Moog 101 problems

Keeping unity gain is genuinely a PITA in many cases. Enough so that many people will just say "it's the nature of the beast, live with it" ...even though it does not have to be that way.

I think an ideal chain would have a clean and controllable gain stage in front of any pedals that need hotter input, and a clean and controllable passive volume knob after any pedals that have higher-than-unity output. So one example would be a clean boost pedal near the beginning and a volume pedal near the end. The tidier approach is to choose useful pedals which already incorporate these functions. So e.g. a compressor or overdrive with some extra gain near the beginning, and an EQ or amp modeler with output level controls near the end.

In the case of the sensitivity of the Moog, try putting a clean boost between your bass and the Moog, see if that helps.

 

I'll never understand why that pedal doesn't have separate sensitivity and volume controls. If it did, I would have kept mine. Two things I did to keep it from driving me insane were 1) putting it in an effects loop, and 2) placing it at the end of my signal chain, with the input volume on my amp turned down to compensate for the massive volume it blasts with proper Drive settings.

 

i put it quite late in my signal chain: after my BSW, BMS but before my bass murf. That way I can use the expression pedal plugged into the cutoff knob to filter out the trebbly distortion the other pedals produce in a semi artistic way

 

On the subject of Unity Gain, I tend to set things for unity gain or close to it when not in a rehearsal environ. when I get to rehearsing with a pedal, I will change things like gain and make them work in a band situation.

When stacking pedals, It is pretty hard to make them behave at unity gain.

 

I gave up long ago trying to fiddle with pedals to try to achieve the sound I want at unity gain. My solution now is to just stick a limiter (Boss LMB-3 currently) at the end of my chain, which cuts the volume back down to wherever I want it.

 

+1

Putting a buffer (Catalinbread Serrano Picoso is a good one) at the front of my chain eliminated a lot of headaches I was having trying to balance out my board (specifically around the MF101.) It's also extremely handy for when you change basses i.e. going from active to passive, you just turn up the buffer volume and now you've got the same signal level going into the rest of your gear. Smaller and more flexible than an AB box.

I also agree about the volume pedal; unfortunately mine gets used as an expensive mute button most of the time, but it's great to be able to back off when you turn on a particularly hot overdrive or whatever (the GeminiDrive comes to mind: that pedal is either OFF or EXTREMELY LOUD).

 

I'm bringing this thread back up, hoping my question is relevant enough.

Basically, in doing some research on trying to achieve an authentic jungle sound, the Moog lowpass filter kept coming up. So I went on a little scavenger hunt to find this pedal. I managed to find it in a store, and told the guys working there that I wanted to try it out on a bass. (They kind of gave me a strange look, so I told them that I wanted to combine it with an octave pedal to get a jungle sound.)

Anyway, the guy at the store plugs a bass in and plugs the output into an amp. All of a sudden, there was a huge sound and I could see the speaker cone just about burst! The guy started twiddling the knobs trying to find a "flat" setting, but it just sounded like the signal from the instrument was really weak. So, more twiddling with the knobs, and again, a huge bang which could probably damage the speakers.

In the end, the guy was like, "I think this thing is broken..." I haven't had any experience with the pedal since, but from anyone's experience, was something wrong with the pedal, or is this "normal behavior" of the pedal combined with sales staff who didn't know the product? I got the impression that you really have to know what you're doing with this pedal or you might end up damaging your amp.

Sorry for the total newbie question, but I'm hoping I can get over this experience and resume my quest for the jungle tone!

 

If the guy was just 'fiddling' the knobs and turned the 'resonance' up to 8.5+, then the filter will 'self-oscillate', ie produce a loud static tone that will change with movement of the "frequency" knob. This can be dangerous if you have your amp turned up loudly and get it to self-oscillate, as it oscillates much louder than Unity so you need to plan for that if you want to use it as an oscillator.

If you're going for a thick sub-bass tone, plug into the Octave and set the octave to 1 octave down and no dry signal, then from the Octave into the Lowpass filter with the 'Envelope' at 0, 'Mix' at 10, Resonance at Noon for starters (then adjust to taste), and the "Frequency between 9 and 12, and adjust from there. Anytime you turn the Resonance up to 8.5 or higher, it will self oscillate loudly-- this can be useful and fun(ie making noise), but be ready for it.

For regular envelope filter tones, put the 'Envelope' to 10, Resonance around 8 or so, and start the Frequency around 9-10ish, and again adjust to taste.

 

Yes, the guy could certainly have set it with a high resonance, which can blow speakers if you're not careful.

 

Thanks guys! That's definitely good to know. The pedal should come with a warning sign. Then again, I guess these pedals weren't designed especially for bass, so they won't be as fool-proof as an octave pedal. But lesson learned - be careful with the resonance.

 

If you're having Moog problems I feel bad for you son, I got 101 problems but a Moog ain't one.

 

LOL!

 

Haha awesome

 

Actually there is a large warning in the manual about this IIRC