Reverb for only higher frequencys/notes on bass?

[Uriah Sheep]

Hi All,

I don't have a lot of experience with effects and currently only own a zoom b3 multi effect pedal. When playing alone, or at least not with a full band, I like reverb as an effect on the higher notes of my fretless jazz, but not so much on the lower notes as it muddies it up. Any simple way to do this? Add reverb to the highs but not the lows? I've fooled around with reverb effects on the zoom b3, but that's it. I'd be open to purchasing pedals for this purpose if within my budget (budget: what my wife won't notice, or what I can call a bday present). Thanks for reading.

p.s. During the last three months I've been digging using the zoomb3's looper to first lay down a low register bass with both pickups, and then overdubbing a melody with light reverb and having rolled off some of the neck pickup, and then trying to come up with a third counterpoint line in some other config. Gotta keep busy between work and children. I miss leaving the house to play.

 

[millahh]

At least some reverbs have the options for low and high frequency cuts (cutting below about 450 Hz will resolve the mud issues on delay, I'd imagine it would be similar for reverb). For example, the TC Electronics Hall of Fame toneprints can be tailored in that exact manner

 

[Uriah Sheep]

Thanks for the reply! I'll do some digging on the TC Electronics Hall of Fame. Appreciate the response.

 

[millahh]

Thanks for the reply! I'll do some digging on the TC Electronics Hall of Fame. Appreciate the response.

I'd also check into Source Audio. I prefer their stuff to TC (the editing interface behaves consistently and as advertised), I I just don't have hands on experience doing frequency changes in the Neuro app yet. I'm sure @rsmith601 can give a much better insight on their capabilities.

 

[gh0st42]

Iron Ether Nimbus gets good reviews, and has a High Pass Filter on the reverb, that you can adjust to leave your lows untouched.

Haven't tried one myself though... yet.

 

[Grahams Groove]

Iron Ether Nimbus gets good reviews, and has a High Pass Filter on the reverb, that you can adjust to leave your lows untouched.

Haven't tried one myself though... yet.

Correct. There have been a bunch of versions, but the ones with bass/treble controls are especially flexible for what you are trying to do, OP. You can roll off the bass, and even increase the treble to effect the reverb signal, and then balance between the clean/reverb signals to get the amount of treble-focused reverb that you want.

 

[Uriah Sheep]

Thanks for replies. I'm not even sure of the terminology to talk about this accurately and had to reread everything three times before it started to sink in. Ill read up on the Iron Ether Nimbus and maybe get back to you to see if I understand correctly. I even just found the talkbass wiki and was reading up on what exactly high-pass filters are!

The biggest variable in my playing is of course my hands and brain (wish I had more control of both!) and then comes the bass, strings, pickups, amp, etc. which can be a bit overwhelming and pushed me to just put more time in practicing as I found I spent too much time worrying about the other variables and could change a lot of my tone with hands. But I'm really enjoying dipping my toe into effects even at the ZoomB3 level. The more time you put into understanding these tools the more you can get from them. Heck, I never really have talked with other bassists, I think this is my third or fourth post total. So thanks for the chat.

 

[Uriah Sheep]

And the "Iron Ether Nimbus" is a great name. Though I prefer the "Steel Oxygen Cirrus" myself . but I kid. Now I have to research this even if just to find out where they got the name from

 

[Michedelic]

Get a blend pedal and a dedicated reverb(there’s so many out there that you can pick something up used), put that and a high pass filter or EQ in front of it into the loop, season to taste.

 

[Uriah Sheep]

I forgot there was even a think called a blend pedal. More researching to do! Thanks for the advice.

 

[kranahan]

Hi All,

I don't have a lot of experience with effects and currently only own a zoom b3 multi effect pedal. When playing alone, or at least not with a full band, I like reverb as an effect on the higher notes of my fretless jazz, but not so much on the lower notes as it muddies it up. Any simple way to do this? Add reverb to the highs but not the lows? I've fooled around with reverb effects on the zoom b3, but that's it. I'd be open to purchasing pedals for this purpose if within my budget (budget: what my wife won't notice, or what I can call a bday present). Thanks for reading.

p.s. During the last three months I've been digging using the zoomb3's looper to first lay down a low register bass with both pickups, and then overdubbing a melody with light reverb and having rolled off some of the neck pickup, and then trying to come up with a third counterpoint line in some other config. Gotta keep busy between work and children. I miss leaving the house to play.

The Nimbus has stayed on my board longer than any other pedal. Around 4 years. That doesn’t happen often. Ha.

You can control your clean/dry volume which is necessary if you don’t have a blender, IMO.

It’s definitely worth checking out.

 

[Grahams Groove]

Get a blend pedal and a dedicated reverb(there’s so many out there that you can pick something up used), put that and a high pass filter or EQ in front of it into the loop, season to taste.

I understand that a loop, HPF, and EQ have additional uses on a board, but that's a lot of space, knobs, money, and cabling to achieve what one pedal can do on its own.

Thanks for replies. I'm not even sure of the terminology to talk about this accurately and had to reread everything three times before it started to sink in. Ill read up on the Iron Ether Nimbus and maybe get back to you to see if I understand correctly. I even just found the talkbass wiki and was reading up on what exactly high-pass filters are!

Just for the sake of clarity, and because I have a head full of coffee & time to dive in...

The IE Nimbus was specifically designed with bass in mind (although it will absolutely work for guitar as well). The more you read up on delay/reverb for bass, you'll hear people often talk about the benefits of being able to high pass (i.e. remove lows from) the reverb'ed or delay'ed signal. If the effected signal is echoing/repeating all of the low end content from your bassline, it can sound crowded since the echoes/repeats will be overlapping with the bass notes you're continuing to play. Think of it like playing with a keys player who does a lot of left hand work in the low register and sort of 'steps on' the bass frequencies. It can start to sound mushy/crowded because all that low-end territory is being over occupied. So the solution would be telling that keys player to move that left-hand playing up an octave or two so you get some separation. (Sorry if I'm explaining stuff you're already well aware of...)

With the Nimbus, the key controls to remedy this are the bass and treble knobs - which act as an EQ for the reverb signal. Those only effect the reverb/repeated signal, and the overall volume for that reverb signal is controlled by the "Reverb" knob. So you can remedy the crowding/muddying of your basslines, by turning down the bass control and turning up the treble control to shape the reverb signal. This will effectively remove low end from your reverb signal and focus that signal more on the treble content. This makes the reverb effect noticeable, but keeps that effect from 'getting in the way' so to speak. Then you set the overall volume level of that reverb signal with the "reverb" knob. From there, you use the "clean" knob to introduce the amount of your clean, unaffected signal. So if you want to hear your clean bass with just a tiny hint of reverb that's focused on higher frequencies of your notes, you can turn down the bass knob, turn up the treble knob, set the reverb knob low (say 9:00 or so), and then set the clean knob much higher (say 12:00-3:00).

 

[kranahan]

I understand that a loop, HPF, and EQ have additional uses on a board, but that's a lot of space, knobs, money, and cabling to achieve what one pedal can do on its own.



Just for the sake of clarity, and because I have a head full of coffee & time to dive in...

The IE Nimbus was specifically designed with bass in mind (although it will absolutely work for guitar as well). The more you read up on delay/reverb for bass, you'll hear people often talk about the benefits of being able to high pass (i.e. remove lows from) the reverb'ed or delay'ed signal. If the effected signal is echoing/repeating all of the low end content from your bassline, it can sound crowded since the echoes/repeats will be overlapping with the bass notes you're continuing to play. Think of it like playing with a keys player who does a lot of left hand work in the low register and sort of 'steps on' the bass frequencies. It can start to sound mushy/crowded because all that low-end territory is being over occupied. So the solution would be telling that keys player to move that left-hand playing up an octave or two so you get some separation. (Sorry if I'm explaining stuff you're already well aware of...)

With the Nimbus, the key controls to remedy this are the bass and treble knobs - which act as an EQ for the reverb signal. Those only effect the reverb/repeated signal, and the overall volume for that reverb signal is controlled by the "Reverb" knob. So you can remedy the crowding/muddying of your basslines, by turning down the bass control and turning up the treble control to shape the reverb signal. This will effectively remove low end from your reverb signal and focus that signal more on the treble content. This makes the reverb effect noticeable, but keeps that effect from 'getting in the way' so to speak. Then you set the overall volume level of that reverb signal with the "reverb" knob. From there, you use the "clean" knob to introduce the amount of your clean, unaffected signal. So if you want to hear your clean bass with just a tiny hint of reverb that's focused on higher frequencies of your notes, you can turn down the bass knob, turn up the treble knob, set the reverb knob low (say 9:00 or so), and then set the clean knob much higher (say 12:00-3:00).

Well said.

 

[Uriah Sheep]

"High pass" removes the lows.
"High pass" removes the lows.
"High pass" removes the lows.
"High pass" removes the lows.

I always get the concept of high/low pass backwards. Gotta get that to stick in my head. Thanks for spelling it out simply. You're a good writer, by the way. Sounds like the Nimbus is a great tool for this.

 

[kranahan]

"High pass" removes the lows.
"High pass" removes the lows.
"High pass" removes the lows.
"High pass" removes the lows.

I always get the concept of high/low pass backwards. Gotta get that to stick in my head. Thanks for spelling it out simply. You're a good writer, by the way. Sounds like the Nimbus is a great tool for this.

This is what helped me at first:
Low pass is doing the limbo.
High pass is doing the high jump.

 

[gh0st42]

"High pass" removes the lows.
"High pass" removes the lows.
"High pass" removes the lows.
"High pass" removes the lows.

I always get the concept of high/low pass backwards. Gotta get that to stick in my head. Thanks for spelling it out simply. You're a good writer, by the way. Sounds like the Nimbus is a great tool for this.

I had them backwards to begin with too!

My memory trick was that High Pass Passes Highs
Low Pass Passes Lows.

 

[kranahan]

I had them backwards to begin with too!

My memory trick was that High Pass Passes Highs
Low Pass Passes Lows.

That works too. Ha.

Sometimes I need a visual in order to understand things.

 

[Uriah Sheep]

Nope, words are just confusing me. gotta go with the tattoo on the palm. Left palm: wife’s bday, right palm: high pass filter, torso: whatever the heck bussing on mixers are.

 

[shwashwa]

I think the JHS spring tank might do this to a degree, at least the blending part write the ability to boost the highs in the reverb channel