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dirty pedals (for dirty slapping)

D

Devo-lution

Jun 24, 2009
535
4
#1
Hi folks...

I have been listening to the Primus albums "Antipop" a lot lately and have noticed that he brings in a lot of overdriven, fuzzy, very heavy (mild octave down?) slap tones...

I used to be very much into clean (Markbass amp and cab...), but lately I am starting to appreciate dirtier sounds more and more and...

In my experience... any kind of fuzz/distortion/ovedrive kills my slap tone. What to do in order to make my sound somewhat more dirty and crispy and deep when slapping or eventually also?

So, any advice concerning the amp (preamps, mods,...) or pedals which might give me the ability to make my slap somewhat less clean...

p.s. I do want to keep the ability to go back to very clean when the need arises...

thx
 
#4
i have a great mixed soundboard/audience mic recording of a gig where i was slapping through a pretty dirty VT bass, into a markbass amp..

PM me your email adress and i'll send you the track so you can get an idea of what slapping into a VT bass can sound like. if you want, that is.
 
#5
I play tapewounds and fit slaps and pops in really nicely with my Pigtronix OFO/Disnortion...the octava channel does some great things when it grabs a note and low gain fuzz settings on the 'mid scoop' selection sound like a very dirty preamp.

I doubt I've got the approach you've got when it comes to slap, but I get loads of great tasty tones through my rig, a lot more percussive than I ever expected with trubass88's.
 
#7
Most distortion pedals seem to be tailored to sounding best when played through with a pick, so lots of them don't quite have the right response for thumbstyle playing.

One overdrive pedal that I've found worked well for thumbstyle playing was the EBS Multi-Drive. It does have an inherent rolloff of extreme highs, but unlike other drive pedals it can retain the growl you need and give you the dynamic response required for decent overdriven thumbstyle tone. Check it out.
 
#8
@ Mark Olson

Well, I am not soooo much of a "highs" fan and even when slapping I dial in mostly bass... this is countered, however, by my 2EQ ray, which inherently seems to boosts treble, even with the treble knob only at 40%... I just try to keep things balanced. hmmm, I think it might be wise to check out the EBS.

@ phatbottom

Is this ADA preamp fully analog (heard it has some built in effects)? If that preamp is the key to such balanced tubey slapsounds... I might search for one.

What's the general opinion on slapping through a tube pre-amp here? Is this really dangerous for the tubes like some folks in the local guitar store claim, or are there tube preamps around that might give the necessary beef and growl and also whitstand slapping peaks?

thanks
Kim
 
#12
Unfortunately a lot of drive pedals are accurate (to the amps they're trying to emulate) in their incomplete friendliness to thumbstyle playing.

When I make a pedal suggestion I'm speaking from my perspective as someone who's owned over $30,000 worth of pedals, and unfortunately I think the EBS is as good as it gets for a simple one pedal solution when speaking about overdrive, especially if you're still running that Markbass amp. One thing about drive pedals in general, a lot of them sound better going into some tubes. The EBS however is an exception.
 
#14
#15
Devo-lution said:
@ phatbottom

Is this ADA preamp fully analog (heard it has some built in effects)? If that preamp is the key to such balanced tubey slapsounds... I might search for one.

What's the general opinion on slapping through a tube pre-amp here? Is this really dangerous for the tubes like some folks in the local guitar store claim, or are there tube preamps around that might give the necessary beef and growl and also whitstand slapping peaks?

thanks
Kim
Click to expand...
Its not fully analog but the preamp section is i believe. It does have digital effects that some people like and others don't but it does have blend able solid-state and tube sections.
Slapping though a tube amp will not damage the tubes but it might clip your signal depending on the gain. The resulting sound may or may not be to your liking but your just as likely to clip a solid state signal path. I also think most of Les' tone lies in his Carl Thompsons and his fingers :smug:
 
#19
I would think that the sourcebox audio multiwave distortion would make some great dirty slapping sounds. From the clips I heard you could get what you wanted out of that box plus some.

I don't think I should talk. When I play slap bass I crank out the gnarilest fuzz I have. =D
 
#20
whatever you get, make sure it doesn't cut lows or has a blend knob. that's why the vt pedal works so well for stuff like that...has enough lows so it doesn't need a blend.
 

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