Looking for the most effective way of having two levels of dynamics for a live setting. Essentially just a normal setting and a boost setting to fill out louder parts of songs. Trying to decide between a boost pedal, a volume pedal, or maybe a fuzz or distortion. Any input?
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.
Best way to shift dynamics?
- Thread starter feelinglame
- Start date
With a distortion pedal, you can set it to give you a volume boost with little to no grit, to give you both grit and a volume boost, or to give you grit with no volume boost. That's a lot more versatile than a dedicated boost or volume pedal, so I'd recommend that as a good place to start.
Looking for more noticeable dynamic shifts than what I can pull off with just my right hand. Any specific pedals to recommend? I have tried an OCD as a boost, which it has a reputation for being good at, and I noticed a little too much low end loss for what I'm trying to accomplish.
depends if you want grit or not.. personally I use both a volume boost and/distortion, depending on the context..
Tone's already pretty gritty, so mostly just looking for added volume without much eq or tonal difference.
I use a darkglass harmonic booster, if U are happy with your tone and just want it louder, the lpb1 will work (might change your tone)
A pigtronix boost will also work. I actually like my tone to be more dynamic as well, maybe a little more top, or high mids. A spark booster by tc worked well, but the harmonic booster has been my holy grail. I don't use it a lot but when I do people notice
A pigtronix boost will also work. I actually like my tone to be more dynamic as well, maybe a little more top, or high mids. A spark booster by tc worked well, but the harmonic booster has been my holy grail. I don't use it a lot but when I do people notice
Sounds to me like you want a clean boost pedal. I just built myself one from BYOC for like 15 bucks, which also includes a buffer. If your handy with a soldering iron its cheap and easy. Enclosure not included though. OTOH if you want it now Id suggest the MXR micro boost over the EHX LPB. Or type in boost pedal in our classifieds, lots of good choices there.
1 vote here for a multi-FX unit. I like the Line 6 M-13.
I have an expression pedal hooked up to a volume pedal effect so that all the way down at heel is my normal playing volume, and I can ease it up to whatever level of boost I want. I use a whammy bar which as you may know loses volume when you dive bomb due to the tension on the string going slack so the pedal is nice to compensate for that.
I also have another effect set up as a boost compressor so I can get a (practically) infinite sustain if I want, or to make harmonics sound really nice.
I have an expression pedal hooked up to a volume pedal effect so that all the way down at heel is my normal playing volume, and I can ease it up to whatever level of boost I want. I use a whammy bar which as you may know loses volume when you dive bomb due to the tension on the string going slack so the pedal is nice to compensate for that.
I also have another effect set up as a boost compressor so I can get a (practically) infinite sustain if I want, or to make harmonics sound really nice.
I though this response was pretty funny. Even funnier is no one has taken it seriously.
for me fingers are a way to change tone; a heavier attack sounds different than a light touch. Some (sometimes most) of the dynamics from fingers gets eaten up by a compressor, though. Also I can do more intricate, speedier things with a light touch.
For those reasons electronic boosts are handy. Although fingers do play a role I personally get more mileage from letting electronics provide the volume and fingers provide the tone and attitude.
For those reasons electronic boosts are handy. Although fingers do play a role I personally get more mileage from letting electronics provide the volume and fingers provide the tone and attitude.
I like to set my volume for the highest level I'd want then play light, use a volume pedal, or bass volume knob to attenuate.
I have one and it's for sale. It starts to distort at 10 o'clock. Best colorless boost (imho) is the sfx microboost. Pretty expensive though.
I use an LPB-1 with my all-tube head, and I love it with that rig. I play the tube head a little overdriven anyway, and the LPB1 gives me the volume boost I need plus the best distortion sound ever as it overdrives the head even more. I get compliments on that sound all the time.
I don't care for the LPB1 front of my hybrid SWR Bass 350, though. The contrast between that clean sounding head and the LPB1, which has a little clipped sound on its own, just doesn't work for me.
If you're using some other kind of always-on overdrive pedal in front of a solid state amp, the LPB1, when run in front of the overdrive pedal, might yield a similar effect to my tube amp setup, but that would depend on the specific overdrive pedal used.
