Is there an "expander" pedal for note attack AND decay? Yes: Malekko Sneak Attack

[N. Kentucky Bass]

And I was teasing right back!

Thanks for the link to your thread.


As an aside, how badly did the fires in NorCal's wine country affect your gigs? If I recall correctly you used to do quite a lot of winery gigs, I've watched a few of your vids.

That gig is done and I'm onto something else. About 8,900 homes burned in the region. Only a few wineries were burned. Tourists have stayed away but are starting to come back. A lot of sadness, disruption and PTSD is shared by many. As of yesterday, 42 people have died and more are in burn units. Animals have particularly suffered. If they weren't burned to a crisp, pets were separated from owners. In many cases, the displaced owners are not allowed to have pets even if theirs survived. So sad.

 

[Alien8]

Here's a photo of my settings. For extremely fast attack and decay, using the manual trigger mode.

Chain is: Taylor AB-1 acoustic bass guitar --> Sonic Research Turbo Tuner ST-300 --> Sneak Attack --> Noble tube preamp/DI --> Phil Jones Flightcase BG-150 combo

View attachment 2830702

When set to manual trigger, you have to stomp the foot switch to trigger the effect. And then you only get the attack cycle. All of this without the lil buddy plugged in.

Use the auto thresh to tune to your bass' signal for auto trigger. You can adjust it so that hard notes trigger and others dont.

At those settings you will get a blip through. Turn the attack up a bit and put decay at noon to start. Then play with the shape to get the right emphasis of attack and decay, then change the times of both.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

When set to manual trigger, you have to stomp the foot switch to trigger the effect. And then you only get the attack cycle. All of this without the lil buddy plugged in.

Use the auto thresh to tune to your bass' signal for auto trigger. You can adjust it so that hard notes trigger and others dont.

At those settings you will get a blip through. Turn the attack up a bit and put decay at noon to start. Then play with the shape to get the right emphasis of attack and decay, then change the times of both.

I have the Lil Buddy but don't want to bother with it if possible. Since I'm looking for a "set and forget" situation, can I leave the Buddy out of the equation?

I'll try your suggestions when everyone wakes up!

 

[Alien8]

When you connect the lil buddy, it does two things: sets the tempo of the LFO, or acts as the manual trigger that triggers attack AND decay (when the thresh is fully clockwise only).

Sounds like you don't need it, so, yes, leave it out.

 

[Feral Feline]

@Ukiah Bass Thanks for weighing in on the fires, sorry to dredge that up, but getting follow up news is difficult nowadays what with the death of journalism.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

Here's a pic of a test setting. This is producing much better results. First observation: the difference "with" vs. "without" is very noticeable in a recording, much less so listening through the combo amp in my home studio. Could be the room being "alive" is echoing the bass notes slightly as opposed to listening to a recording through headphones.

I play the black nylon tapewounds with a light touch. The LED just under the "A Length" knob never illuminates. Is it supposed to? Is a lower number on the auto threshold to match a lighter touch? How does the "Level" knob relate to the volume of the effect? (Sorry for all the beginner questions ... this pedal has a great deal of potential!)

 

[Alien8]

The LED under the A is the envelope indicator, it should light when you hear the effect doing its thing.

Yes, lower number for lighter touch.

The level is to make up gain lost... I think noon is unity, and anything above is a boost.

Read the manual too...

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

What is the correct strategy for tuning the attack vs. decay? For example, if I want a sharp decay, should the attack length be no longer than the desired decay? Trying to understand if there would be "bleed" if the attack was longer than the decay? Thank you.

 

[Alien8]

There shouldn't be, since the intention is to have an attack cycle of length a and a decay cycle of length d. I have notice that you can trick it a bit tho.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

The Sneak Attack is turning out to be quite a useful tool. I can hear some of the effect through the combo amp in my home studio, but it's still more pronounced and clear in recordings through my Noble tube preamp/DI. If you decided to try this pedal, plan to make your decisions on configuring the settings via recordings. Makes all the difference and is easier to compare several times after the fact.

I bumped the attack to NOON and it fattened up the notes while leaving some bite in the attack. When I bumped attack to ONE o'clock, it fattened the notes even more but slightly dulled the attack bite.

For decay, I'm favoring about ONE o'clock as just about right for my scenario. I can see the missing element would be a gate to precisely cut off sustain after the decay. Oh well, this pedal is pretty darn good for the task!

I also changed the curves for both attack and decay. My first choices were led by my eyes. After recording variations, let your ears tell you what the settings should be!

Here's a shot of settings I've decided are best.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

Here's a new song where I recorded the Taylor AB-1 acoustic bass guitar with a tube-based Peluso 22 251 large diaphragm condenser mic. I used an expander plug in to create a fast attack and fast decay - similar to an upright bass with gut strings. The song includes ABG, dobro, lap steel slide guitar, acoustic guitar and vocals. I've got the Sneak Attacking sounding just like this recording (however when I record a serious session, I prefer to mic the bass rather than use the piezo/DI).

Invalid Link Removed

And if you don't have Spotify:

Worry Be Gone (on ReverbNation)

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

I sold my Sneak Attack several years ago after selling my last acoustic bass guitar. Bought a double bass and enjoyed that for three years but decided to focus on electric bass. I'm experimenting with palm muting and thumb plucking, and revisiting foam mutes. In addition, I picked up another Sneak Attack and have been playing with various settings. This pedal allows you to control the curves for note attack and decay, and respectively control those durations. The bass strings keep vibrating until they are stopped so the sonic note curve durations do not automatically shut off with this device. But with these settings, I am hearing a more controlled sound to simulate the fast attack and decay of double bass. Still experimenting, but these settings show promise:

A = attack curve
D = decay curve

A = attack duration (minimum, 10 milliseconds)
D = decay duration (minimum, 10 milliseconds)

Level = sound level

Auto Threshold = manual setting