Post your pedalboards - Part IV

[Niff]

i'm not mickey, buuut.. the BF-3 is, to my ears, the BF-2 with a little bit more "low modulation" if you will when you use the bass in jack. then there's other modes like ultra and gate/pan which is.. interesting. and on top of that it's stereo, if you're a bi-amp kind of person.

also, the SB7 intrigues me. does it sound ok, compared to say, the boss SYB series?

 

[MonkeyWrench32]

My latest incarnation:

Invalid Link Removed

The only difference from last time is the addition of The Clone Theory (which came yesterday and is just awesome) and a bit of rearranging.

Signal path:
- Boss TU-2 chromatic tuner
- Aphex Punch Factory optical compressor
- DigiTech DF-7 Distortion Factory
- Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI
- Ibanez WD-7 Weeping Demon wah
- Line 6 Liqua-Flange flanger
- Electro-Harmonix The Clone Theory chorus/vibrato
- Boss NS-2 noise supressor
- DigiTech DigiDelay digital delay
- Boss RV-5 digital reverb

Things I'd like to change:
- Get rid of the bottom sucking Liqua-Flange (even though I got it for $50 on clearance) and exchange it for something else (maybe the Boss Flanger)
- Add an EHX Micro Q-Tron (if I can find room)

 

[Mickey Shane]

How do you like that Reel Echo? I can't say its the most practical thing for my plan for a pedalboard, but I think it'd be fun to have lying around. What's your impression of the sound/quality/whatnot? I may need to get my hands on one to try.

I like to use the Reel Echo. I can make it sound like what I think a delay should sound like. I've never owned an Echoplex, so I can't compare, but if that means not having that cheesy, breathing, pumping digital sound, I guess that's why I like the analog sound of this unit. It can do a 1.5 second loop w/playover, which can be fun practicing at home, but really has no practical gig use.

You've really got to love it to use up that much board space.

 

[Mickey Shane]

two questions about your board mickey

1. what do you think about the boss bf-3?

and

2. what do you thinks about the ibanez bass synth?

cb

The bf-3 and the ibanez synth are my latest pedal scores. The bf-3 has inputs for g++++r, or bass. As you can see, I plug into the first one. Plugging in where the bass is supposed to go made too little of a flange sound (to my ears). Plugging in the other one and eq'ing for more bass is where I liked it. When it's flanging the upper half of my bass note's harmonics and letting the bottom through straight in sounds very pleasing indeed. Like Nirvana's Come as You Are.

I bought the Ibanez synth to play RATM's Killing In The Name. Bullseye! It has another (synth2 setting) synth that I don't care for, and an autowah setting that's better than the moogerfooger 101 that I sold last year.

 

[scotch]

Here's my full updated board w/ EMMA T-morg:

path= VHT Valvulator > Xotic RC Booster > EBS Octabass > Fulltone Bass-Drive > Frantone Thunderhead > EBS Valve Drive > HAZ Mu-Tron III+ > Moog Bass Murf w/ expression pedal & tap tempo switch > Renz Mute w/ Boss TU-15 tuner on iso output > Morley ABY for practice rig


Here's my practice rig. I like the Line6 stuff as I can get a better idea what different pedal/combinations will sound like with my actual gigging rigs. I also like to keep the Bass POD handy for setting up potential studio use sounds & the headphone output is dead quiet compared with the LowDowns'. There are 3 Boss pedals that occasionally get used: the ODB-3, SYB-3, and DD-5.

 

[DbNBassist]

I bought the Ibanez synth to play RATM's Killing In The Name. Bullseye!

Erm, im confused, Timmy C doesnt use a synth pedal and i cant see where it would be used in Killing in the Name, could u please specify?

 

[Tecx]

Erm, im confused, Timmy C doesnt use a synth pedal and i cant see where it would be used in Killing in the Name, could u please specify?

Well the SB-7 isn't a synth pedal, so it all makes sense.

 

[Sir Edward V]

Well the SB-7 isn't a synth pedal, so it all makes sense.

Then why the hell does it have synthesizer in the name??

If it really isn't a synth then thats probably a question for ibanez...

 

[Higgie]

Well the SB-7 isn't a synth pedal, so it all makes sense.

The SB-7 IS the Bass Synth pedal Ibanez make.

I was quite confused when he said he bought it for killing in the name, but I suppose he could be taking the filtery sound off and using it as a straight distortion.

 

[Tecx]

The SB-7 IS the Bass Synth pedal Ibanez make.

I was quite confused when he said he bought it for killing in the name, but I suppose he could be taking the filtery sound off and using it as a straight distortion.

Then why the hell does it have synthesizer in the name??

If it really isn't a synth then thats probably a question for ibanez...

It is just a envelope filter with a distortion circuit, there is no actual synthesis... It mimics the sound of a bass synth in a way that myself and many other bass players have through the years, and that is to run distortion with filters.

**edit**

For it to be an actual synthesizer it needs to create its own sounds rather than effect the input source. True bass synth pedals such as the BMS generate a synthesized note based on the input signal, but I degress that I feel I am wasting my breath.

Alex

 

[i2k]

Here's mine, my DIY rip-off of Pedaltrain board.. ..nothing fancy

 

[TaySte_2000]

It is just a envelope filter with a distortion circuit, there is no actual synthesis... It mimics the sound of a bass synth in a way that myself and many other bass players have through the years, and that is to run distortion with filters.

**edit**

For it to be an actual synthesizer it needs to create its own sounds rather than effect the input source. True bass synth pedals such as the BMS generate a synthesized note based on the input signal, but I degress that I feel I am wasting my breath.

Alex

Yep spot on there Alex.

Also in response to it having synth in the title look at the Boss Bass Overdrive it's nothing like and overdrive

 

[SpankyPants]

True bass synth pedals such as the BMS generate a synthesized note based on the input signal, but I degress that I feel I am wasting my breath.

Alex

I hate to be nit picky here, but the BMS isn't a true synth pedal either. The Bass MicroSynth octaves your signal then filters it. I know you already know this, so I'm guessing you meant to say the Deep Impact, Korg G-5, or Boss SYB-_, or maybe another synth pedal.

Just a thought.

 

[Toasted]

Trying to correct Alex about FX is like trying to school Ghandi on peace.

 

[SpankyPants]

I know that, which is why I already said that.

I'm sure he knew, but it's not uncommon for someone to have a slip of the tongue (or hand?). I wasn't trying to question his intelligence or disrespect him in any way. I'm sure he knows what he's talking about, but everyone makes a mistake. I do the same thing all the time.

 

[sonicvi]

I hate to be nit picky here, but the BMS isn't a true synth pedal either. The Bass MicroSynth octaves your signal then filters it. I know you already know this, so I'm guessing you meant to say the Deep Impact, Korg G-5, or Boss SYB-_, or maybe another synth pedal.

Just a thought.

Well if you wanna get technical, the octave tones in the BMS or any analog octave divider pedal are synthesized tones that are controlled by the bass, not effected versions of the bass signal itself. They just aren't pure perfect sawtooth or square or whatever waveforms that the digital synth pedals like the SYB or Deep Impact create.

 

[SpankyPants]

But wouldn't that mean that the SB-7 and the BSW are synthesizers? They also utilize the octave/distortion+filter system, too.

Synthesizers are triggered by an input, correct? They don't "affect" a signal with effects. Since the BMS doesn't use a trigger and instead takes the input (along with the input octaved up and down) and runs it into a filter, doesn't that mean that it's not really synthesizing anything? It's just using the same process described by Alex to produce a synth-sound.

 

[SpankyPants]

Well if you wanna get technical, the octave tones in the BMS or any analog octave divider pedal are synthesized tones that are controlled by the bass, not effected versions of the bass signal itself. They just aren't pure perfect sawtooth or square or whatever waveforms that the digital synth pedals like the SYB or Deep Impact create.

The only pedals (not counting things like the old Roland analog bass guitar controlled synths) that will have a sawtooth waveform are pedals that use DSP like the Boss SYB-3/5, Akai Deep Impact, Line 6 FM-4, or Korg G5. These pedals use the bass to trigger real synthesized waveforms rather than running the bass signal through octave/distortion/filter effects like the Ibanez, Boss, and EHX pedals do to create synth-like sounds. A a fuzzed out bass is not really the same sound as a pure square wave and a sawtooth is different from both of them as well.

Same here; though I do love mine and all it's "imperfections".

As far as I know, the Deep Impact is the only one that employs "true" synthesis. ( Feel free to corrct me if I am mistaken)

The Boss SYB 3&5 create real digital synth waveforms as well. I believe the Korg G5 does as well, and the Line 6 FM-4.

You need to understand synthesis a bit to understand this pedal really. Take a VCO from a synth and play it at a fixed frequency (one note). You can modulate that frequncy with an LFO (like you modulate a bass signal with a phasor pedal) or an envelope generator (like you control the frequency of a filter's cutoff with your bass signal strenght in an envelope filter pedal) so that the two frequencies combine into a different freqeuncy (not the same as sum/differnce in a ring mod). This pedal basically basically makes your bass/guitar do to the internal fixed frequency oscillator in the pedal what an LFO does to a VCO in a synth. You modulate the VCO at the frequency of your instrument, so if you play your open A string you modulate (not make play at like in a bass synth pedal) the internal VCO at 110 HZ (is that right? or is it 55Hz?). There's also an instrument triggered envelope generator that can also modulate the VCO. So, this pedal is basically a synth you are altering with your bass, not an effects pedal in the strictest sense. You could do the same thing with an analog synth, using one VCO to modulate another.

Being experienced with synthesizers I can say that any of the bass synthesizer pedals can only take you so far when it comes to creating real analog synthesizer sounds. They sound cool and work fine if you just want basic kinda bass synth sounds, but are very limited in comparison with the virtually endless variety of sounds you can get from a well equipped synth. The best way to get real synth sounds with a bass is to use a bass synthesizer like the old Roland ones where the bass controlled an actual synthesizer module, or use a MIDI pickup/converter with a newer analog or analog modeling synth.

 

[bongomania]

Well if you wanna get technical, the octave tones in the BMS or any analog octave divider pedal are synthesized tones that are controlled by the bass, not effected versions of the bass signal itself.

I completely disagree. Whether or not the tones are "synthesized" may be debatable insofar as the word "synthesize" just means "to combine simple elements to create something new". But when you veer off to say the "synthesized" tones are "controlled by the bass", you mislead, since they are not being triggered, but are rather just the bass signal itself being squared off and divided.

 

[Mickey Shane]

Erm, im confused, Timmy C doesnt use a synth pedal and i cant see where it would be used in Killing in the Name, could u please specify?

Well, after the intro 1/2 step playing, the music stops, then he says: "killing in the name of" in a trebbly voice. Right there the band goes into the verse riff. The bass has a "synth" sound to it for four times, then you turn it off and play the same riff quieter, while he starts singing the first verse.

I can copy that sound with the Ibanez pedal. I don't even care that it's not a real synthesizer, it makes that sound, and then some other ones too.