Ok, so Im looking to get a ripped speaker sound.... Time to listen to more Sabbath
Interesting!
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Tech 21 VT Bass
- Thread starter Bob Moulton
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Ok, so Im looking to get a ripped speaker sound.... Time to listen to more Sabbath
Interesting!
I'd buy that. I wouldn't boost the mids too much, though. Just enough for clarity.
Does anyone have any advice as to how I can get more breakup with lower notes and a bit cleaner sound on the higher ones, the way some tube preamps react when overdriven?
By the time I get the low notes sounding the way I want, e.g. very fat and dirty, I get too much added sustain and too much drive on the higher notes, making them less thumpy. I am looking to get closer to Jamerson's recorded Motown sound. I can get a tone I like with less drive overall but I really want to hear how this one would work in a live mix.
By the time I get the low notes sounding the way I want, e.g. very fat and dirty, I get too much added sustain and too much drive on the higher notes, making them less thumpy. I am looking to get closer to Jamerson's recorded Motown sound. I can get a tone I like with less drive overall but I really want to hear how this one would work in a live mix.
Well fat and dirty results in compression so I'm not surprised. I haven't tried to get an exact Jamerson clone with it, so I'd be interested in hearing some settings trying to cop that tone, too. Off the top of my head, I'd say keep character at at least 10:00, mids slightly boosted past flat, treble below 9:00, and drive below 9:00, lows to taste.
I fell more in love with this pedal this morning after getting the lovely slightly driven SVT sound. A real usable tone for my jams. Takes some tinkering to find what's good from this pedal, and what works for you, but that's all part of the fun.
Thanks Jimmy. That's exactly the usable Motown sound I have found, but to get the breakup on the low notes I'm looking for I had the drive up between 11:00 and noon, which gave way too much OD on the high notes, and too much sustain as well.
To be honest, live I'm sure that will sound amazing, but I'm still intrigued by the idea of having something closer to this (I'm always amazed at how thumpy and dirty this tone is, in the mix it smooths out so much and just works):
Listening again I think lowering my PUPs and muting with thicker foam will help, as I love these strings but can't play them with anything higher than medium action. The strings are still relatively new, so they will get thumpier and sustain less, too, I think.
I guess that tone is a function of the heavy sweet compression used as well. I'm not the kind of guy who usually chases recorded tones, but with my Bergantino cabs I can often nail '60s recorded bass tones surprisingly well live.
That, to me, sounds more like he's just overmodulating the tape recorder on the attack but has an otherwise clean sound. Don't know if the VT can do that sound. It could get close, but the more drive you add, the more sustain you'll get, so I don't know if the VT is the right man for the job.
BTW, Bass Central is 20 minutes away from me but I refuse to go there and try out those Bergantino cabs. I know I will like them too much, and then my marriage is going to be in trouble when I tell the wife how badly I need one. GAS + angry wife = ulcer.
BTW, Bass Central is 20 minutes away from me but I refuse to go there and try out those Bergantino cabs. I know I will like them too much, and then my marriage is going to be in trouble when I tell the wife how badly I need one. GAS + angry wife = ulcer.
You're probably right in the first paragraph. It's definitely not worth my while chasing this exact tone, I'm happy with what the VT does for me.
You are definitely right in the second one. Judging by your posts and your preferences, there is a snowball's chance in heck you will not be popping Tums like Heroin Smarties if you do try one out. I liked my NV so much I bought a second one.
im using a 1x15 ampeg with my vt bass.
i'm after that aggressive pick SVT tone (not that much overdrive, but clean with slight aggressiveness).
im finding that im having to cut my mid's so much in order to get a nice clear sound without it being too boomy.
my amp has EQ flat with mid cut around 9 o'clock.
im using a sadowsky preamp with slight bass and treble boost (more mid cut).
and then my vt bass pedal has the mid cut around 10-11 o'clock with a slight treble boost at 1 o'clock.
is it just me? or do you guys think mids make the sound really boomy. i have so much mid cut on my set up, but it seems to give me a much clearer tone.
i'm after that aggressive pick SVT tone (not that much overdrive, but clean with slight aggressiveness).
im finding that im having to cut my mid's so much in order to get a nice clear sound without it being too boomy.
my amp has EQ flat with mid cut around 9 o'clock.
im using a sadowsky preamp with slight bass and treble boost (more mid cut).
and then my vt bass pedal has the mid cut around 10-11 o'clock with a slight treble boost at 1 o'clock.
is it just me? or do you guys think mids make the sound really boomy. i have so much mid cut on my set up, but it seems to give me a much clearer tone.
Yes I often cut my mids too with this pedal. Sometimes on my real SVT, as well. Whatever works.
I think mids really depend on your bass. I use a Jazz, and I find that the mids on the VT give me more of the bass' natural articulation.
IMO/E of course
IMO/E of course
Odd how there isn't a producer in the world who would accept Jamerson overmodulating like that these days but it works so well in the big picture. I'll bet someone invents an over-modulation pedal that duplicates the Jamerson sound on these soloed tracks.
I've recorded some clips of the VT Bass in action. There's 4 clips with just the VT, starting off with the character at 10 o'clock, then repeating the riff by increasing the gain from 11 o'clock to max. There are 3 more clips with the character set to 11, 12 and 1 o'clock; all the EQ knobs are at noon for each one:
Character at 10 o'clock
Character at 11 o'clock
Character at 12 o'clock
Character at 1 o'clock
Lastly, this clip shows how I typically use the pedal, which is as a clean preamp that also smooths off harsh overdrive/distortion pedals. It starts off with the VT set to EQ all at noon, character and drive at 11. Then in comes the Humphrey modded Badder Monkey (bass full, treble 2 o'clock, gain 11 o'clock), and then the Boss HM-2 (bass 4 o'clock, treble 12 o'clock). During the heavy section, all 3 pedals are on
bassist, then the HM-2 gets kicked off for the ending. Oh, and I'm using the EHX Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai all the way through for a bit of reverb as it's a solo piece!
Enjoy!
Character at 10 o'clock
Character at 11 o'clock
Character at 12 o'clock
Character at 1 o'clock
Lastly, this clip shows how I typically use the pedal, which is as a clean preamp that also smooths off harsh overdrive/distortion pedals. It starts off with the VT set to EQ all at noon, character and drive at 11. Then in comes the Humphrey modded Badder Monkey (bass full, treble 2 o'clock, gain 11 o'clock), and then the Boss HM-2 (bass 4 o'clock, treble 12 o'clock). During the heavy section, all 3 pedals are on
bassist, then the HM-2 gets kicked off for the ending. Oh, and I'm using the EHX Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai all the way through for a bit of reverb as it's a solo piece!Enjoy!
I really like the second sound in the first clip. That's some really tasty grind.
I just got this pedal on Friday. So far, I think it's great. My bass sounds so anemic without it.
Anyway, I wasn't able to find in this thread approximately how many hours I should get out of the battery. Surely someone has owned one long enough to make a good guess?
Anyway, I wasn't able to find in this thread approximately how many hours I should get out of the battery. Surely someone has owned one long enough to make a good guess?
I was listening to this great 12" single when I heard the a very similar style breakup on the leading edge of the notes. You can hear it best when the drum and bass come forward around the 4:00 mark, during the dub mix section. It gives so much weight to every note, really cool sound. This riddim is a masterful Roots Raddics (with Flabba Holt on bass) remake of an early Studio One Slim Smith song called Rougher Yet:
Family Man often gets a similar sound live; he uses a SABBDI, FWIW.
Back to scheduled programming.
I have one of these, but I can't seem to get a nice tone plugging my P-Bass into my Mac using Garageband. I doubt it's the VT's fault - no matter how I set the levels, Garageband seems to have a very harsh bass sound with "no effects" even without the VT, and especially if my bass volume is full up. Once I turn the VT on, I can get it to distort, or I can get it to make a clean sound that to my ears doesn't sound any different or better than the already harsh GarageBand sound. What I cannot get a is a warm tubey sounds that's similar to my Ampeg B-100R.
On the other hand, if I use the GarageBand presets (Like Direct Box Warm), that does improve the sound, so I'm confused why I can't use the VT to warm up the sound instead. Any thoughts anyone? I'd love to hear of any settings that have worked well with Garageband. FYI - I'm just plugging directly into my laptop's mic input.
On the other hand, if I use the GarageBand presets (Like Direct Box Warm), that does improve the sound, so I'm confused why I can't use the VT to warm up the sound instead. Any thoughts anyone? I'd love to hear of any settings that have worked well with Garageband. FYI - I'm just plugging directly into my laptop's mic input.
It's all about the channel EQ. roll off anything about 10K to start unless you REALLY need that super high articulation - in my opinion it just accounts for noise - and if you are using a VT pedal to record - you really do not want content above 10K.
Also chekc the signal chain and how you are recording into garageband. There is a big difference in sound quality when I use the MBP line in - as opposed to a purpose built external sound card - like my Centrance MicPort Pro.
And to Jimmy's point about the overmodulation of Jamerson's tone. I'm right there with you. I didn't use a VT pedal - but My modded Epi Valve Junior head totally reminds me of a thick over modulated middy motown bass sound. At first I thought it sounded too ugly to be useful. So I retracked everything using the wonderful clean tube DI from my Peavey VB-2. At the end - I scrapped the peavy track because the thicker tone just worked better.
I think producers are simply afraid to track any bass source these days that isn't sent crystal clear unless the song call for a mic'ed amp. That and we have the choice to do so - whereas during Jamerson's day - the tech limited fidelity. recording bass direct can be VERY forgiving when compared to the grand scheme. I mean you could use an ART TubeMP and record at 16bit 44.1K and sound fantastic - try the same with an acoustic guitar - No way. Not by today's standards.
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