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My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal
- Thread starter el murdoque
- Start date
I'll try that when I get my hands on my TH500, but that's in a rehearsal room right now.
Is that a Hurrah because my choice fell on the brand you favour or is it because that chorus nonsense in this dirt thread is finally over?
That’s exactly the sort of situation in which I’ve used the THDI as a one-pedal board, powered by the board. Don’t know if that gives you time to figure out the pedal, but I’m sure a chap with your sensibilities could do that in vivo.
I actually thought about just that, and about how the Tonehammer could become the center piece of my "fly rig" pedalboard.
But in that particular instance, we had a percussionist, a guitar player, a synth/keys player and a guy with handpans,
so I opted for the less minimal approach and it was the right call. I played very little 'natural' bass and leaned heavily on effects.
Definitely the former. I know this is the dirt jounal, but I enjoy modulation of all stripes and the conversations in this thread tend to be very enlightening and enjoyable without any of the pointless rancour that seems increasingly to mar the exchange of ideas elsewhere on TB. I came for the dirt, but stay for the tangents. And the dirt.
Absolutely. It’s not going to work in too many situations for an effects-sophisticate like your good self, but it’ll do in a pinch for those of us down here in peanut butter and jelly-land
.
Here is a fun little clip of the Tone Hammer and other dirt in the CCM classic "Bethel" style. It's been one of my tone goals for the past year or so. "I just find that....nice."
Do you vary how much HPF’ing you do according to the kick drum’s space? Or any other instruments? Pick vs finger playing? 100hz through cans makes it feel like dynamics are tossed out the window. That said, I do find myself backing off the lows lately, just not so heavily.
Same question, but I suppose that the google AI answer upon entering "CCM Bethel" is right and it's a worship band called Bethel Music that is/was featured in the CCM Magazine.
It's all by feel- also consider that when talking HPF, the "cutoff" frequency is usually the -3dB point (barely any cut at all) so with a typical 12db/octave filter like found in most HPF products you still have plenty of response in that 80-100hz range especially with a speaker cabinet that emphasizes it like a sealed 810 (or 610 in my case)- I'd sooner FOH not even have much sub to overpower the bass mix too in many cases, but that depends on the band I'm playing in at the time (sometimes the sub is needed). In most cases if I'm setting an HPF higher like that it is also because of a bassier tone going elsewhere too- either boosted bass on the amp (the HPF helps center that boost higher and roll off any shelving effect) or a bassier/rounder direct bass tone (I just recorded a record where I was heavily favoring the neck pickup of a Rickenbacker which is capable of very pillowy low end, then used a pretty dramatic HPF in the box to tighten it right up). HPFs can be a cool way to shape the bass response of other parts of the chain nicely, a really useful tool to have!
I also tend to set my HPF by ear, and usually end up higher than I anticipate - mostly in the 75Hz area. I boost bass on the preamp and then play low notes and raise the HPF. On the first increments the signal gets better to my ear, because the mud disappears. At some point my ear yells "wait a moment, I want to keep hearing that!", and I know that backing off one notch will get me the HPF setting I want.
CCM is contemporary christian music. Bethel is a church in Redding California has pioneered a distinct sound that features quite overdriven bass tones, has made the Tone Hammer w/AGS somewhat standard. The EHX Bass Microsynth is often used for "big moments" and also helps create that signature bass sound. Lots of dirt.
Interesting! I always put distorted bass tones to music that is not played in churches, unless they are on fire.
But of course, music is music and religion is religion.
And bass dirt is bass dirt.
Great tones.
I like both the original TH tone (first 5-10 seconds) and the second tone with Kilt engaged...
Thanks guys, I'll give a higher HPF a shot next time I play live through a cab. I imagine with room resonances and subs happening you can get by with the higher cutoffs.
I need to start this post with a grain of salt. The last time I contacted Aguilar with a specific question, a guy named Marco did reply. Given that I wrote my mail in the morning, which means it arrived in Brooklyn in the dead of night, I got a super quick reply (I imagined Marco just having arrived at his desk with his first coffee), and my followup question was replied within minutes. The message I sent this morning generated an auto-reply thanking me for reaching out to Korg customer service, with the info that their answer will take one to three days.
But now: Hammer Time!
I feel that there is a difference in the input stage when comparing the TH500 and the pedal.
On the Amp, I usually run gain at zero, to make sure I don't get unwanted dirt, because from noon onwards, there's dirt happening, with the drive knob at zero. On the Pedal, I don't really get much drive, even with the gain dimed.
The amp has the input pad, and the pedal does not - might they have opted for an in-between setting that makes the pedal work with both loud active preamps and passive basses?
Is the Tone Hammer a capable preamp? The short answer is yes. The long answer is "Yes, of course it is!"
Is this the preamp thread? The only answer is no.
This is the dirt jounal, so I'm not gonna go on about how good or bad that thing is in terms of preamping my signal. I'm stomping the AGS knob and write about what happens.
I'm gonna stop drawing parallels to the amp here, too. What if you never played a Tone Hammer product? You'll here me rambling about how this is similar to the amp while this is not and you're none the wiser afterwards.
With the AGS active and the gain low, the response from the pedal qualifies as amp like. There is a gentle push back, and the playing dynamics offer you a good range of grind, from gentle to clearly audible.
The dirt that comes out of the Hammer does not sound very hammery. Actually, the Chinese copycats from DemonFX did find a better term when they did their rip off: Tone Mallet. I don't hear hammer striking anvil when I make the TH pedal shout, I hear a mallet striking hardwood. The hardwood has been soaked in water for a day or two, though.
It's a rich and organic grind, but in no means fancy. It's not that grind a tattooed guy with man bun and silky smooth full beard gets out of a Mahlkönig EK43 in the shop down the street. It's the grind that helps you wake up in the morning and get you through the day.
The AGS gets that steep drop off at 4k, like a bass cab would if it does not come with a tweeter, and that is a good thing, for the pedal works well without any cab sim engaged. The output is pleasing to the ear, even if you run the Tonehammer directly into the board.
The dirt the pedal supplies to the tone has, along to the organic qualities, a texture that is not best described as coarse, but it's also not fine. Compare pebbles on a beach to gravel of the same size from a gravel pit and you kind of get what I mean. It's no fun running barefoot on either, but while gravel can actually break skin, the beach pebbles only give a massage that is too intense for enjoyment. The Tonehammer grit is large, but not very coarse.
This nestles the bass sound very well in a mix, no matter if there's plenty of room for it to breathe or if it's fighting for dominance against driven guitars and drums.
I feel that the Tonehammer has many similarities with both the Sasamp BDDI and the Origin Bassrig Super Vintage.
It's a pedal that works, in a no nonsense blue collar fashion. It gets the job done - and that in itself has beauty.
But apart from that, you get to work the amount and texture of the dirt you're getting here.
There is that steep drop off at 4kHz caused by the AGS. And there is the treble knob that acts in that exact spot. You can use that to shape the top end of your drive signal in a meaningful way. Turn up the grit and then turn down the treble - grit gone. Turn up the grit and turn up the treble - even more grit and it's grittier.
Then, there are the parametric mids that feel like they are situated pre-drive, and those can really shape the tonal character of the drive in a mix. With the rather low frequency range of 180Hz-1000Hz, I found it useful to have a solid boost at 1000, to bring the articulation forward. A good alternative use is a slight bump in the 500-600Hz area to bring it forward in a mix. Something you would not do when playing a P bass because it already has enough of that, but any dual pickup bass can greatly benefit from that. Too much and it gets honky, but just the right amount and it gets present.
If there is enough of both articulation and presence in the mix, there's still the lower region, to pull the poor man's pultec trick by boosting bass and then cutting the lowest mids to avoid a mud slide.
All that does, as I said, not only EQ your signal, but boosting these frequencies feels like shining a spotlight on the dirt response in that particular area. There is more dirt in the selected place. This is a weirdly magical dual use of something as innocent as a parametric mids EQ.
But now: Hammer Time!
I feel that there is a difference in the input stage when comparing the TH500 and the pedal.
On the Amp, I usually run gain at zero, to make sure I don't get unwanted dirt, because from noon onwards, there's dirt happening, with the drive knob at zero. On the Pedal, I don't really get much drive, even with the gain dimed.
The amp has the input pad, and the pedal does not - might they have opted for an in-between setting that makes the pedal work with both loud active preamps and passive basses?
Is the Tone Hammer a capable preamp? The short answer is yes. The long answer is "Yes, of course it is!"
Is this the preamp thread? The only answer is no.
This is the dirt jounal, so I'm not gonna go on about how good or bad that thing is in terms of preamping my signal. I'm stomping the AGS knob and write about what happens.
I'm gonna stop drawing parallels to the amp here, too. What if you never played a Tone Hammer product? You'll here me rambling about how this is similar to the amp while this is not and you're none the wiser afterwards.
With the AGS active and the gain low, the response from the pedal qualifies as amp like. There is a gentle push back, and the playing dynamics offer you a good range of grind, from gentle to clearly audible.
The dirt that comes out of the Hammer does not sound very hammery. Actually, the Chinese copycats from DemonFX did find a better term when they did their rip off: Tone Mallet. I don't hear hammer striking anvil when I make the TH pedal shout, I hear a mallet striking hardwood. The hardwood has been soaked in water for a day or two, though.
It's a rich and organic grind, but in no means fancy. It's not that grind a tattooed guy with man bun and silky smooth full beard gets out of a Mahlkönig EK43 in the shop down the street. It's the grind that helps you wake up in the morning and get you through the day.
The AGS gets that steep drop off at 4k, like a bass cab would if it does not come with a tweeter, and that is a good thing, for the pedal works well without any cab sim engaged. The output is pleasing to the ear, even if you run the Tonehammer directly into the board.
The dirt the pedal supplies to the tone has, along to the organic qualities, a texture that is not best described as coarse, but it's also not fine. Compare pebbles on a beach to gravel of the same size from a gravel pit and you kind of get what I mean. It's no fun running barefoot on either, but while gravel can actually break skin, the beach pebbles only give a massage that is too intense for enjoyment. The Tonehammer grit is large, but not very coarse.
This nestles the bass sound very well in a mix, no matter if there's plenty of room for it to breathe or if it's fighting for dominance against driven guitars and drums.
I feel that the Tonehammer has many similarities with both the Sasamp BDDI and the Origin Bassrig Super Vintage.
It's a pedal that works, in a no nonsense blue collar fashion. It gets the job done - and that in itself has beauty.
But apart from that, you get to work the amount and texture of the dirt you're getting here.
There is that steep drop off at 4kHz caused by the AGS. And there is the treble knob that acts in that exact spot. You can use that to shape the top end of your drive signal in a meaningful way. Turn up the grit and then turn down the treble - grit gone. Turn up the grit and turn up the treble - even more grit and it's grittier.
Then, there are the parametric mids that feel like they are situated pre-drive, and those can really shape the tonal character of the drive in a mix. With the rather low frequency range of 180Hz-1000Hz, I found it useful to have a solid boost at 1000, to bring the articulation forward. A good alternative use is a slight bump in the 500-600Hz area to bring it forward in a mix. Something you would not do when playing a P bass because it already has enough of that, but any dual pickup bass can greatly benefit from that. Too much and it gets honky, but just the right amount and it gets present.
If there is enough of both articulation and presence in the mix, there's still the lower region, to pull the poor man's pultec trick by boosting bass and then cutting the lowest mids to avoid a mud slide.
All that does, as I said, not only EQ your signal, but boosting these frequencies feels like shining a spotlight on the dirt response in that particular area. There is more dirt in the selected place. This is a weirdly magical dual use of something as innocent as a parametric mids EQ.
This is basically how I do it too. I have the Empress Bass ParaEQ. I set my bass frequency at 80-100hz with a pretty generous boost of 12db. Setting the HPF by ear I usually end up somewhere in the 75-85hz. In addition to cleaning up mud at the bottom, the accompanying boost thickens up the D/G strings nicely too.
