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Splitting & blending a signal

Suuwassa

Suuwassa

Guest
Jun 30, 2013
8
0
#1
Hello all,

I am currently trying to get my head around the best way to create a rig that best realises the bass tone, and palette of sounds that I'm currently imagining (aren't we all?)

Essentially, my current project allows me space to throw in all kinds of sounds and textures, provided low-end is retained. I want to do this whilst sacrificing as little tone as possible. I am looking to add a true bypass looper (currently eyeing a Bright Onion looper) to work toward this end.

The next piece of the puzzle I am trying to solve is the idea of splitting the signal out into a clean, slightly distorted, & effected channel, and then blending these back in together to play out through one amp.

Is this plausible?

Is it sensible for that matter?

I've read around at blenders, the Wounded Paw seems to achieve aims I have, but I'm approaching with a certain level of naivety. Would this pedal have the required result? If not, are there any better/more sensible solutions?

I'm British based, so slightly restricted in terms of what equipment I can get hold of.

Current gear is;

Ibanez SR505
Ampeg BA300-115
Dwarfcraft Eau Claire Thunder
Dwarfcraft Pitchgrinder
Fairfield Circuitry Randy's Revenge
MXR Bass Octave Deluxe
MXR Phase 100
Source Audio BEF
Source Audio Multiwave Bass distortion
Strymon El Capistan
Boss RC-30

Looking to add an overdrive/distortion (to be researched), the True Bypass Looper, and possibly a couple of other noise makers, should the occasion arise. Compressors haven't come up yet, as I'm uncertain with them at present.

Thank you in advance for any help offered.
 
#4
Link Removed does this too.

1 clean channel
2 parallel effects channels
All blended together to taste (each has its own volume knob).
I use one of these and it works great for mixing dirt (and other things).

Also, what millahh wrote. ^^^
 
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#5
Thanks guys.

I was kind of worried that I'd misinterpreted what the pedal's capabilities were. That someone is using it for the same arrangement is massively reassuring.

millahh, are there any trade offs to the setup? The cab handles it fine etc?
 
#6
I considered doing this for a while and then decided against it. My reasoning - I don't have THAT many effects on at the same time (even if my board is pretty large) and also try to avoid effects that suck low end. So in the end it was a fair amount of hassle for not much gain.
 
#7
+1 on the schism .... won't play without it if effects are involved!

I find being able to turn the volume of the clean signal & the effect signal up or down or makes a huge difference even though none of my pedals suck low end. The blend is everything especially with dirt!
 
#8
Suuwassa said:
Thanks guys.

I was kind of worried that I'd misinterpreted what the pedal's capabilities were. That someone is using it for the same arrangement is massively reassuring.

millahh, are there any trade offs to the setup? The cab handles it fine etc?
Click to expand...

Honestly, the only trade-off is that the bigger Wounded Paw blenders take up a decent chunk of real estate on the board.

No issues with a cab handling anything...you're not massively increasing the the signal strength, just sending it a more complex signal...and that complexity is dwarfed by what a speaker sees when it is being used in a PA or a stereo, with multiple instruments coming through.

Personally, I use it to blend dirt and modulation (usually flanger or phaser); I love having both on, but I don't generally like how they play with one another in series.
 
#10
In a loud PA situation, keeping your Distortion separated is a huge plus.
I run 2 amps.

Another thing to look at (even if you blend back together) is using a Volume pedal to Blend certain effects up and down on the Fly.
I run a Volume Pedal before my Distortion/Fuzz Amp so I can fade it in and out.
If you have extreme Verb/Delays, a 3rd signal is pretty great.
 
#11
millahh said:
Honestly, the only trade-off is that the bigger Wounded Paw blenders take up a decent chunk of real estate on the board.

No issues with a cab handling anything...you're not massively increasing the the signal strength, just sending it a more complex signal...and that complexity is dwarfed by what a speaker sees when it is being used in a PA or a stereo, with multiple instruments coming through.

Personally, I use it to blend dirt and modulation (usually flanger or phaser); I love having both on, but I don't generally like how they play with one another in series.
Click to expand...

That's all good to hear. I'm looking for that flexibility wherein, on occasion I can keep distortion and modulation separate, but on others have the higher gain pushing odd sounds from modulation.

I need to look into the Badger and X-otic a little more.

Oh, JustSomeDude, the notion of putting a volume pedal in with the effects channel gave me some ideas right away, definitely going to look into that.
 
#12
Suuwassa said:
That's all good to hear. I'm looking for that flexibility wherein, on occasion I can keep distortion and modulation separate, but on others have the higher gain pushing odd sounds from modulation.
Click to expand...

To this point, the Wounded Paw blenders have a series/parallel switch on the C/D channels. On the most recent version, you can run parallel, C->D or D->C (I have an older one that only has parallel or C/D). There's also phase inversion for each channel, which I found to be used, as my Phase 90 flips the phase of the signal.
 
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#13
millahh said:
To this point, the Wounded Paw blenders have a series/parallel switch on the C/D channels. On the most recent version, you can run parallel, C->D or D->C (I have an older one that only has parallel or C/D). There's also phase inversion for each channel, which I found to be used, as my Phase 90 flips the phase of the signal.
Click to expand...

The WoundedPaw Blender v4 (latest is the h2 revision) is really the most flexible thing out there that will not cost you 600+$.

It should be noted that it functions as a mixer, not just a blender. i.e., you can increase the volume of one loop while not decreasing the level of the others.

I have gone to great lengths to eliminate dirt effects that suck out low end. But, I still find a use to mixing different effects, especially dirt and effects. Also, each loop's level control can be used for mixing but also controlling the level of a loop in case you really wnat to push an effect more or push and effect but lower the overall output.

On top of that, you get a two band eq on the A loop, the order reversal on c and d as mentioned by millahh, all the phase inversion controls, bypass loops...
 
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#17
cheapbasslovin said:
Actually, the real downside is you'll stop playing music and start experimenting with all the stupid number of pretty noises you can make. At least any band you're in will call it a downside. You'll probably be in heaven.
Click to expand...

For some bands, just noodling with pedals would be a giant improvement over the music they play... :)
 
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#19
Mosfed said:
And yet another thread that is going to make me completely reconsider about my pedalboard operates....

bunch of jerks :D
Click to expand...

Start here:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Then, add this to your amp setup:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Just think about it, that preamp has a 6 band overdrive setup and you can have your effects loop (board) connected to it parallel to it, in series before, or in series after, just by turning a knob...

P.S.: Everyone on here makes me rethink my board every single day, I've learned to just go with it. :)
 
#20
cheapbasslovin said:
Actually, the real downside is you'll stop playing music and start experimenting with all the stupid number of pretty noises you can make. At least any band you're in will call it a downside. You'll probably be in heaven.
Click to expand...

:) sounds great!

Luckily this project is an instrumental 3-piece. The guitarist looked glum the night I turned up to rehearsal without pedals, so I'll hopefully get away with it, haha.

Next will be to figure out which distortion/overdrive will work best for that bit of grit.
 

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