nickhuge Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Hi folks! I play in the band New Device. We've been going for a few years and have an established sound on the circuit (played with Bon Jovi, at Download blah blah blah...) and we're currently toying with changing that quite drastically to one guitar for various reasons. I've never proclaimed to have any knowledge on effects and signal processing. I play straight in to an Ampeg SVT3PRO. What I am finding, obviously, is that there are now quite a few gaps in the spectrum which need filling out. Especially, obviously (again), when it comes to solos. What tricks have you people got for filling in the full dynamic range when it switches to solos and you're only playing in a 4 piece with one guitar? I was thinking of getting a sansamp to thicken up the sound in general anyway throughout but I was wondering what to do for solos specifically x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Many options! Fuzz pedal, play chords or diads, boost pedal, get the drummer to ride his crash or open hats to fill it out, get the guitarist to stick a bunch of reverb on for his solo I think the current fashion is to get an octave up pedal and put this through a guitar amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 (edited) I'd be inclined to think in terms of [i]what[/i] you and the rest of the band play, rather than the sound...like cheddatom says, can the drummer hep fill out the sound ? Edited April 21, 2015 by ahpook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lw. Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Depends on your bands sound I guess - have you got a link? Playing solid route notes following the chord sequence of the solos is incredibly boring to play but does work well in rock as it's a solid wall of sound for the guitarist to twiddle over. Pre-amps are good for sound sculpting though be careful about losing the mids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skybone Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 As has been mentioned, a hint of reverb on both bass & guitar should fill things out a wee bit. What sort of guitar does your guitarist use, as in Single Coil or Humbucking pickups? Single coils have their advantages in the spectrum with multiple guitarists, but can sound thin when on their own (unless he utilises more than one amp), where a guitar with humbuckers will sound "fuller". Saying all that, it can also just give you more space for fills & runs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 IMO there's no point in trying to fill out the sound. It won't work anyway. You'll just sound muddled. You are guitar, bass and drums now so you should sound like that, and not try to sound like your old band. Enjoy the spaces. As long as you can keep the groove no one will notice there are 2 guitars missing. . . . . IMO you had 2 too many in the first place! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skankdelvar Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 [quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1429634052' post='2753471'] You are guitar, bass and drums now so you should sound like that, and not try to sound like your old band. [/quote] Wisdom. Slimming down the line-up makes for interesting possibilities with arrangements, dynamics, etc. Rather than everybody playing more stuff to fill, try stripping each song down to its essentials and re-building from there using different parts for different sections. Bob Mould (guitarist Husker Du, Sugar) records songs with multiple simultaneous guitar parts. When playing live he plays just [i]one[/i] of those recorded parts for verse 1. Under verse two he plays a [i]different [/i]one of those parts. And so on. Anyhow, history evidences plenty of three pieces which recorded ambitious, sprawling studio material but still sounded epic live on their lonesome. Best of all, you don't have to split the money five ways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickhuge Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 Lovely thank you chaps, and in response for links just put new device in to YouTube / spotify / iTunes etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qlank Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 blah blah blah... I was in that band. Got an old demo tape somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 I tend to play with a bit of drive/gain. Nothing much, and in the mix it isn`t noticeable at all, but when the solos start, it pads out the spaces much better than a completely clean sound. But I think ahpook & cheddatom are hitting it here, it`s also about what is played. Doesn`t have to be much away from the original riff but a few extra runs/notes on the bass really helps, and the drums can really do a job on this - a simple change of cymbal can really fill things out. And using a very short-set digital delay can work on the guitar to make it sound much fuller without getting in the way of what`s actually played. But, coming back to the original question re bass, I`d look to drive your current sound a bit more all the time - not Lemmy-like, but just over the edge from clean. Really makes a difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 Personally, I like the space that happens when the guitarist goes up the dusty end for a solo. To make things interesting you can invert the chord (play the 3rd or 5th instead of just the root), or stick passing notes or accidentals in... E.G. Chord progression of C, Am, F, G - instead of just playing quavers (8th notes) for each bar of C, A, F, G I'd look at adding a bit more interest and turning the line into a bit more of a feature - rhythmic devices (like the last bar of this example) can also help to make more of a feature of the baseline whilst still underpinning the guitar solo and providing a sense of rhythm too. [attachment=190298:Screen Shot 2015-04-23 at 10.02.05.png] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synthaside Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 I've got one of these https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVby-BPyrnE An Akai unibass essentially its an [color=#333333][font=arial, sans-serif][size=3]octave up pedal with built in distortion ( roll your own ) and chord options ,[/size][/font][/color] On its own it sounds a bit synthetic but that isn't what its designed for its for filling out the sound and it does wonders when the guitarist runs off up the dusty end and i've got to keep the whole song going without him . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmo Valdemar Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 (edited) I think a lot of this concern about 'filling out the sound' is common among rock/metal bass players - probably becuase of the rough deal we usually get in the mix. If a triple-tracked guitar suddenly takes a break from heavy riffing to solo, the bottom's going to drop out of the sound. Trust me, I've been there! No amount of novelty effects are going to make up for this - suddenly switiching to a fuzzed-up octave tone is going to sound a little ofdd to say the least. I'll echo what others have already said, some drive or dirt can work wonders. And don't feel obliged to suddenly overplay to fill in the gaps - those gaps are just as valid as the notes you could cram in them, and a sparse bassline can be far more effective than just blasting away. Have yourself a listen to the master of this art, the late Andy Fraser of Free. he knew exactly what he was doing. For a slightly different approach, Doug Pinnick of King's X, who goes for a massive, bi-amped tone which really fills the gaps sonically, but who is also surprisingly funky and sparse when he needs to be. Edited May 13, 2015 by Cosmo Valdemar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 This: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2XKZNMR2Pc[/media] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synthaside Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 Hah its essentially an akai unibass with probbaly miles better tracking for 240 quid ... ouch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancient Mariner Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 Something the guitarist can do to help is the hoof their mids a bit, if they're not middly already, and leave you more space than you had with 3 guitars. Better separation between the instruments will give a bigger sound than cramming everything in, and the punters will hear a clearer band too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LayDownThaFunk Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Turn up the gain on the ampeg and boost the mids a touch? No need for pedals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 [quote name='LayDownThaFunk' timestamp='1433104977' post='2787928'] Turn up the gain on the ampeg and boost the mids a touch? [/quote] That's a maxim for life right there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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