Piccolo bass and OC-2

[Guimdonatron]

Hey there,
I was thinking today about the OC-2
and all of its deliciousness. While thinking
of said pedal, I thought to myself, "Hey,
what if a bass were strung with piccolo
strings?"

Any ideas or results?
Obviously it will track,
but I am more curious about it
maintaining that fat synth tone.

Also, they don't have to be piccolo
specifically, just a gauge that would match
the octave range of a bass' 12th frets and up.

Thanks for any help!!

 

[Guimdonatron]

No thoughts?

 

[thorplaysbass]

It's an interesting thought. My first guess was it would sound similar to the tone when you just play a guitar through it

 

[The Lurker]

Didn't one of the guys from Tortoise do this?

 

[Roscoe East]

Many years ago my roomate decided that there was no way he would ever get a respectable deep fat low end out of his Gibson EB-0, so he strung it up with piccolo bass strings (tuned 8va) and then ran it through a Musitronics Octave Divider that was on all the time.



He still didn't get a respectable deep fat low end out of his Gibson EB-0, but at least he got an interesting sound. Tracking was fine.

 

[Guimdonatron]

I have a bass I am planning on stringing with Piccolo strings. I'll post some demos when I get it done!

 

[Mike Yocum]

I think it's a great idea! I did a piccolo conversion on an inexpensive short scale bass to use with the Roland GK-3B pickup to a Roland GR-20 and it works real well. I have been meaning to process the straight string sound through my Boss ME-50B octave divider—it seems to me that there could be a world of cool sounds there. Let us know what you find out!

Thanks,
Mike