mcgraham

Yea it can get real expensive real quick. Even Shep acknowledged that it would make little financial sense for a solely bedroom player to invest that heavily in effects. I for one am happy with just my OC2 and Orbit... for now.

Personally I've achieved a similar dub sound before even getting an octave pedal by rolling my tone off, AND my treble, AND using side of my thumb AND up by the neck/end of the fretboard AND boosting the bass... ...maybe a LPF would be a quicker way to get between that sound and other sounds

[quote name='Evil Undead' post='1266766' date='Jun 12 2011, 10:53 PM']I see you all these answers, and raise you... What if your favourite to play isn't necessarily the one that gets the most gig time?[/quote] I never thought I'd be in this position but I realise I am thinking about this issue at the moment. My favourite to play is my W&T fretless, but for gigs I've returned to using my W&T fretted as I am inherently more relaxed on the fretted than I am with the fretless, just by virtue of not having to think about intonation.

No worries. It does happen and compressors really do help - they're clearly not a bad thing as studios and pro live engineers use them all the time... but they can be a crutch to many, and can really destroy what would otherwise be a great track. I personally hate the [i]feel [/i]of all but the lightest compression on bass or guitar, so never use it for that reason.

When you say that your dynamics are all over the place, do you mean that your playing throughout songs is inconsistent in volume? e.g. some notes are way too loud and others are way too quiet? If it's not a physical problem with the bass (some are really not that even sounding all over the neck for various reasons), and it's not because of a variety of different techniques being used that have different volume requirements (e.g. tapping, fingers, pick, slap) then I'd suggest practicing to even your dynamics out. Get a compressor by all means, but work at evening out your technique as well so that you're not relying on the compressor to fix your bad habits. Just my 2p

[quote name='pantherairsoft' post='1265701' date='Jun 12 2011, 03:22 AM']Anything that does a good 8-bit gated fuzz sound along with an octave pedal should do it… Copilot Orbit, Flying Tomato, WMD Geiger Counter or many other gated fuzz pedals. Make sure its an extreme gate though. Octave before it and your good to go. I think mcgraham has been playing around with an OC2 & Copilot Orbit this week so he'd be the man to ask![/quote] I have indeed! Played a church conference/camp over the weekend, pedalboard consisted of Polytune-->OC2-->Ego (compressor)-->Orbit (fuzz + ring mod)-->DD6. Boss OC2 was used for 50% of the material. Initially was 1st octave only as that is a great DnB/dubstep sound, but eventually dialled in 2nd octave to 50% and dry to 30/40% - that setting filled the sound out nicely and also fitted a multitude of songs and allowed me to shoehorn different styles into the otherwise tired sound of contemporary worship (comparable to U2 but with a much more tired sound). Tracking worked best above 12th fret and tone and treble all the way off - also the resultant sound seemed better that way too. I also found that running a compressor immediately after it helped to even the sound out as it does seem to have a slight volume drop and slightly inconsistent volume response relative to picking strength when engaged relative to the uneffected sound. Orbit did not get used at all because it didn't fit the sound of the songs (I try my best but there's only so much you can do) plus a number of the bandmembers did NOT like the sound of it... but then they are the sort that think U2, Coldplay and John Mayer are the end all and be all of music *sigh*. Anyway, the Orbit is a stunning pedal by itself or with an octave running into it. There's a number of different sounds in there, but the one I like gets a really wet squelchy almost ringmod-filter-esque tone with a tight-finger funk sound - will try to record at some point. Run an octave into it and you can get really thick synthy basslines above the 12th fret. Also, the treble content you let through from your bass-->octave then into the Orbit reeeeeally affects the overall sound of this pedal so there's a lot of control there. If you play a low note through the octave into the Orbit - say an open E - you get this mental 'broken amp' sound, great effect and could work with some slow-groove numbers but probably not useable on many songs. I'd say that the OC2 is a must have for any bass pedalboard and incredibly useful for any genre. The Orbit is a very unique sounding pedal, so would say it is only likely to be useable for a genre/song that actually has a space already carved out for such a sound. Both work so well together, and if you add a delay pedal I think you'd just need a drummer to get going as a DnB/dubstep duo. I will definitely do some clips as I'd love to share some of the ideas I've had with these pedal combinations... perhaps even a video!

I really like Dream Theatre. I think that as a band they are all really strong musicians in their own right, but more than that they all gel together well and support one another, making something more than the sum of its parts. I also feel that their songwriting is (generally) pretty good, particularly given the length of time they've been around and the amount of material written. Saying that, I think that their sound is consistent, and that can seem a bit repetitive (I really dig their sound and approach so don't mind this, but even I can have my fill). I personally find that certain aspects of their sound from various eras comes round in circles... and not necessarily in a nostalgic 'recurring motif' kind of way, more of a 'heavily recycled idea' kind of way. Also, I've found that different band members seem to go through comparative 'stale' patches relative to other band members, e.g. Myung was epic (IMO) on the Octavarium album, but I can't even pick him out of Silver Linings; LaBrie's vocals were too clean (IMO) in earlier albums but really exciting vocal melody and gymnastics that matched the other musicians - now his vocals are getting some welcome texture and edge which IMO suits the music better, but this has unfortunately been at the expense of more interesting vocal melodies... but such occurrences are not unusual for any musician and its only my personal opinion and taste that leads me to say this. ... having said that, when they work their magic (which is most of the time IMO) they have got something really special going on.

OC2 hopefully arriving today. Away playing over the weekend so will try to give it a run for its money.

I'm in a solicitor type role in an office environment. Very mentally draining and computer intensive. I did find within the first year that my right wrist was absolute killing me from typing, mouse-use, gym and exercise, and playing bass for hours on end. I switched my mouse to my left hand to split the load and its been fine since. In general I find playing music for the sheer fun of it really relaxing and energising. Whether playing out or arranging or the like, it just invigorates me.

Oh and a flanger. Definitely a flanger.

Nicely done! In my head I'm hearing the sound of the Orbit in parallel with the sub/synth sound of the OC2 with only 1 octave down coming through, so I may look at a blender from Max @ SFX in the future.

gnasher, the settings he's using on that vid are very close to what I have it set to at present. Given that I mainly play bass at church at present (reasonably contemporary but still restrictive within that genre) I'm going to try and work out how to support the songs with a slightly more synth sound to experiment.

Just picked up a Copilot Orbit off gnasher1993 to put on my newly created bass pedalboard (inspired by Shep's/pantherairsoft's monstrous pedalboard) In short, if you love tight bass synth/fuzz sounds this thing is a world of fun and tones in its own right. It's got a fuzz side, and a ring mod side, with a mix to blend the two. Also has a switch to alter the state of the VCO feeding the ring mod and an exp jack to control the 'exp' knob which seems to control the sweep of the ring mod (will check this out at some point but not yet looked at it). I spent a few hours fiddling with it last night and it's really inspiring, so much so I might attempt to record a few samples. The variable gated-ness of the thing is so much fun for tight staccato synth bass lines. I think that running an octave into it (e.g. OC2, hopefully getting one this week) would really open up the pedal's possibilities. Contemplating a filter after that (Proton or Proteus maybe) but we'll see.

That's great news. No-one likes feeling shoved out of the way, even when playing at church! I played at a church once where if there was even the hint of a headstock beyond a pillar that could be considered to 'distract' or 'obscure' just a fraction of the huge stain glass window at the back then we got complaints from more traditionalist congregation members. Bless them, and we did our utmost to oblige with a relatively small space - but if [i]that's [/i]what they're really fussed about then they're kind of missing the point.

Bilbo, are you not a fan of Gwilym? Or would you merely prefer to hear from Cottle et al? Not saying you're wrong either way, just curious.

Absolutely man! Plus the one! I totally get that learning theory can be boring to some (I find it fascinating and love it!), but those that insist they are better off without it... and won't be persuaded to the contrary... well I just tend to leave those guys well alone ... and just keep playing my ass off to show them it really does make you a better player. The proof is in the eating of the pudding after all!