• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

newbie here..need help..planning on using effects for my bass

I like Pino Palladino, Nathan East and the bassist from Dave Matthews band..yeah of course wooten..Incognito also..

I play mostly fingers..I haven't experienced that nice and even sound that you guys get in a compression..maybe its my curiosity..

Yeah, tough call on the comp. It's a deep rabbit hole that's dark and murky. If you do skip the compressor for now, until you see an obvious need for it then research the hell out of it. In fact, start researching the hell out of it now, before you need it and then if you do find a need, you're already well-educated on the topic.


For shear fun and copping some Palladino-isms, try an octaver.


I'm a long-term newb, I'll probably never be able to give up my newb-player status. To do that I'd need to practice.
 
  • Like
Reactions: blindrabbit
This is what I am currently using for effects.

pedal.jpg


1 - First I run into an equalizer

2 - Then I split the signal into 4 parallel signals with a rolls mixer.

3 - I run one of the parallel lines into the Line6 bass pod where I model an acoustic 360 with a rat or big muff distortion pedal. I use this to get a retro growlly distorted sound. Or I also model an Ampeg fliptop with the Rat Distortion pedal. And I also Model an old Marshall amp. With the bass pod I can get a wide range of clean or dirty sounds and various effects and model different amps and speaker cabinets.

4 - The second parallel signal goes into a MXR bass di+. I use this pedal to get a clean modern sound. It also has a distortion button that can give a moderate to extreme amount of modern distortion.

5 - The third parallel signal goes into a Marshall Guv'nor. This gives me an old 60s marshall stack sound. This can go from a small amount of distortion to an over the top marshall sound. This effect can give you a the classic Jack Bruce Cream tone.

6 - The fourth parallel signal goes into a Tech21 VT Bass pedal. With this effect I get a slightly dirty Ampeg SVT bass amp sound with a tube like growl.

7 - Then I remix the 4 signals back together and run it into a bass amp, or pa, or studio mixer. Because the signals are parallel I can mix clean and overdriven sounds together and still get effect and a sound that punches through the mix.

Schematic diagram of my effects.

effects-sch.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: phil-am
fyi, my bass is active cort C4 artisan and my amp is hartke A70..im planning to use effects, I've never used effects before as I'm really not into effects and have little knowledge until I've joined talkbass and reading some stuff here..

Here are my list, MXR bass preamp, MXRT studio compressor and ditto loop tuner (or X2 looper).

I'm planning to include Boss Tuner just for the bypass and buffer thing, I'm not sure if I need it since my pick up is active.

Is this is a nice set-up for someone starting to use effects?
Is this the basic set-up?
I like to begin with just a simple set-up to understand more clearly and not just use effects.

Feel free to comment, love to hear all the feedbacks from you all
You can advise other brands too as I'm not too familiar

Thank you
Loopers I mainly use at home, dirt like overdrives and fuzz are very usable. I also use delay which for the band it’s more for Hollywood endings but at home with the looper I use it for melody parts and ambience like big swells into the delay to create a pad vibe.
 
  • Like
Reactions: phil-am
This is what I am currently using for effects.

View attachment 2805576

1 - First I run into an equalizer

2 - Then I split the signal into 4 parallel signals with a rolls mixer.

3 - I run one of the parallel lines into the Line6 bass pod where I model an acoustic 360 with a rat or big muff distortion pedal. I use this to get a retro growlly distorted sound. Or I also model an Ampeg fliptop with the Rat Distortion pedal. And I also Model an old Marshall amp. With the bass pod I can get a wide range of clean or dirty sounds and various effects and model different amps and speaker cabinets.

4 - The second parallel signal goes into a MXR bass di+. I use this pedal to get a clean modern sound. It also has a distortion button that can give a moderate to extreme amount of modern distortion.

5 - The third parallel signal goes into a Marshall Guv'nor. This gives me an old 60s marshall stack sound. This can go from a small amount of distortion to an over the top marshall sound. This effect can give you a the classic Jack Bruce Cream tone.

6 - The fourth parallel signal goes into a Tech21 VT Bass pedal. With this effect I get a slightly dirty Ampeg SVT bass amp sound with a tube like growl.

7 - Then I remix the 4 signals back together and run it into a bass amp, or pa, or studio mixer. Because the signals are parallel I can mix clean and overdriven sounds together and still get effect and a sound that punches through the mix.

Schematic diagram of my effects.

View attachment 2805577

nice set-up brother..
ill take note some of your effects..
 
Yeah, tough call on the comp. It's a deep rabbit hole that's dark and murky. If you do skip the compressor for now, until you see an obvious need for it then research the hell out of it. In fact, start researching the hell out of it now, before you need it and then if you do find a need, you're already well-educated on the topic.


For shear fun and copping some Palladino-isms, try an octaver.


I'm a long-term newb, I'll probably never be able to give up my newb-player status. To do that I'd need to practice.

noted on the octave..
yeah I'm already researching and reading articles regarding compression..
I also encountered some mind blowing articles..which I cannot fathom due to my limited knowledge lol..
 
I'm a huge effects junkie, I love how stepping on a box instantly can change tone and inspire one's work. THAT being said, my bare bones board is a tuner, compressor, octave, overdrive/DI (think ToneHammer or MXR M80) in that order.

Tuner - Must have for a gigging musician. Also doubles as a mute which is super helpful.

Compressor - Compressors are interesting because they can go from squeaky clean to rather "dirty" and/or squishy. A lot of a bassist's tone can be influenced by their compressor, in both a positive and negative way. Check out the difference between the MXR M87 and the Fairfield Accountant...you'll see what I mean. I'll go out here and say that more subtle compression is definitely more noticeable in the studio, but live, heavier compression and peak limiting makes playing significantly easier when switching between a pick/fingers/slap and taming peaky effects. It's just a good tool to have on standby and you should definitely know how to use one.

Octave - I play 5 and 6 strings pretty regularly, but nothing beats the beefy subs of an analog octave. It can change your tone rather dramatically and adds a lot to a song. Honestly, I consider it an essential given the versatility of it. It can be used during climatic parts to fill out the wall of sound, solo'd to create a sub/synthy bass or used in conjunction with fuzz and filters to emulate an analog synth.

OD/DI/EQ - It's just the perfect tone shaper. There's a reason why Sansamps are so popular, and its because they afford a bassist SO much flexibility in such a small package. I use mine essentially as an amp head, but also as an active EQ for passive basses. The OD can be always on, or kicked in for some grind, or set as a clean boost. See where I'm going with this? Plus, you can send your sound straight to the board.

All other effects are just gravy, and for those I'd definitely look into a decent multi. Find out what you like, and dedicate the time and money into those specific effects. Sorry if this was wordy, and enjoy the descent down the rabbit hole!
 
actually my friend gave me a zoom pedal, forgot the name of the model..i think its ZOOM II, I guess..it's a small stomp box with 2 pedal and lots of combination which really discouraged me to use..

The B3 is more user friendly than the older ones from what I understand. If you can figure out the navigation it's a good way to hear what different effects sound like without spending any extra money.

One older Zoom model in particular is supposed to be horrible, not sure which one off the top of my head. Hope it's not the one you inherited.

I'm pretty happy with my B3.
 
  • Like
Reactions: phil-am
I'm a huge effects junkie, I love how stepping on a box instantly can change tone and inspire one's work. THAT being said, my bare bones board is a tuner, compressor, octave, overdrive/DI (think ToneHammer or MXR M80) in that order.

Tuner - Must have for a gigging musician. Also doubles as a mute which is super helpful.

Compressor - Compressors are interesting because they can go from squeaky clean to rather "dirty" and/or squishy. A lot of a bassist's tone can be influenced by their compressor, in both a positive and negative way. Check out the difference between the MXR M87 and the Fairfield Accountant...you'll see what I mean. I'll go out here and say that more subtle compression is definitely more noticeable in the studio, but live, heavier compression and peak limiting makes playing significantly easier when switching between a pick/fingers/slap and taming peaky effects. It's just a good tool to have on standby and you should definitely know how to use one.

Octave - I play 5 and 6 strings pretty regularly, but nothing beats the beefy subs of an analog octave. It can change your tone rather dramatically and adds a lot to a song. Honestly, I consider it an essential given the versatility of it. It can be used during climatic parts to fill out the wall of sound, solo'd to create a sub/synthy bass or used in conjunction with fuzz and filters to emulate an analog synth.

OD/DI/EQ - It's just the perfect tone shaper. There's a reason why Sansamps are so popular, and its because they afford a bassist SO much flexibility in such a small package. I use mine essentially as an amp head, but also as an active EQ for passive basses. The OD can be always on, or kicked in for some grind, or set as a clean boost. See where I'm going with this? Plus, you can send your sound straight to the board.

All other effects are just gravy, and for those I'd definitely look into a decent multi. Find out what you like, and dedicate the time and money into those specific effects. Sorry if this was wordy, and enjoy the descent down the rabbit hole!

thank u sir for your inputs..
yeah tuner a must..
still searching for the compressor that won't hurt my pocket at the same delivers its purpose..
 
thank u sir for your inputs..
yeah tuner a must..
still searching for the compressor that won't hurt my pocket at the same delivers its purpose..

Try in person whenever you can and research, research, research! There's a bunch of great, affordable comps but you really have to know which features you need and want. Also exploit the search feature...a lot of the questions you will have, have most likely been asked already. Happy hunting
 
  • Like
Reactions: phil-am
oh ok noted..firs time saw a rolls mixer, what does it do?
It's how Ric5 gets his parallel processing - it just takes one signal and splits it into 4 copies, and he sends each copy into a different effect.

The difference is, for instance, say you have an Octave pedal and a Fuzz pedal - most of us would run one into the other, creating a more crushing fuzz at the lower register (octave >> fuzz) or a more usual fuzz with a deeper low backing it (fuzz >> octave). But with a parallel setup like a little mixer or splitter, you can have both effects applied just to the dry signal at the same time, so you get normal fuzz and a normal low octave sound that can then be mixed back together.
 
  • Like
Reactions: phil-am
It's how Ric5 gets his parallel processing - it just takes one signal and splits it into 4 copies, and he sends each copy into a different effect.

The difference is, for instance, say you have an Octave pedal and a Fuzz pedal - most of us would run one into the other, creating a more crushing fuzz at the lower register (octave >> fuzz) or a more usual fuzz with a deeper low backing it (fuzz >> octave). But with a parallel setup like a little mixer or splitter, you can have both effects applied just to the dry signal at the same time, so you get normal fuzz and a normal low octave sound that can then be mixed back together.

ok, I now get it..
so this is the much better set up, using a little mixer or splitter since effects are applied evenly? compared if without mixer/splitter
and is it recommended to have 2 mixer/splitter?