Worship Bass Pedalboards

[jacoby75]

OR...(you mentioned the board being heavy as sin) maybe break it up into smaller ‘specialty’ boards? Might keep things interesting for you? (Shouldn’t be carrying that much sin around anyway ) Let’s face it, we’re all enablers...always here to help.

Yeah, that's definitely one way to go. Trouble is, I like to have options. Especially with drive pedals. I have a small board I could scale things down to the bare essentials for, like church. I'd never use about 1/3 of these pedals in church anyway. But then I'd miss something, I'm sure. And I'd get sick of swapping things in and out. (Because I do hope to some day soon be playing in a cover band again as well). I like having everything I own at my feet, lol. Plus, were I to break things up between smaller boards, I'd need too many duplicate pedals, which are "always on pedals" for me. Like the Solarian, PDR, Linden, etc. That would be even MORE expensive. Eesh.

 

[Johno Dunn]

Yeah, that's definitely one way to go. Trouble is, I like to have options. Especially with drive pedals. I have a small board I could scale things down to the bare essentials for, like church. I'd never use about 1/3 of these pedals in church anyway. But then I'd miss something, I'm sure. And I'd get sick of swapping things in and out. (Because I do hope to some day soon be playing in a cover band again as well). I like having everything I own at my feet, lol. Plus, were I to break things up between smaller boards, I'd need too many duplicate pedals, which are "always on pedals" for me. Like the Solarian, PDR, Linden, etc. That would be even MORE expensive. Eesh.

The first band I played in was
the Eesh Band!

 

[SteveC]

My tuner, Rolls for IEM’s and LA-1A is my always basic board. The DC-7 that powers it has spots left to power an additional board if I went that way.

 

[dwagner]

The board I ended up using this weekend. Threw the reverb delay on there just in case for filler moments since we had a last minute team put together for a conference with drums, keys and 1 guitar being the only instruments besides me on bass. It ended up sounding super cool through the Tone Hammers AGS.

It reminds me of how worship guitarists will run their huge verbs like a BigSky into a Matchless or AC30 and that super cool tube breakup on the whole signal that happens when you dig in. Same thing with the AGS. Doing stuff like swells or beginning-of-bridge lines with the guitarist sounded so sick.

 

[SteveC]

Anyone have pedals for a synth sound? I tried contacting Ian Allison but haven’t heard back. I think he uses a Line 6 HX Stomp.

I don’t have a synth currently (sold the Korg and returned the Moog) and am debating telling the band I don’t want to play synth any more. Just bass. It’s only for like 6 songs. Mostly a filter type sound or an aggressive driven sound and nothing requiring lots of sustain.
I’m torn as learning to play more instruments is always a good thing, but I don’t have the desire or patience to deal with getting to know synths.

 

[Pedalnetics]

Anyone have pedals for a synth sound? I tried contacting Ian Allison but haven’t heard back. I think he uses a Line 6 HX Stomp.

I don’t have a synth currently (sold the Korg and returned the Moog) and am debating telling the band I don’t want to play synth any more. Just bass. It’s only for like 6 songs. Mostly a filter type sound or an aggressive driven sound and nothing requiring lots of sustain.
I’m torn as learning to play more instruments is always a good thing, but I don’t have the desire or patience to deal with getting to know synths.

I don't have a pedal answer (besides it seems everyone loves the C4, never tried it myself), but at our church we just run the keyboard into a laptop, and let the laptop do whatever sound we want, synth included.

What about a keyboard midi controller into a laptop synth software? It may be overly complex and scare people away (and that's understandable, it's not as easy as plug-and-play hardware) but it'd be a cheap-ish middleground if you already have a laptop up to the task. Some free software synth programs, and a basic controller like [This invalid link has been removed]

Edit: that controller even comes with synth software for free!

 

[fauxtoe]

Anyone have pedals for a synth sound? I tried contacting Ian Allison but haven’t heard back. I think he uses a Line 6 HX Stomp.

I don’t have a synth currently (sold the Korg and returned the Moog) and am debating telling the band I don’t want to play synth any more. Just bass. It’s only for like 6 songs. Mostly a filter type sound or an aggressive driven sound and nothing requiring lots of sustain.
I’m torn as learning to play more instruments is always a good thing, but I don’t have the desire or patience to deal with getting to know synths.

I just picked up a Boss SY-1 and it’s a very cool little pedal. Best of the non-programmable (and doesn’t require a computer interface) synth pedals on the market that I’ve ever played on. You might check it and its bigger brother SY-300 out on YouTube. For under $200 the SY-1 is quite a game changer.

 

[SteveC]

I’ve found that a lot of people don’t use a “synth” pedal but a combination of filter, octave and distortion. I’ve tried a coup em “synth” pedals and I wasn’t impressed.

 

[fauxtoe]

I’ve found that a lot of people don’t use a “synth” pedal but a combination of filter, octave and distortion. I’ve tried a coup em “synth” pedals and I wasn’t impressed.

Agreed. Though, the Boss SY-1 nails that distorted octave sound (Moog?) with the dials turned to Bass, setting #3, and the switch flipped to "guitar" which turns on the sub octave. I also experimented a little bit today and added in distortion after some of the other settings and there are some crazy tones to be found. Tracking is where it shines, because I've never played any combination of other pedals that can keep up like this does. No glitching, no lagging, and it's polyphonic.

 

[Adamixoye]

Future Impact and C4 are pretty much state of the art for monophonic tracking and sounds. I've never tried the SY-1 but I have the SY-300 and it's just a different animal. The polyphonic thing has merit but you don't get the same quality of sound for bass.

 

[kevk]

Anyone have pedals for a synth sound? I tried contacting Ian Allison but haven’t heard back. I think he uses a Line 6 HX Stomp.

I don’t have a synth currently (sold the Korg and returned the Moog) and am debating telling the band I don’t want to play synth any more. Just bass. It’s only for like 6 songs. Mostly a filter type sound or an aggressive driven sound and nothing requiring lots of sustain.
I’m torn as learning to play more instruments is always a good thing, but I don’t have the desire or patience to deal with getting to know synths.

Did you lose interest in the Yamaha MX49 as an option...now mov’in on to pedals?

 

[TrevorR]

I’ve found that a lot of people don’t use a “synth” pedal but a combination of filter, octave and distortion. I’ve tried a coup em “synth” pedals and I wasn’t impressed.

That’s my approach. OD into an envelope filter. Works well. Never really found an octaver I liked so don’t bother with that. Sometimes throw some chorus or tremolo in as well.

 

[SteveC]

Did you lose interest in the Yamaha MX49 as an option...now mov’in on to pedals?

Not completely. Just debating options. I just don’t like dealing with editing to get sounds. It’s confusing and I don’t really have the desire/drive to learn. I know some people use filter/drive/octave or multi units like the HX Stomp With success. I don’t mind playing synth. I’m. Not a great keyboard player but I get by for these parts.

 

[dwagner]

Not completely. Just debating options. I just don’t like dealing with editing to get sounds. It’s confusing and I don’t really have the desire/drive to learn. I know some people use filter/drive/octave or multi units like the HX Stomp With success. I don’t mind playing synth. I’m. Not a great keyboard player but I get by for these parts.

this is relating to worship music ONLY, because synth can mean a lot of things depending on genre but...
If I need a synth type sound I just put a little grit on an OC-2 type octave -1. No dry, only the wet signal. Sustains forever. I do it in the HX stomp but you could do the same with pedals.
Usually the utility of synth bass is some super low “pad”. Give body and power in a low moment without being obviously there. Not about cutting through the mix. So I think it’s a lot simpler than normal bass tone.

 

[B-Lo]

I just picked up a Boss SY-1 and it’s a very cool little pedal. Best of the non-programmable (and doesn’t require a computer interface) synth pedals on the market that I’ve ever played on. You might check it and its bigger brother SY-300 out on YouTube. For under $200 the SY-1 is quite a game changer.

I agree with this. It's a cool little pedal and it's not expensive. Plus if Steve doesn't like the pedal, he could flip it quickly...they don't last long in the classifieds. On that note, I don't think I'll ever get rid of mine if for nothing else than fooling around and having fun duplicating sounds from 80's movies like Short Circuit and the like lol.

 

[fauxtoe]

I agree with this. It's a cool little pedal and it's not expensive. Plus if Steve doesn't like the pedal, he could flip it quickly...they don't last long in the classifieds. On that note, I don't think I'll ever get rid of mine if for nothing else than fooling around and having fun duplicating sounds from 80's movies like Short Circuit and the like lol.

I don’t see myself ever parting ways with mine either just because of the fun factor! Other than a TU-2 that I owned, loaned out, and never got back many years ago, this is my first ever Boss effects pedal.

 

[MTN.bass72]

I’ve found that a lot of people don’t use a “synth” pedal but a combination of filter, octave and distortion. I’ve tried a coup em “synth” pedals and I wasn’t impressed.

I was going to suggest this route...
If you take this route, I have a Wayhuge green rhino I no longer use that would fit nicely in the scenario, that I'll send you for a good price

 

[speedball3]

I don’t have a synth currently (sold the Korg and returned the Moog)

Maybe I missed it, but what happened with the Moog, why did it get sent back?

 

[SteveC]

It does what it does really well, but it doesn’t do everything. It’s also really expensive. I just couldn’t justify over $1,700 for it. I’m exploring other alternatives, including going with pedals and using my bass instead. A synth is “better” but I’m a bass player. I know playing other instruments makes you a better (and more marketable) player, but really, I play in Eastern North Dakota and NW Minnesota. How marketable do I need to be. And I play synth on maybe 4 songs a night. Maybe a simple multi with a “Take On Me” type filter patch, an overdriven (like the intro for 1999 or Raise Your Glass by Pink) basic synth patch and a octave/filter For 24K Magic type sound would cover most of what I need. Those 3 types of sounds are all I use really. A Moog can get 2 of 3. But again, $1,700 for that?
I know I’ve said nothing does synth like a synth, but I’m beginning to think an octave, filter and drive (that I could use individually on other songs) might be enough for what I do.

I’m using a Roland right now that our synth guy had laying around until I decide something. The synth guy (obviously) and our guitar player feel I should play synth. The singer and drummer don’t really care one way or the other. I just don’t want to deal with all the tweaking involved with a synth. I’ve looked at a Yamaha MX. Great sounds based on the Motiff. Not as editable as others so I’d have to hope there were great presets for what I need. It’s more reasonable price wise, under $600, and Yamaha makes good stuff.

Dealing with it all makes my head hurt.

 

[sakim okrim]