Best pitch shifter pedal to drop?

[CarlosLeoBass]

I use the EHX pitch fork. I bought the large version, but the smallest one would have been more than enough.
Tons of features but also ofcourse all the basics. Tracks very well.

Yes... that was my option. I want to try it out, but it's difficult to find it on stores. Thank you!

 

[bherman]

I agree in principle but even something like that is situation dependent. You can absolutely do it a lot of the times, and plenty of songs don't really care what octave a particular note in the scale is in, or whether you play a note open or fretted, or whatever. But sadly plenty do. I was in a rock covers band that did 'Slither' by Velvet Revolver are the main riff, the hook of the song, the bit you absolutely have to get right, is a succession of fretted and then open notes up and down the (low) D string. Now obviously you can transpose that riff easily and play that it any key, you can play it on a normally tuned E string that hasn't been dropped a tone to drop D. But what you can't really do is sit there whilst everybody else in the band is playing that song in D, on drop D guitars, and the singer is singing in D minor, and transpose that riff on a normally tuned bass. Your best bet would be to play it on the high D string and hope that nobody notices there's effectively no bass in that song. Or fret super human fast on the fifth fret of the A and then going back... it'd be a mess.

Sometimes a D tuner or a drop pedal is just the least bad compromise.

That makes sense, if that was what I needed to do to serve the song, I'd go to a 5 string. I found the pedal solution to be pretty limited beyond 1/2 step.

 

[mouthmw]

Thank you guys for your answers.
I will consider then another solution, as the sound is never gonna be good enough with a pedal, maybe I just should have a couple of basses for each band
All the best and thanks again

This is the only way to go if you care at all about your tone and playability. I have 3 basses in different tunings for this purpose. Standard E, half a step down and drop C. Using a pedal to achieve this would be the worst kind of compromise imaginable. Terrible idea.

 

[Les Fret]

You might consider a source audio C4. So many pitch shifting options!

It’s a great pedal but not for drop tuning.

 

[Al Krow]

This is the only way to go if you care at all about your tone and playability. I have 3 basses in different tunings for this purpose. Standard E, half a step down and drop C. Using a pedal to achieve this would be the worst kind of compromise imaginable. Terrible idea.

How much of a gap between songs does swapping a bass take?

The "dead-air" time this causes is something to bear in mind. Would be a deal breaker mid-set for many function/party bands that are being hired to keep audiences up and dancing.

In this context, having a pedal such as the Boss XS-1 that does a decent job preserving bass tone with acceptable latency would be the lesser of two evils, certainly for my crew.

 

[mouthmw]

How much of a gap between songs does swapping a bass take?

The "dead-air" time this causes is something to bear in mind. Would be a deal breaker mid-set for many function/party bands that are being hired to keep audiences up and dancing.

In this context, having a pedal such as the Boss XS-1 that does a decent job preserving bass tone with acceptable latency would be the lesser of two evils, certainly for my crew.

All of my bands keep the tuning fixed. Doing a drop on a standard tuning is quick and a non issue but having a band that uses say standard and half a step down (or a full step down) tuning is ridiculous to me. Just make up your mind what tuning you’re gonna use. I don’t see “corporate party bands” needing drop C or playing heavy music anyways, so they can easily have everything in standard and a drop if needed (which is super quick to do).

 

[Al Krow]

All of my bands keep the tuning fixed. Doing a drop on a standard tuning is quick and a non issue but having a band that uses say standard and half a step down (or a full step down) tuning is ridiculous to me. Just make up your mind what tuning you’re gonna use. I don’t see “corporate party bands” needing drop C or playing heavy music anyways, so they can easily have everything in standard and a drop if needed (which is super quick to do).

Depends on the band and line up. Song keys are chosen to suit the vocalists register to get the most out of their voices. Pro party bands will often use deps, and it's not all just about bass tone. What might be a deal breaker for you can cause issues for other line-ups and bands.

Great that you are happy to use multiple basses on a set and swap over mid set (which absolutely wouldn't work for us), but there isn't a one size fits all here, and no need to dismiss other folk searching for solutions as a "terrible idea"?

 

[mouthmw]

Depends on the band and line up. Song keys are chosen to suit the vocalists register to get the most out of their voices. Pro party bands will often use deps, and it's not all just about bass tone. What might be a deal breaker for you can cause issues for other line-ups and bands.

Great that you are happy to use multiple basses on a set and swap over mid set (which absolutely wouldn't work for us), but there isn't a one size fits all here, and no need to dismiss other folk searching for solutions as a "terrible idea"?

I don’t swap basses. Those are all for different bands and different functions. Most pro bands who play commercial top 40s pop music use a five stringer anyways don’t they? Easier to transpose for different keys. I dunno, I don’t see those dudes needing both standard and half a step down tuning, or needing anything below low B. One size fits all is not what I meant though, sorry if it came that way. But I do think it’s ridiculous to need a bass or a guitar in those 2 tunings for one band. That’s very un-pro to me. YMMV.

 

[mouthmw]

The OP stated he had several bands with different tunings and instead of setting each bass with proper strings and tuning for each band, he wants to set them all in standard tuning and use a drop pedal in each band. For that purpose, my opinion is still - that’s a terrible idea.

 

[Ritter667]

Boss XS-1 hands down.

Most natural sounding picth shifter on the market currently, at least in it's sort of of price class.

Low latency, and perfect tracking as well, without any glicthes whatsoever.

 

[mattattack187]

For me personally, my old Headrush MX5's model of the Digitech Drop was so clean. I haven't had a stand alone pedal or model in another multieffect that could match it. That being said, I did have the digitech drop at one point which works well in a band setting. Solo bass or recording though, I would actually drop tune the bass.

 

[mobeme23]

It’s a great pedal but not for drop tuning.

yeah, i misunderstood the OP's original thread. i stand corrected.