats a rythum guitar anyday.

[Snakeman1066]

I play in a three piece (Power Trio) our Guitard is also the singer....

usually during solos, i play double stops, and sometimes triple stops...now keep in mind we play a lot of sludge/stoner/doom hard rock so my bass tone is fairly gritty to begin with...

...but i play a 4 x 10" cab and a 15" cab...my 4 x 10" gets all of my distortion, OD, Fuzz etc......and my 15" gets pushed totally clean and by raising or lowering the blend on my pre-amp or volume on each cab i can tailor the sound to fit each song

hope that helps you out....it works for me/us

[Deville2Rocket]

Originally Posted by bongomania

You want the Akai Unibass, it was designed for exactly this purpose.

I have one of these units. It's not a perfect solution by any stretch of the imagination, but it'll do the job quite nicely once you get acquainted with it.

If you use it sparingly... tastefully, it can add a whole new tone and dimension to your sound.

The Unibass has the ability to go an octave up, plus add a 5th above that note. It can also give you a 4th below the octave note. One switch activates the effect, and the other triggers the 5th/4th option. It has its own distortion too, and it's not really too bad.

You can send a dry signal to your bass amp as usual, and just send the effect to either a guitar amp, or to an available channel on the PA.

[smo]

Add an UP octaver - you've got rythym n bass right there.
And a blender with some kind of OD - or fuzz.