Keyboard bass effects pedal - Priscilla Musical

[Peragere]

Good day all,

I have a question about a musical I will be playing the bass guitar in. The song Venus has "Keyboard Bass Effects Pedal On" I have tried googling what pedal this might be referring to but have come up blank. Is there anyone that knows what pedal this would be? has done the musical before?

Any help in direction would be fantastic.

I have attached a clip of the music for reference.

Thanks again in advance.

 

[Michedelic]

Good day all,

I have a question about a musical I will be playing the bass guitar in. The song Venus has "Keyboard Bass Effects Pedal On" I have tried googling what pedal this might be referring to but have come up blank. Is there anyone that knows what pedal this would be? has done the musical before?

Any help in direction would be fantastic.

I have attached a clip of the music for reference.

Thanks again in advance.

View attachment 7211518

Assuming that what is meant is something that emulates old school(or not)synth bass, like a Mini-Moog(think Parliament’s “Flashlight”, for example), I’d recommend looking into a Source Audio C4 pedal, although there’s a number of alternatives. You can even fake it with a fuzz, auto-filter, gate, and chorus.
Is this based on “Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert? If so, you definitely want an 80’s dance music kind of sound.

 

[cheapbasslovin]

Have you listened to the original Bananarama track? The tone there is pretty unmistakable, and I presume that the transcriber is just looking for that vibe.

I, unfortunately, don't have a great suggestion as I've never tried to put this sound together. Synth pedals tend to be kind of deep where there's just tons of parameters to sort through.

The most basic synth pedal I can think of that can probably get the vibe, but won't nail the tone, is a Keeley Synth 1.

The C4 can do damn near anything, but to nail the tone will probably involve getting into apps, and parameters, and bears, oh my.

Boss has a few synth pedals that toggle between synth styles, but I know very little about those.

Edit: one last thing, synth pedals almost always require clean playing. If you let notes ring a little or have some subtle buzz that comes through your pickup, that is going to create problems with tracking. If you play clean you have nothing to worry about.

 

[bassbrad]

Likely any phat synth sound would suffice from a simple octaver to a more complex synth sound using a filter. There are a good number of pedals that can get these sounds from a Zoom MS60B+ to a Source Audio Spectrum or C4 or Panda Midi Future Impact or the analog grandaddy of them all the EHX Bass Micro Synth. There are also preset pedals like a Boss SY1 or SY200 or and EHX Synth9, Bass9, Bass Mono Synth which may provide a simpler and cost effective alternative for a one time need. A lot of these options can be found used at a savings.

 

[Domespeed]

Depending on how close to the original sound track it has to be, maybe an octaver pedal will do the trick - playing the part one octave higher with the pedal engaged.

 

[Feral Feline]

The pit-cam is focused on the guitar (as is the sound) but in the background you can see/hear the bass — there's not much going on "Synth-bass" wise here (mind, I listened to the clip on laptop-speakers).


*Talk to the BL, see what he or she has in mind and you might just be told "Oh, don't worry about that — just play the part!"


IF synthy is a must...
What effects have you got already that could give you something synthy? Octave-down and Fuzz may be enough, some phaser would be good to add to that. There is definitely some filter going on in Bananarama's cover...





While there are a lot of great suggestions in the thread, buying a Panda Midi Future Impact of one show hardly seems worth it — unless the show is an extended run and you can amortise the cost and use the pedal for other projects after the show wraps.




For balance, here's the ORIGINAL track from the original artist, Shocking Blue — some perspective and another source of inspiration on how to approach your pit gig:

 

[Peragere]

Thank you so much everyone for your suggestions. It is greatly appreciated. I play in a lot of musicals but only on an amateur basis, I have a good job and disposable income so don't mind spending to get the job done.

I will definitely have a talk with the BM and see what they would prefer.

Thank you again for all your suggestions, I'll now go back a re-read them all and absorb your suggestions.

Peace