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Stoner/Doom Bassists Thread, Part 90: Maxed Out
- Thread starter Korladis
- Start date
Justin Hackle just started taking on work again. He has done some work for me and it was good. McGibney Guitars seems to do amazing work. I have been thinking about taking a bass to him sometime soon.
So I used the headphone out of the Ampeg BA-110 that I'm borrowing. After playing for half an hour with the volume knob at 1, my ears are ringing. The pickups are pretty hot and some of the pedals add a bunch of juice, but jeez.
Can I get a good headphone setup with an EQ pedal at the end of the chain into a headphone amp pedal like the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]? Or do I really need to drop a bunch of money on some preamp/DI/cab sim mumbo jumbo?
Can I get a good headphone setup with an EQ pedal at the end of the chain into a headphone amp pedal like the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]? Or do I really need to drop a bunch of money on some preamp/DI/cab sim mumbo jumbo?
I realize that question has been done to death elsewhere, but I'd trust a doom-approved setup over endless suggestions from TB at large.
Also, I figured I had to pick up an MBD-2 to hold things down while I search for more exotic dirt.
Also, I figured I had to pick up an MBD-2 to hold things down while I search for more exotic dirt.
I don't see why you couldn't, but whether it will sound good to you without the cab sim only you can say. My two cents is that for practice at least I don't think a cab sim is absolutely necessary, but it's definitely a YMMV situation.
Do you already have the EQ pedal?
I don't have an EQ yet. For whatever reason that route is more appealing to me than this kind of thing, but maybe I'm being prejudicial.
This seems like it does all you need and more for a crazy low price considering all the features: Melvin Lee Davis Bass Preamp + DI (NBP-5) - NUX
Interesting that you mention that, as I just re-assembled my headphone rig. It's a patchwork piece of art, but when it's running, I can run my bass/guitar rigs through it, listen to it all via headphones (actually, up to 4 people can listen to it in headphones simultaneously - while jamming together, each with independent volume levels), run an aux audio path (to practice to a song), play it on the PA, and record it all simultaneously if I wished. Now, is it absolutely the best sound to practice with - no. Of course not. But it's far better than it used to be, and it cost me very little overall. I can also mute any/all of these paths at any time. I can conduct an entire jam session - minus drums - totally silently if need be. Or incredibly loudly! My hope is that I will now actually play more bass and talk less bass as I can now play late into the night without disturbing my wife and son. (Which is what I did tonight!)
Here are some details on how this monstrosity works, if anyone's interested:
Amps: GKs - and I can turn down the master to nil and still get a signal to the rest of the rig.
Old DOD 285 DI/Cabsim - I have this in the FX loop of the amp - that way I still get as much of my big rig's tone as possible by using its preamp, AND this gets me a decent cabsim for both guitar and bass. I have scrounged around and now have four of these things!
4 Input Mixer/PA - I have a splitter on the aux in here so I can use it for both running music through the PA and for running an audio interface into the PA. I typically just use the Cabsim to the Mixer for jamming along, but I can also turn down the master volume to mute the PA speakers, leaving just the recording out active. The recording out leads to a cheap old 4 way headphone amp.
Audio Interface - This is typically unused, unless I'm recording. It's connected to the aux in of the PA via the splitter, and of course my computer to record.
Headphone Amp - this was just a cheapo one I found used at my local GC. Nothing fancy, just a headphone amp with 4 headphone taps, each with an individual volume knob.
Anyway, I spent a TON of time jamming along to old Metallica today. I have to re-callus my fingers, that's for sure. But the big takeaways for me today are these, even though it's likely old news:
1. More gain/treble - As I jammed along to songs on the PA (while playing my actual rig, NOT the headphone one), it became obvious I needed to tweak some things on the Iron Pig and Muffs to make them work. They sounded amazing solo, but didn't stand out in the mix. For the muffs, I increased treble content. For the Iron Pig, I had to rework the tone considerably (went from 10:00ish to more like 1:00), up the attack (from 1:00 to max), and compensate for the extra treble content by increasing cleans (from 10:00 to 12:00).
2. Simpler is better - I also re-tooled my boards to just the essentials (well, okay, one or two "fun" pedals too...). Basically, I now have only comp, dirt, and "utility" pedals like tuners and gates. (And an envelope filter and delay.) My hope is that by limiting options, I'll have better focus.
3. Less is More - In retooling my boards, I kicked off any redundant dirt and other extraneous pedals. After tweaking my dirt pedals and jamming along, it became obvious that some of my pedals filled the same niche in the mix, so off went the ones found to be lacking. As much as it hurt, this included my Dunwich DIY HM-2, as the PD7 sounded slightly better in the mix but was pretty identical for the most part. It also included my GK Rails Pedal, as I like it, but the Pork Loin fulfills the same basic role and has more usable dirt for my needs at the moment. And now, I have an open space for dirt on my 2nd board to fill in with whichever Rat I decide to get in the near future.
And speaking of my Rat adventure, I think I may end up with another Blower Box. I was leaning towards the Cat Tail, but after seeing how much gain, treble, and attack I needed on the Iron Pig to get the tones I liked in the mix, I think the Blower Box may be the better fit. Maybe. I think. At least it's cheaper than the Fuzzrocious!
Anyway, I think that's a long enough rambling post. Hope all of you had as great a day as I did! I'm going to keep practicing tomorrow!
Here are some details on how this monstrosity works, if anyone's interested:
Amps: GKs - and I can turn down the master to nil and still get a signal to the rest of the rig.
Old DOD 285 DI/Cabsim - I have this in the FX loop of the amp - that way I still get as much of my big rig's tone as possible by using its preamp, AND this gets me a decent cabsim for both guitar and bass. I have scrounged around and now have four of these things!
4 Input Mixer/PA - I have a splitter on the aux in here so I can use it for both running music through the PA and for running an audio interface into the PA. I typically just use the Cabsim to the Mixer for jamming along, but I can also turn down the master volume to mute the PA speakers, leaving just the recording out active. The recording out leads to a cheap old 4 way headphone amp.
Audio Interface - This is typically unused, unless I'm recording. It's connected to the aux in of the PA via the splitter, and of course my computer to record.
Headphone Amp - this was just a cheapo one I found used at my local GC. Nothing fancy, just a headphone amp with 4 headphone taps, each with an individual volume knob.
Anyway, I spent a TON of time jamming along to old Metallica today. I have to re-callus my fingers, that's for sure. But the big takeaways for me today are these, even though it's likely old news:
1. More gain/treble - As I jammed along to songs on the PA (while playing my actual rig, NOT the headphone one), it became obvious I needed to tweak some things on the Iron Pig and Muffs to make them work. They sounded amazing solo, but didn't stand out in the mix. For the muffs, I increased treble content. For the Iron Pig, I had to rework the tone considerably (went from 10:00ish to more like 1:00), up the attack (from 1:00 to max), and compensate for the extra treble content by increasing cleans (from 10:00 to 12:00).
2. Simpler is better - I also re-tooled my boards to just the essentials (well, okay, one or two "fun" pedals too...). Basically, I now have only comp, dirt, and "utility" pedals like tuners and gates. (And an envelope filter and delay.) My hope is that by limiting options, I'll have better focus.
3. Less is More - In retooling my boards, I kicked off any redundant dirt and other extraneous pedals. After tweaking my dirt pedals and jamming along, it became obvious that some of my pedals filled the same niche in the mix, so off went the ones found to be lacking. As much as it hurt, this included my Dunwich DIY HM-2, as the PD7 sounded slightly better in the mix but was pretty identical for the most part. It also included my GK Rails Pedal, as I like it, but the Pork Loin fulfills the same basic role and has more usable dirt for my needs at the moment. And now, I have an open space for dirt on my 2nd board to fill in with whichever Rat I decide to get in the near future.
And speaking of my Rat adventure, I think I may end up with another Blower Box. I was leaning towards the Cat Tail, but after seeing how much gain, treble, and attack I needed on the Iron Pig to get the tones I liked in the mix, I think the Blower Box may be the better fit. Maybe. I think. At least it's cheaper than the Fuzzrocious!
Anyway, I think that's a long enough rambling post. Hope all of you had as great a day as I did! I'm going to keep practicing tomorrow!
Man, I'm a bit ashamed of going in the opposite direction! My rig is just getting more and more weird...
Bass > Sonic Research tuner > Peavey Max pre > HX Effects > JHS Packrat > Alexander F.13 flanger > Lehle volume pedal > Empress EchoSystem > GCA Light Pedal > HX Effects > amp/interface
And I've got a Meris Mercury7 on the way...but after that I'm putting the brakes on expanding the rig, I swear (famous last words).
This is what comes from hanging out in the Ambient thread.
My headphone rig is a piece of cheap chinese plastic. It can be charged with a USB cable, plays music from my phone/PC wirelessly and Sounds great.
Sascha Erni
Making things go whoomp, whoomp since 1994
Hope everybody got through their respective storms safely! We have the first big one of the season scheduled for this evening / night, so I've spent most of yesterday and today tying stuff down and hauling fire wood in.
At least, the Covid situation is getting sort-of better around here, despite the enormous numbers Switzerland is still pushing. Oh, well. I and the family (and the band) got three jabs, so we should be in the clear.
Anyways:
I'm in a bind about this at the moment, so great timing, kleinenenten! Point is, I really prefer my Orange Bass Butler’s sound to the Broughton SV-Pre’s – or any Ampeg-flavoured preamp, for that matter. But I keep the SV-Pre on my board, as the BB is too large and really more of an all-in-one pedal in my opinion, rather than something you’d strap on a board. As said, in my opinion.
I’m in two bands. While with my secondary band, I play through a Terror Bass rig, i.e. my Orange cravings are covered, the main band is ampless. Which means I have a basic sound in my monitors which is workable (for me), but I’m not too fond of. Adhering to above two rules I probably should go with two separate boards, but there’s three pedals that would have to go on both boards, which is quite expensive. DA MBD2, Broughton Joshwah, ED Hoofv2 = > $500. No go in the current economy for me, and the used market is practically inexistent in Switzerland for such pedals. (And we’re not in the EU, so shipping stuff from e.g. Germany adds fees and taxes you wouldn’t believe.)
As I see it, I have three options.
1) Get a larger board so I can fit the Orange, replacing the SV-Pre, Spectracomp, and ProDI
2) Get an Orange-flavoured preamp e.g. ME Super 200, replacing the SV-Pre, offset cost by trying to sell the Bass Butler
3) Keep the board as-is, but with the main band, add the Bass Butler off-board to the chain, which would break above quoted two rules (two compressors, a preamp/dirt option I don’t need, three DI etc.)
Sooooo … am I missing something? Is there an obvious, better option that hasn’t occurred to me? Any feedback is much appreciated, this has been doing my head in since Christmas.
Snapshot of my current board attached:
At least, the Covid situation is getting sort-of better around here, despite the enormous numbers Switzerland is still pushing. Oh, well. I and the family (and the band) got three jabs, so we should be in the clear.
Anyways:
I'm in a bind about this at the moment, so great timing, kleinenenten! Point is, I really prefer my Orange Bass Butler’s sound to the Broughton SV-Pre’s – or any Ampeg-flavoured preamp, for that matter. But I keep the SV-Pre on my board, as the BB is too large and really more of an all-in-one pedal in my opinion, rather than something you’d strap on a board. As said, in my opinion.
I’m in two bands. While with my secondary band, I play through a Terror Bass rig, i.e. my Orange cravings are covered, the main band is ampless. Which means I have a basic sound in my monitors which is workable (for me), but I’m not too fond of. Adhering to above two rules I probably should go with two separate boards, but there’s three pedals that would have to go on both boards, which is quite expensive. DA MBD2, Broughton Joshwah, ED Hoofv2 = > $500. No go in the current economy for me, and the used market is practically inexistent in Switzerland for such pedals. (And we’re not in the EU, so shipping stuff from e.g. Germany adds fees and taxes you wouldn’t believe.)
As I see it, I have three options.
1) Get a larger board so I can fit the Orange, replacing the SV-Pre, Spectracomp, and ProDI
2) Get an Orange-flavoured preamp e.g. ME Super 200, replacing the SV-Pre, offset cost by trying to sell the Bass Butler
3) Keep the board as-is, but with the main band, add the Bass Butler off-board to the chain, which would break above quoted two rules (two compressors, a preamp/dirt option I don’t need, three DI etc.)
Sooooo … am I missing something? Is there an obvious, better option that hasn’t occurred to me? Any feedback is much appreciated, this has been doing my head in since Christmas.
Snapshot of my current board attached:
Last edited:
Adding one pedal off board still makes that smaller than my boards! I think that sounds like the simplest solution for your problem, actually. For reference, here are my newly re-tooled boards:Sooooo … am I missing something? Is there an obvious, better option that hasn’t occurred to me? Any feedback is much appreciated, this has been doing my head in since Christmas.
The gap in the second board is where I had the Dunwich HM-2, but I found the PD7 captured the same essence in the mix, and had a bass response I preferred (which is in no way a disparagement of the Dunwich - but it seemed more open in the bass as not as compressed, and apparently I liked the compression better!) Also replaced by the lowly PD7 was my B7KU clone acquired a few months ago. Similar story - same basic dirt profile as the PD7, but this time, the highs seemed more anemic. So off it went. I hope to fill that gap with another Rat, either the Cat Tail or Blower Box. Still taking suggestions if anybody has another thought...
If it matters or is interesting to any of you, I don't tweak any settings going from flats to rounds. I find that these settings work well for both, and I think it's silly to change them in general. If I wanted identical sounds from flats and rounds (or other basses in general), I'd get identical rigs. But I'm still amazed at the difference between the flats and rounds with the Iron Pig. Seriously, the tone goes from doom to thrash. Literally, I was playing old school Metallica with rounds, then swapped to Sabbath on flats and it did great with both. I'm really liking that all of my dirt right now sounds good in pretty much any application, insofar as much as it is audible and cuts the mix without having to overpower anything (not necessarily that it fits the style).
I played enough last night that I may not be able to do fingerstyle much today! Guess I'll be working on pick technique too!
No worries - I've done that for years! I'll still jump on an Atreides of one pops up for a decent price. Plus, the Rubberneck is way more delay than I'll ever actually need. But it's a fun sort of weird and now I have the space since I kicked off so many effects! And I've tried going simple in the past - it never sticks. Though I'm optimistic this time! And I didn't actually get rid of anything, just took it off the board. I may actually get rid of a few duplicate pedals that I don't have on any board, now though.
———————————————————————-
I would say Colfax Guitars (which is just West of Colorado Blvd) is decent…
Had one decent experience w/ them and one not-so-great experience initially on another time…To their credit-they were responsible about remedying their minor mistake and fixed it for free on the spot when I brought it back……
From a setup perspective- I have taken two basses in there and both came out playing better and set up extremely well…
Best of luck to you wherever you go…
Thanks! \m/
Hey, peeps, just checking in to say "Hey, peeps."
Edit: just to add some bass related content, played along with some Stones tunes last night. (Well, listened to some Stones tunes and fumbled around trying to figure them out is more of an apt description.)
I was pretty surprised by the complexity of the bass lines. My estimation for whoever was playing them has gone up.
Edit: just to add some bass related content, played along with some Stones tunes last night. (Well, listened to some Stones tunes and fumbled around trying to figure them out is more of an apt description.)
I was pretty surprised by the complexity of the bass lines. My estimation for whoever was playing them has gone up.
