Upright Bass Sound in a Pedal

[knumbskull]

Short answer: no.

Longer answer: EQing, plucking technique and maybe a bit of compression might get you a sound that shares a few of the tonal characteristics of an upright.

But generally:

 

[Deleted member 271037]

Hollowbody (preferrably fretless) + foam mute + Pyramid Golds + mic'ing it acoustically and blend with DI for the lows can give a somewhat similar vibe when recording. But it won't really sound like an upright. Just the closest I've gotten without actually playing an upright. I've done it a couple of times when I wanted that kind of vibe but couldn't play it on my EUB because I suck at double bass. It wouldn't work live though.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

If you want the sound of an upright on the cheap, get a u-bass.

2nd option, a SRH500:

View attachment 3629897

SRHF. It's the fretless one.

 

[vvvmmm]

For recording, I used to use an Ibanez Acoustic/Electric with most of the highs rolled off and thru a cuppla compressors. Then I got a Dean fretless Acoustic/Electric and it was better.

Now, I use a fretless U-bass, what is a rubbery-stringed Bass ukelele.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

HX Stomp / Helix patch using two 3 Sigma audio upright impulses. Use a fretless and a mute. Play in an upright style.

 

[Wfrance3]

I can somewhat cop A fretless tone on my schecter elite 5. I roll off a lot of tone play right at the neck above the neck pickup and also roll off the bridge pickup. Play withe a dull attack, not fingertips at all. Something like that kinda strategy will get you part of the way there. For the rest, you need an eub.

 

[nilorius]

You can geat that upright tone playin with your right fingers on the fingerboard.

 

[pbass2]

Muted rounds with the tone knob backed off gets me close enough for rock style upright but if you need it for something airy like jazz and tonal details matter... It would probably be much more effective to use an electric tone that sounds good with the mix.

Or buy an upright.

Yep. I recently saw several jazz bands in a row that were playing standards--fairly trad fair. One with upright, and two groups that had electric bassists. One of the elec guys had a modern coffee-table bass, active, roundwounds, very full-range "hi-fi" sound. The other guy had a P with flats and a foam mute. You can guess which one sounded better/more appropriate (while still not sounding like an upright).

 

[jimfist]

HX Stomp / Helix patch using two 3 Sigma audio upright impulses. Use a fretless and a mute. Play in an upright style.

I like this approach, whether it be a Helix/HX Stomp or some other less expensive pedal that allows the use of 3rd party IRs. The instrument and playing style are a large component, and the overall tonal 'acoustic' effect is another. Getting into IR loading is not a plug-and-play process for the uninitiated, and can be a frustrating time suck, but I've heard some pretty decent results using this method for electric guitars emulating acoustics.

 

[Hand slap]

Been wondering. Is there a pedal that reproduces the sound of an upright? There seems to be a pedal for just about everything.

The Zoom M60, has a Fretless patch, IMO it sounds ok.

 

[redwood]

Roland GR55. That one is very convincing. Besides that. Probably no.

 

[Nephilymbass]

Been wondering. Is there a pedal that reproduces the sound of an upright? There seems to be a pedal for just about everything.

Not a pedal that really nails it imo. You might be able to use a keyboard or module (like Yamaha motif) that has samples of a real upright bass and trigger it with your bass guitar using a midi converter. Midi is kind of a pain though. Ehx came out with a bass simulator pedal for guitar that’s in the same series as the synth9 and mel9. I haven’t haven’t see one in the wild yet or seen anyone try to use it with bass.

 

[pellomoco14]

You can geat that upright tone playin with your right fingers on the fingerboard.

With frettless that's close enough for me.

 

[EastCoastThump]

HX Stomp / Helix patch using two 3 Sigma audio upright impulses. Use a fretless and a mute. Play in an upright style.

This.

It's not going to cut it on a gig calling for anything in the Mingus or Ron Carter zip code. But on mostly electric gigs that call for upright vibe on a few simple pop tunes or standards, it's plenty to get you through something like "Stand by Me."

 

[Brother Goose]

I knew a guy who would show up at jazz jams with a cheap Rogue acoustic fretless hollowbody bass guitar that had a piezo pickup on the bridge, that was the only bass guitar I've heard that tricked me for a few moments listening from the next room into thinking it was an upright. Not sure what strings he was using, flats or maybe even nylon or something?

 

[devnulljp]

I tried valiantly to get the sound of an upright out of my PBass and eventually just gave in, sold an old Strat and bought an upright. Best decision I've ever made, the work just keeps pouring in. I had a gig last night with one band, two tonight with two different bands, one tomorrow with one of the bands from tonight, recording session the following 4 days with yet another act, then a gig the next day with someone else. Turned down 3 gigs for the following week with 2 different bands cos I just don't have the time.

Get an upright!

 

[Brother Goose]

I've got one! Ripped the frets out and use nylons. I turn all of the treble off on the eq and it sounds damn fine to me.

 

[vin*tone]

Possibly a Tonedexter. ToneDexter by Audio Sprockets - Studio Sound for Your Live Performance

It's designed to get a miked tone out of a piezo pickup but maybe you could try it on electric bass

 

[Tigerpig]

Not really. You could mess around with a Boss Slow Gear, or clone. Probably the nearest I've got to that sound is just heavy gauge strings played over the neck on a P bass.

 

[gumtown]

Roland/Boss VBass HRM instrument modelling technology works very well.
You need the GK3B hex pickup fitted to your bass, but the likes of the Roland VBass, VB99, GR55, and the new Boss SY1000 landing in jan2020 will do a fine job.
They will also modrl other types of bass, guitar and analog type synth tones.
The HRM modelling is realtime, glitch free, and not to be confused with PCM pitch to midi type synths.