Stoner/Doom Bassists Thread, Part 90: Maxed Out

[JES]

I'm a heavy dude so my balance isn't all that good for all the one legged shenanigans.

I feel you on that! I have made a lot of effort to simplify my pedalboard for that reason. And to not go too compact. I'm down to an Eventide H90, 3 drives, a volume and an expression pedal. Though I am considering re-adding something for feedback effects.

 

[Jolagh]

#needballast

Also, #thatsalottageartohaul

I feel you on that! I have made a lot of effort to simplify my pedalboard for that reason. And to not go too compact. I'm down to an Eventide H90, 3 drives, a volume and an expression pedal. Though I am considering re-adding something for feedback effects.

Yeah. I should be able to fit it all on a 2 layer 14.5 x 23 inch pedalboard kinda similar to a https://www.schmidtarray.com/ pedalboard that I'm in the process of building. It'll all be controlled by the gig rig so I don't need to see most of the pedals.

I figure once we are done refining this setup I'll have the one pedalboard and probably have one bass and one guitar amp. Thinking about trading in my meatsmoke for a solid state amp like a darkglass 900 or something just to make load in easier. The meatsmoke just has such a big room filling sound. The darkglass stuff sounds good but it doesn't fill a room the same.

I was laying out my pedals figuring out how big the board needed to be. Still missing 3 pedals but 2 are on the way.

 

[Kaa]

Yeah. I should be able to fit it all on a 2 layer 14.5 x 23 inch pedalboard kinda similar to a https://www.schmidtarray.com/ pedalboard that I'm in the process of building. It'll all be controlled by the gig rig so I don't need to see most of the pedals.

I figure once we are done refining this setup I'll have the one pedalboard and probably have one bass and one guitar amp. Thinking about trading in my meatsmoke for a solid state amp like a darkglass 900 or something just to make load in easier. The meatsmoke just has such a big room filling sound. The darkglass stuff sounds good but it doesn't fill a room the same.

I was laying out my pedals figuring out how big the board needed to be. Still missing 3 pedals but 2 are on the way.View attachment 5145905

That GigRig needs some Formula 409 and elbow grease, lol. The loading would be easier with the DarkGlass, yes, but, will you really be happy with the sound? If you have any doubts, don't do the trade. It's an old and oft-told tale of trading in a loved piece and regretting it.

 

[Jolagh]

That GigRig needs some Formula 409 and elbow grease, lol. The loading would be easier with the DarkGlass, yes, but, will you really be happy with the sound? If you have any doubts, don't do the trade. It's an old and oft-told tale of trading in a loved piece and regretting it.

Yeah, all my equipment needs a good cleanup. Luckily the gigrig is mostly water proof and uses optical switches lol.

I've been debating on the meatsmoke sale for a long time. It's just always the worst thing to have to carry in and out of the gig lol. It weighs like 100 lbs. And for some reason every place we play has the world's worst sidewalks so you can't even roll it in on one of the guitar cabinets. Chances are I'll end up hanging onto it anyway. But I keep thinking about trading it in.

 

[Kaa]

Yeah, all my equipment needs a good cleanup. Luckily the gigrig is mostly water proof and uses optical switches lol.

I've been debating on the Meatsmoke sale for a long time. It's just always the worst thing to have to carry in and out of the gig lol. It weighs like 100 lbs. And for some reason every place we play has the world's worst sidewalks so you can't even roll it in on one of the guitar cabinets. Chances are I'll end up hanging onto it anyway. But I keep thinking about trading it in.

Well, if I may be brutally frank, I think you'll be happier using a solid state power section for gigs and hanging on to the Verellin for home jams/tonal bliss. I could easily be wrong. But, just for arguments sake, let's say you find a budget SS head or power amp, of the same or higher wattage. With all the processing going on in the space between bass 6 and amp, would the lack of tube be really noticeable? Does the effect chain have enough oomph to drive a SS power amp? You can find 1000 watt lead sleds for cheap all day long now. Run the bass into one channel of the power amp, and the guitar signal through the other. One line out for bass cabinet, one for guitar cabinet(s). Not sure about the ohmage issue if running 2 guitar cabs, though.

 

[Jolagh]

Well, if I may be brutally frank, I think you'll be happier using a solid state power section for gigs and hanging on to the Verellin for home jams/tonal bliss. I could easily be wrong. But, just for arguments sake, let's say you find a budget SS head or power amp, of the same or higher wattage. With all the processing going on in the space between bass 6 and amp, would the lack of tube be really noticeable? Does the effect chain have enough oomph to drive a SS power amp? You can find 1000 watt lead sleds for cheap all day long now. Run the bass into one channel of the power amp, and the guitar signal through the other. One line out for bass cabinet, one for guitar cabinet(s). Not sure about the ohmage issue if running 2 guitar cabs, though.

All good questions. I'm really not sure how much tubes matter in this context. Historically when playing normal bass I did alot of A/B testing with tubes and solid state and even with a carvin dcm 3000l I still preferred the heft of the meatsmoke. The carvin just didn't feel the same in the room even though it had enough volume to peel the paint off the walls. But in this situation where mostly I'm pushing sub lows through the bass amp and using the guitar setup for the mids and treble it may not make any difference if it's tubes or not on the bass side.

Really the ideal scenario is we'd play places with a big enough PA to just run the bass signal DI to the board, but most the places we play barely have enough PA for kick drum and vocals. I'll need to take the bass vi to some shops and see if I can find any decent SS amps that could get like 80% of the way to the girth of the verellen.

 

[br1qbat]

First pedalboard I've needed to draw out a diagram for lol.

Basically I'm splitting my neck pickup out and sending it through a density hulk which is like a dod meatbox which boosts the subharmonics of the signal. Then into a looper which I can control using the remote switches from the gig rig so that I can turn on the bass side effects with just the one foot switch on the gigrig. Then it goes out to a di and a verellen meatsmoke bass amp with a dually 2x15 cabinet.

Then the bridge and middle pickups are sent through a seperate signal chain with alot of bass rolloff to get the guitar sounds. Then out to an orange rockerverb 100 and a verellen loucks with a Marshall 4x12 each.

I also wanted to be able to control our lights from the gigrig, but it only sends patch change midi, so to control the lights I needed the quartz to convert patch change midi to notes for our light controller.

I figured while I was doing that I'd like to also be able to control my vocal effects so I'll chain the vc500 from the quartz midi as well.

It's complex but hopefully when it's fully assembled it'll make singing/screaming, playing guitar and bass parts, and controlling all the effects alot easier. The more simple I can make the extra stuff the easier it should be to play well right? Lol.

Sounds cool af

 

[Kaa]

All good questions. I'm really not sure how much tubes matter in this context. Historically when playing normal bass I did alot of A/B testing with tubes and solid state and even with a carvin dcm 3000l I still preferred the heft of the meatsmoke. The carvin just didn't feel the same in the room even though it had enough volume to peel the paint off the walls. But in this situation where mostly I'm pushing sub lows through the bass amp and using the guitar setup for the mids and treble it may not make any difference if it's tubes or not on the bass side.

Really the ideal scenario is we'd play places with a big enough PA to just run the bass signal DI to the board, but most the places we play barely have enough PA for kick drum and vocals. I'll need to take the bass vi to some shops and see if I can find any decent SS amps that could get like 80% of the way to the girth of the verellen.

This is coming out of left field, but, I know in her group Echo Test, Julie Slick is running a Bass6 into, I think, bass and guitar sides. You may want to do a bit of exploring on her site.

 

[Jolagh]

This is coming out of left field, but, I know in her group Echo Test, Julie Slick is running a Bass6 into, I think, bass and guitar sides. You may want to do a bit of exploring on her site.

I haven't heard of her before. I'm gonna check her stuff out.

 

[ConfoundedBridg]

Doomers!

I've been missing y'all. I feel like no one understands like you guys do when I show them a picture like this:

and say "this is how I'm tryna be"

Still in two bands and both are picking up which is why I've been so busy. The country band has morphed into a southern rock type thing. Not exactly what I'd listen to on my own time but its not bad and its fun.

My metal band I'm really excited for. There's a few songs we've pretty much finished writing so we might start hitting up open mics and/or try getting into small shows. I'll drop some recordings of our practices in here, but long story short it dooms.

 

[ConfoundedBridg]

Yeah, all my equipment needs a good cleanup. Luckily the gigrig is mostly water proof and uses optical switches lol.

I've been debating on the meatsmoke sale for a long time. It's just always the worst thing to have to carry in and out of the gig lol. It weighs like 100 lbs. And for some reason every place we play has the world's worst sidewalks so you can't even roll it in on one of the guitar cabinets. Chances are I'll end up hanging onto it anyway. But I keep thinking about trading it in.

Been dealing with something like this too. My big rig is a 300W SVT clone and a 4x10 cab. Probably all together weighs 140+ with the majority of the weight being the head. I got a dolly that can collapse down and fit into the trunk of my sedan and that thing has definitely saved my life on multiple occasions so if I had to recommend anything it'd be that. it's also capable of climbing and going down stairs but I don't think it's that much more efficient than just carrying the stuff up the stairs, but gravel, uneven sidewalks etc a dolly will save your life.

that being said all this lugging stuff around has me looking for tube combos, and MAN, are our options as bass players way more limited than a guitar player's in that department. Do y'all have any experience or recommendations for tube combos that can take distortion pedals?

I take my solid state 2x10 combo to some gigs too and it just doesn't give me the warm fuzzies that the tube amp does. Both groups I'm in are three piece and I can really tell how much more space the tube amp takes in a live and recorded mix not to mention how much better it takes pedals. started running my mix out of a mic for both amps too so it's not the DIs on them affecting the freq spectrum.

Anyway I feel your pain. tube heavy but sound gud

 

[JES]

I’m old and have back issues from hauling lead sleds and cabs around in the 90s. I switched to an Orange TB500 (the original one) and a couple cabs — Barefaced is the main one. It can get savagely loud. Maybe more middy than a tube head but it works for me and my bands. It also can be lifted with a single finger.

 

[kleinenenten]

I'm down to an Eventide H90, 3 drives, a volume and an expression pedal. Though I am considering re-adding something for feedback effects.

I continually try to downsize my boards, and then just can't keep it that way. I currently have:
Tuner - Compressor - Noise Clamp - (In Loop of Noise Clamp) - Pork Loin - MBD-2 - Bass Mountain/Tremond - Arion Metal Master - Pharaoh Supreme - (Out of Loop of Noise Clamp) - Envelope Filter - AMP - AMP's FX Loop - Smart Gate - Delay - CabSim/Di - HPF - DONE

So that puts me at 13 pedals? Realistically, I'd downsize if I had an actual gig and had to choose only one or two tones. But since I don't...

Thinking about trading in my meatsmoke for a solid state amp like a darkglass 900 or something just to make load in easier. The meatsmoke just has such a big room filling sound. The darkglass stuff sounds good but it doesn't fill a room the same.View attachment 5145905

I have no stake in the Tube vs. SS debate, but I did get a chance to A/B the BxK amp against my 700RB-II about a year ago (maybe?). The GK won for me, so I'd check out plenty of other SS amps to make sure the DG is the one you want. For me, I couldn't get the DG to sound neutral. It ALWAYS sounded a bit like a DG pedal, and that may be your thing. But the GK could sound like all sorts of things (though I prefer mine relatively neutral overall but with a mid bump), and I found that I preferred its tone over the DG when I tried to get them to do the same thing. I also found that the DG's onboard dirt wasn't to my liking - I'd actually have preferred a separate DG pedal. Which I did - for about a decade.

Anyway, just saying that if you DO go SS, check out various options. You never know what you may prefer.

 

[Jolagh]

I continually try to downsize my boards, and then just can't keep it that way. I currently have:
Tuner - Compressor - Noise Clamp - (In Loop of Noise Clamp) - Pork Loin - MBD-2 - Bass Mountain/Tremond - Arion Metal Master - Pharaoh Supreme - (Out of Loop of Noise Clamp) - Envelope Filter - AMP - AMP's FX Loop - Smart Gate - Delay - CabSim/Di - HPF - DONE

So that puts me at 13 pedals? Realistically, I'd downsize if I had an actual gig and had to choose only one or two tones. But since I don't...



I have no stake in the Tube vs. SS debate, but I did get a chance to A/B the BxK amp against my 700RB-II about a year ago (maybe?). The GK won for me, so I'd check out plenty of other SS amps to make sure the DG is the one you want. For me, I couldn't get the DG to sound neutral. It ALWAYS sounded a bit like a DG pedal, and that may be your thing. But the GK could sound like all sorts of things (though I prefer mine relatively neutral overall but with a mid bump), and I found that I preferred its tone over the DG when I tried to get them to do the same thing. I also found that the DG's onboard dirt wasn't to my liking - I'd actually have preferred a separate DG pedal. Which I did - for about a decade.

Anyway, just saying that if you DO go SS, check out various options. You never know what you may prefer.

I do need to check out some GK stuff. They're one of those brands I never see around Tulsa so I've never gotten to really play one. I saw HTSOB with Billy Anderson playing through a very old 800 rb (I think, I forget the exact model). It sounded great.

 

[scabpicker]

If I had it to do again, I'd get a Bassman 500 or 800 instead of the Super Bassman. Since its master is rarely above 2 or 3, I doubt I'm getting much tube-y sound from pushing the power amp, and the SS options have the same tube preamp, which I crank.

Given the difference in weight, I still might get one. But the fold-able hand cart has been working well.

 

[Kaa]

Get rid of all that mess and plug straight in to

You CANNOT be more metal.

 

[br1qbat]

Doomers!

I've been missing y'all. I feel like no one understands like you guys do when I show them a picture like this:

and say "this is how I'm tryna be"

Still in two bands and both are picking up which is why I've been so busy. The country band has morphed into a southern rock type thing. Not exactly what I'd listen to on my own time but its not bad and its fun.

My metal band I'm really excited for. There's a few songs we've pretty much finished writing so we might start hitting up open mics and/or try getting into small shows. I'll drop some recordings of our practices in here, but long story short it dooms.

Mel will always make me smile. Welcome back

 

[br1qbat]

Get rid of all that mess and plug straight in to
View attachment 5146779

You CANNOT be more metal.

Hey those Peavey combos are legit.
Not a fan of the cosmetic 'upgrades' this one got. Lol

 

[Kaa]

Hey those Peavey combos are legit.
Not a fan of the cosmetic 'upgrades' this one got. Lol

I have a Peavey Combo300 sitting in my buddy's basement (from whence it shall never leave), and it sounds fine. I roll off the top end pretty much all the way to get rid of the clank and zing, and it satisfied my needs. Currently it's being used as an electronic drum kit amp while I use a Yorkville XM100 that sits on top of it for bass. (We're old and play more quietly now.) It works fine as a drum amp as well.

We'll have to agree to disagree on the awesome customization of Choadhammer.

 

[kleinenenten]

Get rid of all that mess and plug straight in to
View attachment 5146779

You CANNOT be more metal.

Unless you obtain that bass which is legend. I dare not utter its name in these halls...

The M*th B*ss!