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Stoner/Doom Bassists Thread, Part 90: Maxed Out

#61,441
kleinenenten said:
I have not. I'll try that today. My gut says it will add lows, but not "heft". That probably doesn't make sense. I guess what I'm really saying is that the lows don't get as distorted on the BBD as they do the other pedals. Which many people would prefer! But I like a little distortion on the lows to help glue it all together. Neither approach is bad, but I feel that when the lows are mostly clean it works better for faster and more articulate stuff (like the BBD) and when they're more distorted it's better for slower, doomier stuff (like the Tremond or Bass Mountain). The Volt Thrower is the closest I've found to having the ideal tone for both situations without having to change settings. I could likely get perfection for both situations from the VT by changing settings.

Anyway, I'm going to keep testing pedals and enjoying my day off. Have fun, all!
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Just spent the morning tweaking knobs. Here's what I've got:

The BBD at the extreme ends of the low knob is definitely closer to what I want, but still not quite there. It seemed to saturate the lows a bit more, as well as cover up some of the harsh top end that I try to avoid. So now, I can have plenty of lows and added back in high for more definition. I find it very close to my tones on the MBD2 and B3K that I have in my arsenal - perhaps a tiny bit brighter/punchier and nastier. It's basically halfway between the Rat and "modern metal" tones I already have. I could get those pedals nastier if needed, but the BBD could certainly do double duty without having to change settings. Definitely a keeper if it can do Rat/MBD2/B3K tones all in one pedal and identical settings! Honestly, the one thing I would like to change about the BBD is that it has a side power jack but top in/out jacks. I know that it's likely a necessity for the PCB, but it's just my least favorite combo. A minor nitpick, for sure, and if it takes up two pedals of tones, well worth just over 1 "standard-sized" pedal of space.

I still absolutely LOVE my Volt Thrower, but I wish the internal knobs were on the outside. I swear - I tweak those more than anything else. Right now I've got the internal "lows" at 10:30 and "other" at about 10:00. Plenty of dirt, but also plenty of cleans and definition. Bass knob at noon, treble and gain at about 1:30ish give or take. Crushing tones, heft, and clarity. Everything I could want in a Rat! Nothing new there, and there are plenty of fans of the VT and Dunwich in general, and I don't really think I can add anything else to the discussion except to say that patience is rewarded. Minor adjustments can do wonders.

The biggest surprise this time was my Tremond. I re-watched the video that had originally sold me on the pedal, and had forgotten that it ALSO has internal options that I'd never used. So I opened it up. It's got a gain control for the clean channel. Mine was at about 1:30, but I ended up maxing it out. This gave me a bit brighter tone overall, which helped since the Tremond sometimes lost a little clarity on the highs at gain when I had to blend back in clean lows via the HPF Boost. It also had a "Brittle Mode" switch. I was hesitant to try it, but figured the pedal was open so why not? I can tell you "Brittle Mode" is misnomer. It did not make my tone brittle at all. It appears to be an attack boost. So with those tweaks, I now have a nice cutting distortion with plenty of high end clarity AND excellent bass retention, with saturation throughout the range of my signal. At the same time, it's incredibly punchy and articulate. It's an amazing tone.

Now it's time for yardwork... And then hopefully more bass!
 
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#61,442
Had a minor panic attack today. I've been tweaking all my pedals lately, and really loving the tones. Today, I played them out of the mix - and they all sounded 90% identical. Like I didn't even need most of them. I always want to sound like me, but with different flavors of dirt, and the flavors all ran together today! Then I decided to switch basses to my #1 - I had been playing #2. That sealed it. #1, which I had been testing everything with, sounded distinctly different with each pedal. So that definitely means I need to upgrade the preamp in bass #2 which I've been debating for years!

In other news, I'll be going to my first concert in forever on Friday. Super stoked!
 
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#61,443
So it’s been a minute for me in here. I managed to snatch Tool ticket with Elder opening for them (quite the on-brand move for me).

Gear-wise, I substituted out a couple basses and got the following over the past few months: an Ibanez ST-824, a Washburn AB-95, an MIJ Fender Jaguar bass, an Esh Sovereign, and an 99% done with mods to my G&L Tribute L2500 with the freak switching system (now to wire the varitone). Off all the basses here, the Washburn is the absolute biggest surprise of my bass-playing life. It’s like someone took and combined a J-bass and Jack Casady bass and out came this, conceptually and tonally. Of all of these, the Jaguar, the Washburn, and the G&L are getting the reps for the heavy stuff, with the Washburn as the go-to. And the Electra Rick copy will be through with new binding installation soon.

My pedalboard is set as well with the Idiotbox pedals and the new Boss DM101 pedal. Is it pure doom? Hell no. But there are dozens of doom/stoner-ready sounds easily accessible on the fly.

IMG_1873.jpeg

IMG_1839.jpeg
 
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#61,446
Warlock_Surfer said:
I just got the spicy ketchup version of the Whataphaser from Idiotbox. That thing sounds so good after any dirt pedal.
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I had no idea that they were coming out with the spicy ketchup when I got mine. Turns out they had one leftover original one that they put for sale on the site in September and I jumped on it. The black would look more in-place on the board.

Have you messed around with the choppier settings on yours yet?
 
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#61,448
Kawai2g4b said:
I had no idea that they were coming out with the spicy ketchup when I got mine. Turns out they had one leftover original one that they put for sale on the site in September and I jumped on it. The black would look more in-place on the board.

Have you messed around with the choppier settings on yours yet?
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Yes and I actually have the same settings as your picture but with rate set lower
 
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#61,451
Kaa said:
Sadly, the battle Dachshund has gone to her new assignment as a puppy for a little girl somewhere. She had a good long life, and will be missed.
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Ugh, outliving your pets is the worst way to remember that even the best romances end in tragedy. However, there's no way around it in either case. I've done it before, and I expect to do it many times again if I am lucky. Rest, and remember that she was an awesome dog.
 
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#61,452
Oh man, that's tough. For loses, I only get through them by forcing my thoughts to how grateful I am they changed my life for the better.

kleinenenten said:
Had a minor panic attack today. I've been tweaking all my pedals lately, and really loving the tones. Today, I played them out of the mix - and they all sounded 90% identical. Like I didn't even need most of them. I always want to sound like me, but with different flavors of dirt, and the flavors all ran together today! Then I decided to switch basses to my #1 - I had been playing #2. That sealed it. #1, which I had been testing everything with, sounded distinctly different with each pedal. So that definitely means I need to upgrade the preamp in bass #2 which I've been debating for years!

In other news, I'll be going to my first concert in forever on Friday. Super stoked!
Click to expand...

That's awesome! And yeah, it's wild how different dirt boxes take different basses. I've been noticing it's similar as to how different a straight DI vs cab and/or amp sim outputs into headphones sound. Or DI into headphones vs through the cab. Hell same as low vs high volume. Things, especially dirt, just sound way different, react different, and perceived volume differences change drastically.

Essentially I've gone back and forther, but have realized I need to continue to use the same bass for a gig, and the backup should be very similar...

Kawai2g4b said:
So it’s been a minute for me in here. I managed to snatch Tool ticket with Elder opening for them (quite the on-brand move for me).

Gear-wise, I substituted out a couple basses and got the following over the past few months: an Ibanez ST-824, a Washburn AB-95, an MIJ Fender Jaguar bass, an Esh Sovereign, and an 99% done with mods to my G&L Tribute L2500 with the freak switching system (now to wire the varitone). Off all the basses here, the Washburn is the absolute biggest surprise of my bass-playing life. It’s like someone took and combined a J-bass and Jack Casady bass and out came this, conceptually and tonally. Of all of these, the Jaguar, the Washburn, and the G&L are getting the reps for the heavy stuff, with the Washburn as the go-to. And the Electra Rick copy will be through with new binding installation soon.

My pedalboard is set as well with the Idiotbox pedals and the new Boss DM101 pedal. Is it pure doom? Hell no. But there are dozens of doom/stoner-ready sounds easily accessible on the fly.

View attachment 5265502
View attachment 5265503
Click to expand...

Nice, hell of set up! Those jaguar basses are so damn good! Love the phaser and the destroyer too. Been thinking of either getting a new enclosure and/or modding that one to make the octave switchable, with or without a remote or something. Love the octave, but don't always want it, can't complain though. It's so badass that he found a way to commercially try all these cool circuit ideas he comes up with. How do you like the DM 101? Wish I had room for one on my board.

Enjoy that show, bet it's gonna be outstanding.
 
#61,454
scabpicker said:
Ugh, outliving your pets is the worst way to remember that even the best romances end in tragedy. However, there's no way around it in either case. I've done it before, and I expect to do it many times again if I am lucky. Rest, and remember that she was an awesome dog.
Click to expand...
That's exactly what I'm doing. I take solace in my belief that she has taken another step in her journey towards Nirvana, and is out there somewhere sending out good karma.
 
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#61,459
rising_4ce said:
Are you familiar with Vanishing Twin? I just came across them a few months ago and they've been in heavy rotation ever since. Kind of in the Stereolab vein, but a bit more of a psychedelic/kosmische take on it.
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(Does a quick YouTube search and watches a bunch of videos, and is delighted as a result.)

Nope! Was completely unaware of them. They surely scratch some of the same itches, huh? Plus, there's a healthy helping of psychedelic soul in there. The bass playing is surely hypnotic, I love it. But so much more Krautrock, grab a great groove and hang onto it.

Thankya for the heads up!
 
#61,460
I'll have to check em out, never heard of em.

Can't remember who, but I swear someone was asking about phasers recently. Highly recommend this piece from Matt, I'm so glad he keeps getting requests and is able to deliver. Does an outstanding subtle to intense and all the chewiness in between, with an output control that can fix perceived volume loss. Best phaser I've ever used and will never get rid of mine whether it's on the board or not.

Whataphaser Black On Orange Reissue
 
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