I had no problem with it cranked up through the PA and the EV SX500 monitors! The ground lift was a life saver.
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.
Darkglass - Alpha Omega
- Thread starter TheCouchBassist
- Start date
I had no problem with it cranked up through the PA and the EV SX500 monitors! The ground lift was a life saver.
Hey guys I can't seem to get a good sound from the A/O playing fingerstyle. I've got a light touch, low action, most of the times not crispy new strings. It bums me out, because I love the agressive sound I get when I dig in with a pick. I feed a VT bass into the A/O, and turning up the volume of the signal going in the A/O helps a little, as does turning up the treble of the signal a bit, but still, it doens't come close to the sweet pick attack sound. When I switch to fingers with the same settings, it turns from clanky to a tuba-like sound. I hope someone here knows a work around for this problem.
You can try using a softer pick to where the two attacks are more closer, otherwise perhaps set one effect box for picks and the other finger style.
If you're using dead-ish strings (or anything lacking a healthy amount of top-end), I doubt you'll ever get close to matching that clanky pick tone. I play a jazz bass with (usually) fresh dunlop bright rounds, and the tone knob on my bass is typically around 75%. With a pick, I get really edgy grind out of my A/O, and the attack and fundamental sound super clear and aggressive. With fingerstyle playing (which I do more of), I can get close-ish. You'll always have more fundamental and less attack/bite when you switch to light finger playing from heavy pick playing through this pedal.
I've got a light OD pedal earlier in my chain that really emphasizes my attack and ads a bit of tasteful brightness/grit to my sound - there's maybe 1 dB of boost here, but I'm not slamming when I engage the OD. If I play fingerstyle through the A/O, pushing that light OD into it really gets me closer to that pick-grind and it strengthens the fundamental I hear too. That requires adding a pedal you may not have the money, desire, or space for - but it's an option if you don't want to play fresh strings and roll your treble up on the bass...
You could try playing with a more a aggressive fingerstyle stroke. Pull your right arm up a few inches so your hand is more parallel to the face of the bass. Then instead of playing through one string toward the one above, play through the string more toward the bass itself, like you're drumming your fingers on a table. This will cause the strings to smack into the frets a little and will mimic the attack of a pick. Check out Jon Stockman's early demos of the AO for reference - his technique is similar to this.
You will probably need to play with a little more force than your usual "light touch", but hopefully not a ton if your setup is low.
In fact, that low setup may help you achieve this without having to play or work as hard...
Unfortunately I don't think you can really achieve the attack a pick gives with your fingers. That being said, you can get close.
Since I don't know how you play I can only give some ideas. If you tend to pluck closer to the bridge, try sliding towards the neck as there is less tension; this means you can dig in more with less work. You will need to change your technique to suit the lower tension and to achieve more clank (the way I get more treble out of older stings).
I've had the best fingerstyle results by drastically cutting the lows before hitting the A/O, then boosting them back up after. Gives more "grind" to the mids and highs without the "farting" from too much drive on the lows.
The collective knowledge in this forum never ceases to amaze me. Thanx a lot! I will experiment with different techniques and cutting the lows before the A/O. I also found out that both switches turned on and full Omega works best with fingerstyle playing.
- Dec 10, 2008
- 2,341
- 5,822
- Disclosures
- Douglas Castro, Founder: darkglass.com
Try boiling your strings as well. It will give you a taste of what the pedal can do with all the harmonic content available.
Low action and more subtle touch should do with new/recently boiled strings.
How do the Alpha Omega/Omicron play with the EQD Westwood pedal? Do they stack well?
MDBass
Supporting Member
- Nov 7, 2012
- 8,590
- 14,890
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Dingwall-Fender-Bergantino-Dunlop-Tech 21-Darkglass-Nordstrand
You need to play more aggressively with your fingers in that case...guys like Jon Stockman absolutely beat the poopie out of their strings.
Yeah that helps a lot! Few days ago I swapped my EMG 40TW in neck position for a EMG 40P5. The 40TW in bridge position stays. Together (and solo) they sound absolutely brutal, but I'll have to adjust all my dirt settings to harbor my new sound. During the soldering I cooked my strings as suggested, which also added a lot of harmonics.
MDBass
Supporting Member
- Nov 7, 2012
- 8,590
- 14,890
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Dingwall-Fender-Bergantino-Dunlop-Tech 21-Darkglass-Nordstrand
Definitely.
I'll boil a set to clean and reuse them usually around a dozen times or more before the stop coming back to life.
My workaround is the B7K.
I'm only partly kidding.
I play fingerstyle 95% of the time. For me, the B7K gives my fingerstyle playing a nice sharp attack/clank/sizzle (whatever), similar to pickstyle... and I also like it for pickstyle. As I've said before, I owned the AO for awhile: in short, it's really cool pedal that sounds much better when other people use it, often when they are using a pick.No, I'm NOT saying the AO is only for pickstyle. Just happens to work that way for me. Perhaps you too, but given that you already have it you should keep tweaking, you might find a combination of settings and fingerstyle technique that work for you.
Really, the bottom line is that while I liked the AO, I still preferred my B7K/B7KU. Others prefer the Vintage. Still others prefer the AO.
I will also reiterate a very light, dirty boost with some treble emphasis going into it. I use the Doc Lloyd 'Grit N Girth' as an always on OD - just a bit of punch and gritty treble on the attack. It seems fairly subtle just running the GNG by itself, but engaging it with my AO after is another ballgame. I get way more attack, bite, sizzle, and the attack/fundamental is way more prominent. I would imagine a number of boosts/ODs can achieve this as long as they are focused on attack and don't roll off your top end at all...
