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Chorus/Flange for fretless

#122
Eric Swaim said:
Either way, it's still a good bass line, and I still hate synthesizers moving in our our turf.
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I couldn't tell the difference tbh

It's just another thing I learnt that surprised me, always assumed it was a 'modern' fretless.

Also Eric, and this is a random question , but can you check how you have your words underneath your photo? I assume it's a typo, my apologies if it isn't.
 
#123
DavidG said:
I think Jaco used a rack delay to get his chorus-y sound. There are lots of not expensive delay pedals these days that will get you there.
If you are thinking more of the 80's Cure sound then any of the older cheap choruses mentioned here will do it.
A nice phaser will get you a cool sound. Almost like the sweet spot between a chorus and envelope filter. Really cool.
I always loved John Giblin's fretless sound on those Kate Bush albums and John Martyn's "Grace & Danger." Have no idea what he was using. Probably some studio stuff.
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I like Giblin's line on Kate Bush "Breathing".
 
#124
I only read the first page of responses....

I have the boss CEB-3 and it’s great. Fully gigable, uses 9V, small, durable.

It’s great that you can adjust depth, rate, bass response (although I haven’t found that to be necessary since I don’t want to cut bass), and E effect. Sounds fantastic with fretless.

I’m not a fan of zoom multi effects. Just get the chorus to deal and be done with it.

p.s. Jaco used a delay.
 
#125
foal30 said:
I like Giblin's line on Kate Bush "Breathing".
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Me too. It is melodic and dramatic. Fits the song perfectly and his tone is fantastic. Outside of Percy Jones no one slid harmonics with more finesse than John Giblin in the day.

Check out his work on John Martyn's "Some People Are Crazy." (Also features Phil Collins)
 
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#126
foal30 said:
I couldn't tell the difference tbh

It's just another thing I learnt that surprised me, always assumed it was a 'modern' fretless.

Also Eric, and this is a random question , but can you check how you have your words underneath your photo? I assume it's a typo, my apologies if it isn't.
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It's my cellphone and spell check not to mention small letters on it.
 
#127
Eric Swaim said:
No pedal is going to mask intonation issues on a fretless or there would be a lot of players using them. Only practice, good technique and ear training will help that.
However, I would suggest listening to "Black Velvet" recorded in the 1990's if memory serves me correctly and you should hear a chorus being used with the bass track. I obviously wasn't in the recording session but that appears to be the effect used on the bass.
I dont use any effects when I play live, but they are fun to mess around with at home.
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I too remember reading somewhere that Alannah Myles said they rather ironically used a synth (not a bass) in order to get that incredible, 'probably the best fretless sound I have ever heard' sound!
 
#128
bholder said:
View attachment 3084440

Sine wave bends smoothly with no corners, the others all have corners and big discontinuity jumps - what they cause in the sound is a pronounced pitch-warbly bendy garbling around the corners in the low frequency oscillator sweep. Sine wave LFO sweeps are smooth with no pitch garbling at the corners (since there are no corners). Some of the pricier ones have waveform options, but I'm thinking a cheap old used chorus might be just the thing - for example, the Boss CE-2B Bass Chorus can often be found cheap on ebay, I think that's got a sine wave LFO, I have one, I'll check.

Edit: I checked, it's a triangle, gets bendy unless rate is very slow. I know there are cheapish ones with the sine wave feature, just not coming up with one right now.
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OK, so I got the Emperor V2 chorus with the sine wave LFO setting (plus square and triangle). Here are some samples so you can hear the difference it makes - 6 string guitar chords rather than bass just to make the difference more obvious. Generally, first sine, then square, then triangle, except I went backwards in the next to last section where I cranked the rate up. Anyway, should help make the association between the pics and the way they sound - sine is more musical, square is just odd and ping-pongey, triangle is almost synthey frequency modulation (atonal ring modulator sounds added) when you crank up the depth. Anyway, here it is:
 
#129
bholder said:
OK, so I got the Emperor V2 chorus with the sine wave LFO setting (plus square and triangle). Here are some samples so you can hear the difference it makes - 6 string guitar chords rather than bass just to make the difference more obvious. Generally, first sine, then square, then triangle, except I went backwards in the next to last section where I cranked the rate up. Anyway, should help make the association between the pics and the way they sound - sine is more musical, square is just odd and ping-pongey, triangle is almost synthey frequency modulation (atonal ring modulator sounds added) when you crank up the depth. Anyway, here it is:
Click to expand...


I appreciate your efforts to explain in lay and terms how these effects work/react.

Thanks for taking the time to help out.
 
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#134
basscapes said:
"Black Velvet" by Alannah Myles has an awesome fretless for a "rock song", IMHO. Not sure if it is a chorus on it, but if it is, it's very slight.

We used to do that song, and the only way I could get my fretted bass to even remotely come close was lots of vibrato and an envelope filter (Boss FT-2 Dynamic filter).
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We do that song and I use some chorus from my zoom B1. I play a fretted stingray5, but do a little blending to try to get that sound.
 

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