Find an amp with some of these in it:
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enhance my clean tone
- Thread starter sonic boom
- Start date
One of the most beautiful sights in the world man.
op here.
i'm not chasing a particular clean tone, i've used some kind of dirt on all the time and never cared to much about my clean tone...pfffff
i was also curious on how you guys work your clean tone.
thanks for the great input everybody!
always learning something new!(for me at least)
i'm not chasing a particular clean tone, i've used some kind of dirt on all the time and never cared to much about my clean tone...pfffff
i was also curious on how you guys work your clean tone.
thanks for the great input everybody!
always learning something new!(for me at least)
a lot depends on your definition of your Clean tone .. ?? which you'll know when you find/hear it ..
my Clean tone needed some 'tube grit' to enhance it's sound ... yeh , i know , grit and clean together might sound strange ... but i think it's that tiny bit of harmonic distortion that tubes naturally tend to have ... just a nice full round tone ... so i started trying out various low OD type pedals , ... like Barber shop , beta , B7K , currently Wampler Low Blow ...
then that extra bit of punch and fullness i like to tame just a bit with a small amount of compression ... tried a few and currently i'm using a Seymour Duncan Studio Bass comp pedal ... it has a Blend knob , which i prefer having , and a filter switch for the signal blended back in ... i'm just trying to take the edge off the peaks and give a bit more sustain.
it also sounds like you might have a few pedals hooked up already ... i'd bypass/unplug all of them to see what my true clean tone is when going straight to the amp ... then ad pedals one by one in their bypassed state to see how they might affect your tone when they're OFF ... my pedal chain had a few 'true-bypass & buffered/unbuffered' things going on ... getting those things figured out helps ... as does a isolated power supply for our pedals ...
so i'd do some experimenting with your current stuff to look for ' that ' sound ... lots of folks like the mxr comp that you have ( i like a blend ) ... i also did some reading about different types of "dirt/grit " circuits , to see which might best give the warm tubey , non-farty fullness i wanted .... op-amps - jfet - fet - tube ... they all have a different tone .. !
and all that babling hasn't even addresses strings , pickups , etc ... i use Ti flats ... warm - smooth , ... and i have passive basses with Barts or Nords ... YMMV
my Clean tone needed some 'tube grit' to enhance it's sound ... yeh , i know , grit and clean together might sound strange ... but i think it's that tiny bit of harmonic distortion that tubes naturally tend to have ... just a nice full round tone ... so i started trying out various low OD type pedals , ... like Barber shop , beta , B7K , currently Wampler Low Blow ...
then that extra bit of punch and fullness i like to tame just a bit with a small amount of compression ... tried a few and currently i'm using a Seymour Duncan Studio Bass comp pedal ... it has a Blend knob , which i prefer having , and a filter switch for the signal blended back in ... i'm just trying to take the edge off the peaks and give a bit more sustain.
it also sounds like you might have a few pedals hooked up already ... i'd bypass/unplug all of them to see what my true clean tone is when going straight to the amp ... then ad pedals one by one in their bypassed state to see how they might affect your tone when they're OFF ... my pedal chain had a few 'true-bypass & buffered/unbuffered' things going on ... getting those things figured out helps ... as does a isolated power supply for our pedals ...
so i'd do some experimenting with your current stuff to look for ' that ' sound ... lots of folks like the mxr comp that you have ( i like a blend ) ... i also did some reading about different types of "dirt/grit " circuits , to see which might best give the warm tubey , non-farty fullness i wanted .... op-amps - jfet - fet - tube ... they all have a different tone .. !
and all that babling hasn't even addresses strings , pickups , etc ... i use Ti flats ... warm - smooth , ... and i have passive basses with Barts or Nords ... YMMV
I still stand by my suggestion of the Diamond comp. If you do decide to get a preamp and you'll be constantly playing through different amp setups(and getting your own amp isn't an option) you should be plugging into the effects return of those amps to remove the amps built in preamp from complicating your signal. If your budget allows get the Diamond and a good preamp pedal. I have a Tonehammer and it's great. There are many options that could help you find a consistent and awesome clean tone available.
Tech 21 make a pedal called a sansamp which will boost different frequencies. The older pedal was for both guitar and bass with a switch on the side for lead normal or bass. It had 8 different settings.
ie mid boost1
mid boost 11
low drive
clean amp
bright switch
vintage tube
speaker edge and
closed miking
The pedal that came out after that one was less expensive. You may be able to find a used one pretty cheap
Aguilar ToneHammer DI. (NCI since I just sold mine)
The AGS control adds some "amp voicing" and compression -- set it before the onset of audible overdrive and it'll fatten up your clean tone nicely, while also compressing your signal in a subtle way.
Run it up higher and it can do some great overdrive sounds with a lot of control over the mids.
The AGS control adds some "amp voicing" and compression -- set it before the onset of audible overdrive and it'll fatten up your clean tone nicely, while also compressing your signal in a subtle way.
Run it up higher and it can do some great overdrive sounds with a lot of control over the mids.
I'd buy a set of steel roundwound strings before you spend a bunch of cash on pedals
There's no reason he can't get a badass clean tone with flats. No reason he can't get one without pedals, either. My feeling now that he posted that last thing of his is he's just used to dirty tones and misses it when the dirt's turned off.
I originally bought a compressor to even out volume. After getting a Seymour Duncan Studio Bass Compressor I didn't realize how much more full, round and punchy it made my clean sound in addition to evening out volume. I didn't have a problem with my clean sound before that at all but it really enhanced it.
Maybe you just don't like clean tones. I would suggest you look for new or different equipment only once you have a clear idea of what type of clean tone you want.
I'm a pedal guy(so dont get me wrong on this
), but I wholeheartedly agree with you on this!! But then again I never liked flats and the few times I tried them I *hated* my clean sound, really though I hated the sticky feel they had, it felt like brakes were put on my hands and a muffler on my tone!! IMHO of course
, I have no doubt that people love them or can get good clean tone from them, I'm not one of them though
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I would recommend a pedal preamp such as the Eden WTDI. I find that it does allow me to set a basic clean tone that carries over from one amp to the next. Since it has a DI as well, it can send your "tone" to a house PA as well. I don't think of this pedal as adding "punch" though, it's more a tone warmer to me. It does have a compressor that might serve you. Anyway, there are many other similar pedals out there.
wmhill
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If you have the headroom, keep the gain down, master volume up and try a BBE sonic maximizer to fill the tones up.
I liked the suggestion earlier in the thread about pickup height. I'd go further to suggest possibly getting a different pickup, ensure that your tone/vol pots are quality as well as the jack. Then, a quality instrument cable.
If I'm feeding poop to my pedals & or amp, then that's what's going to come out – poop with some shinola on it.
If I'm feeding poop to my pedals & or amp, then that's what's going to come out – poop with some shinola on it.
Sounds to me like you need some bass in your tone. I use a passive p-bass pretty much all the time and I have found that added a TC Spark Booster really beefs up the tone. It can be either a clean boost OR overdrive. It has a bass and treble eq and a fat boost control that adds a ton of girth to a passive P-bass. In short, it can function as a really affordable and well built pre amp. I would do this before a compressor. I would also consider roundwound strings and letting them die so they aren't so bright. Clearly the flats work when you are adding dirt with all those overtones, but you are missing them when playing clean. You might need two basses, one for flats and one for rounds. Just my $.02.
If only we could do this with our tone...
(from another thread on TB)...
(from another thread on TB)...
any or all of the following:
1. improve your technique and pluck with more authority
2. get different strings that have more bass and midrange (ghs precision flats, dr legend flats, etc)
3. get a tube amp or preamp to add some heft and color
pedals don't fix everything.
1. improve your technique and pluck with more authority
2. get different strings that have more bass and midrange (ghs precision flats, dr legend flats, etc)
3. get a tube amp or preamp to add some heft and color
pedals don't fix everything.
Zeibek Submarine (if you can find one) or Wren & Cuff Phat Phuk. Wren & Cuff just released a new pedal called the Suppa Phat Phuk that has an adjustable bias knob essentially allowing you to adjust the amount of available grit (breakup). I have one on the way to try out. I'm hoping to run it with just barely audible breakup as a "widening" of my tone. I loved the Phat Phuk I had... shouldn't have sold it. But the new Suppa Phat Phuk with adjustable bias will hopefully allow me to adjust the amount of grit for each bass I connect.
