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Metal pedal chain

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Best pedal chain for metal?

really? 3 pages a d nobody? Thought this was TalkBass

ok I’ll bite.

have mine.
 
Mbd1 or cog mini 66 is my main tone, overdrive blended with clean and used in a dirty low mid boost style - the “fat tone”

I am looking for a pedal to bring in more low mids and a little bit of drive. Rather than starting my own thread I could ask this here.

I am unfamiliar with those 2 pedals you use, would you mind telling more about them, how you use them and what they can do.

Thanks.
 
25070174[/URL], member: 120817"]I am looking for a pedal to bring in more low mids and a little bit of drive. Rather than starting my own thread I could ask this here.

I am unfamiliar with those 2 pedals you use, would you mind telling more about them, how you use them and what they can do.

Thanks.

The COG is an OCD based circuit, similar to the Dunwich ODB, and a bunch of others. It’s a warm, vintage, midrange overdrive sound.

The Damnation is a Swiss Army knife. It’ll go from mild dive to bordering on fuzz. It’s a good all-around box.

Both have similar low-pass clean blends where the upper frequencies are rolled off (maybe around 3k, I think but not sure). It’s one of the better ways to do a blend and avoid sounding like the clean and dirt sounds are layered. You get a more cohesive output.

I’ve owned both. The Damnation is definitely one of those “if I could only pick one” pedals.

 
The COG is an OCD based circuit, similar to the Dunwich ODB, and a bunch of others. It’s a warm, vintage, midrange overdrive sound.

The Damnation is a Swiss Army knife. It’ll go from mild dive to bordering on fuzz. It’s a good all-around box.

Both have similar low-pass clean blends where the upper frequencies are rolled off (maybe around 3k, I think but not sure). It’s one of the better ways to do a blend and avoid sounding like the clean and dirt sounds are layered. You get a more cohesive output.

I’ve owned both. The Damnation is definitely one of those “if I could only pick one” pedals.



What was said... I don’t like too much treble in my sound so they are set pretty “flat” except for a bump in the low mids.
I use the cog most of the time as it sounds like my bass with no pedals but a tiny bit of boost (so almost no “colour or drive”) unless I dig in or slap on purpose to get a bit more break up to the sound.

I have the mbd1 set as a “clear and very articulate thick grind” - similar to the cog but way more driven but not bear distortion levels. I use this when want to go to “sludge” style of massive heft to the single guitar player in my band.

All the other pedals are “salt and pepper” and used sparingly for intros, bridges etc but hey I like to have fun and I have a three peice band so I have the sonic space to use it.

here’s what mbd1 can kind of sound like from the scrappy( sorry only one we have currently) band demo we did

Facebook

if it helps, I played fretless originally in my thrash band and only occasionally slap - my way of doing Things is play without digging in and let the amps and effects provide the volume. Your mileage may vary - many metal players purposely dig in or play with attacking the strings hard... this is especially a thing in extreme metal techniques :)
 
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I've played plenty of metal on that exact same amp at home. It's a great sounding amp. put your bass and treble at twelve oclock and your mids at about 2 and that thing sounds great. what strings are on your bass? I suggest DR High beams but whatever you want make sure they're fresh.

you don't need pedals to sound great. you need to practice more to find what you're looking for.
 
Sounds to me that with your budget and goals, what you need to do is grab yourself a Sansamp clone. Behringer BDi21 or the Caliber Wine Cellar are both around $40 and get pretty close.
Understand that even though you are playing metal, the actual distortion that you need is not like what the guitar players have going. Just enough break up on the top end to give you some grit will help your mid range punch through. You don't want to sound "fuzzy."
As others have pointed out, find isolated bass tracks of guys you like and build around that.
 
I play heavy stuff. This is my board.
3FBCB97D-EA37-439F-982F-35B1C8CCB1B5.jpeg
The darkglass X is the main deal. I use it the most by far. The shure is a wireless and tuner in one. The octave is fun for sub bass sounds (think how modern bands like Architects use keybass for that sub bass vibe during verses) the delay basically gets used 3 ways in band situation playing heavy stuff. 1 as a subtle delay to just add some vibe to anything I play that’s high and somewhat solo like, as a more extreme delay for ambient swells, and as a digital delay for Hollywood endings. Basically at the end of a song I’ll hit a note and simultaneously turn on the delay and slide down the string and it repeats the drop over and over. The ditto is a looper, I mostly use for practicing and jamming by myself but it can be used in a band context a little bit if you get creative. For example can make an ambient loop using the delay for a ambient wash/pad kind of vibe and use it for a song intro and even bring it back at the end of a song as filler while you tune for the next song. Can even fade it in or out with the knob.

I run the board into a Mesa subway d800
 
The COG is an OCD based circuit, similar to the Dunwich ODB, and a bunch of others. It’s a warm, vintage, midrange overdrive sound.

The Damnation is a Swiss Army knife. It’ll go from mild dive to bordering on fuzz. It’s a good all-around box.

Both have similar low-pass clean blends where the upper frequencies are rolled off (maybe around 3k, I think but not sure). It’s one of the better ways to do a blend and avoid sounding like the clean and dirt sounds are layered. You get a more cohesive output.

I’ve owned both. The Damnation is definitely one of those “if I could only pick one” pedals.



What was said... I don’t like too much treble in my sound so they are set pretty “flat” except for a bump in the low mids.
I use the cog most of the time as it sounds like my bass with no pedals but a tiny bit of boost (so almost no “colour or drive”) unless I dig in or slap on purpose to get a bit more break up to the sound.

I have the mbd1 set as a “clear and very articulate thick grind” - similar to the cog but way more driven but not bear distortion levels. I use this when want to go to “sludge” style of massive heft to the single guitar player in my band.

All the other pedals are “salt and pepper” and used sparingly for intros, bridges etc but hey I like to have fun and I have a three peice band so I have the sonic space to use it.

here’s what mbd1 can kind of sound like from the scrappy( sorry only one we have currently) band demo we did

Facebook

if it helps, I played fretless originally in my thrash band and only occasionally slap - my way of doing Things is play without digging in and let the amps and effects provide the volume. Your mileage may vary - many metal players purposely dig in or play with attacking the strings hard... this is especially a thing in extreme metal techniques :)


Thanks, also found this from the Cog website:



Too bad they didn't demo any cleanish tones.

From listening to the demoes and you guys' descriptions the COG Mini 66 is now on my radar. A plus that it is small.


Nice playing @theunkowndude ,


Today I listened to some Blind Guardian, I don't know if you can hear the bass well in a youtube vid but this is more what I go for:




I also am a fretless player. I found the fretless bass a great instrument to use in metal, been doing it since the year 2000... but I have nothing to show for. :)

Cheers guys.
 
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Thanks, also found this from the Cog website:



Too bad they didn't demo any cleanish tones.

From listening to the demoes and you guys' descriptions the COG Mini 66 is now on my radar. A plus that it is small.


Nice playing @theunkowndude ,


Today I listened to some Blind Guardian, I don't know if you can hear the bass well in a youtube vid but this is more what I go for:




I also am a fretless player. I found the fretless bass a great instrument to use in metal, been doing it since the year 2000... but I have nothing to show for. :)

Cheers guys.


I’d adjust expectations on the Mr. Ex demo for his baked in sound. Like some other demo/review guys he has a strong baked in tone that isn’t always representative of just the pedal sounds.
 
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Hi, not sure what type of tone you are trying to get, I do play metal and even if I have a few pedals at home, im against pedals, just because i do not like to bring extra stuff to a gig, this might not be useful advice but use what suits you.
this is me playing with no pedals, the bass sounds clear, and i did like the tone.

another example using one pedal HIDDEN PRIDE live @ Piranha Bar, Montreal. 28/04/2017 - YouTube
i did like how it sounded for that band.
in other words, might take time but experiment with EQ and some pedals, I don't think you need to get a bunch of pedals, I'm not saying it is wrong to use a huge pedalboard if that is what you want.