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HELP - Looking to invest in some effects pedals

templarmalta

templarmalta

Guest
Jul 26, 2013
14
19
MALTA
#1
Hi All

I am new to the talkbass forum. Over the past weeks I found quite a lot of interesting and useful info here.

Now, for my question...

I presently run my basses through a Radial Tonebone Bassbone then on to the Rack (GK700RB head which has connected to it - via effects loop - a Behringer FBQ3102 EQ and then a DBX266XL Compressor). The rack also has a behringer tuner. Everything feeds then to the 4X10 Trace Elliot Cabinet. The EQ made quite a big difference to my sounds and provided quite a lot of possibilities over the parametric EQ on the GK head.

Some time ago i also purchased a Digitech BP35 multi effects but found the sounds to be too digital and the controls way too complex.

So i decided to go completley analogue. I play in a funk/rock/reggae outfit so i did some research and came up with the following tentative list and would love to receive feedback/comments/suggestions...

1. Radial Tonebone Bassbone (I already work with this and found it incredible, especially for the A/B functionality and be able to work with passive and active basses at the same time)
2. TC Electronic Politune
3. MXR Bass Octave Deluxe (Seems this is sine qua non! from what i read)
4. EHX Qtron (even though i wish an original Mu-Tron III)
5. Malekko B:Assmaster (even though a real Maestro pedal would be nice!)
6. Cry Baby Bass 105Q
7. Moog MF-101 perhaps
8. Anything else and anything you consider essential (and i know this is subjective!)

I am considering of building the rig in a Harley Benton PB1000 Board...

Your comments/tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Antonio
 
#2
Couple of thoughts:
--The EQ on the GK head is not "parametric". That word refers to EQ's where you control the bandwidth, center frequency, and depth for each band. I only mention this in case later you want to try a different EQ and you see one called parametric and you think you already have that. :)
--Try a different compressor if you get a chance, the 266XL isn't a great choice.
--The B:Assmaster, or any similar modern version of that circuit, will be more reliable, with lower noise, and having proper modern bypass switching, compared to an old Maestro. Older is not always better.
--The QTron is very cool, but also look for a used 3Leaf Proton, for that Mutron sound in a smaller and better-designed package.
--The Moog MF101 is very cool, full stop. Check out the band Dub Trio for an example of that pedal in use.
 
#3
Thanks for this bongomania. The 3leaf looks interesting.

Re: dbx compressor. I got it for free from a friend who had a small studio project but I guess I could get something better (even though I did not really loose any tone). But effect level is really low. It's more useful as a slight noise gate especially due to the old pups on the 77 jazz...

Again, found the compressor at end of chain (and in rack) usefull but I would prefer to throw my money at the pedal effects first.
I might replace it with an alesis 3632 as it appears to be good value but the main problem with living in Malta is that you can't really go anywhere and test drive before you buy as the few local dealers always have limited brands and even more limited stock (especially when it comes to bass pedals). No boutique pedals available for sure.

And what about a decent, good but very subtle reverb?
 
#7
Worth considering in lieu of the EHX Q-tron: The EHX Enigma Q-balls. Basically a cross between the Q-tron and the Bassballs, two of EHX's most popular envelope filters for bass. I really like mine and I even use the built-in distortion fairly often too.

If you're going to go for the Q-tron, I would warn you away from the Micro Q-tron. I had one, and I had a lot of trouble with resonant peaks. It's easy to dial that out with the Q-balls (or, presumably, the full-size Q-tron). The lack of a blend knob on the Micro won't do you any favors either.
 
#9
And would a voodoo labs PPII manage to fire the whole lot (revised):

1.radial tonebone
2. Tc electronic polytune
3. Ernie ball volume pedal
4. Mxr octave deluxe
5. Malekko bassmaster
6. 3leaf proton
7. Mxr phaser 90
8. Moog mf-101
9. Crybaby bass
10. Corona chorus
11. Ebs dynaverb

Remember that eq and compressor will exist in the rack and not on the board.
 
#10
templarmalta said:
And would a voodoo labs PPII manage to fire the whole lot (revised):

1.radial tonebone
2. Tc electronic polytune
3. Ernie ball volume pedal
4. Mxr octave deluxe
5. Malekko bassmaster
6. 3leaf proton
7. Mxr phaser 90
8. Moog mf-101
9. Crybaby bass
10. Corona chorus
11. Ebs dynaverb

Remember that eq and compressor will exist in the rack and not on the board.
Click to expand...

Not without a daisy chain for 3 of them.
 
#12
Regarding board power and the Bassbone, the Radial requires the specific matching power supply. The PP-2 cannot deliver this; you can always plug the Radial power adaptor into the convenience outlet on the PP -2, or just get a small plug strip anyway, as you'll need more outlets if you don't daisy-chain a few pedals, power wise. As pointed out above, you have more pedals than what the Voodoolab can service. You might want to also consider using a send/receive cable and looping your effect chain through the Bassbone, which has the on/off switch option. Also, I would suggest experimenting with a quality compressor pedal, rather than the DBX, and place it before the Bassbone and not in the fx loop.
 

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