Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread
- Thread starter ttasselm
- Start date
Bleh, I don't know what happened but I got zero notifications about this thread for the past week+. Started to get suspicious and checked in manually, lo and behold y'all haven't fallen into a bottomless pit or anything.
Jaco: I have mixed feelings. I like fretless, I like his style, but I don't much care for Weather Report overall. I used to be into Spyro Gyra and the Yellowjackets a lot in the late 80s, and then was suddenly done with that whole sound, and Weather Report strikes me as a dorkier version of those two.
Dilla: funny he was mentioned, I just finished reading Dilla Time a couple days ago. I am not really a big fan of his or of hip-hop generally (with a few exceptions). But I do like some of the "lo-fi instrumental beats to study to" genre that owes its existence to him, and occasionally some of the other sloppy time stuff out there e.g. Burial.
P-Bass: it's not for me, but people have done good stuff with it, I can respect it.
I've ignored the Moog Muse, I don't need a big pricey polysynth and I'm better off not watching demos. (I'd be more likely to go for Polybrute or Super 6 anyway.)
I got myself an Elmyra 2. It's a noisy beast, more than a little reminiscent of the Lyra-8 but diverging a lot from it. The oscillators are independent of each other instead of cross-modulating each other, the CV inputs all actually work, it's got a lot of timbral range (all of it filthy), it's all digital except for an analog fuzz that leans toward brutality (though between the filters and the little plug-in component cards, you can get it ghostly and crackly instead.) It's all right up my alley. It's unfortunately reliant on a lot of "secret code" button combos, but I attacked the problem with my label printer so I don't need to keep using a separate cheat sheet.
Also got a nOb Control on the way, finally available again (for now). They keep getting more expensive with every production run but every review I've seen says it's worth it. If I don't end up agreeing, at least it should be easy enough to resell.
Landscape Ferrous should be on its way in about a week or so. Between that and some new reverb plugins I've picked up recently I'm planning to pick my Miezo up again for the next album, even though I've already half finished recording for it.
Jaco: I have mixed feelings. I like fretless, I like his style, but I don't much care for Weather Report overall. I used to be into Spyro Gyra and the Yellowjackets a lot in the late 80s, and then was suddenly done with that whole sound, and Weather Report strikes me as a dorkier version of those two.
Dilla: funny he was mentioned, I just finished reading Dilla Time a couple days ago. I am not really a big fan of his or of hip-hop generally (with a few exceptions). But I do like some of the "lo-fi instrumental beats to study to" genre that owes its existence to him, and occasionally some of the other sloppy time stuff out there e.g. Burial.
P-Bass: it's not for me, but people have done good stuff with it, I can respect it.
I've ignored the Moog Muse, I don't need a big pricey polysynth and I'm better off not watching demos. (I'd be more likely to go for Polybrute or Super 6 anyway.)
I got myself an Elmyra 2. It's a noisy beast, more than a little reminiscent of the Lyra-8 but diverging a lot from it. The oscillators are independent of each other instead of cross-modulating each other, the CV inputs all actually work, it's got a lot of timbral range (all of it filthy), it's all digital except for an analog fuzz that leans toward brutality (though between the filters and the little plug-in component cards, you can get it ghostly and crackly instead.) It's all right up my alley. It's unfortunately reliant on a lot of "secret code" button combos, but I attacked the problem with my label printer so I don't need to keep using a separate cheat sheet.
Also got a nOb Control on the way, finally available again (for now). They keep getting more expensive with every production run but every review I've seen says it's worth it. If I don't end up agreeing, at least it should be easy enough to resell.
Landscape Ferrous should be on its way in about a week or so. Between that and some new reverb plugins I've picked up recently I'm planning to pick my Miezo up again for the next album, even though I've already half finished recording for it.
I'm eyeing the Ferrous as well. I have been burned a few times on preorders though, so I think I won't be an early adopter. Once it's in the world and people are happy with it and it works, I will take the plunge. Looks like a lot of fun.
I signed up to be notified about the Ferrous but I recently jumped on the Koma Chromaplane and my interest in Ferrous has cooled. Also, with the dire warnings about the length of the wait list in the Ferrous email, combined with my impending cross country move, I'm that much more inclined to hold off on the Ferrous. Definitely a cool piece of gear though.
This has been a thing for me since the software update. I guess the upside is I waste less time on TB? Maybe?
Hi, this might be the right place to ask, instead of opening another thread: I am looking for an ambient reverb pedal, I think.
I play in a doom/ambient metal band, where I play a lot of low sustaining notes. I feel like there is something missing in the sound. I got a chorus with (CE-2W, low rate, medium depth), that helps a bit, but I think I want a sort of blooming reverb, maybe with some shimmer thrown in, to help fill the sonic space while the guitar is riffing away. I have no experience with reverb on bass, and at the moment I play my Dingwall 5er through whatever poopy amp the rehearsal space has available (though I do have a SVT stack, which I will use once we finally got our own space again), and ofcoure some distortion and/or fuzz, usually a Rattler Bass and a Acapulco Gold.
So, any suggestions? I'm eyeing the Meris Mercury 7, but I'd love to hear any of your experiences with reverb on bass.
I play in a doom/ambient metal band, where I play a lot of low sustaining notes. I feel like there is something missing in the sound. I got a chorus with (CE-2W, low rate, medium depth), that helps a bit, but I think I want a sort of blooming reverb, maybe with some shimmer thrown in, to help fill the sonic space while the guitar is riffing away. I have no experience with reverb on bass, and at the moment I play my Dingwall 5er through whatever poopy amp the rehearsal space has available (though I do have a SVT stack, which I will use once we finally got our own space again), and ofcoure some distortion and/or fuzz, usually a Rattler Bass and a Acapulco Gold.
So, any suggestions? I'm eyeing the Meris Mercury 7, but I'd love to hear any of your experiences with reverb on bass.
I play in a groove metal band that has some long ambient intro or bridge parts…
I tried using some normalish reverbs (boss rv3, iron ether nimbus) and bought a slo that I really liked but bought a afterneath bit long after… as I was only using one setting on the slo I settled on the afterneath.
It can do all sort of shimmery / weird ring out stuff with an expression pedal (although I don’t use that) or set to be a weird crazy reflective delay reverb ping pong thing, but I like it as a fully wet dark cavernous thing that is great by itself but also takes whatever you feed it well (fuzz, wah, etc).
Just my two cents!
you’re in the right place. many folks love their reverb here. they’ll chime in soon.
First of all, love the cat. I have a special place in my heart for tuxedo cats.
Second, I think it would be hard to go wrong with the Empress Reverb, though it is pricey, if you're looking for a one-stop shop for reverb. I have the Mercury7 and it is great, so I don't think you can really go wrong there. The Strymon reverbs are also a great choice, and Dylan Desmond from Bell Witch uses them on bass in a doom setting so they have that pedigree. He'll use multiple blueSkys, for example: Invalid Link Removed
Third, a bit of a left field thing to consider is the Soma Cosmos. In your setting you could put the mix really low and then when you have it on it could do its thing in the background. I'm a big fan of it, but it's not exactly small.
hey
can you put what you want to hear into words?
do the sustaining notes shift a fair amount? do they reflect tonality changes?
imo, chorus can blur, not strengthen notes; same with shimmer. (washes out the fundamental.)
likewise, reverb can swallow space (especially on bass).
if you need strong low sustained notes that change at times and don't want to blur the next tonality, a long reverb may not be the best choice?
i wonder if a freeze pedal or micro-looper after your fuzz/distortion might give you the note strength you need with the option of fairly quick changes in tonality (in other words, not a one-chord drone for the whole tune). play a note and freeze it, and then release and play/freeze the next one. you can always put a reverb after that to give you some body to the sound.
also, i think a volume pedal can be your friend.
anyway, just some thoughts.
btw, this popped up on fb:
soundstone.co
Sound Stone - The World’s Most Affordable Guitar Sustainer
The Sound Stone is a battery-powered electronic device for playing the electric guitar. The Sound Stone uses patent-pending technology to induce string vibrations on your electric guitar, allowing for different tonal varieties and sustained notes.
soundstone.co
I don't think of myself as a "reverb guy" but thinking about it I have like 4 of them.
The Eventide Black Hole is the fanciest one. It has expression pedal support which is nice. I'll admit though, it has a lot of controls and each knob has two functions, so I haven't quite learned it all yet. It's also not cheap.
Digitech Polara is a fairly simple 4-knob reverb which I like a lot and use it with my synths currently. No expression pedal, but simple to control.
Caroline Guitars Meteore is the one currently on my bass pedalboard. It's marketed as a "lo fi" reverb, whatever that means. It makes a massive sound and it has a momentary feedback footswitch. I love it, but it's not for everyone. It doesn't really do "subtle". I use it after my overdrive pedal and it makes the bass sound huge. With my electronic act it's great, but when I was with my rock band, I used it very sparingly lest it bury the guitars in mush.
Wonder how it compares to the Ebow?btw, this popped up on fb:
Sound Stone - The World’s Most Affordable Guitar Sustainer
The Sound Stone is a battery-powered electronic device for playing the electric guitar. The Sound Stone uses patent-pending technology to induce string vibrations on your electric guitar, allowing for different tonal varieties and sustained notes.
Thanks fellows, I knew you'd come through with some advice!
I think the only pedal I really want to interact with during playing, aside from on-off switching, is a expression pedal for my envelope filter. Which set correctly could be a good alternative to a volume pedal, of course (working that filter cut-off).
Thanks, I'll look into the Afterneath. I kind of discarded it before, because I've tried using a delay, but that just got buried in the sonic mess, and seeing how the Afterneath prides itself on being built on multiple delay lines.. How does it take low notes?
Thanks! That cat is bucephalos, 12 years old now, little fury noise machine on it's own. That Soma thing is insane! Though way overkill and not practical in any sense within the band, but I am intrigued. Yeah, I should've just looked up Bell Witch's effect board. The Empress is nice, but it's just a tad too much, too big, too many options.
Thank you for your thoughts, definitely some things to consider. I do think big does not necessary have to mean long though. It's more that I would like something surrounding the bass more, in every direction. I don't necessarily need to strengthen the note, I want to add a bit more context to it. The notes themselves sustain enough.
I think the only pedal I really want to interact with during playing, aside from on-off switching, is a expression pedal for my envelope filter. Which set correctly could be a good alternative to a volume pedal, of course (working that filter cut-off).
Problem with those things, as with the Ebow (which I have) is that the string space outlining on the thing isn't suitable for bass. I've tried the Ebow on bass, and I just couldn't get it in position right to get the drone going. Maybe a bass with (really) short string distance, but also the thicker the string, the harder it is to get it going.btw, this popped up on fb:
Sound Stone - The World’s Most Affordable Guitar Sustainer
The Sound Stone is a battery-powered electronic device for playing the electric guitar. The Sound Stone uses patent-pending technology to induce string vibrations on your electric guitar, allowing for different tonal varieties and sustained notes.
I'm not sure lo-fi is what I need. I'm curious about the Black Hole though. Any reason why you are not using that one in your electronic act or rock band?
Meris stuff is interesting.
From personal experience I’d suggest the Empress Reverb. You get several engines for variety. It can be used as a looper. It’s stereo if you want to try that.
The Ghost reverb engine is a personal favorite. The Empress page has audio samples. There are more traditional sounds available as well as shimmer and some wacky options.
I’m curious about the Dreadbox Darkness. I haven’t used it but it seems interesting with several options for sound design.
Last edited:
My very humble beginning down the effects road. I've been playing for over 27 years and have just recently became interested in utilizing effects for a different approach in my playing.
A good multi-effects unit like the Line 6 HX Effects is insane value. You get TONS of really great effects for the cost of a few pedals. One of the reasons it would be great at this stage is it lets you experiment with all different effect types, orders, parallel/series signal chains, etc.
