Worship Bass Pedalboards

[Luke the Fluke]

I tried everything, I compared everything, I wasted a lot of time and I lost a lot of money... TECH 21 SansAmp products, MXR M80 bass d.i.+, ORIGIN EFFECTS products, JAD FREER AUDIO CAPO, CAVEMAN AUDIO BP1 COMPACT Bass Preamp, Jensen DIs, Rupert Neve Designs RNDI, JHS Color Box...

And I just bought an aguilar TONE HAMMER Preamp / D.I. V1 because it's what I prefer and I'm not convinced by V2!

TONE HAMMER Preamp / D.I. V1 is what I found best, it's ninja black, it's simple, XLR OUT on the top of the unit, it sounds, it reacts like a tube amp with the lovely AGS function and I don't need a cab sim... I'm very happy with it on Dagobahss!

May the Groove be with you.

Looking at all the pedals you tried how do you run yours - there’s everything from heavily coloured drives up to clean DIs in that list!

Also - (not directed at you bass yoda) I’ve tried a tone hammer and with drive on liked what it was doing a lot - with drive off does it still have secret sauce or is it just a clean eq drive?

 

[FenrirofOld]

Also - (not directed at you bass yoda) I’ve tried a tone hammer and with drive on liked what it was doing a lot - with drive off does it still have secret sauce or is it just a clean eq drive?

I think the secret sauce mostly lies within the AGS being engaged. Not that it sounds bad with the AGS off, but it is definitely pretty mild, with a sort of vintage vibe going on.

 

[FenrirofOld]

It is a silly design in my opinion. I love my THDI but this shouldn't be on a foot switch if it isn't meant to be turned on and off at will. This switch has caught me out more than once, so I had to put a cover over it to save getting the bazillion dB boost when hitting it accidentally when going for my Chorus pedal.

The Jad Freer Capo has attenuation for it's secondary drive channel, as does the Laney Digbeth. It could've been done I am sure, because the crew at Aguilar aren't idiots apparently as has been said, but this was an opportunity missed.

My bottle top cover. top of a soda bottle stuck on - I unscrew it to access the AGS.

Do you still have/run a CAPO on a different board? I'm gonna have to try my TH with the gain and mids pushed like that later just for the heck of it

 

[Blille]

Does anybody have experience with the Walrus 385 mkII?

I’m looking for a dynamic transparentish dual drive in single format with top jacks and I think it’s the only one lol

 

[warptheory]

I don’t have a tone hammer, but it seems like there would be a lot less angst if AGS was a toggle switch instead of a stomp, it seems like a it’s meant for setting your tone then to add drive mid song.

 

[Blille]

I don’t have a tone hammer, but it seems like there would be a lot less angst if AGS was a toggle switch instead of a stomp, it seems like a it’s meant for setting your tone then to add drive mid song.

Sure thing. I think the problem is that you either go the switch route like you say and make it a single unit or a double unit but make the foot switch usable. And then they do a v2 and they don’t solve the problem. It’s pretty disappointing. But hey, I love the thing so I’m happy to have it always on taking space, it deserves it.

 

[Rocksolid]

Do you still have/run a CAPO on a different board? I'm gonna have to try my TH with the gain and mids pushed like that later just for the heck of it

The level is actually set pretty neutral but the frequency is around 1k when in this position.

Got the Capo on my smaller board with my HXS

 

[wolffire99]

Picked up a Lucydreamer bass drive over Christmas, hoping it could replace my Walrus Ages for something more bass-specific.

There are things I like about it: soft switches, dual gain stages, a wet-additive blend with fixed dry, and a gain control that auto-levels the output.

But the dynamic response is basically nonexistent, and at higher gain, it veers into that Darkglass-y territory. Also they put the jacks in the worst possible place.

As a super low-gain, always-on drive It’s ok.


View attachment 7112256

Well…the Lucydreamer is starting to grow on me. The second gain stage gets kinda close to the kilt wide open which is very useful for worship. I demo’d that in the second song below.

There’s an internal boost only trim pot associated to the second gain stage that I have set to around +5db. That appears to be post gain (wish it was pre gain).

Passive P into buffered tuner -> Cali76 -> DCX bass -> Lucydreamer -> Scarlett interface

 

[chiphaleonbass]

Exactly this. Very perplexing that they didn't do this as I believe it's the number one complaint about the TH?

 

[projectapollo]

With great respect for the recent Tone Hammer discussion, I thought I'd point out my use case. You are all experienced worship players so this may already be obvious.

But you can easily set-up the TH with fairly high levels of AGS saturation then adjust the output gain (edit: Master) so that the unit is at Unity Gain when using the ENGAGE switch. Engage for a cool drive pedal, disengage for a clean DI -- all at the same gain. (The pedal topper button makes hitting the correct button error-free.)

So, I use the DCX Bass as my always on light saturation/EQ/preamp device for softer sections. Then Engage the TH when I need a more amp like saturated tone and use a pick. Sure, it would be better if that dual drive were built into the TH. But the TH vibe is worth the extra pedal, IMHO.

I'm moving back to a simpler 18" board as I play regularly at two of our smaller church plants in addition to the big main church. I feel a little self conscious going into the small churches with a board bigger than their guitar players! LOL. I really like this 18" "essentials" collection as it covers all the tones I need. Note: I tried very hard to come up with space saving alternatives to the TH and BMS, but ended up going with the OG's because they do their thing so well. (The CAPO was promising, but the B-side saturator was not my thing, if the B-side sounded like the AGS, the CAPO would be the all in one solution.).

 

[Zbysek]

But you can easily set-up the TH with fairly high levels of AGS saturation then adjust the output gain so that the unit is at Unity Gain when using the ENGAGE switch. Engage for a cool drive pedal, disengage for a clean DI -- all at the same gain. (The pedal topper button makes hitting the correct button error-free.)

Exactly! That's what I have been pointing out repeatedly...

Just a small correction: I think you mean the "Master" control when speaking about the "output gain"...

 

[Ejtibbetts]

Is anyone using the Doom 2? Seems like a really great pedal but I’m not sure how it would fit in the CCM setting especially for that price…

I have another Doom 2 on the way (sold one last year and have inched my way back to it) and I know a couple other guys that do too. You can tame it down some, run an octave before it and some modulation after and you’ve got some pretty rad synth options. I also run a Broughton Scorpion which can get pretty heavy if you don’t want to go for an all out fuzz, but also be clean with grit.

 

[Blille]

With great respect for the recent Tone Hammer discussion, I thought I'd point out my use case. You are all experienced worship players so this may already be obvious.

But you can easily set-up the TH with fairly high levels of AGS saturation then adjust the output gain (edit: Master) so that the unit is at Unity Gain when using the ENGAGE switch. Engage for a cool drive pedal, disengage for a clean DI -- all at the same gain. (The pedal topper button makes hitting the correct button error-free.)

So, I use the DCX Bass as my always on light saturation/EQ/preamp device for softer sections. Then Engage the TH when I need a more amp like saturated tone and use a pick. Sure, it would be better if that dual drive were built into the TH. But the TH vibe is worth the extra pedal, IMHO.

I'm moving back to a simpler 18" board as I play regularly at two of our smaller church plants in addition to the big main church. I feel a little self conscious going into the small churches with a board bigger than their guitar players! LOL. I really like this 18" "essentials" collection as it covers all the tones I need. Note: I tried very hard to come up with space saving alternatives to the TH and BMS, but ended up going with the OG's because they do their thing so well. (The CAPO was promising, but the B-side saturator was not my thing, if the B-side sounded like the AGS, the CAPO would be the all in one solution.).

View attachment 7117499

Essentially using the TH as an overdrive pedal instead of an always on preamp?

 

[projectapollo]

Essentially using the TH as an overdrive pedal instead of an always on preamp?

Yes, Drive and DI.
Another option is to turn the AGS saturation down a bit and use the TH always-on, then kick on the DCX as the second level drive. Same pedals work either mode depending on the songs that week.

 

[SteveC]

I use almost no effects. I have a very light drive I use once in a while, but mostly it's the "Ultimate DI" preset from IMA. Basically a Noble and some compression.

 

[Luke the Fluke]

makes me wonder why we don't see more people running two tone hammers!

 

[FenrirofOld]

makes me wonder why we don't see more people running two tone hammers!

I've wondered that too. I've only seen it once or twice. This being one of the examples.

 

[TaylorJ]

makes me wonder why we don't see more people running two tone hammers!

This is the way…

 

[projectapollo]

I use almost no effects. I have a very light drive I use once in a while, but mostly it's the "Ultimate DI" preset from IMA. Basically a Noble and some compression.

We have five bass players in our big church rotation. For years we all plugged direct into their RNDI and played. About a year ago, playing with another church that provided separate performance tracks for each instrument in MusicStand, I started listening to the bass track. I was shocked at what I was hearing. You can put that much drive on in a church?

I don't know who Natalia Mafra is or where she plays but she brings a fearless approach to bass. (She uses the Tone Hammer and Bass Microsynth.) She does synth keys and musical director as well. I have total respect for this person.

Bass and MD

 

[wolffire99]

The Ages is interesting and used prices are good. The clean blend seems to have no effect.

The blend is adjusted via internal trim pot. I’m not sure why but the range of the external blend control is like 30%. So you have to get it “close enough” via the trim pot and then fine tune using the blend knob.