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Bass Synth Pedals and Making Them Not Suck

JimmyM

JimmyM

Apr 11, 2005
127,261
125,194
Plymouth NC
Disclosures
Endorsing: Yamaha, Ampeg, Line 6, EMG
#1
Why didn't you guys tell me that you could make bass synth pedals not suck just by adding other effects??!! Seems so obvious now :D

Spent a couple hours with my bass and my Boss SYB-3 and Digitech Bass Synth Wah tonight. I don't use them on my board, although I have tried to make both work as envelope filters and just never clicked with either. They're not bad pedals, especially when you consider that I have less than $100 into both of them. But the sounds you get are rather cheeseball, so I never bothered with them too much.

This week I've been on a Muse kick, and earlier today I was checking out other music with bassists who like to use synth, and I'd often hear sounds and think how it sounded like one of my pedals, only way better. Then it dawned on me that it's all in the other pedals they use, so I busted the synth pedals out tonight and got to work.

Yep, that's how they do it, by golly! Totally nailed the Chris Wolstenholme "Plug In, Baby" sound with BSW, MXR Bass Distortion, and Animato. Then I went exploring on my own and found that pitch shifters also helped a lot by adding extra overtones. Got a crazy massive sound with the SYB-3, Animato, OC-2 dry + down one octave, and EHX Pitch Fork dry + up 3 octaves. Oh sure, it would glitch out occasionally, but I could control that by playing a little more precisely, and I figured out how to make the glitching work in my favor after a few minutes.

So now it's making me look at these little gimmick boxes in a whole new light, and instead of their limitations, I'm seeing their possibilities. Of course, considering that my main band is a 50's-60's-70's band, I doubt I'll get to use these sounds much with them, but if I ever get a call from Skrillex, I'm ready!
 
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#2
I think there's a world of difference between bass synths for wild fun and bass synths in a band context or mix. Sometimes I loose half an hour of my life playing some crazy textured and tortured bass sounds through my effects chain at home...only to come out the other side with a big grin and bleeding ears. But then I find I'm back in sane land and playing my regular bass thumps. I wonder what my neighbors think!
 
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#9
I have very little experience with synth effects and have never used them in a band context, only in my pompously-baptized-as-such home studio. I've had the Digitech BSW in the past and now toy around with the 60Bs synth fxs. IMO, they sound much better on bass (and maybe more usable ?) since I've placed the 60B in a Boss LS-2 loop.
 
#11
JimmyM, more recently I'm finding you quite thread-prolific. My recollection was you'd comment here, take a shot there and always defend Ampeg but now you're a full-blown threadstarter (don't use this last word, I'm trademarking it as I write).
On to topic - one of your most recent threads was getting a power supply which I currently am on the hunt for but once that's done I'm off to get me a bass synth in the form of the Behringer BSY600. Tried it before but it didn't provide a polyphonic sound so it was returned. Now I've got the time and desire to hack around with one to come up with some synthy sounds which will work well in one song we cover.
 
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#12
76jazzbass said:
I've posted this a few times, sorry if you have seen it but I feel it's one of the best synth sounds I've heard yet. I even tried a Great Divide but my WL with a Sub T in the effects loop made the GD sound stupid.

Click to expand...

You never have to apologize for posting this video! Of course, "synth" could refer to a huge variety of tones, but this video really sounds like what I consider synthy. I've seen and heard too many demos that throw together some extreme fuzz and filter and call it "synth," but it just sounds like harsh, abrasive noise to me. If that's what you're going for, that's cool, but the sounds I hear in this particular demo seem usable in a lot of musical settings.
 
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#13
I play an EHX Bass Microsynth (the old, large 24v version). I typically pair it with a Melekko B:assmaster for extra dirt and an EHX micro POG for extra octaves, and when I'm feeling super cosmic, an MXR bass auto-q. I add back in some lost punch with an Aphex Aural Xciter.

This setup isn't for everyday use, and I have to rely on bandmates to give me some sonic space so I don't get lost in the mix, but overall I really dig it.

Here's a clip of four or five variations of the BMS and other effects (there is also some delay in this one supplied by a Behringer Bass Vamp Pro):

 
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#14
I go back and forth between trying to make my bass sound like my synth, and making my synth sound like my bass. Right now I am 1/2 way on both. Another innerestin' way to do the do is to use circuit bent pedals on either/or..some of my best "synth" stuff comes from an obscenely bent roktek analog delay pedal. It has that "John, will you PLEASE turn that down" sound that I cherish, especially on piccolo.
 
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#17
FilterFunk said:
You never have to apologize for posting this video! Of course, "synth" could refer to a huge variety of tones, but this video really sounds like what I consider synthy. I've seen and heard too many demos that throw together some extreme fuzz and filter and call it "synth," but it just sounds like harsh, abrasive noise to me. If that's what you're going for, that's cool, but the sounds I hear in this particular demo seem usable in a lot of musical settings.
Click to expand...
Exactly!! That was my problem with the Great Divide.... a lot of money for what sounded mostly fuzzy to me.
 
#18
packhowitzer said:
I play an EHX Bass Microsynth (the old, large 24v version). I typically pair it with a Melekko B:assmaster for extra dirt and an EHX micro POG for extra octaves, and when I'm feeling super cosmic, an MXR bass auto-q. I add back in some lost punch with an Aphex Aural Xciter.

This setup isn't for everyday use, and I have to rely on bandmates to give me some sonic space so I don't get lost in the mix, but overall I really dig it.

Here's a clip of four or five variations of the BMS and other effects (there is also some delay in this one supplied by a Behringer Bass Vamp Pro):

Click to expand...

Very cool!
 
#19
I totally get this. I do have opportunities to use synthy type sounds to add depth and interesting textures to original material fairly frequently. As JimmyM said, its one thing to get it working at home, or even rehearsal, its quite another to make it work live. I have too often found a combination of Envelope, distortion, and perhaps a touch of Chorus sounds great at home, and even in a lower volume rehearsal, but when I kick those pedals in live either I get lost in the mix (level and loss of low end) or it just jumps out too aggressively in the mix (again level/unity gain and too much mid or in the case of the Envelope .. poor Q choice).

guess it will just take more work
 
#20
76jazzbass said:
I've posted this a few times, sorry if you have seen it but I feel it's one of the best synth sounds I've heard yet. I even tried a Great Divide but my WL with a Sub T in the effects loop made the GD sound stupid.

Click to expand...


Hey, thanks for sharing! Thanks for the compliment too! I'm glad you like the sounds! I agree the combo was the best synth tone I could get. I almost forgot all about that vid!!!

This is exactly what I was talking about in my earlier post. It sounds really good, but then through the polytope in there, and it is synth city!!!
 
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