To throw in another option, if you don't need Eq etc then you could just get a straight DI like a radial or other similar product. @SteveC does this
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Worship Bass Pedalboards
- Thread starter Cshanks5
- Start date
OK - just to be clear here...just like any other pedal, the Tone Hammer is not for everyone and I am NOT criticizing the pedal but it was just not for me. I tried - 3 different times but it just did not get me a tone I liked - YMMV.
I guess what I am trying to say is that there are a lot of partisans for different pedal who think it is the greatest thing since BEFORE sliced bread but their likes may not be the same as yours. I LOVE the tone Jeff gets with his gear and it is totally usable to my ears but, to me, it sounds nothing like the sound of a Tone Hammer. IMHO, the Darkglass VMTD can sound a lot like the DI of my Streamliner and that is what I use.
The really jacked up part is that there is something funky with the electrical at my home church and I get a hum whenever I use my pedals there - so I use the pedalboard when I sub and switched to a Darkglass M900 so that I can switch between a clean tone (sounds a LOT like the Glockenklang HeartCore I have) and the tubey sound with the VMT section or the more overdriven section of the B3K.
Ain't choices nice?
Dan
I guess what I am trying to say is that there are a lot of partisans for different pedal who think it is the greatest thing since BEFORE sliced bread but their likes may not be the same as yours. I LOVE the tone Jeff gets with his gear and it is totally usable to my ears but, to me, it sounds nothing like the sound of a Tone Hammer. IMHO, the Darkglass VMTD can sound a lot like the DI of my Streamliner and that is what I use.
The really jacked up part is that there is something funky with the electrical at my home church and I get a hum whenever I use my pedals there - so I use the pedalboard when I sub and switched to a Darkglass M900 so that I can switch between a clean tone (sounds a LOT like the Glockenklang HeartCore I have) and the tubey sound with the VMT section or the more overdriven section of the B3K.
Ain't choices nice?
Dan
Choices are nice. Fact is nobody is pushing anyone to buy a tone hammer. So far 2 people have mentioned the tone hammer. You couldn't get a useable tone out of it? That's how I felt about the Ampeg SCR-DI pedal. I desperately wanted to make friends with it but in the end I traded it for my TH. The OP of the question asked for a basic and easy-to-use DI and tuner. I suggested the Tone Hammer because it fits that bill. No crazy bells and whistles, and it's a quality product used professionally the world over. The only thing that'd beat it upon those terms in my opinion is the Radial JDI.
So i was messing around with my pedal settings today in anticipation for the big Good Friday service coming up. I ended up recording myself playing the bass lick from the song Soldier by Lacey Sturm. I found a new love for my EHX Bass Soul Food. I put it in service after failing to fix the JHS Low End and having the OBD-3 out while I get components to finish modding it.
I also figured out how to make better use of the Gain and Ags switch on the Tone Hammer. It is no longer useless nor does it give me a volume boost like it use to. I've set the Gain high and turned the Master Volume low. The Ags switch now works as an overdrive switch without any volume boost which is a big plus for me.
In the video, which was recorded with my iPhone 5s video cam, I start with my BSF. Then I engage my Boss GEB7 to boost bass and low mids in order to offset the full on Treble knob on the BSF, it sounds a bit much in the vid but it sounds perfect live. I then engage the Ags switch alone. And then engage all the pedals together. It was fun and I got some unique sounds out of it.
I also figured out how to make better use of the Gain and Ags switch on the Tone Hammer. It is no longer useless nor does it give me a volume boost like it use to. I've set the Gain high and turned the Master Volume low. The Ags switch now works as an overdrive switch without any volume boost which is a big plus for me.
In the video, which was recorded with my iPhone 5s video cam, I start with my BSF. Then I engage my Boss GEB7 to boost bass and low mids in order to offset the full on Treble knob on the BSF, it sounds a bit much in the vid but it sounds perfect live. I then engage the Ags switch alone. And then engage all the pedals together. It was fun and I got some unique sounds out of it.
Couldn't upload the video here
oh well maybe tonight later on I'll try uploading it to YouTube or something
I don't have any pictures of my pedalboard, but I think if I concentrate I can remember everything that's on it.
Boss TU-3 Tuner
Sansamp BDDI
Powered by a Onespot adapter.
Whew, really strained the memory there, but I think I got it all.
Boss TU-3 Tuner
Sansamp BDDI
Powered by a Onespot adapter.
Whew, really strained the memory there, but I think I got it all.
I don't have any pictures of my pedalboard, but I think if I concentrate I can remember everything that's on it.
Boss TU-3 Tuner
Sansamp BDDI
Powered by a Onespot adapter.
Whew, really strained the memory there, but I think I got it all.
Simple is good. TU-2 to JDI. The Rolls is for my IEM's. Powered by OneSpot. Great minds...
Likely lurked around here long enough.
Pitchblack: You've got to have a tuner.
Diamond Bass Comp: I could be one of those guys that has 3 compressors on his board, but really just decided to pick one and go with it.
Aftershock: You want to have the world of dirt options at your fingertips? Don't necessarily want to spend a fortune chasing the latest in dirt boxes? Really, check out the SA box.
SansAmp BDDI has been on and off since the early 00s and it always finds it way back on to my board. I'd love to compare it to some of the higher end preamps that are out there, but I'm old enough to know that when people seem to like the tone that is coming out of the amp, why throw more money at the quest? (Now if someone want to let me test a Noble or the new Mesa for a while I'd be happy to be tempted by that opportunity)
Didn't really intend to end up with a such a bright colour scheme, but it is what it is.
Pitchblack: You've got to have a tuner.
Diamond Bass Comp: I could be one of those guys that has 3 compressors on his board, but really just decided to pick one and go with it.
Aftershock: You want to have the world of dirt options at your fingertips? Don't necessarily want to spend a fortune chasing the latest in dirt boxes? Really, check out the SA box.
SansAmp BDDI has been on and off since the early 00s and it always finds it way back on to my board. I'd love to compare it to some of the higher end preamps that are out there, but I'm old enough to know that when people seem to like the tone that is coming out of the amp, why throw more money at the quest? (Now if someone want to let me test a Noble or the new Mesa for a while I'd be happy to be tempted by that opportunity)
Didn't really intend to end up with a such a bright colour scheme, but it is what it is.
I just put together a small pedal board with a polytune noir and three MXR/Dunlop pedals. The last pedal is am M81 preamp with DI. It is a very nice DI. I use the DI from my Shuttle for gigs (and worship)
This is my first experience with MXR and I am very pleased so far. I have an overdrive, a chorus and this preamp and it is giving me a lot of options for my trio.
Not sure I need this for worship though!
Source Audio has somewhat charmed me and yet left a bad taste in my mouth at the same time. I've been very interested in their Aftershock. But I used to own a Soundblox 2 OFD, and i could not appreciate the Tone controls at all. It would inherently cut most bass frequencies. The "bass" boost/cut was more mids than anything. How's the Aftershock?
I've never had any of the Soundblox pedals, so I can't compare directly, but if you download the Neuro app you'll see that you have control over Treble, Bass and two Mid controls, and that Mids are frequency and Q variable. You can also assign the physical buttons to any parameter you want. All that to say that I do most of my tweaking via the app, but when I've reached for the physical knob I've felt that the controls are responding how they should. (again keeping in mind what each setting they are assigned to). Voice Controls (as far as I understand it) are meant to mimic the tone controls of each engine they are based on, and again they seem to respond as they should. It might also be worth noting, that I take a pretty subtle approach to dirt, either I go extreme fuzz/OD and blend it way into the background against my clean tone or keep it mild to just add a hint of grind. Hopefully that helps
Less is more!◡̈ A compressor and Tube Preamp is all u need to rock it out for the Lord!
I hear you on the BDDI, there's just something about it. I played a gig last fall where the sound guy was just going to take a line out from my head and I said "You can either do that or go through the Sansamp". His eyes lit up and was like "Oooooooh! Let's go through the Sansamp!."
Hey fellows here's a question I've had for a while. I see the plethora of effects everyone has and uses. I reduced my pedalboard down to my current setup of tuner > od > comp > EQ > di, because I didn't use my other pedals often. But here I've seen tremolos, Flangers, ways, envelope filters, chorus, and octavers, delays, and verbs just to name a few.
How do you guys use your effects? I keep wondering and trying to figure it out, and I swear it's like the best kept secret in Christendom.
How do you guys use your effects? I keep wondering and trying to figure it out, and I swear it's like the best kept secret in Christendom.
Trem will be a texture used on, say, a down chorus or down bridge mostly - especially where I'm playing longer, sustained notes. Just adds some interest and ambience. Also good on meditative instrumental interludes and where we play under a talky bit. Or where the song suggests a slightly more proggy feel... e.g. More Love, More Power.
Chorus tends to be an alternate texture for ballads mostly. Just to add some movement and sparkle into the tone, esp on the D and G strings where it's most noticeable. Also good where I'm using a more double bass-like tone and plucking over the neck. Fills and rounds out the tone nicely.
My Wah is pretty much used on EDM style songs like Alive, Let It Be Known and Let Praise Awaken. I've never liked Octavers so this is my personal wake on synth bass tones. It has a classic Wah and funk Wah mode (which acts a bit more like an envelope filter). It will usually be fed with a little light overdrive to add to the synth effect. Used in several ways. On Alive, the keyboard player and I (when we have one) double the key/bass riff throughout so I'll do a slow classic Wah to simulate that low pass filter opening and closing thing. For Let Praise Awaken I split the song into sections. Verse riff will be classic Wah to the drum pattern. Pre-chorus no Wah and the Chorus will be either a slow funk Wah or I might not use it. The octave instrumental bridge and bridge itself will be an OTT funk Wah fest which our WL just loves because it's so unlike how I normally play. To the extent she now usually signals the bridge section by yelling "Go Trevor!" Instead of the usual hand signal!
I only did it as part of a rehearsal jam and she said "You MUST MUST MUSTdo that when we play this song!" so it's become part of our regular arrangement!
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My Chorus pedal is always on. I blend the wet signal in about maybe 30-40%. It adds a "sparkle" but the average Joe would never notice I'm using an effect. On fretless weeks I might blend in more like 50%.
Octavers for synth lines, wet 100%, dry 0%.
I use heavy reverb in between songs, during prayers or other talking. I haven't done this in a while though...
This is what I use for worship. I use the reverb setting on the Avalanche Run more than the delay. Everything gets decent use. Lots of Young and Free stuff so the synth and fuzz get used often, and the chorus gets used for the mellow stuff. The octave is my secret ingredient though. I often use it on single notes to slide out of a verse into the chorus. The Transmisser, although weird and abrasive, finds its place on ambient pads.
Attachments
Just put this together tonight. When at the church I connect bass > Brace wireless > Korg Pitchblack > Sansamp BDDI Deluxe > DI to board. At home I skip the wireless and go 1/4" out ot the Sansamp to my Fender Rumble 200c input. I included an iRig Blueturn on the pedalboard to flip pages on my tablet using the Mobile Sheets Pro app. Second picture is my stable.
Attachments
Agreed. Tuner - micro thumpinator - Cali76cb - vtdi- house.Less is more!◡̈ A compressor and Tube Preamp is all u need to rock it out for the Lord!
View attachment 1104759
I think this setup is going to stick. Kinda like the 3 bears. Started with a para-di, couldn't get that to dial
in a tone that I liked. Moved to an scr-di, that was closer. I like a barely little bit of dirt, like if you dig in, it's there, but like 98 1/2% clean when not. The scr-di is pretty much clean or total fuzz, no middle ground. I tried the tonehammer, which was perfect, but a bit noisy when you increase the volume past 9 o'clock or so. Man, I really dig that ags. Not too many more to go and I'll have tried them all. I've only had the vtdi for a day, so still working with it. Like it so far, the blend is nice.
