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How to set up a pedal board.

Sml175

Sml175

Nov 4, 2014
197
208
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NJ
#1
Getting back into the bass after over 40 years and have a Hartke LH500 head and want to make a pedal board for my effects. Which flow to use and should I plug in to the effects loop to mellow the effects?
Pedals:
Loop Station RC3
Source Audio Soundblox 2 Dimension Reverb Guitar Effects Pedal
Boss Compressor
Distress Mistress

Thank you for any info.
 
#2
What's a "distress mistress"? Is it an over-drive? Never heard of it and can't seem to google it either...

"Standard operating procedure" would be:
  • Compressor
  • OD (if that's what the "mistress" is about)
  • Reverb
  • Loop station
  • into amp input
Bass players don't use the effect-loop that often, because unlike guitarists they rarely rely on their amp's pre-amp section for overdrive. I think the more common use of the effects loop is actually to bypass the pre-amp altogether and plug directly into the power-amp section (you would need some other "preamp type" effect to successfully pull this off though).

Of course, in music, all rules are made to be broken, so please do ahead and do everything differently...
 
#3
Id consider the comp and the od the other way around IF the od reacts well to dynamics and you utilise that.

Im looking for a tube type od to use as "more dirt", i want it to react to how im digging in. It will go before my buddha chakra that at the moment sits infront of my joyo British (always on, just as an "amp sim" as the few gigs i play are with shared backline.... Sound guys love it when you turn up, plug in and rock out )

That way the comp is working on the naked signal... But like ProfFink said, there are no rules
 
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#4
ProfFrink said:
What's a "distress mistress"? Is it an over-drive? Never heard of it and can't seem to google it either...

"Standard operating procedure" would be:
  • Compressor
  • OD (if that's what the "mistress" is about)
  • Reverb
  • Loop station
  • into amp input
Bass players don't use the effect-loop that often, because unlike guitarists they rarely rely on their amp's pre-amp section for overdrive. I think the more common use of the effects loop is actually to bypass the pre-amp altogether and plug directly into the power-amp section (you would need some other "preamp type" effect to successfully pull this off though).

Of course, in music, all rules are made to be broken, so please do ahead and do everything differently...
Click to expand...
It is the Electro-Harmonix Stereo Electric Mistress. Flanger and chorus effects
 
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#5
Thanks for the input as I have the setup as in the first response. Was wondering more about the effects loop as I have been plugging into the front but saw a band last night which used the loop and when questioned he stated it was to slightly mute the overall tone of the effects yet keeping the tone of the amp.
 
#6
Several years ago, when I decided to build a small board, I was told to run OD before any modulation effects, so... I ran as follows... Line 6 wireless- to, at the time, Seymour Duncan double back comp (I liked how it worked on bass) replaced by MXR bass comp- WayHuge green rhino- WayHuge AquaPuss delay(really miss my both my WayHuge) - replaced by MXR analog chorus- Boss TU2 tuner.
This worked very well for me, but as its been said, don't be afraid to experiment. Good luck
 
#7
Sml175 said:
Thanks for the input as I have the setup as in the first response. Was wondering more about the effects loop as I have been plugging into the front but saw a band last night which used the loop and when questioned he stated it was to slightly mute the overall tone of the effects yet keeping the tone of the amp.
Click to expand...
Some amps have the effects loop routed in parallel and there's a "mix" knob that controls the wet/dry (affected/unaffected) mix. He was probably referring to this.

Your amp-head doesn't have this feature so in order to get the same effect (which is actually very popular with bassists) you would have to add some sort of mixer (such as a Boss LS-2). Don't rush into this though, because while I don't know about the "mistress", the "dimension" has a dry/wet mix built in and the comp and looper don't really need this so you're at least half way there already.
 
#8
Effects loops can be handy for routing your time based effects through. Like reverb, chorus & delays. This keeps the signal nice and tidy as it goes through the preamp and presents the effects loop with your chosen tone.
Experiment with it, maybe running the comp. in front of the amp and everything else in the loop and don't worry if you can't tell much of a difference as you move things around. It may be noticeable or not too much. You'll maybe want to keep the limiter switched out if you're already using a comp.
Good luck, the possibilities are endless.
 
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#9
generally speaking this is so called order of things...

Filter effects (Phaser, Wah)
Compressor
Overdrive & Distortion
Equalizer
Pitch Effects (Octave, Harmonizer)
Modulation Effects (Flanger, Chorus)
Level Controllers ( Noise gates, limiters, volume pedals, tremolo)
Echo effects (Delay, reverb)

some guys like their pitch effects before dirt, some like their compression later in the chain...

experiment do what sounds best for your combination of bass and amp

 
#10
I would not use those pedals in the amp's effects loop. Stomp boxes are designed, generally, to work with the higher impedance, lower volume signal from an instrument.

The effects loop's output is at line level as it exits the pre-amp, and usually you'd put line-level processing, like rack effects, maybe a rack compressor, parametric EQ, stuff like that in the loop.

But there are no hard and fast rules. If it sounds good to you, it probably is good. I'd try them in front of the amp for a gig or two to see how they're working there. Then you can try them in the loop if you feel you need to.
 
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#12
I used to keep my compressor at the front of my board. After reading some stuff about what six-stringers do, I tried moving it to the end of my board and found that my other effects were coming through more clearly, and my signal was tighter and stronger going out to the amp; it felt like everything got "better" without me touching a single knob, just by re-ordering that one pedal. Now I think that the only reason to have the comp at the front of the chain is either personal preference or the need to tame an especially quacky filter. YMMV.
 
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#15
Thanks everyone. A tech from Hartke got back to me and said any effects boxes were to go i the front and any rack mounted will go into the effects loop. Now to design the pedal board. I was thinking of welding one up in alum or just make a simple one out of wood. Thanks for the input. I decided to put the comp at the end to tighten the signal going out.
 
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#18
Update: I found the best sound as well as the best way at this time was to use the RC3 loop station alone through my GK112 and the rest through the Hartke LH500. I am only using the backing tracks and not recording any loops yet so for now this is giving me the cleanest sound. Thanks for the responses. Here is the order for the board: Compressor, mistress, Reverb/delay.
 
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