Pedal for sustained distorted stoner/doom/drone bass

[stefanos80]

I need some pedals suggestion. I play in a stoner/doom band. I split my signal through an EHX Tri Parallel Mixer to mix clean and effected signals. In the loop I have a fuzz, a phaser and a flanger (both set with very slow rate), always on. On top of this I can add more dirt through the other loops, when required.
Now, I would like to have the possibility to play long heavily distorted notes, and I'm looking for pedals that would sustain the sound, either placed before or after the dirt. Maybe something with a footswitch that would hold the sound while pressed.
Some possibilities that showed up while searching are:
- EHX Freeze
- OBNE Dark Star
- EarthQuaker Devices Afterneath
- Walrus Slö
I have been watching demos on youtube but they rarely show how they behave with a distorted bass sound. Anybody has any experience with these or other pedals for similar application? Any suggestion?
Thanks

 

[seedokebass]

That's an interesting question! I have not tried what you want to do, but I think the EHX Freeze could work for you since it has a latching mode to hold the pedal down and sustain the sound.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

I use the EH Freeze exactly like that. It's after the distortion and I can hit a note and sustain it as much as I want.

 

[Klangfarbe]

Gamechanger Audio Plus. Nice but expensiv.

 

[BassBrass]

EH Superego has a send/return where you can put a drive pedal (or anything else). Using a drive before it works too. The auto setting just requires a clean attack to trigger the note and another attack will replace it, so it's like having a bow.
The Plus pedal doesn't have a triggered sustain, you have to press the pedal to capture a note (and it's expensive and heavy). It's very good at layering a chord one note at a time though. (I just play a 2 note chord the regular way with double stops). The Freeze needs a double step on the switch to end a note and start another one, but if you just want to sustain one note it's good.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Walrus Audio Ironhorse (it's a RAT clone and a great one at that). Look at the version with LED & Si clipping in a blended dial (not a toggle).

 

[Rolling Thunder]

EarthQuaker Devices Afterneath

This is a secret weapon of mine because it's so unlike spring/plate/hall reverbs. The abyss setting sound like you're playing on Mars. It also has tons of modulation settings. It sounds very unique and musical.

 

[JFlo]

I think the ehx freeze would work great. Whichever route you take, please post some clips. This sounds really cool!

 

[Snake101st]

I wonder if there are some untapped sounds on the eventide h9/h90 for this kind of thing. If anyone has been using one for that, please share your game genie codes.

 

[Aidenn7]

Ever thought of a ross style squash comp in delay looper. Sustain.. Multiple layers at your feet..

 

[Ellery]

Broughton Sunder Fuzz, has a softer blooming attack but sustains for days

 

[RJ]

The TC Electronic Infinite might be worse checking out.

 

[Rocket Queen]

The TC Electronic Infinite might be worse checking out.

Freudian slip?

 

[stefanos80]

That's an interesting question! I have not tried what you want to do, but I think the EHX Freeze could work for you since it has a latching mode to hold the pedal down and sustain the sound.

I use the EH Freeze exactly like that. It's after the distortion and I can hit a note and sustain it as much as I want.

I think the ehx freeze would work great. Whichever route you take, please post some clips. This sounds really cool!

Thank you for your feedbacks! I guess the Freeze is worth a try, being also the less expensive of the options.

Gamechanger Audio Plus. Nice but expensiv.

This is also very interesting, but significantly more expensive than the Freeze. Thanks!

EH Superego has a send/return where you can put a drive pedal (or anything else). Using a drive before it works too. The auto setting just requires a clean attack to trigger the note and another attack will replace it, so it's like having a bow.
The Plus pedal doesn't have a triggered sustain, you have to press the pedal to capture a note (and it's expensive and heavy). It's very good at layering a chord one note at a time though. (I just play a 2 note chord the regular way with double stops). The Freeze needs a double step on the switch to end a note and start another one, but if you just want to sustain one note it's good.

Thank you for the suggestion. The Superego (non plus) is an interesting option. I wonder if the effect loop could help given that I have already the option of having separate loops through the Tri Parallel Mixer.

I wonder if there are some untapped sounds on the eventide h9/h90 for this kind of thing. If anyone has been using one for that, please share your game genie codes.

I didn't mention a budget in my original message, but these are much more expensive than I am willing to spend. Thank you for the suggestion though!

The TC Electronic Infinite might be worse checking out.

I thought about the Infinite but these pedals with toneprint always scare me. Perhaps it would work nicely out of the box, without ever plugging it to a computer, but still...

This is a secret weapon of mine because it's so unlike spring/plate/hall reverbs. The abyss setting sound like you're playing on Mars. It also has tons of modulation settings. It sounds very unique and musical.

I have the feeling that these weird reverb pedals (afterneath, dark star, slö) would open to a lot of possibilities...but in the demos you rarely hear them with distorted signals. There is a demo on youtube of the afterneath used with distortion and an expression pedal, and it is indeed very nice. Do you use your together with other effects? Distortions? Fuzz?

 

[Rocker80]

Ehx Freeze will do exactly that, works well with distorted tones. I have not tried the Tc Infinite but I guess it does the job as well.

 

[theunknowndude]

I can confirm both the slo and afterneath work really well with distorted tones.

both of the above can do really long stretches plus the slo has a freeze mode in the dream engine with the second footswitch( found that out by accident today)
Plus both of them are latching / normal foot switches so you could hold for when you want if you needed that way.

I do think afterneath works better if you think of as a delay… but a delay where you can smooth out the echoes and do crazy things if you use expression / set the dials to extreme…

 

[Jazz Ad]

I use the EHX Freeze all the time for this. Very simple, very efficient, very foolproof.
I never looked further since it fits me just fine.
Some people reported issues with its switch but I never had one.

I know there are more complex and convoluted tools for this job, I just don't need them...
... that I know of. I'm willing to be convinced.

 

[BassBrass]

Thank you for the suggestion. The Superego (non plus) is an interesting option. I wonder if the effect loop could help given that I have already the option of having separate loops through the Tri Parallel Mixer.

Right now I use a matroshka bananana bass synth and an ED Rainbow Machine in the send return, it made them usable in a practical way, the bananana is like a drive enhancer and the Rainbow makes it into a "sound fountain". In the past I've used a ring modulator there which makes industrial metallic sounds, especially good with the Rainbow's extreem flanging motion & dimensionality. These pedals work better in the send return than outside it. I've also used Ocean's 11 on Shimmer. Talk about new age... and a Spark Drive to give some crunch making a more cello like sound.
I gave my ED Afterneeth to a keyboard player for percussion sounds. (it's incredible for that) The wash wasn't conducive to bass, I'd say it's better on guitar high freq. where floating mush sounds good. Low freq mush doesn't sound defigned enough.
The Superego auto setting means you can change notes just by starting a new one. That's a rather musical function, going from note to note. If all you need or want to do is sustain one note the Freeze is all you need. I need to be able to change the note.

 

[Discount Bassy]

I placed my EXH Freeze on my pedalboard in a position to do just this, following the Duo De Sludge, Fuzzlord Doom Screamer and Fuzzlord Dronemaster. The sample length on the Freeze is long enough to grab a good taste of the fuzz texture and you can screw with the fade via an internal switch that can be dragged to around 3 seconds. The wonder of a user manual is again revealed!

 

[stefanos80]

Thank you all for the suggestions! I guess I'll give the Freeze a try