Also, think about altering your approach. Geezer Butler on the first few Sabbath Records, and Geddy Lee on Rush's early stuff, before the keyboards, are good examples. Those guys "busied up" their playing with chords, walking lines, counterpoint, etc. to fill up the space whenever the guitarist soloed.
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Gritty boost to fill out mix behind guitar solos?
- Thread starter _tedd
- Start date
Try the JPTR jive. It’s the only ‘bit of hair’ that ever actually delivered on that promise for me. It makes my bass sound just a little fat and gooey with a hint of a wet cough (in a good way.. like a good wet cough when your sore throat starts to clear up).
It gets plenty dirtier than how I use it, it sounds great with fingers, where most pedals just get farty. And it’s super inexpensive. it also doesn’t just make me disappear in the mix like most dirt pedals.
Darkglass stuff just sounds sizzly and scooped, a lot of ‘tubey’ stuff just doesn’t deliver for me, and most other things either fart or sound like a Distortion+
I’ll recommend the Jive every time, and even moreso for what you’re describing.
That said, for what you’re describing, I personally would use a litttttle reverb or a hint of slapback. Bassists run from that stuff, but used sparingly, where you’d almost not notice it until it’s turned off again, it can REALLY add some dimension and dimension to your sound.. I don’t mean to get carried away, but when I’m in a power trio and I need to fill the space when the guitar switches away from heavy chords but we want to stay big, I’ll use some kind of octave- either a polyphonic like OC3/5 and play double stops with a fat octave underneath, or else I use a (heavily modified/eq’d) octave up, an octave fuzz, or a reverb with shimmer (octave up on the reverb)
but if you wanna keep it simple and just add a little body to the mids and a patch of hair, go with the Jive!
Not overpriced but it's definitely not available in stores - @AgingEngineer has made a name for himself in the Spector community for selling an awesome HAZ preamp clone. He's made a pedal version of it called the HAZard Lamps. It gets really grindy in a very musical way when you dig in. LHZpreamps.com
concur. Is your v4-b a vintage 2 input, 2 vol?
I set up my wife’s vintage v-4b with an “and” pedal to send a full range modded rangemaster germanium boost to input two. So normal plus mild dirt.
later she bought an EH germanium OD that works well also.
we are a three piece rock band that features bass
There will be a bass specific Jive coming out this year
Spaceman Saturn VI. I recorded this video through an Ampeg v4b
I love my Jive, it's fantastic. I can't wait for the bass specific drive. It's the only pedal that will knock the original Jive off me pedalboard
Here's my giant pedal board... Giant because it sounds giant! Thought up for pretty much the exact purpose the OP brings up. The Messdrive fuzz is my favorite because it can nail that late 60s Sly and the Family Stone fuzz sound, but it doesn't have a dry/wet blend so I would lose 100% of my big fat clean signal when the fuzz is on... Not that it's a thin sounding fuzz by any means, but my Guilds have the fattest tone, so I'd rather hear both combined than just one or the other. The little joyo orthos selector pedal lets me have both simultaneously with separate volumes (boost and cut) for both the wet and dry signal. Knob A is the fuzz volume and knob B is the clean volume.
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I'll add my agreement on the Way Huge Pork Loin (preferably modded) and the Way Huge Angry Troll. The Pork Loin can take a bit to dial in, but absolutely works in every mix I play it in. That goes from classic rock to Swedish death metal - and all on the same settings! I find that it's a bit softer, and more tube-like (for lack of a better term) than the Angry Troll. The Angry Troll, however, is absolutely the easiest pedal to dial in. It's basically just one parameter with only 5 (6?) options, and then a volume knob. I found this to be a bit crunchier than the Pork Loin, and more like a mild solid-state or Rat type overdrive. Still, it can easily go from barely there to full on distortion. Super simple and effective.
I am NOT anti-effects, but I don’t think adding distortion is going to help cut through in the mix. If the bottom drops out when the guitar player goes to solo, then he was playing too loudly. If you want to fill it up, simplify, don’t add more notes and you and the drummer hit the groove a little harder. The guitar player should play a little louder during the solo.
That’s been a winning formula for me for 50+ years. I’ve watched bass players start throwing effects at the problem and go all Jack Bruce, and it actually makes the problem worse, not better. A nice fat groove, locked in with the drummer, is going to fill more space than Jaco acrobatics.
That’s been a winning formula for me for 50+ years. I’ve watched bass players start throwing effects at the problem and go all Jack Bruce, and it actually makes the problem worse, not better. A nice fat groove, locked in with the drummer, is going to fill more space than Jaco acrobatics.
I've sometimes used a EHX Micro POG, using the octave up blended with dry signal.
Simplify my basslines when using this too.
I,too, use a V4B reissue. I typically have a li'l drive from the amp too
Simplify my basslines when using this too.
I,too, use a V4B reissue. I typically have a li'l drive from the amp too
Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Bass Big Muff
While fuzz and muffs can be too much for most people, the deluxe has a wonderful blend built in. The blend lets you as just enough hair to your tone; everything from subtle to insane. In my band I step on the fuzz to exactly thicken the tone out and sound big in a subtle way. There is a HF and crossover function, but I rarely use this. An example of using this fuzz is in Mr Bightside when the bass tone goes from overdrive to Thick Power. My Boss ODB-3 gives the overdrive, which goes into my DBBM, which I kick on at that moment, tone and saturation dimed and blend soaked back a lot, just enough to bring the thickness into the song. It’s a joy!
Darkglass harmonic boost
A very different approach to the problem. Blast specific frequencies to change your tone when needed. It could be more low mids is exactly what you need. If I wanted to play old school Marilyn Manson, I just take my standard tone and and max out the mids, no distortion pedal needed.
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Sure, use effects to "fill the space." Yet sometimes the more musical solution to the problem of, what is it, being exposed? is to play the space.
We have to develop other ways of dealing musically with space (or maybe what we're concerned about is time) other than just filling it, like some kind of horror vacui.
And, I like the OG You're Doom set to low gain / low mix for some added harmonic content.
We have to develop other ways of dealing musically with space (or maybe what we're concerned about is time) other than just filling it, like some kind of horror vacui.
And, I like the OG You're Doom set to low gain / low mix for some added harmonic content.
It hurts me to recommend the Jive after how long I waited for mine to be shipped… but it does exactly that.
I’ve also had good luck with an Octamizer with both of the top knobs between 9-11oclock and the bottom two knobs all the way counterclockwise.
I’ve also had good luck with an Octamizer with both of the top knobs between 9-11oclock and the bottom two knobs all the way counterclockwise.
