Worship Bass Pedalboards

[SteveC]

For the amount of times I have seen you post about your love for your REDDI, I don't think you should ever consider getting rid of it. You love it and you know it!

Like I've said, it would take a really awesome piece of gear for me to not use my REDDI, big and heavy as it is. I think the only thing that has any chance is if the Bergantino Studio B pedal (the BAmp in pedal form) lives up to its hype.

 

[Naack]

Like I've said, it would take a really awesome piece of gear for me to not use my REDDI, big and heavy as it is. I think the only thing that has any chance is if the Bergantino Studio B pedal (the BAmp in pedal form) lives up to its hype.

That is fair. When I no longer suck, I will likely pick up a REDDI (literally due to your praise of it), or a Tonecraft 363. Noble would be on the list, but by the time I can afford it (would like to add another bass to the arsenal first) I am sure that wait list will be over a year.

 

[SteveC]

The Tonecraft is also great. So is the Noble. If you are spending $500+ on a DI, it's gonna be good. I do think despite it's "weaknesses" that the REDDI sounds amazing into a FOH and IEM system. I wish it had an effected thru for when I use an amp. but I'll get over it. Or maybe I'll get an LA-1A tube compressor (again) to use in front of my SS amp.

 

[Naack]

The Tonecraft is also great. So is the Noble. If you are spending $500+ on a DI, it's gonna be good. I do think despite it's "weaknesses" that the REDDI sounds amazing into a FOH and IEM system. I wish it had an effected thru for when I use an amp. but I'll get over it. Or maybe I'll get an LA-1A tube compressor (again) to use in front of my SS amp.

I know Scuba praises both of the preamps. I have lately been going down the hole of passive DI's, currently have a Pinstripe Pedal LWDI (Jensen Transformer) en route to me and I will be picking up a Motown DI this summer. I wish those two also had effected through as well, but I assume that would mess up the impedance.

 

[furym]

The Tonecraft is also great. So is the Noble. If you are spending $500+ on a DI, it's gonna be good. I do think despite it's "weaknesses" that the REDDI sounds amazing into a FOH and IEM system. I wish it had an effected thru for when I use an amp. but I'll get over it. Or maybe I'll get an LA-1A tube compressor (again) to use in front of my SS amp.

Khan has the effected 1/4” thru, just sayin’

 

[furym]

I know Scuba praises both of the preamps. I have lately been going down the hole of passive DI's, currently have a Pinstripe Pedal LWDI (Jensen Transformer) en route to me and I will be picking up a Motown DI this summer. I wish those two also had effected through as well, but I assume that would mess up the impedance.

In all seriousness, that is the one feature that swayed me and has kept me from buying into many of these latest and greatest pedals coming out; if I don’t want to use the pedal as my DI, I loose the cab sim or some other feature.

 

[Naack]

In all seriousness, that is the one feature that swayed me and has kept me from buying into many of these latest and greatest pedals coming out; if I don’t want to use the pedal as my DI, I loose the cab sim or some other feature.

Well with both of these pedals, they are just humble passive DI's, so there is no cab sim to be had regardless. That said, when I practice at home, sometimes I use my amp/cab, other times I practice through an interface in which my gear is connected via DI -> XLR.

I am sort of on the fence about cab sims currently. I think it is so cool to be able to have a pedal that can make you sound like you are coming through a Fender or Ampeg head/cab. But when I think of the ideal bass sound, the sound I keep coming back to is that of a nice bass going through a DI along with whatever effect you may be running.

Will this change if I get my hands on a BassRig.... probably.

 

[SteveC]

Khan has the effected 1/4” thru, just sayin’

Forgot to mention that one. Thanks.

 

[munkeyfish]

So I need a little clean boost to get my passive Roscoe P bass up to the level of my active Sadowsky 5JJ. I'm liking the Sadowsky a lot so I thought the Sadowsky preamp pedal would be a good choice. I can turn up the volume to match up with the 5JJ and I can get a little EQ magic as well.

Option 1
Nano board with Genzler EQ - keep the Empress Compressor and REDDI

Option 2
Nano board with Q/Strip - no more REDDI, keep the Empress Compressor

Option 3
Nano board with Sadowsky Preamp/DI - no more REDDI, keep the Empress Compressor

Thoughts?

Nano or Nano +?
That. Is the question!
I kid, but if you wanted it all, maybe a bit more board? I’m rocking a Nano and a Nano plus, fun times.

 

[SteveC]

Nano or Nano +?
That. Is the question!
I kid, but if you wanted it all, maybe a bit more board? I’m rocking a Nano and a Nano plus, fun times.

True. I've had a Nano+ before. I guess the desire to stay Nano is:

1) it fits in the Pelican case with the REDDI, so unless I dump the REDDI...
2) it fits between the legs of my synth stand where I hook the send/receive from the board

If I were to go away from the REDDI (doubtful but never say never) with say the Bergantino Studio B pedal, I'd probably abandon a board all together as I'd have that and my Rolls for my IEM's an d I'd just toss those in my gig bag and call it good.

 

[Johno Dunn]

So a question about placement. I have a simple board. Tuner to a compressor to a drive (that I never use) to my REDDI. My P bass could use a little boost and MAYBE a little eq so it isn't as much of a change between it and the Sadowsky active 5JJ. I have a couple options. Use something like a TC Spark Boost with some gain and EQ available. $70. Not too expensive of an experiment. I'd put it before the compressor so it would "hit" it in a similar way that my Sadowsky with the onboard preamp does. Seems logical.

Another option I was kicking around was a Sadoowsky outboard preamp positioned in the same way. The problem is the SPB-2 is not really available, but the SPB-1 (with a DI) is. So I could put it before the compressor and just not use the DI. Or I could put it after the compressor and either use the DI or not.

Another option might be an eq pedal, like the Source Audio programable eq pedal. The gain is saved along with the eq.

My questions is this, how different is it to have the preamp and additional gain AFTER the compressor? In this position I could also use it as my DI and have everything on my Nano board. Kind of appealing if it sounds good. It's supposed to be a good DI. Not sure it can be good enough to displace my REDDI.

Thoughts?

I know you have considered a Multi in the past, specifically a Stomp, but I personally would take a look at the Boss GT1000 CORE. I have owned both, as well as many of the Zoom offerings, and the Helix LT, and I am very enamored of the CORE. With the REDDI, you answer one of the checks against the CORE (lack of a real DI), and you can set input gain on a number of different basses, and save them, or write them to a patch. The EQ options are almost unlimited. It will replace your Tuner, and give you unlimited other FX options. I am very pleased with the IE tones I'm getting, and FOH sounds amazing just using the Church's passive DI. The CORE has replaced everything on my board.

 

[dmc79]

I'm using different pedals to adjust my signal output on my Jazz bass from passive to active and I'm seeing my pedals "flavoring" while boosting. As an example, I can use my Vintage Microtubes to boost with no drive added, but I notice a hair of gain and also more noise come with it as I run the "level" knob up

Surely the VMT will colour by default due to its ‘baked in’ nature? I got one recently, I quite like the sound of it at home through my small practice amp / IEMs. But I wasn’t a big fan of it at church through the personal mixers / IEMs. Maybe it was the colour / baked in thing I wasn’t sure about, but the effect of the VMT was subtle and barely noticeable even at settings which offered good grit at home.

I stomped on it once during the service as a bridge was building, and I’m not really sure I could even tell it was on. Perhaps I can get more out of it another time, just don’t want complaints of noise / buzz in other peoples ears, but then they probably wouldn’t notice anyway. Perhaps I want a more transparent light OD crunch than the baked in thing. Will give it some more time. Also will have to finally try my Bass Soul Food during worship. I prefer the VMT from home practice but I’m still yet to try the BSF on a Sunday.

 

[SteveC]

I know you have considered a Multi in the past, specifically a Stomp, but I personally would take a look at the Boss GT1000 CORE. I have owned both, as well as many of the Zoom offerings, and the Helix LT, and I am very enamored of the CORE. With the REDDI, you answer one of the checks against the CORE (lack of a real DI), and you can set input gain on a number of different basses, and save them, or write them to a patch. The EQ options are almost unlimited. It will replace your Tuner, and give you unlimited other FX options. I am very pleased with the IE tones I'm getting, and FOH sounds amazing just using the Church's passive DI. The CORE has replaced everything on my board.

All I really need is to adjust gain on one bass, and MAYBE the tone. I think $600+ multi's are overkill. I think I'll try the TC Spark Booster for $69 and see. Boost and even a little Bass and Treble EQ on there. Put it on the Nano before the compressor and see how it goes. Sometime simple is better.

 

[Stubb]

All I really need is to adjust gain on one bass, and MAYBE the tone. I think $600+ multi's are overkill. I think I'll try the TC Spark Booster for $69 and see. Boost and even a little Bass and Treble EQ on there. Put it on the Nano before the compressor and see how it goes. Sometime simple is better.

Southampton All Things Equal seems like a great option, too.

 

[Howardzark]

All I really need is to adjust gain on one bass, and MAYBE the tone. I think $600+ multi's are overkill. I think I'll try the TC Spark Booster for $69 and see. Boost and even a little Bass and Treble EQ on there. Put it on the Nano before the compressor and see how it goes. Sometime simple is better.

I like the Spark Booster very much. Signal path for me is
Bass > Tuner > Compressor > Spark > DI > FOH. Spark is always on unless the AE Bass is in rotation. Seems Piezo pickups don't play nice with the Spark.

 

[WilbursaurusRex]

Southampton All Things Equal seems like a great option, too.

This, I think, would be a good solution. And tiny. A few have popped up in the classifieds the past few months. I checked, and it looks like they all sold.

 

[Treblefree]

Surely the VMT will colour by default due to its ‘baked in’ nature? I got one recently, I quite like the sound of it at home through my small practice amp / IEMs. But I wasn’t a big fan of it at church through the personal mixers / IEMs. Maybe it was the colour / baked in thing I wasn’t sure about, but the effect of the VMT was subtle and barely noticeable even at settings which offered good grit at home.

I stomped on it once during the service as a bridge was building, and I’m not really sure I could even tell it was on. Perhaps I can get more out of it another time, just don’t want complaints of noise / buzz in other peoples ears, but then they probably wouldn’t notice anyway. Perhaps I want a more transparent light OD crunch than the baked in thing. Will give it some more time. Also will have to finally try my Bass Soul Food during worship. I prefer the VMT from home practice but I’m still yet to try the BSF on a Sunday.

I use it fairly often in services. I always use it on This is Amazing Grace, and not just a little for flavor. I get very good grit with the era about the 10:30 mark, level about 1:30, drive about 3:00. It sounds great and I use it sometimes for entire sets. On it's own, that would sound very gritty, but when all the other instruments are in, it blends nicely.

 

[Naack]

The amount of options available today is just remarkable.

So here is a first-world problem I am facing this week: ordered a pedal from a company and I mentioned that I am playing at my church this coming week so I would like to pay more for shipping (to Canada from the States) so I can try it on the weekend. Guy said, "sure," charged me a lot for shipping and then proceeded to ship it a day late (i.e. paid on Friday, shipped late Monday night after cutoff) and it will arrive on Monday. So no new pedal for worship this week. But it's all good. Life happens.

Question for you all: how often do you play at church?

 

[dmc79]

I use it fairly often in services. I always use it on This is Amazing Grace, and not just a little for flavor. I get very good grit with the era about the 10:30 mark, level about 1:30, drive about 3:00. It sounds great and I use it sometimes for entire sets. On it's own, that would sound very gritty, but when all the other instruments are in, it blends nicely.

Nice. What level is the Blend at for that? We had that song on our list to finish with last Sunday but that WL decided during practice to do Waymaker instead, so we didn't even practice TIAG in the end. Shame, as I really wanted to try the VMT on it and we have hammered Waymaker and I'm sick of it!

 

[dmc79]

The amount of options available today is just remarkable.

So here is a first-world problem I am facing this week: ordered a pedal from a company and I mentioned that I am playing at my church this coming week so I would like to pay more for shipping (to Canada from the States) so I can try it on the weekend. Guy said, "sure," charged me a lot for shipping and then proceeded to ship it a day late (i.e. paid on Friday, shipped late Monday night after cutoff) and it will arrive on Monday. So no new pedal for worship this week. But it's all good. Life happens.

Question for you all: how often do you play at church?

What pedal? My playing frequency varies but can be 2-3 Sundays out of 5. A new guy just joined so I may get some more weeks off.