Anyone else use a wide array of always on pedals/effects for their basic "clean" tone?

[Dr Greenthumb]

On my amp, it sounds pretty clean to me.
Not direct into the board clean because the cabs are a factor but true to the sound of the bass.

If your amp has a Fender tone stack, than you're scooping the mids quite a bit. Since I don't know what amp you're playing I'm not saying yours specifically..

Once again, adding a bunch of pedals in between the bass and amp can still get you a clean tone, but not a raw one..

 

[NoiseNinja]

I use quite a wide array of always on pedals/effects to achieve my basic "clean" tone.

I guess partially because it is an "amp-less" setup, so I have to mimic what an amp and cab does as well.

So it got me curious and thinking, do anyone else use a wide range of different always on pedals/effects to obtain their basic "clean" tone?


I personally use no less than 10 always on pedals/effects (counting the ART tube preamp last in my signal chain among them).

So excluding all other effects/pedals that will only be engaged once in a while that makes my always on basic "clean" tone signal chain look like this :

My "amp-less" setup in written form (only including always on effects) :

4 string 28,6" scale Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass (equipped with an EMG Geezer Butler P pickup, wired directly to the output jack socket, and strung with gauge .090 - .072 - .054 - .040 D'Addario XL nickle plated roundwound hex steel core strings, tuned in F# standard tuning, 2 half steps above regular 4 string bass E standard tuning) ->>

TC Electronic SpectraComp (always on 3 band parallel compression, adding extra punch, snap and bite, but without really affecting my playing dynamics) ->> TC Electronic Sub'N'Up Mini (always on digital polyphonic octaver, used as an 1 octave up effect mixed with clean bass signal, giving an effect similar to that of an 8 string "octave" bass, with pairs of respectively bass and octave strings) ->> Boss LS-2 [A+B Mix <-> Bypass] (always on parallel effect loops mixer/switch) ={ [Loop A Send] ->> Joyo Orange Juice (always on low gain overdrive, really primarily used to enhance harmonic content, [Tone] set at about 11 o'clock, [Voice] set to boost a wide curve around a 800Hz center frequency about +3dB pre gain stage, always mixed with clean {bass+octave up} signal from parallel effects [Loop B]) ->> [Loop A Return] ->||<- [Loop B Send] ->> (empty effects loop for clean {bass+octave up} signal blend with Orange Juice in effects [Loop A]) ->> [Loop B Return] ([Loop A] + [Loop B] mixed at an about 50/50 ratio) }=>> Artec SE-EQ8 (always on 8 band graphic equalizer, settings as follows: [Freq=100Hz LoShlv Boost=+1dB ; Freq=170Hz Q=wide Boost=+1dB ; Freq=280Hz Q=narrow Boost=+3dB ; Freq=500Hz Q=narrow Boost=+2dB ; Freq=800Hz Q=narrow Boost=+1dB ; Freq=1.4kHzHz Q=narrow Boost=+2dB ; Freq=2.3kHz Q=wide Boost=+3dB ; Freq=5kHz HiShlv +/- 0dB]) ->> Zoom G1Xon (Always on subtle plate reverb, and additionally used for 4 other reverb patches) ->> Zoom MS-70CDR (Always on "160 Comp" (emulating a DBX 160A compressor), set to a quite subtle compression -> always on 2 x 2 band parametric EQ : [Freq=63Hz Q=4 Boost=+1dB ; Freq=250Hz Q=4 Boost=+1dB ; Freq=400Hz Q=4 Boost=+1dB ; Freq=1kHz Q=4 Boost=+1dB[/I]] -> always on faux, EQ based, cab sim, consisting of a 2 band parametric EQ set as follows: [Freq=12kHz Q=1 Cut=-18dB ; [I]Freq=20kHz Q=0.5 Cut=-20dB], and additionally used for a lush Church reverb that can be switched on/off) ->> Joyo American Sound (always on clean preamp (gain set to ever so slightly break up when digging in the hardest), a Tech 21 Blonde clone, analog emulation of a Fender type amp, with a wide curve around the center frequency of 400Hz boosted about +3dB, and an about +3dB pre gain stage boost to a wide curve around the center frequency of 800Hz)

->> EHX Black Finger (always on tube driven optical compressor, used primarily as a tube preamp stage, set so that the compression basically never kicks in) ->> ART Tube MP Project Series (tube preamp, with HPF fixed @ 40Hz)

->> [Effects Return] (poweramp input) of Peavey Solo Special 112 (160W, solid state guitar combo, with the build in 4 Ohm 12" speaker unit disconnected and instead hooked up to a The Box PA 502 PA speaker) ->> The Box PA 502 (full range PA speaker with 1x 15" woofer/mids driver + 1.7" high frequency tweeter horn)


View attachment 4421485
(The Valeton Aquaflow Vintage Chorus has since been swapped out for a TC Electronic Shaker Mini, loaded with a customized chorus patch. The white goo is hot glue, use to fix the settings on some of the pedals)

So, down from 10 to "just" 9 always on pedals now!

There was room for one more 2 band parametric equalizer in the always on patch on my Zoom MS-70CDR, so I decided to experiment with mimicking the EQ of the Joyo American Sound preamp in front of the Zoom unit, to see if I perhaps could do without it, adjusting the additional 2 band parametric equalizer to 400Hz Q=1 Boost=+3dB and 800Hz Q=1 Boost=+3dB, and as it turned out switching back and forth between the American Sound and the additional equalizer on my Zoom unit, while attempting to improve the settings on the American Sound with some fine adjustments, I actually ended up preferring the tone I got without the American Sound, but with it's EQ settings approximately mimicked by the additional 2 band parametric equalizer of the Zoom unit, overall making for a bit more tight and focused tone than previously.

Also I turned up the [Pre Gain] (input gain) of the Black Finger a bit to compensate for the loss of the slight breakup that the American Sound had been dialed in to give, so now the tube in the Black Finger are run to just ever so slightly above the breakup point, where before they were run to just on the verge of breakup when digging in the hardest.

Retrospectively admittedly 3 preamp stages following each other at the end of my signal chain was perhaps also a slight overkill.

2 tube preamp stages ought to be sufficient, one that runs a tube plate voltage of proper 300V, followed by one that utilizes a starved plate voltage, as far as I have been able to gather of 70V.

 

[patrickj]

Ampless/IEM rig.. haven't used an amp in about a decade at this point. I don't use a cab sim (other than an HPF LPF combo). First compressor is for dynamics, second comp is for squish. Love the squish!


Wireless/Input/Tuner ->
Comp1 ->
[boost] ->
Preamp ->
OD1 ->
OD2 ->
EQ ->
[distortion] ->
Chorus ->
Comp2 ->
HPF_LPF_NR ->
DI

[pedal] = switched as needed