Hello, coming back to this thread after a few monthes
I had some other ideas to use the B3/MS-60B as a nicer overdrive/distorsion stompbox.
I have to say that I also use a VT Bass or a Joyo/Harley Benton as preamp, but it works without them, because if I use one of them I set it to something almost clean. It just gives a little more character to the dry tone.
After some tries, I decided to put these pedals before my B3, my goal being to make some kind of double rig flavor :
- clean rig = clean preamp before the B3
- dirty rig = the B3
And then I searched some good overdiven tones on my B3, using the 3 lots (one being used by the ZNR to reduce the noise generated by the drives).
First tries :
1- ZNR : Thrsh : 10 - DETCT : EfxIn - Level :100
2- SQUEAK : Gain : 25 - Tone : 67 - Level : 122 - Bal : 10
3- SVT : Bass : 0 - Mid : 6 - Treble : 0 - Mid-F : 630 Hz - Gain : 100 - Level : 31 - Ultra : Off - Cab ORGN - Mix : 70
Total : Level : 100 - Bal : 52
and
1- ZNR : Thrsh : 10 - DETCT : EfxIn - Level :100
2- BB : Gain : 46 - Bass : -1 - Treble : -3 - Blend : 39 - Level : 78
3- SVT : Bass : 0 - Mid : 6 - Treble : 0 - Mid-F : 630 Hz - Gain : 100 - Level : 31 - Ultra : Off - Cab ORGN - Mix : 70
Total : Level : 100 - Bal : 70
As you can notice, I use the Total Balance of each patch to get some dry signal mixed to it. It helps me to work only on the overdriven tone and then mix it with the clean one.
That way, it's possible to use the SVT drive flavor with a blend.
The combination of the SVT drive and the another dirt is sonically interesting and gives a sound less artificial to my ears.
Playing with the amount of cab mix helps to give the overdrive a more or less fat tone.
Another combination that sounds nice for the overdriven tone is by using the AcBsPre but in a more drastic way that JKing138.
I was inspired by the new Tech 21 Dug amp on which there already some threads. The principle of this new amp is to mix to channels, one simulating a clean bass rig, the other, a dirty guitar rig, with the help of HPF and LPF.
So I tried to use the AcBsPre that way, setting the Depht to remove a lot of lows on my overdiven patch. That way, the mixed signal remains very clean on the lows.
Here we go :
1- ZNR : Thrsh : 10 - DETCT : EfxIn - Level :100
2- Bass BB : Gain : 84 - Bass 3 - Treble : 1 - Blend : 100 - Level : 70
3- AcBsPre : Gain : 50 - Depth 0 (cuts everything below 200 Hz) - Level : 100 - Bass : 0 - L- Mid : 5 - LM_F : 100Hz - Mid : 2 - H-Mid : 2 - Trebl : -10 => like that the overdive is more focused : no muddying lows and no fizzy highs. The Eq is also useful to tailor completly the overdiven tone.
Total : Level : 100 -
Bal : 50 -> the interesting parameter to keep some dry signal and maintaining clean nice lows
The values I used are not supposed to be perfect and work for everybody.
I mostly want to share the principle of creating flexible overdriven tones.
I have better results by using my VT Bass or my american sound combined to that patches, but if I bypass them, the results sound nice too.
To test this patches, I usually put an empty patch before or after the patch I want to try, like that I can alternate between the clean tone alone and the mix of the clean + dirty. It's more easy to hear the tone changes to check if lows are stille present, and what kind of frequencies are pushed in front with the overdriven channel.
If some of you want to make some tries and give me their feelings.
