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Driving a filter

BigBassBob

BigBassBob

Jul 17, 2005
748
280
Wales, UK
#1
Hi guys, I've tried searching around but haven't been able to come up with a specific thread.

I picked up a 3 Leaf Proton the other week which I love. In turn I've been experimenting with different pedals to drive it for a faux-synth sound (minus the octave).

I'm surprised at the tones I can get with a BB preamp (gain maxed) before the Proton. That said, I really love the sounds I'm getting with a W&C TFR in place of the BB.

Unfortunately I only have space on the board for either the BB or TFR and seeing as I use the BB regularly for a low gain boost it'll probably be the chosen one for the board (I LOVE the TFR so I guess it will go in the recording drawer for future work).

What do you guys use to drive your filters? Overdrive? Fuzz? Other? I'm really curious as my experience with filters is rather limited.
 
#2
Depends on the effect I want.

An overdrive will make a filter "pop" more. The Fairfield Barbershop is the best I've found for this but most overdrives will work well. I've found that the more an OD colors the tone (like say the VT Bass) the less I like it driving a filter.

That said, ODs aren't what I'd look at for synthy tones. That's fuzzland, ideally a gated fuzz.
 
#4
Thanks for the responses.

Thought that was the case. The fuzz before it does a more authentic sound. It's not a sound I actually NEED, more like it would give me some peace of mind to know I can dial it in if required. I guess the OD will have to do for now as it'll get more use overall.
 
#7
BigBassBob said:
Unfortunately I only have space on the board for either the BB or TFR
Click to expand...

Ah, I see the problem here... You need a bigger board. ;)

You see, what the "doctors" here won't tell you is; You've acquired yourself a very SERIOUS infection. :help: One from which, while there are very extensive and costly forms of treatment, there really is little hope for a cure. While you will see many wondrous claims of this or that panacea, sadly, often months, weeks, sometimes even days later, you will see victims come out of remission.

I bring this up not to remove all hope or to dash your spirits, but to give you a realistic perspective of the situation you've found yourself in. That said, there are many of us who have learned to live with this disease and carry on fruitful and productive lives. :cool:

BigBassBob said:
What do you guys use to drive your filters? Overdrive? Fuzz? Other? I'm really curious as my experience with filters is rather limited.
Click to expand...

But seriously... :D

For synth type sounds, I usually run one of a couple of fuzzes. One is a muff type Musket clone and the other is a compressed/gated fuzz that gets me a really cool spitting snarly tone. Sometimes both together. I also have a Mojo Mojo overdrive that I run more more like a distortion that can really fattens things up. My other go to effect to run through the filter is a harmonizer, most often set to an octave down.

Good luck in you quest, and remember... We're all here for you in your time of need. :p
 
#8
Haha! Believe it or not I was consumed years ago. I had a fully-loaded PT2 but eventually I went back to a tuner. It's taken years to trust myself with pedals again. I will be careful this time ;)

I actually had a Deep Impact at one point but sold it as it wasn't getting as much use as it could've. Now I'm trying to find a perfect combination of pedals that can fit on a PT mini but will allow the most versatile combinations. I was just thinking "this board would be perfect if I could fit the fuzz on there too... but then an octave would go down nicely... and a TC Looper... and..."
 
#9
My Dark Driving does a good job of giving my filter and modulation pedals a nice warm kick in the pants. But man, nothing is better than a gated fuzz into a filter for that extra synthy goodness.
 
#16
If you ever decide to expand the board, the Copilot Cubic is a great octave with built-in dirtiness/fuzz that sounds great by itself pushing a filter for synthy tones. The SS/BS TAFM is also a cool choice as you can dial in a light fuzz setting for normal use then hit the second Gate footswitch which automatically maxes the Fuzz Gain and sounds fantastic pushing a filter (and adds a gate as well which helps reign in the noise).
 
#17
Thanks for the feedback dudes! I think I'm done now; just got a B7K today to finish the board off for the time being.

That Copilot Cubic sounds really cool! Just listened to grygrx's video of it. Some very interesting tones there!

I had a quiet rehearsal for an interesting originals band today (front man on vocals and electric accordion with midi out). They wrote an electro-sounding tune and I thought I'd try the BB into the Proton for it. They loved it! Looks like I can get that combo to work for me for the time being.
 

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