Metal pedal chain

[Killing Floor]

Titanium...

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Nice. An extra pin too!

 

[RJ]

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.

Awesome. Reminds me a bit of Necrophagist.

 

[Dynomuttasaurus]

Such good advice here. Take it or leave it, just love what floats YOUR boat.

First and foremost, keeping the guitars and bass from stepping all over each other sonically is the biggest factor in being heard. Nothing will suck away your sound like you using distortion/fuzz and doubling guitars chugging on the low strings.

I've shrunk my pedal use. Darkglass B7K for live jams with the band...and a bit of extra for that 5% when we cover Sabotage and For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Goofing around at home recording, I've really started liking how an octave pedal can kick major butt. It's the perfect example of how a less-than-desirable solo/bedroom tone can really rock in a band soundscape.

Here's two examples of using a Sansamp dUg DP3x preamp and Hotone Octaver for my pedal chain (fingerstyle over the middle pickup). Please ignore all the rest. I'm not much of guitarist, and I'm an embarrassingly bad vocalist. Never let your lack of talent hold you back. Life is too short.

 

[darkhalf]

get a darkglass ADAM its the only one you need. it has compressor, distortion and cab sim and and has rotary switches for a more options. .also has tuner up to #A . you can modify each setting thru the app as well. its pricey at $500 bucks then again you dont need to buy anything else anymore... well maybe a noise gate probobaly but i heard darkglass will have an update on that. my adam is a monster

 

[theunknowndude]

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.

Thanks. It depends on your overall goals.
When I played fretless in thrash my tone goal was more aimed like

and that was pretty much no pedals just eq on the amp...

( arg I miss my fretless... wish I had never sold it )

 

[René_Julien]

Thanks. It depends on your overall goals.
When I played fretless in thrash my tone goal was more aimed like

and that was pretty much no pedals just eq on the amp...

( arg I miss my fretless... wish I had never sold it )

Hey, that is kinda like the tone I am going for, I want it a bit darker and "rounder", and compression to kill that envellope attack.

Yeah fretless is what I love the most. Fretless precision basses are where it's at for me. I got a nice fretless Roscoe Century 4-string but I regret I didn't order a 5-string for a thicker neck and 35" scale. I am so used to playing fretless it is like second nature to me. IMO it isn't that much harder than fretted, heck, I even have more trouble now playing fretted since my muscle memory and finger feel differs.

 

[René_Julien]

Such good advice here. Take it or leave it, just love what floats YOUR boat.

First and foremost, keeping the guitars and bass from stepping all over each other sonically is the biggest factor in being heard. Nothing will suck away your sound like you using distortion/fuzz and doubling guitars chugging on the low strings.

I've shrunk my pedal use. Darkglass B7K for live jams with the band...and a bit of extra for that 5% when we cover Sabotage and For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Goofing around at home recording, I've really started liking how an octave pedal can kick major butt. It's the perfect example of how a less-than-desirable solo/bedroom tone can really rock in a band soundscape.

Here's two examples of using a Sansamp dUg DP3x preamp and Hotone Octaver for my pedal chain (fingerstyle over the middle pickup). Please ignore all the rest. I'm not much of guitarist, and I'm an embarrassingly bad vocalist. Never let your lack of talent hold you back. Life is too short.

Solid advice and thanks for sharing the sound clips.

I really liked your bass tone on castle in the sky.

Are you perhaps a fan of Primus? We've got a bedroom Les Claypool over here. Great stuff man.

And you're a decent vocalist. Sounds great on fun projects like you shared.

 

[Pulverizor]

Vox Stomplab B1

Put your wallet away mate and use this preset:

Turn the gain down a smidge though.

 

[Gigas444]

It's true that most of the "old school" metal bassist did not use any overdrive/distortion because there weren't good bass distortion pedals on the market (they sounded silly and with no bass at all), but some years ago something happened: Darkglass changed everything!
In my opinion you need a tuner, a comp and a Darkglass, you can chose the one you prefer (for my taste the perfect one is the Alpha/Omega), at the moment my chain is:
Boss TU2 - DG Hyperluminal - MXR 10 band EQ - DG Alpha/Omega - EHX Bassballs - TC Subnup - EHX Small Stone - Vinteck Ground Loop Killer - DG B7K ultra
i do not even use an amp, always direct to PA, zero troubles both in reharshal room and live!

 

[Drzejzi]

Got to do a gig with Ryan. He doesn’t even use a compressor anymore. He had two Warwick thumbs. His old modded shaved neck fretted nt5 and his newer custom shop fretless. He had the Warwick LWA 1000 heads and a pair of Warwick 410 cabs but his front of house sound was just him, bass, and a Di that he had sitting next to the amp on top of the cabs. His sound on the LD50 album is what it is because he biamped using an ampeg rig plus a SWR workingman 10 powering a Mesa 412 guitar cab which gave him that unique midrange. But since then he’s been a DI kind of guy. I even talked to him about what new amps he likes and he said he doesn’t really care, that amps are just “sound reinforcement/monitoring” he likes a good DI and in ears if he’s playing anything big like when Mudvayne was still together and when he toured with Korn. His basses are very unique though. He literally let me hold and play his old fretted thumb. His are completely modded. There are no Warwick MEC pickups in his basses. He said playing shows with Mudvayne he would get sweaty and his basses would get soaked and the electronics would go bad so he’s replace them. The neck profiles of his basses are also very different. The fretted thumb was shaved and the fretless was made to be more like the shaved neck. It feels more like a jazz bass like neck profile which I assume is more comfortable for him being a smaller guy. He makes me look like like a giant in the picture below but I’m not even 6’ tall. The action on his basses was a bit of a surprise. It’s relatively high. Which a lot of guys really into getting their tone out of their basses do, but it was surprising because of how technical his playing is. But yeah I think the setups on his basses have a lot to do with his sound

But yeah Ryan is a super nice guy. One of the nicest I’ve met as far as musicians I look up to that I’ve had the pleasure of opening for. Had no idea he lives less than an hour away either. Kind of wish he’d do some private lessons because he has a very unique playing style.

Thanks for sharing this, it was informative
It is interesting that Warwick Thumb is considered to sound best as a bolt on with MEC pickups and Ryan (like all other creative musicians I read about) used whatever was available and achived great results.

 

[crguti]

Do the C8 mod to the Boss ODB-3. It helps a lot to leave the fuzziness out. Then pair it with a Tech 21 VT bass and you will thank me later

 

[AdamR]

Best pedal chain for metal?

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

Probably because the joke is old and lame, and metal players can actually be serious about gear too.

 

[theunknowndude]

It's true that most of the "old school" metal bassist did not use any overdrive/distortion because there weren't good bass distortion pedals on the market (they sounded silly and with no bass at all), but some years ago something happened: Darkglass changed everything!
In my opinion you need a tuner, a comp and a Darkglass, you can chose the one you prefer (for my taste the perfect one is the Alpha/Omega), at the moment my chain is:
Boss TU2 - DG Hyperluminal - MXR 10 band EQ - DG Alpha/Omega - EHX Bassballs - TC Subnup - EHX Small Stone - Vinteck Ground Loop Killer - DG B7K ultra
i do not even use an amp, always direct to PA, zero troubles both in reharshal room and live!

I respectfully disagree... DG is one (and a decent one) but there’s so many other good offerings in 2021... I sold my alpha omicron as got better sounds for me out of mini 66, mbd1 and mxr bass distortion.

that said yeah about 50% of metal bands I follow tend to be on the DG paths. But they also do crazy stuff like play ding walls tuned down to an f# or lower. At that point you probably need the dg harsh attack!

I’d say about the other 30% or so seem to be mxr boards and then the rest other brands.

gojira has an interesting bass chain...

FENDER AMERICAN ELITE PRECISION BASS -> SHURE UR4D WIRELESS -> BOSS TU-3 (STAGE) -> BOSS TU3 (RIG) -> KHDK ABYSS -> IBANEZ TS-7 -> MXR SMART GATE -> FENDER SUPER BASSMAN AMP -> FENDER SUPER BASSMAN STD NEO 8/10 CAB

 

[AlexanderB]

What pedals and in which order should I get for playing heavy metal? Style such as Slipknot, Mudvayne, Slayer, Static-x. I am on a budget but feel the need to add to the tone/sound. I currently have a Vox Stomplab B1 Multi-effect and a
Boss OverDrive ODB-3. I've googled it and there is scattered advice. I just want the simplest way to go. I don't need 100 pedals just 4 or 5 to get me started.

Like some other (gigging) musicians here, tell you that your Ampeg combo is a bottle neck here. Too rolled off, missing clarity in the mids, and not loud enough! If you want a one carry, and loud enough combo for metal, you will have to pay way more...

In many cases, a single OD / eq pedal will get you "in the ball park" tone wise. Then you just need to make it louder.

For comparison, I use a fairly large 210, with a 300W amp for jazz/old pop/country, 8 piece band with a horn secrion, vocal PA only. Sounds really good, with some reserves.
Having tried several of the Ampeg BA combos, I would quickly run into its limitations, even for my moderate needs.

 

[Gigas444]

I respectfully disagree... DG is one (and a decent one) but there’s so many other good offerings in 2021... I sold my alpha omicron as got better sounds for me out of mini 66, mbd1 and mxr bass distortion.

I totally agree with you, what I meant is DG is the first company which offered an overdrive/distortion pedal which does not the bass sound like a guitar (that's why old school metal players did not use distortion in their rig), now that everyone understood the path it's just a matter of taste, like you said in 2021 more or less each pedal manufacturer has a good bass distortion option, it's all up to what you like the best, I suggested DG to the OP just because it's my favourite, but, like you mentioned (and if you have a chance to try them out), there are many good pedals out there

 

[XLunacy]

What made the most difference for me at the beginning was the technique, so depending on where you currently are, you might gain a lot by learning how to aggressively pluck the strings. The setup of the bass (action) is essential in order to achieve this. Learn from Steve Harris and the likes.



Then come the pedals...

 

[NortyFiner]

I'm a beginner Ive only been playing for 6 months . I'm not sure how to explain the sound. Listen to any Slipknot bassline that's pretty much it or any Slayer song . I've played with every knob on my guitars and amp to try and get the tone and not getting it. I've found countless videos online no clear definite answer.

Last I knew, the only "effect" Tom Araya uses most of the time is a dbx 160A compressor, which is a slightly pricy rack mount. To get close to that sound in a pedal, you'll want something like the Keeley Bassist compressor.

 

[Deleted member 132197]

Lol, your a bass player, not a lead guitar player! haha....that's too much..you would do just fine with a Darkglass B7K.

He would do fine with a bass and an amp. But that's besides the point. Pedals and effects are fun!

 

[René_Julien]

Last I knew, the only "effect" Tom Araya uses most of the time is a dbx 160A compressor, which is a slightly pricy rack mount. To get close to that sound in a pedal, you'll want something like the Keeley Bassist compressor.

Or a Maxon CP9-PRO+, I love mine. Even the BOSS LMB-3 is very adequate on the cheap.

 

[Obese Chess]

You're on the right track in that a good place to start is always going to be "what are the guys whose tones I like using?" - but Paul Gray, Tom Araya, Ryan Martinie, and Tony Campos all have very different tones. Take what you like and leave what you don't.

As a primarily metal bass player myself, I will tell you a few things - number one, get a CLEAN tone you are happy with first. Pedals will only modify the sound going into them. Tweak your settings until you are playing at home or with your band and you look over at your amp and go "damn, that sounds GOOD." This may require new basses or amps and will be the most personal part of this. Then add pedals for flavor.

From there, it's going to be personal preference, though your bandmates, engineers, and sound guys will have their own opinions. For a very long time I ran straight into a Darkglass B7K. I have since pulled the B7K off the board and will be replacing it with an Empress Bass Compressor into a Damnation Audio MBD-2. The B7K sounds great, but it's not the sound I hear in my head anymore. The "game-changer" on the Darkglass stuff is the clean blend, which is to say that it blends some of your clean sound in to the distorted signal in order to keep the low end and help the tone "cut through" the mix. The good news is that there are now lows of pedals that do the same thing, and independent circuits, such as the Damnation Loop Blender ("Bloop") that will add this functionality.

Be prepared to buy, sell, and trade a lot throughout your career as your needs and desires change. Have fun and experiment!