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Bass effects for 80's coverband.

skidrawk

skidrawk

Jan 21, 2007
824
141
Space City, TX
#1
So I just joined an 80's cover band. I am looking at putting together some pedals that will cover the tones (mostly synth) of the era. Taking suggestions on what to try. Thanks in advance!

Set List
1. Hungry Like the Wolf
2. Don't you want me baby
3. Love Shack
4. Like a Virgin
5. Holiday
6. Le Freak
7. Just What I Needed
9. Don't Change
10. Jump
11. I'll Fall in Love again
12. Purple Rain

1. The Look of Love
2. Take On me
3. Always something There to Remind me
4. Rio
5. Whip It
6. Centerfold
7. Walking on Sunshine
8. Girls Just Want to Have Fun
9. In your Eyes
10. I Love Rock n Roll
11. Careless Whisper
12. Don't Stop Believing

1. 99 Red Balloons
2. Just Like Heaven
3. Looking for Love
4.Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
5. Working for the Weekend
6. Beat It
7. Love is a battlefield
8. Don't do me Like that
9. Message in a Bottle
10. Modern Love
11. Hit Me with your best Shot
12. Billie Jean
 
#5
skidrawk,

That song list takes me back. I played a lot of those songs when they were new!

Many of those recordings have no bass effects. Some have subtle chorus, which the audience might not notice, but YOU will if you look for it.

The Madonna, Nina and a few (maybe more than a few) others have a keyboard synth bass line, along with the bass guitar. If you don't have a keyboard player in the band - or maybe even if you do, you should get some type of pedal or combination of pedals to get a synth sound (envelope, octaver, distortion, etc. Search other threads for infinite suggestions). A blend feature will help to keep the bottom end on your bass.

The Duran Duran and Journey songs might use a phaser. It might be beneficial to get a multi-fx unit to try to dig up some of those 80's sounds. For straight rock like "Jump", I don't think there is an effect on the bass per se, but if some overdrive or chorus helps with the total sound, throw it in.
 
#6
Bob C said:
skidrawk,

That song list takes me back. I played a lot of those songs when they were new!

Many of those recordings have no bass effects. Some have subtle chorus, which the audience might not notice, but YOU will if you look for it.

The Madonna, Nina and a few (maybe more than a few) others have a keyboard synth bass line, along with the bass guitar. If you don't have a keyboard player in the band - or maybe even if you do, you should get some type of pedal or combination of pedals to get a synth sound (envelope, octaver, distortion, etc. Search other threads for infinite suggestions). A blend feature will help to keep the bottom end on your bass.

The Duran Duran and Journey songs might use a phaser. It might be beneficial to get a multi-fx unit to try to dig up some of those 80's sounds. For straight rock like "Jump", I don't think there is an effect on the bass per se, but if some overdrive or chorus helps with the total sound, throw it in.
Click to expand...


Thanks for taking the time for a detailed response. We do have a keyboardist as well as a sax player. Everyone in the band plays multiple instruments so that really expands our capabilities. There are four of us that sing as well. On the synth bass stuff I was going to double with the keys. I will seek suggestions on achieving those sounds. The Duran Duran/Journey stuff I was def gonna use chorus or flange with compression. On the rock stuff I was gonna go straight up clean. Great suggestion on blending. Maybe I can biamp and keep the bottom clean at all times and use the top for the FX. I have an old Digitech BP8 that I'll dust off and see what kind of chorus/flange and synth sounds I can find. I'm open for some of the newer gear though. The goal for me is to get it as close to the original as possible. I know the crowd won't notice but these guys pay close attention to detail. Being the new guy I just want to make them happy yet keep it as simple as possible.
 
#8
wow, our master song list includes roughly half of your set list! (and i just pirated an idea from you)

everyone is guiding you in appropriate directions. i just use those effects from a zoom b2 or b9 to approximate the tones. our frontman just purchased a roland synth for his guitar so we can expand to more keyboard based music.
 
#11
Well I'm gonna bring my combo home from the practice room and play around with the built in effects. I like the octave feature and I'm pretty happy with my Small Clone Chorus. I think I'll go out and find me a decent envelope filter and go from there. Thanks guys.
 
#12
I would NEVER recommend a multi FX unit, but strictly for a cover band it might be your best bet.
Check out one of the Boss units, that way you can EVERY song as a preset right at your toes, due to the fact that if you're trying to replicate the exact sound...all those songs have such a variety of bass tones.
 
#13
Yea I'm not a big fan of multi FX units either. If I can do what I want with my amp and 2-3 analog pedals that's the route I'm gonna go. The hardest part for me is figuring out the keyboard bass tones that don't really have bass on the recordings. Madonna is the biggest violator of not having bass guitar on her records. I want to slap her already. The Michael Jackson tunes, another violator are at least fun to play on bass.
 
#14
skidrawk said:
Yea I'm not a big fan of multi FX units either. If I can do what I want with my amp and 2-3 analog pedals that's the route I'm gonna go. The hardest part for me is figuring out the keyboard bass tones that don't really have bass on the recordings. Madonna is the biggest violator of not having bass guitar on her records. I want to slap her already. The Michael Jackson tunes, another violator are at least fun to play on bass.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I mean... with a lot of those 80's songs, the bass has a very unique tone which would be difficult (or expensive to replicate) due to the many pedals you would need. A lot of those multi FX units have a myriad of (mostly useless) FX EXCEPT for replicating the sounds heard in those cover songs.
 
#15
excane said:
I would NEVER recommend a multi FX unit, but strictly for a cover band it might be your best bet.
Check out one of the Boss units, that way you can EVERY song as a preset right at your toes, due to the fact that if you're trying to replicate the exact sound...all those songs have such a variety of bass tones.
Click to expand...

I WOULD recommend a multi-effects unit for an 80's cover band gig. This is exactly what I did for the last 5 years...play bass and sing for a very successful 80's cover band....and we were dedicated to being as close as humanly possible to the original tunes. I applaud your band for having that goal...it will set you apart from the rest of the acts out there.

While individual effects will always (or at least should) "beat out" the multi-effects boxes, both the convenience, simplicity, and directness of signal chain for a good multi unit recommend them for both the genre and the venues in which you'll be playing...not to mention a much more efficient load-in/load-out/setup/power cord layout/etc. factor as well.

I used the ME-50B for every single show...and it performed extremely well for exactly the type of music that you're playing. I also use it as my "travel" pedal board and headphone amp as well.

Jay
 

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