Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Tighten the tone!!!
- Thread starter txthrashking
- Start date
gate. watch the woofy low end. and play as clean as possible. its very easy to start playing sloppy when you have a wall of overdrive to hide behind.
Depends on what you mean by "tight". A gate can certainly help with really heavy distortion. Having a distortion with a clean blend and the ability to distort only the mids and highs can help keep the sound from getting to messy and muddy. Amptweaker even makes a pedal call the "Tight Drive" (there is a bass version) with a tight control that progressively narrows the bandwidth of the bass frequencies, thus giving you kind of a chunky or tight sound.
Well from my own experience, I'd agree with what people say about finding a gated fuzz for tightness, but my problem with gated fuzz is that when I'd play notes fast together a la Steve Harris, the attack of each individual note was lost to the gate and it was very sterile and weak sounding. It was a good sounding fuzz but sounded much better on long drawn out notes... I guess I could have added an envelope filter to distinguish the note attack but it wasnt worth it at that point.
What you might want is a fuzz with a blend, so you can retain your tight clean attack in the dry blend and fuzz it up in the wet.
The other thing I'm thinking is maybe a grindy overdrive would suit you more than fuzz, as traditionally (to me at least) overdrive pedals retain more fundamental tone and attack/note definition. I think of overdrive as a watercolor paint that adds color to your existing sound, while fuzz as an oil paint that covers your existing sound in a big wet greasy distortion.
+a million
Many distortion pedals do not have a blend feature, but you can either add one internally or build a blend box externally using very few (and very inexpensive) components.
The result is exactly what Toastfuzz describes. I did this with a Fulltone Bass Drive, and it brought the pedal to life!
Check this out for a very simple and very effective blend circuit. Can be added to a pedal as a mod or built in a separate enclosure.
Invalid Link Removed
Invalid Link Removed
The MXR M-80 Bass Di and Direct box is incredible. It seriously revolutionized my tone. Has a booster for your clean channel, gives it lots of beefy punch. Has a 3 band EQ that you can play with your highs/mids/lows, and then a distortion on it that you can kick up the gain with, it has blend on there. Seriously. Check it out.
MXR M-80 Bass Direct Box with Distortion: Shop Amplifiers & Effects & Other Musical Instruments | Musician's Friend
MXR M-80 Bass Direct Box with Distortion: Shop Amplifiers & Effects & Other Musical Instruments | Musician's Friend
can you send me links to the parts i need to make a seperate enclosure?
Link Removed x4
Link Removed x1
Link Removed x1
Link Removed x1
Link Removed x1 (may want an extra just in case, though)
Link Removed x1
Link Removed x1
Link Removed x1
Link Removed - you'll probably want a few feet. Choose your colour.
Link Removed for battery
Link Removed if you want a DC jack
Invalid Link Removed x1 (you want 50k linear). They didn't have this exact part ateffectsconnection. You could order all of these parts at small bear if you prefer.
All that plus some solder, a soldering iron, and a drill/drill press to get some holes into the enclosure.
Hope that helps.
Sorry for the lack of clarity. That list is just for the blend circuit. Grab a distortion/overdrive/fuzz pedal you like and plug it into the blend box you build using the list. The knob on the blend box will blend your clean tone with the pedal tone.
If you've never done anything like this before, take some time in advance to learn. Check out the DIYstompboxes forum. Take a second to register so that you can use the search function. Tons of great resources for beginners.
Invalid Link Removed
Good luck!!
If you've never done anything like this before, take some time in advance to learn. Check out the DIYstompboxes forum. Take a second to register so that you can use the search function. Tons of great resources for beginners.
Invalid Link Removed
Good luck!!
its cool, i ment would i need to double this list to make both of those blend pedals. i wanna see which one id like better.
The basic stuff like enclosure, jacks, etc are the same, but you need to swap the IC for the FET and get different value caps and resistors.
I don't think you'd notice much (if any) difference in tone though.
I don't think you'd notice much (if any) difference in tone though.
Pollinator95 said:
Exactly right. As buffers (i.e. the way they're used in the blend circuits), the IC and the FET will be essentially indistinguishable. I would choose based on which circuit seems simpler to you. I tend to recommend ICs for beginners because they are less prone to failure from static electricity during transportation, construction, etc.
Here are a few directions for tight sound:
- Gated fuzz is a good suggestion.
- Also the Way Huge Swollen Pickle pedal delivers lots of hot fuzz but manages to keep great articulation.
- A compressor might help.
- Also a sealed cab (natural compression) can also help. Ampeg 810 or Ampeg 210 AV are great at fittling in the mix and keeping things tight and focused.
- Last but not least tightness can be achieved by your playing, muting notes can deliver that.
Hopes this helps.
- Gated fuzz is a good suggestion.
- Also the Way Huge Swollen Pickle pedal delivers lots of hot fuzz but manages to keep great articulation.
- A compressor might help.
- Also a sealed cab (natural compression) can also help. Ampeg 810 or Ampeg 210 AV are great at fittling in the mix and keeping things tight and focused.
- Last but not least tightness can be achieved by your playing, muting notes can deliver that.
Hopes this helps.
