I'm not sure how many effects kim gordon uses, if any. I think most of the noise comes from the boys. but then im thinking of daydream nation & goo. myabe im not understanding correctly. or if you're saying you want to apply their guitar approach(es) to bass, the dissonance & machine-like hum they achieve can come from alternate tunings what/how they play. & lots of amp OD.
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Pedal Crash course
- Thread starter IndieBass182
- Start date
It's always good to have a dedicated tuner pedal, but a compressor isn't something every bass player uses, and I would imagine a volume pedal would be less useful than a fuzz pedal for most players. What are you using yours for?
TBH I would recommend the opposite. Get some mental effects and have fun with them. Later you'll get into the practicalities of using them on bass and you might have to chop and change a bit, but it's worth running through some really mad stuff and finding out what it does and what you like, and eventually what you can actually use.
As for Sonic Youth, they're all about high-gain distortion/fuzz which really only works well on guitar because the feedback comes easiest with treble frequencies. Old-school analogue delays would be useful too.
I agree kevteop--I'm not sure a compressor would be applicable for mimicking Sonic Youth. Just the opposite: You want to unleash your sound not compress it.
but to answer OP's ??? & not smother it, look on youtube for devi ever's different fuzz/noise products.
but to answer OP's ??? & not smother it, look on youtube for devi ever's different fuzz/noise products.
- Mar 30, 2007
- 4,017
- 321
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Genzler Amplification/Spector Basses/Mojo Hand FX
I know kim uses a few things but i was talking more of transferring the tricks Thurston and Lee use to bass in a sense. I like having a big bag of tricks when i write music. As for effects i'm looking for things can pretty much take my general bass sound and make it unique. Phaser and Overdrive is an example. In simple terms i want to make my bass make funny noises and use them musically.
Not a bad place to start, but probably go right for a real fuzz instead of the SansAmp. If you're looking for feedback and infinite sustain, get a couple of fuzz/distortion pedals, like maybe a SansAmp BDDI and another super fuzz, like a Way Huge Swollen Pickle or maybe a Pickle Pie B. These aren't cheap, but they're not super expensive either. Most synth pedals, except for the one by Digidesign, are pretty expensive compared to fuzz/distortion. Maybe try the Zvex Mastotron, too.
So to achieve the feedback and infinite sustain would other fuzz/distortion/overdrive pedals work besides the ones listed?
i see. in that case i'd recommend experimenting sometimes w/ pedals you may not expect to apply to bass. e.g. i use a boss metalzone--dumb name, not for bass--but the eq is great on it. I use it as a boost pedal. the drive f(x) is as you might expect from a 'metal zone' & sounds kinda wrong.
in short, whatever you can get your mits on. but like i said, devi ever. research on tb there's some feedback/discussion on them here.
& regarding synth, the ehx bass synth seems novel except a lttle $$$. markbass super synth is programmable (from pc) which makes it stellar & ideal for tone/sound freaks, but also big $$$. the square wave distortion is beautiful on the MB. see youtub
in short, whatever you can get your mits on. but like i said, devi ever. research on tb there's some feedback/discussion on them here.
& regarding synth, the ehx bass synth seems novel except a lttle $$$. markbass super synth is programmable (from pc) which makes it stellar & ideal for tone/sound freaks, but also big $$$. the square wave distortion is beautiful on the MB. see youtub
Also i noted Lee and Thurston primarily use P90 guitars and Single coil guitars. My bass has humbuckers so would a single coil bass work better for achieving all the tasty feedback and infinite sustain i crave? Also anybody think of ways i can screw with the feedback?
im going to contradict myself & say the boss compression sustainer pedal. it actually has a sustain knob on it--crank it & you can guess what happens. sustains like a keyboard until next week
when i owned it i was using it on a gutiar not a bass
when i owned it i was using it on a gutiar not a bass
OOoohhhh.....Sustain.....yummmy....might check that one out. I've heard some people talk about Behringer pedals with good and bad response. Anybody have experiances? or with Pyle?
My advice to effects for the classic rock genre: buy an ampeg pf350/500 and an Ampeg 410 (I have a 500). This will give you the Ampeg sound like a million classic rock songs. I use an EHX Big Muff for a slight distortion/sustain for pretty much all songs. I turn the sustain all the way up and the distortion and volume way down for most of the catalog. I have not messed with a Chorus/Flanger but I imagine it will make you sound like 3 basses playing. An envelope filter will make that funky sound. I use the first multi effects pedal I bought (BP80) for some synth sounds I have been playing with to emulate Rush and some Def Leppard(Rock on - which I plan to switch to an envelope filter effect) but overall the multi-effects are useless and you need a PhD to use them. I cant figure out how to use the drum machine part at all. A looper is on my wishlist because I am getting lazy and since I have started playing with a 2 man band doing Jimmy Buffett type music at the beaches for the summer and we need more hands or maybe that Chorus/Flanger. I don't see many bass players with a lot of pedals.
Also, don't use guitar pedals for the bass. They are not made for the low end and they will cut the output down.
Also, don't use guitar pedals for the bass. They are not made for the low end and they will cut the output down.
good advice there.
about the noiserock thing, something to keep in mind in a band setting is that if your whole band is covered in fuzz and/or overdrive then nothing really sticks out, in my band i keep my bass clean (of distortion atleast) so the guitars can fuzz themselves up.
on that note, my rhythm guitarist has a beautiful fuzz pedal in the form of an electroharmonix germanium big muff pi. i dont know if they make a bass version, but that thing can turn him almost Atonal with fuzz. (and thats when hes not playing with a drumsick...).
bitcrushing can create a nice fuzz sound, but i have yet to find a bitcrusher bedal that i like that is still in production.
also a tip from my lead guitarist, putting a chorus before distortion (he uses a blackstar OD) can get a real early 90's grungy feel that is along similar lines.
just my two cents really.
ps. i might try my bass through our guitarists distortions at band practice tomorrow and post the results.
Please do. I'm curious. Try out all his stuff and see the effects you get out of it.
Lots of suggestions for multi pedals, and I see Digitechs on craigslist for as little as $40 all the time.
I think an Octave and Fuzz would be a fat-sounding place to start, and I've been to many Sonic Youth shows. Don't get me started on the one where I skipped the opening band, cuz' I never heard of them.
It was Nirvana....
S
I think an Octave and Fuzz would be a fat-sounding place to start, and I've been to many Sonic Youth shows. Don't get me started on the one where I skipped the opening band, cuz' I never heard of them.
It was Nirvana....
S
It all comes down to trial and error. Go into a music shop and play with distortion, wah, synth, etc to u find what u like. Then buy it online cheaper.
chuck norriss said:
Markbass is only saw wave,digital which allows for 9 synth presets and 3 octave presets, it is also a more modern aggressive sound, this pedal is nearly impossible to tweak live.
while Ehx is only square wave, is analog and only has one preset, with more of a 70's synth sound, highly tweakable but live & on the fly its almost to a fault- with so many sliders there's are a lot of variables to account for.
I never skip openers for just that reason my friend. I almost cried when i saw that. Nirvana is a big influece to me getting into music in general.
For noise i keep hereing delays before overdrive in a chain and some phasers too. Anybody have experience with that sorcery?
Could you post any clips of the sounds that inspire you and that you'd like to emulate? There is a wealth of people in this forum that could set you off in the right direction, although with a band who've been around as long as sonic youth have- it's difficult to describe the noises that inspire you and have people understand exactly what you're looking for.
+1
You certainly get what you pay for... some 10 - 12 years ago... I started with a basic Zoom FX unit... then a few years later upgraded to a BOSS GT 6B (and to be fair... that unit got a lot of use for compression/EQ/Chorus)... but... once I began to 'really' play with my tone... I soon realized:
A) Individual pedals (especially good ones) 'suck the doors off' Multi-FX...
B) You really do get what you pay for... I tend to go for companies/brands who 'do' 1 or 2 things well... rather than those that build every 'effect' under the sun... (although I have those as well)
C) IMHO... Invest in tone shaping tools first (and then delve into effects)...
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