Multiple pedals with dry blend

[x52dcd]

Hey all;

Seems like most pedals tailored for bass come equipped with a "dry blend" these days. My board currently has 3: Wonderlove, B3K, and a new Source Audio Orbital modulator.

It's not very often that I run these simultaneously, but if I did, and assuming I had less than 50% dry mixed in (I usually go about 1/3), obviously the dry signal would degrade at each stage as it goes through the chain.

Are there any tips/tricks to get a good balance among the pedals in this scenario, or would I be better off just using a dedicated blend pedal and running all the effects 100% wet? I was hoping to avoid adding an extra pedal and steps to my tap dance routine

 

[MCS4]

My vote is that you're overthinking this. While the pedals may have dry mix settings, you still have only one input and output on each pedal -- so you aren't really sending more or less "dry" signal, you are just sending a signal wherein the effect is more or less obvious. By your logic, a pedal without a blend knob would somehow fully "degrade" your signal.

That being said, it may pay off for you to experiment with the order of those pedals and blend settings to find the optimum setup for the combinations you'll regularly use -- but my guess is that the blend setting you prefer for using a given pedal by itself will be perfectly fine for matching with the others, unless one of them is really sensitive to input tone.

P.S. I have a dedicated blender pedal with a few effects in the loop, but most of the time I run it 100% wet and use the blend knobs on the individual pedals.

 

[x52dcd]

Thanks - I may very well be overthinking it. And by "degrade", all I meant was that the dry signal would be less apparent. A dedicated blend is probably the best route for me to maintain a consistent dry component regardless of pedal combination...

 

[MCS4]

Thanks - I may very well be overthinking it. And by "degrade", all I meant was that the dry signal would be less apparent. A dedicated blend is probably the best route for me to maintain a consistent dry component regardless of pedal combination...

Speaking as someone who uses a blend, I don't think you would notice a difference on that count unless you actually have a pedal that causes problems (i.e. a pedal with no blend that causes too much low-end loss or tone coloration). If the pedals each individually preserve your tone in a way you are happy with, I doubt that using a couple of them at the same time will make any difference. But there's also no harm in picking up a blender and experimenting with what sounds best either way (and they have other uses... I use mine primarily to activate and deactivate combinations of multiple pedals with one footswitch).

 

[DagoMaino]

If your intent is to have a consistent blend of clean signal regardless of if you have one or all of the effects engaged then logic would say that you will need a separate blend pedal. This will also give you a lot of versatility in your routing to have a "master" blend and individual blend options. It all depends on how you want your signal to blend.