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Only one effect pedal for metal music
- Thread starter lexxmexx
- Start date
- Sep 26, 2005
- 1,955
- 641
- Disclosures
- endorsing artist: Dean guitars, Marshall , Rotosound strings
i'd have to suggest either a serious valve amp driven well, or if you are using a solid state amp, a low gain OD like the Cream Pie or the Ashdown James LoMenzo Hyperdrive to add a little 'hair' or grit to the signal.
EDIT: might also be worth considering the MXR M80 DI+ as it has loads of different functions (different EQ options, Distortion, Decent DI)
if cutting through is an issue - nothing solves that better than adding more speakers to your rig (maybe even speakers either side of your drummer)
I've done demos on the MT-2, HM-2, and Bluebeard. Those might be worth it for metal, but a good clean signal is certainly paramount. If you tune the MT-2 with boosted mids, you can still cut through.
Valnott or whatever it's called
+1...
Anyways, I suggest an overdrive of some sorts. A lot of them boost the mids anyways.
+1 to checking out Spanky's demos. Pure awesome!
The MT-2 is the first pedal I ever bought. And it was my only pedal for the first several years.
Despite all the nay-sayers, this pedal does work well on bass. You just have to figure out how.
I can't get rid of this pedal, nostalgic reasons.
These days I prefer the Phat Hed in overdrive mode.
+2 Those demos are very good. By a bassist, for bassists. Not like those stupid demos from the manufacturer themself.
A already have a plugin tuner, so this has been taken care of 
It seems to have narrowed down to the overdrive and EQ. I am not good at setting EQs even on my stereos
I might not even know how to use it. What kind of music are ODs suitable for? I know that Greenday uses it quite a lot.
It seems to have narrowed down to the overdrive and EQ. I am not good at setting EQs even on my stereos
I might not even know how to use it. What kind of music are ODs suitable for? I know that Greenday uses it quite a lot.
bongomania
Commercial User
Every kind. I've heard overdriven tones in electric jazz, Motown, pop, etc. it doesn't have to be an extreme effect, just something to put some "hair" on your tone. FWIW though this:
An overdrive is nice, and a good thing to have, but way below the points above in terms of getting a good metal tone.
...is the real deal. All the time we get people posting in here "I want a heavy metal tone" and it turns out they're playing through a 30W amp and slapping. You need a big amp to get a powerful sound; you need to boost your mids to cut through the mix; new strings and a pick will give the sharp aggro cutting quality that also helps bassists cut through and sound articulate.
An overdrive is nice, and a good thing to have, but way below the points above in terms of getting a good metal tone.
A already have a plugin tuner, so this has been taken care of
It seems to have narrowed down to the overdrive and EQ. I am not good at setting EQs even on my stereos
EQ: the BOSS GEB-7 is the most obvious one.
My fav setting for metal is:
50 : +5
120 : +10
400 : 0
500 : -5
800 : 0
4.5K : +10
10K : +10
Some prefer a more scooped out setting, but this is a bit more subtle but still awesome.
If you place this before a overdrive or distortion pedal, it will color your drive effect.
There are fine lines between overdrives, distortions and fuzzes.
Distortion isn't only for metal. Overdrive isn't only for blues and rock.
They deliver a different grade of drive, to your own likings, in any genre of music. (Well, jazz is out of the question I guess.)
The kind of drive pedal isn't restricted to a genre of music. Your playing style and other factor in your setup mainly define the sound suitable for a genre.
I alway believed EQ does more definition for a certain "genre" sound. Drive is brought in to the levels you want.
I don't like distortion on bass anymore. Either it was too guitar-like, or it became too muddy and fuzz like.
Overdrive will do...
It seems to have narrowed down to the overdrive and EQ. I am not good at setting EQs even on my stereos
IMO, you don't need an EQ pedal for metal. The EQ on your amp should be good enough. Assuming your amp is good enough, anyway... a good amp and cabinet are necessary for a good bass tone, regardless of genre. No effects pedal can shortcut that necessity.
Usually, I'd only recommend an EQ pedal if you want to change your tone at the stomp of a switch without fiddling with your amp's EQ knobs. Otherwise, you really don't need one.
For setting your EQ... what amp are you using? Generally, I'd do this: set your EQ knobs to 12:00 (the center position). Then turn up the mids a bit to 1:00 or 2:00. Feel free to turn the treble up or down if you'd like. I wouldn't suggest boosting the bass... while it might sound cool on a small amp, it'll eat up a lot of your power when using a large rig at high volumes, and that'll detract from your clarity and how much volume you can safely get out of your rig. Bass may make the audience feel your notes, but mids will let them hear those notes.
As for overdrive... it can be very useful in metal, but it's found a home in pretty much every genre. Often, in rock and metal genres, the overdrive you hear from the bassist is actually coming from his amp, with the gain turned up enough to get that drive. Sometimes, it's a pedal (especially when it's a ridiculous amount of distortion), but often, it's just the amp.
As for getting a good metal tone... mids are key to standing out, but that doesn't mean you have to crank them to 11. However, I would certainly caution against a mid scoop, as it will definitely bury you in a mix.
I'm in a metal band, and I do use a few effects... but most of the time, it's just a clean tone with a pick, and boosted mids. For two songs, I use the overdrive channel on my amp. For three songs, I use a flanger pedal. And for one song, I go nuts with a fuzz pedal.
But the important thing to note about my use of effects is that I'm very careful about how I implemented them. For example, I only use my flanger for the mellow passages in a few of our songs, because it doesn't stand out very well in thick, distorted guitar riff, and I don't want to put too much in the mix.
IMO, you don't need an EQ pedal for metal. The EQ on your amp should be good enough. Assuming your amp is good enough, anyway... a good amp and cabinet are necessary for a good bass tone, regardless of genre. No effects pedal can shortcut that necessity.
Usually, I'd only recommend an EQ pedal if you want to change your tone at the stomp of a switch without fiddling with your amp's EQ knobs. Otherwise, you really don't need one.
For setting your EQ... what amp are you using? Generally, I'd do this: set your EQ knobs to 12:00 (the center position). Then turn up the mids a bit to 1:00 or 2:00. Feel free to turn the treble up or down if you'd like. I wouldn't suggest boosting the bass... while it might sound cool on a small amp, it'll eat up a lot of your power when using a large rig at high volumes, and that'll detract from your clarity and how much volume you can safely get out of your rig. Bass may make the audience feel your notes, but mids will let them hear those notes.
As for overdrive... it can be very useful in metal, but it's found a home in pretty much every genre. Often, in rock and metal genres, the overdrive you hear from the bassist is actually coming from his amp, with the gain turned up enough to get that drive. Sometimes, it's a pedal (especially when it's a ridiculous amount of distortion), but often, it's just the amp.
As for getting a good metal tone... mids are key to standing out, but that doesn't mean you have to crank them to 11. However, I would certainly caution against a mid scoop, as it will definitely bury you in a mix.
I'm in a metal band, and I do use a few effects... but most of the time, it's just a clean tone with a pick, and boosted mids. For two songs, I use the overdrive channel on my amp. For three songs, I use a flanger pedal. And for one song, I go nuts with a fuzz pedal.
But the important thing to note about my use of effects is that I'm very careful about how I implemented them. For example, I only use my flanger for the mellow passages in a few of our songs, because it doesn't stand out very well in thick, distorted guitar riff, and I don't want to put too much in the mix.
That's actually some sane advice you give there Mystic.
I want to go another way with the whole drive issue. Two different drives for variety. One classic overdrive and one syntheziser based. (Yeah, not traditional metal, I know.)
Turning the gain on the amp all the way up is good. A bit obvious though.
When no pedals active your finger-technique still sounds good.
One should be carefull with sending too much distortion to an already overdriven amp.
You're right about EQ. I feel silly with the EQ-pedal constantly on. (not changing tone)
But at the moment I don't have an amp with decent EQ.
If I get a TE with 12 EQ the pedal goes out of the loop.
I'm not for mid scooping or low mid boosting, something in between.
Thanks for sharing your personal effect use in your metal band.
But I would never use a flanger in metal. Or any kind of modulation. But that's just me.
You use an Electric Mistress? Right?
Any sound samples of how you use that in your band?
I'm interested in hearing that, although I would never go that way myself. (Bad experience with flangers, phasers and modulations. Well I once tried a phaser and it was pretty cool, but thought not suitable for metal.)
C'thulhu: We should have some soon... we're finishing up a demo CD, and tracks featuring the Mistress will be going up on MySpace when the demo CD is done. So for now... no recorded samples in a band context.
What I will do in the meantime, however, is record a few solo samples for TB, hopefully tonight or tomorrow night, from one or two of those songs.
Technically speaking, I'm using both the chorus and flanger sections of the Stereo Electric Mistress. I actually don't dial the flanger very high - the depth is rather mild on that side, and higher on the chorus side. The rate is also set low, for a nice slow sweep.
Send me a reminder PM tomorrow in case I forget to do that sample.
What I will do in the meantime, however, is record a few solo samples for TB, hopefully tonight or tomorrow night, from one or two of those songs.
Technically speaking, I'm using both the chorus and flanger sections of the Stereo Electric Mistress. I actually don't dial the flanger very high - the depth is rather mild on that side, and higher on the chorus side. The rate is also set low, for a nice slow sweep.
Send me a reminder PM tomorrow in case I forget to do that sample.
C'thulhu: We should have some soon... we're finishing up a demo CD, and tracks featuring the Mistress will be going up on MySpace when the demo CD is done. So for now... no recorded samples in a band context.
What I will do in the meantime, however, is record a few solo samples for TB, hopefully tonight or tomorrow night, from one or two of those songs.
Technically speaking, I'm using both the chorus and flanger sections of the Stereo Electric Mistress. I actually don't dial the flanger very high - the depth is rather mild on that side, and higher on the chorus side. The rate is also set low, for a nice slow sweep.
Send me a reminder PM tomorrow in case I forget to do that sample.
Looking forward to it man.
Solo samples will also be cool.
I'm off course interested to hear a certain pedal used in a metal context.
While we are on the subject (and even on topic
) : are there examples of professional metal bassist using modulation (or other than drive effects) in metal music?Things that stand out.
heya,I play porn death metal and I use ocasionally my ebs valvedrive for dirty sound ... also sometimes use synth or delay,but ocasionaly ...and of course a tuner 
anyway best way to cut the mix is clean
cheers
anyway best way to cut the mix is clean
cheers
The only way a tuner can be considered an effect pedal is if it automaticly tracks down your detuned note and then changes the pitch to produce the right note.
So far I have not found such pedal. Would be great on a fretless I guess.
Only if you can't play one in tune, I suppose...
I have a SansAmp Classic that is imminently tweakable. I'd go with that for being able to get almost any overdrive sound I wanted that day.
my vote goes to the overdrive. I've never needed anything but my sansamp, power amp, and cabinet (and tuner if that counts)
I love my Blowtorch in my death metal band, it (the pedal, that is) is tight and focused, has ample mid-range and easily cuts through heavily distorted guitars. Essantial? No. Fun? Ooohh yes, baby
