I'll just suggest the two I use. Solodallas bassx and Jam Rattler.
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Worship Bass Pedalboards
- Thread starter Cshanks5
- Start date
I just got a Damnation Audio MBD-3 for that. Stage 3 for me is the BMS. But i have a BBJ on the way too that may make the board. Oh and a Jive ordered (whenever it gets here). Yes...i have a problem
All good choices. Walrus 385 is a sleeper bass drive as well.
Seems like solid pedals (Alas, I've only played the JPTR FX Deluxe JIVE).
Maybe a Doom2?
Chain:
Tuner>Thumpinator>OctabreII>Doom2>Subsonic>Humboldt>Anadime>More>RFE>Capo>Tonehammer>BBE>Rolls P50se>
I like it.
I have owned and used all of the ones you are looking at save the new Morning Glory Clean. I'm on staff at a multi campus church and one of our campuses has the Tone Hammer in an-always on capacity like yours.
In my experience the Jellyfish, Grizzly, and Jive are closer / similar to the AGS and honestly kind of redundant gain structure wise. If the SoloDallas, Big Booty, Kilt, Ross, and Stone Deaf were too much, you are clearly are wanting something in between the TH/AGS and Bluebeard. I would normally suggest a distortion like the ones you said were too much, so maybe it's a "flavor" of distortion you need to find (non-Rat based).
If you haven't tried Damnation Audio, their MDB or Bass Power Distorter might slip in between the two stages you are using now. You kind of have the classic three stages of gain laid out already with overdrive>distortion>fuzz in order of "in your face" levels. So I'd look for a distortion that isn't that "over the top Rat style" that big booty, kilt, et. al. proved to be in your setup.
So, I'd try one the Damnation Audio offerings, the new Morning Glory Clean (if it isn't too similar to the AGS - I have not listened to the demos yet), I have also had good results with a JHS Moonshine in "Stage 2," or the Mr. Black Bass OD which gets a nice a non-Rat distortion at higher gain settings. Those are my $0.02
My church is planning to go ampless so yeah I've been looking at options for DIs/preamps or something that will help.
I’ve been through the same exact search, trying to find my ideal gain stage 2, with the Tone Hammer being stage 1 and my MXR Bass Octave Deluxe being stage 3.
I agree with your assessment 100%. I’ve tried many on your list too. Some were too redundant with the Tone Hammer, and the rat-based pedals changed the sound too extremely. I’ve landed on the Damnation Audio MBD2 as my ideal 2nd gain stage. I feel like it’s a great middle ground. I actually like it even more than the newer MBD(3).
Thanks for the feedback. Are you referring to the original Walrus 385 V1 or the newer MkII?
I think you nailed it, I don’t think I’m a rat overdrive/distortion pedal guy. Thank you for your comments. Very helpful.
I've also tried a similar variety of stage 2 devices. Two Rats, couple of fuzzes, MBD2, Pork & Pickle, Grizzly, etc.
As a wildcard, if you still have the Stomp, the Line 6 Ampeg Scrambler can be a good stage 2 drive. If you are using stage 2 drive only a couple of times per service that could be a simple solution. Settings perhaps with max drive and 50% blend. Our opening song tomorrow is hard driving rock and I'm using the HX One's Scrambler into the THDI the entire song. Then I won't use it again the rest of the service.
Lately, I seem to be happy with simplifying and just using the Tone Hammer and the Bass Microsynth and skipping the second level drive. Perhaps dial up the gain on the TH a bit more and it can over a lot of territory - using fingers and pick to get more saturation. I'm also experimenting with going professional preamp clean for my core tone, THDI for stage 2, BMS for stage 3. The "problem" is that I really like the clean tone of my Fender CS-P and how it sits in the mix yet punches nicely with just a nice DI like your sushibox.
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Hope the get away was useful and rewarding. I love taking a short scale for things like this. So portable, comfortable, light, playable, and sounds great.
This recent podcast has some great OD pedal discussions mid way through. He loves the JMJ, as well. Bass guitar talk starts around 50 minutes, pedals at 58 minutes. Grizzly, DCX, Greer Lightspeed, Big Booty Judy, THDI, BMS, and more. @NickyBass turned me onto the Greer, great sounding on bass.
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the MKii 385. It’s similar vibe tone wise to the JHS kilt v1 but with more low end, more usable drive range. You can use the second foot switch as either a boost like the v1 kilt or another drive stage.
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Here's a pic from when I had first gotten my MXR Bass Synth in. I was a bit skeptical at first, but I have managed a nice sub bass synth sound from it that is useful for a lot of songs. I'm still dialing in my "Bass MicroSynth"-y sound - haven't had many use cases for it lately.
Realistically, a nice squeeze from the compressor and the Tone Hammer is 90% of the tone. The drive and synth are nice to have, but by no means essential, Tone Hammer is definitely my favourite and best-value pedal I've ever bought.
To those with the MXR Bass Synth - do you have any tips for dialing in a BMS-y sound?
Realistically, a nice squeeze from the compressor and the Tone Hammer is 90% of the tone. The drive and synth are nice to have, but by no means essential, Tone Hammer is definitely my favourite and best-value pedal I've ever bought.
To those with the MXR Bass Synth - do you have any tips for dialing in a BMS-y sound?
The campus where I MD has a Jule Monique birdcage as the DI before FOH. One of my vintage p-basses is the house bass and so fingers and dynamics provide a lot of the "gain staging."
At the moment the "pedalboard" has a tuner for the string bass, a tuner for the Moog synth bass, a voodoo power brick, and a JHS modded EHX Bass Soul Food. It's amazing how much I can get out of that because of how responsive that tube preamp/DI is.
