Isn’t it that many of those stevie basslines are doubling bass and synth, to sound like one but can be 3-4 lines?
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Line 6 HX Stomp
- Thread starter been_effected
- Start date
naw, that one's just a single key line. But check out the opening bars (under the baby laugh)! the key patch is SO similar to a late 60s ("P with flats, rolled off tone knob" type sound) What jumps out and makes it synth-y is the dynamics, meaning when the line punches up high we hear the 'wet' synth-y tone.
@EASonBass, I tend to go 'dry' with an old school sound and forego the wet synth tone altogether. Ive tried a few times to 'build' a preset but it always misses-the-mark and just sounds more outta place than just the dry bass sound.
I'd suggest trying a split/HP>filter or a mulitband Comp with a side chain to a light phaser/filter.
YMMV Please post if you're successful
@EASonBass, I tend to go 'dry' with an old school sound and forego the wet synth tone altogether. Ive tried a few times to 'build' a preset but it always misses-the-mark and just sounds more outta place than just the dry bass sound.
I'd suggest trying a split/HP>filter or a mulitband Comp with a side chain to a light phaser/filter.
YMMV Please post if you're successful
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Well thanks all. No P or flats but trying mutant filter in low pass with just a hint of mwah which probs won’t be heard in the mix. I may or may not even kick it on depending how it sounds in FOH during rehearsal.
Playing this one at church for Mother’s Day. Here’s the chart if your interested.
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Playing this one at church for Mother’s Day. Here’s the chart if your interested.
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Ian Allison just said his Stomp presets will be for sale at the end of the month.
Set 1 - normal stuff
Set 2 - his synth stuff of which I am particularly interested
Set 3 - random odd sounds
Set 1 - normal stuff
Set 2 - his synth stuff of which I am particularly interested
Set 3 - random odd sounds
I'm also particularly interested in the synth stuff. I (as probably one of many) will be interested in hearing your opinions on those.
I can't hear any difference between them. But ai don't bypass my Stomp on any sort of regular basis.
It's in the global settings somewhere. Try them both and see if you like one better.
Yesterday I spent the whole morning creating new presets and trying different sounds. It seems that I can't make a cab simulation sound right. The only one that sounded decent was the Brute 215. When I use a cab simuloation, the sound seems "far away" and without any depth. I saw videos on Youtube and following what other people uses... but I couldn't get a decent tone. I liked an Ampeg SVT with 8x10, but only when I created two paths and kept one clean (split Y, to keep the low end). Sounded cool, but I still prefer the Studio Pre without any cab simulation. Or even the Ampeg SVT4 without any cab.
I am thinking about getting the shift line olympic, origin bassrig or the jad freer capo to "complete" the sound of the HX. Or even the Caveman BP1
I am thinking about getting the shift line olympic, origin bassrig or the jad freer capo to "complete" the sound of the HX. Or even the Caveman BP1
I feel the same way. The direct sound of the bass sounds best to me both with the headphones (Beyerdynamic DT770) and with my amp (Glockenklang Steamhammer + Double Art). The sound is coloured by the own cab anyway again. Amp / cab simulations are useful for me only for recordings and then only dosed mixed to it. Even over a PA, the DI sound of the bass sounds best.
I'm thinking about getting something like a BassRig instead of the Stomp. I find myself using the Studio DI with no cab, a little compression, maybe some EQ with the a high/low pass filter and thats about it. I don't even really use effects. I thought if I went this route (it seems like the future) that I might do more with it, but I'm not really using it to even a small percent of the "potential" that others seem to. I still like that it's all in one box, and if I ever want to change I can without buying/selling gear, but I wish I used more of it. Maybe this summer when I have more time. Or maybe Ian's Allison's presets (available soon I believe) will help. I love his tones on his videos and such.
I have to agree. I probably should have hung on to my analog rig. I just don't find myself changing patches/tones that often. But virtually all my playing is done DI/IEM so this type of rig makes perfect sense. I know you can, and I did, and people do, do DI/IEM gigs with any rig. I wanted to simplify/downsize and when compared to my analog rig live, no one really noticed a difference. I did a little but I'm too close to it to be an impartial judge.
To me, and FWIW, that's the beauty of the Stomp/Helix type rig. Lots of options to chose from to find something that works for your intended usage without having to sort through a bunch of different amps (and spend crap loads of $$$) trying to find a sound that works for you live. Yeah for recording it may be an entirely different situation, but live it simplifies things enormously and few, if any, notice any difference. Point of Diminishing Returns.
This is the reason I hold on to it...and I've only had it for a few months. I had a REDDI and when I did a side by side (set by set) comparison without telling anyone, no one noticed. I mean, it sounded great, but diminishing returns came into play - and weight and size. I sold my REDDI, Empress Compressor and Empress Para EQ Deluxe and had $1K left over. Well, it went to my daughters car repair but who's counting.
I also hope that Ian Allison's presets (especially the synth ones) will be good and I can stop bringing my Yamaha synth to gigs and be all Stomp.
This is generally true for bass players regardless of their rigs. But if the gear makes things feel better, and makes you play better because of what you're hearing, then it's totally worth it.
On the other hand, if there's so little difference, that also speaks to how well HX/Helix works at hiding the fact that it's basically a computer and DSP. Ultimately, these tiny changes in processing are mainly there for your benefit. Bass in PA systems rarely goes straight through unscathed. You have virtually no control over the crossover/subs/FOH EQ.
Some of the presets I've tried that were designed for PA use didn't sound very good (and were far from inspiring) over headphones. A lot of those presets were just fighting the eventual treatment the bass signal would get once it reached the console and/or system EQ of the person who designed the preset.
Same here, looking forward to a report/review once those are out and been scrutinized a bit. I'm apparently not smart enough to build the synth sound(s) I hear in my head (yet) thought I've sort of gotten in the ballpark playing with and modifying a few that I've downloaded off the Net somewhere... But I don't currently need or use much in that regard so I haven't had good reason to dig into it too deeply.
If we're being completely honest - playing live, and even more so running direct live, we really have little/no control of what the final product sounds like out front. I give my sound person what I believe I want it to sound like (read: what it sounds like to me in my IEM's), try to make what I send them as easy to work with as possible, and trust them to make it sound good out front. I just tell them what I'm going for is punch and definition (however you want to interpret that) and the rest is on them. If they need something adjusted on my end they'll tell me (infrequent) and I adjust it. Audio and video recordings tend to indicate that they generally do a good job of it. But at the end of the day we're at the mercy of the person at the console. Sounds good in my ears and I trust that it sounds good out front too, pretty much as good as it gets.
For the first time I've been playing a guitar through the Stomp, and not to get down on bass or anything, but the processing is so much more obvious on guitar. Anything I do with bass is so subtle in comparison. I'm keeping the Stomp though just because it does so much. I've got two DI outs, I use the computer interface live, etc. etc. And as my rig or needs change, it seems to be just as useful in different ways. It's a great tool to have.
Keep in mind any sort of cabinet simulation is going to have steep roll offs at around 40 hz and 5 khz as well as coloration in the midrange. The svt 8x10 for instance starts rolling off from 58 hz and 5k with dips at 500 hz and a peak at 2.5 k.
Mic choice, placement and distance are arguably the biggest factor in how the end result sounds. Some mic's suffer from proximity effect so the closer to the speaker they are the more muffled or boomy the sound is. Others like the kick drum mic's have a low end and high end boost that could throw off other EQ moves you may make before the sound hits the cab and the character of the speakers too.
Remember that in the end the sound is going to be X cab through Y mic and out whatever speaker you are using. Trying to get an "In the room" sound or feel is practically impossible. If you want to keep most of the detail and character of your bass you should run a DI path and balance the volumes to get a sound you like or try to use the most neutral amp/cab/mic combinations possible.
