Getting ready to buy effects.

[Krowser]

I got a really good amp, a really good bass and an actual need and desire for cool effects.

I've been looking around for the past year, trying out stuff and figuring out what I want, I have a small list.

I'd like to avoid buying a multi effects pedal because I feel you spend money on effects that sound crappy and that you will never use. Unless I'm mistaken, I don't have much experience with different pedals.

So:

Bass distort / overdrive: I want some crunchy distortion but I noticed that Distort + bass = 4 string guitar. You lose all your low sound. A guy at my local music store suggested overdrive


Bass delay/reverb I'd like a good delay pedal. BTW, what's the difference between reverb and delay?


Boom! I listen to certain songs and they use an effect where you hear a very low BOOOOM. It's awesome for starting a breakdown. I'm told it's a drum effect but is there a Bass counterpart?


I'm also looking for an effect that just sounds really freakin' weird. I'm not sure what, now I'm just asking in general if you guys found a very... alien effect.

 

[roccobladr]

i have a Boss bass overdrive, and it is hard to get the perfect sound of it, but it can be done.

delay will repeat what you play, reverb sounds more like you are echoing in a big room.

the BOOM effect is a studio drum effect im pretty sure. BUT if you had a low octave im sure you could acheive a similiar sound.

 

[Krowser]

Actually, I do have a low octaver, and a 5 string bass.

I guess that could work, but I would need a temporary Low end boost, just for the bang.

 

[Din Of Win]

Welcome to the wonderful world of effects!


Dist/OD: While it is sort of true that a lot of dirt pedals can suck the low end out, there are some great pedals that retain the low end with awesome dirtyness. For a pure "distortion" pedal, i would check out a modded DS-1 (search either the Keeley or Penny Pedal mods) or a RAT (vintage or Turbo... not a RAT2). For OD, while i love my Boss ODB-3, it does have a synthy quality to it. I have a Digitech Bad Monkey (modded) as well and it's one of the best pedals on my board... and cost me $30. There are PLENTY of overdrives out there, just search. Also, many bassists use Fuzz, which is often construed as distortion. The EHX muff family is the best entry into the fuzz domain. My favorite right now is the EHX Bass Big Muff, but their Russian, NY and Nano muffs all have praises on the boards here. Search the fuzz topic also and you will find MANY answers and reccomendations.

Delay/Reverb: I looove me some delay. There are also lots of options here as well (especially if you scrutinize analog vs delay). A good starting point are the boss digital delays. Easy to use and fairly cheap used and you can find out what more you need after you play around with them for a while. Reverb is also a fun effect. I got a Digitech Digiverb and never looked back, so i don't have much in the way of reccomendations on the reverb side of things...

Boom!: I'm not totally sure what you are reffering to here, any examples? Possibly an octave pedal will get you the really low "boom' you desire.


Freakyness: look up Phazers, Flangers and Ring Modulators. Any of these have good 'alien' qualities to them!

 

[Jared Lash]

By boom I'm guessing he's referring to some sort of a triggered 808 sample.

 

[fishsticks]

Bass distort / overdrive: I want some crunchy distortion but I noticed that Distort + bass = 4 string guitar. You lose all your low sound. A guy at my local music store suggested overdrive

i recommended the voodoo labs sparkle drive:
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it's a tube screamer(great standard distortion) with a clean blend so you can dial back in the lows.

Bass delay/reverb I'd like a good delay pedal. BTW, what's the difference between reverb and delay?

i would get a decent delay pedal instead of a reverb. i use the boss dd-7 since it has stereo ins and outs and an do the hold playback thing
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Boom! I listen to certain songs and they use an effect where you hear a very low BOOOOM. It's awesome for starting a breakdown. I'm told it's a drum effect but is there a Bass counterpart?

yeah its a triggered midi thing i think. i would tap the 12th fret on your lowest string and slide towards the nut for the dropping sound.... or get a midi trigger installed on your bass or on your pedal board or something. i like that sound too

I'm also looking for an effect that just sounds really freakin' weird. I'm not sure what, now I'm just asking in general if you guys found a very... alien effect.

definitely a ring mod of some kind
maybe the android ring mod by copilot:
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[Smurf-o-Deth]

I'll refrain from stealing Thunder's thunder, for once, and suggest what is becoming *my* distortion mantra: Aguilar AGRO. It isn't cheap. It isn't small. It is, however, awesome. You might also consider the Wilson Effects Sparkling Blue, which is based on the Marshall Guv'nor. He has samples of it on bass on his web site.

Also, if you find a distortion you like, but are unhappy with its low end retention, you can always employ a clean blend.

 

[Krowser]

yeah its a triggered midi thing i think. i would tap the 12th fret on your lowest string and slide towards the nut for the dropping sound.... or get a midi trigger installed on your bass or on your pedal board or something. i like that sound too

Get a midi trigger installed?

For an example: Link Removed

The song kadoush, you'll know when.

Oh, and a loop pedal! I dont need anything fancy

 

[Pitbull Growl]

IMHO for an overdrive that retains (and in some cases even adds) lower harmonic content it's hard to beat the EBS ValveDrive. Right now my dirt collective consists of the ValveDrive, a modded ODB-3, an EHX English Muff'n, and a DOD FX 92 Bass Grunge. The FX 92 and the ODB-3 both have a clean blend, but neither have as much lows as the EBS ValveDrive to my ears. (It might have something to do w/the buffers employed by the Boss & the DOD) I've got a few 4 channel mixers and a looper coming my way now. What I eventually plan to do is use the other dirt pedals & an incoming Supercollider in a parallel loop so the buffers will all play nice together, and run the VD at the end of the chain as like a 2nd (and 3rd since it has the Vintage/Modern switch) pre-amp voicing. I also run a parallel line direct from the dry out of the Bass Grunge into the 2nd channel of my Mesa 400+ so I always have a clean signal running underneath my effects for added clarity. (You can drive both inputs @ the same time on this amp) You could probably get the same effect by running a pair of A/B/Y boxes (1 at the start of the chain and another at the end of it) to blend in your clean tone w/all your effects.

Anyway... the ValveDrive is definately worth looking into and if you don't like it it should be fairly easy to re-sell or trade off for something more to your liking, but I doubt you'll go w/that option once you dial it in.

Good luck and I hope that helps a li'l

 

[gastric]

Consider a multi-effects pedal for your first foray. Buy a used one at a good price, use it, learn from it, then resell it if and when you're done with it. The BOSS GT-6B can be had pretty cheap used and includes some really good effects, though the fuzz/od/distortion isn't the best. But you get DI out, headphones, good bread-n-butter effects, plus synth, ringmod, wah, volume, tuner, the works. And you can always add single stomps in front of it easy enough.

Really, if you consider the price of a single delay pedal, and one other pedal, you've probably reached the price of a used multi. Plus cables to connect them, power supplies, and on and on.

This is all coming from a guy that currently owns rack effects, GT-6B (which I'm selling), and a ton of stomps.

Pros and Cons.

 

[Krowser]

Whats a stomp?

 

[Din Of Win]

Whats a stomp?

stomp box. all encompassing name for pedals that you 'stomp' on to (de)activate.

 

[jufros]

For overdrive I like the MI Audio Blue Boy Deluxe and Electronic Gemini Drive. If you want a really awesome sounding pedal on the cheap though, get the Humphrey Audio modded "Badder" Bass Monkey (modded Digitech Bad Monkey).

I can get some really boomy sounds by running an octave pedal into the Moog MF-101 with the cutoff pretty low and then doing an exaggerated slide.

Right now my dirt collective consists of the ValveDrive, a modded ODB-3, an EHX English Muff'n, and a DOD FX 92 Bass Grunge.

I don't mean to derail the thread but can you give me some info on the ODB mod?

 

[Pitbull Growl]

Yeah no sweat... it's the indyguitar modded version (I picked it up here in the classifieds).

Basically it's a smoother OD, a li'l more tube-like. Supposedly it adds more lows to the sound too. It's hard for me to verify that since I haven't had a stock ODB-3 in quite a few years, but I'm sure the math adds up on that.
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[neatobassman]

That BOOM is generally an 808 drum patch. You cannot do it with your bass cab unless you have a dedicated sub and crossover.

 

[Krowser]

Whats a midi trigger?

 

[Bootzilla]

Midi is a language for digital sound (it has info on time, duration and pitch). Using midi you can make music on a computer and send sound info to different devices.

A midi trigger is a button that when pressed sends a midi signal to a device (e.g. a computer).

It can for instance be used to trigger the sound of a drum kick from the famous roland tr-808 drummachine which is the BOOOOM your reffering to in the original post.

(you don't need an original 808 but just a computer running a program that has midi capabilities and can play samples, then you download the sample you like and you can trigger it with a midi trigger).

btw. It is a lot of fuzz to do all that, you need a computer, midi device, audio interface for the computer and a set of good speakers.

 

[Krowser]

Midi is a language for digital sound (it has info on time, duration and pitch). Using midi you can make music on a computer and send sound info to different devices.

A midi trigger is a button that when pressed sends a midi signal to a device (e.g. a computer).

It can for instance be used to trigger the sound of a drum kick from the famous roland tr-808 drummachine which is the BOOOOM your reffering to in the original post.

(you don't need an original 808 but just a computer running a program that has midi capabilities and can play samples, then you download the sample you like and you can trigger it with a midi trigger).

btw. It is a lot of fuzz to do all that, you need a computer, midi device, audio interface for the computer and a set of good speakers.

Fawk... I guess I'll just tell my drummer to get the right pad.

I really wanted to do that WHAM sound.

 

[FeuerFrei]

If you get the Boss DD-7 make sure you get the
Boss FS-5U Nonlatching Footswitch

This will let you set the tempo real time with whatever song you're playing, a very nice feature if you want different delays but don't want to noodle around on your board during a set.

 

[All_¥our_Bass]

About the distortion and fuzz pedals losing low end you should try splitting your signal and mixing in some of the clean after the distortion to get your low end back. Justin Chancellor(of Tool) does this and it sounds great.