cheddatom

I reckon if a riff needs to sound heavy or "beefy" then you need to play the roots of the riff on the bass. However, if the song is "all riffs" then there will be no contrast. Decide which parts need to be heavy, and which parts need to "drop out" a bit. Then in the dropped out bits, play less notes and work out a rythm that fits well with the drums (or work out a rythm and tell the drummer what to play). That's what I do! For example in a band (i'm playing drums) we have a song where the guitar part is basically one chord sequence played with a "constant" rythm, down strokes on every beat or something. This is for the chorus AND the verse, but to make them sound different the bassist made up a funky bassline that's in the same key but nothing to do with the changing roots for the verse, and then just copied the root notes for the chorus.

Nice. Is the LS-2 blending or switching?

[quote name='Toasted' post='270205' date='Aug 26 2008, 01:10 PM']It could. You could switch it to be either buffered or true.[/quote] If you switch it then it's not both! My point being it can't be both at the same time. If a pedal has a buffer on while the effect is off, then it's not true bypass, and vice-versa. Given that this is the case, I don't understand how "the VFB-jr is buffered and true bypass". Maybe he means that the effects loop is buffered and when you switch it out it's true bypass? With the LS-2s buffered loops, the difference would be the true bypass function, not the buffer. Am I being stupid again?

[quote name='ste_m3' post='270176' date='Aug 26 2008, 12:51 PM'][/quote] I couldn't fit my tone in there to blend it. It's too phat.

[quote name='Finbar' post='265977' date='Aug 19 2008, 11:29 PM']I'm guessing if you don't need the options the LS-2 has, the VFB-jr is buffered and true bypass? And smaller board footprint.[/quote] It can't be buffered AND true bypass!! The LS-2 is good for all of it's different functions, and good for the fact that you have two volume controls for each loop rather than a mix pot. The VFB has only one loop so you can only use it to blend clean with one loop, rather than blending two loops. I use my VFB to blend clean with my LS-2 which I used to mix two different effects chains.

If I was using the ends of my nails to try and get a pick sound by attacking the strings really hard, I would be worried about breaking my nails off! I break nails just from popping though so maybe it's just me?

[quote name='1976fenderhead' post='267141' date='Aug 21 2008, 03:36 PM']*just an edit to add that the wah effect sounds duller to me if I put the compressor after it...[/quote] Compression has the (sometimes) unwanted effect of reducing highs. Some compressors compensate for it, others don't!

[quote name='Archetype' post='270129' date='Aug 26 2008, 12:01 PM']its suggested that the best method is: Bass -> inserts (EQ, gate, compressor) - > Amp -> Effects loop (distortion, reverbs, delays, etc). This way you can usually always maintain a good blend of wet and dry signals. And of course always think about your effects orders. the likes of gate and compressors. easier to gate a signal first then compress it. rather than gating a signal with the smaller dynamic range. Or just go with what you think sounds best [/quote] I think that you may be thinking more in the context of a studio mixing desk. You would use "inserts" as they are 100% wet, and you would use "sends" as you can change the amount sent to this loop. In the context of bass amps, there are not that many with effects loops that you can adjust the mix (are there?).

It all depends! If you put a compressor before pedals, you will limit the way that they react to dynamics. If you put pedals after your amp's pre-amp, then they could be overdriven by the louder signal. This might be good, but might be bad. I used EQ pedals to drive certain distortion pedals harder, so if you're doing something like that then using the pre-amp to drive them instead would make sense. If you have no other effects at all - putting the compressor in the loop could mean that you are giving it such a hot signal that the threshold control is useless. It could also lead to a loss of high (or boost of low) end which could be (un)desirable after the pre-amp depending on what kind of tone you get out of the amp-pre-amp rather than your bass's pre-amp. You might want to try bass>comp>FX return, completely bypassing the pre-amp. I think if you understand how compressors work, and what an effects loop is, then you should be able to experiment and figure out what works for you. There are reasons for the differences in sound before/after pedals/in a loop but being that the sound is subjective there can be no set rules.

I've heard quite a lot of bad things about the GT-6B but..... I used to know a bass player who played custom statii through a 2 x 4 x 10" TE stack, and he sounded amazing, and he used a GT-6B ALL of the time. I only quote his gear because I don't think you would spend that kind of money without researching your stuff, and I assume he did the same sort of testing for his effects.

If A works without the switch, and B works without the switch, then an AB switch will work!

I would have octave, fuzz wah, bass balls, flanger, fuzz.

[quote name='Sarah5string' post='263201' date='Aug 15 2008, 04:20 PM']Cheddatom.. for some reason I thought you looked like your avatar. lol[/quote] I do! The avatar pic was taken a while ago. I'm slowly growing into my skin.

I'm the one on the bottom left.

I always went for accuracy, but I got so many comments saying that I looked boring that I decided to compromise and try to move around a bit more. It's quite difficult when you're not used to it!

Fiendish, I hope it works out! I have a tone which sounds more like what you're afer - 3 channels - dry, compressed, distorted (quite nasty fizzy distortion) all blended and then into a limiter. Let us know what you end up using!

[quote name='BassManKev' post='262369' date='Aug 14 2008, 01:02 PM']with or without nails?[/quote] Without! Not that I remove them, I just don't use them except for popping. Dood - "I use compression, drive and eq to add bite to my sound. I tend not to use a pic unless there are very fast passages in songs. I prefer to to build speed with my fingers as it's easier to string skip on a wide neck!" I do exactly the same for the same reasons, although I do use a pick for chords aswell. I can do all my fast lines with fingers, but sometimes it's just more defined with a pick.

Well, you are using the words Grit and Full On Distortion - You wont get Grit by blending lots of clean with a little bit of full on distortion, for obvious reasons. You will get a cool tone though. Perhaps you could run a constant 50 or 60% blend with your full on distortion, and put a volume pedal before the distortion pedal so that you can control the gain. Do you not like the sound of the pedal at low gain? I think perhaps you might mean something different by the word Grit.

I seriously can get a pick sound with my fingers. I'll try and do some sound samples, but it'll be a while before I can.

[quote name='Finbar' post='261780' date='Aug 13 2008, 06:06 PM']Well I'm rejigging my pedalboard at the moment. I've always had my octave after my distortion just because I never really experimented with it, and it makes such a difference running the octave first o_O Synth-tastic. Anyway, quite a few little neat fixes and stuff (for me) going on, so I'm taking my time doing it all up, and I'm still missing a few pedals. Howeverrrr... I'm looking at getting a VFB-X or a modded VFB-jr (pedalboard space is at a premium, especially if I'm adding an expression pedal to control the blend) from Barge Concepts so I can use my Catalinbread Hyperpak for anything from full on distortion to a bit of grit. Anyone had any experience with doing that with the expression pedal? And are there any expression pedals I can set to have a minimum value so that the off/down position isn't fully dry signal? I'll probably shoot Barge Concepts themselves the same question. I have an ODB-3, but I don't really get along with it to be honest, even at some very low gain, mostly dry settings. If I can find a better solution, I will! When I've finished it, I'll take a photo. Its nothing to rival Tayste's new board, but I like it If anyone has any George L's jacks they're selling, I'd be happy to take them off your hands And another daisychain probably wouldn't go amiss![/quote] Are you thinking that you will have a little bit of dry and a lot of the hyperpak for full on distortion, and a lot of dry and a little hyperpak for low gain grit? I don't think this will work! You would be better off modding the dirt pedal so that you can control the gain with an exp pedal.

Heh, Kev, you never hold on to any gear! Most amusing. Having said that, I like the way you managed to sell your gear. When I was at uni I spent a lot of my overdraft on gear, and I could never bring myself to sell it.