burno70

Right then, been doin a bit of diggin and now I have a better understanding of bypassed loops. I've also been looking at some of the pedal suggestions. Just missed out on an LS-2 on the bay yestday but will keep tryin - if not I'll just pick one up from Dolphin next weekend. I also like the sound of the LMB-3. With the distortion tho, it seems the ODB 3 and the Jackhammer have as many lovers as haters. Cheddatom, you've advised a low gain OD pedal, can you explain why it would have to be low gain? It's just so I can clearly understand the concept of what's going on with my signal chain here and how it can help beef me up? Also, what other low gain OD pedal options are there. I've read about tonnes of OD pedals but I'm not sure which ones fall into the low gain category? Many thanks, I've learned a lot from this post!

Got more time to reply now and I've had a chance to scope out those pedal suggestions. I've always been a bit snobbish with Boss pedals due to the non True-Bypass / tone-suck aspect although I think I'm a bit more open to them now that I have recently obtained and absolutely love the OC-2. It seems that Harmony Central reviewers either love or hate the LMB-3 and the LS-2, so it looks like I'll just have to take the plunge, look for cheap bargains and decide for myself. Just like to say thanks to all for helping me out here, certainly gave me some food for thought and I'm starting to look at my running my effects in an entirely different way! Cheers

Thanks for the advise, sorry I didn't reply sooner but I'm back in work now Just gonna check out these new pedal suggestions. Cheers all

Dannybuoy, I have a new bass and amp! Don't get me wrong, I love the tone that I'm making, I'm just interested in wringing the absolute maximum tone I can out of my set up (with the addition of 1 or 2 more pedals!) - I got a Shuker with Delano pups and a Markbass rig.

Nice one, I hadn't thought of using blend pedals - this way I could have the bass drive on all the time and use it in conjunciton with the clean signal so it wouldn't be as raw. Hmm, I understand how a blend pedal works - obviously blending a clean signal with an effected one but how does this work in relation to your pedal chain, as in, what would you connect to what? Thanks Again mate

Cheers Mr Foxen, yeah the 3 rigs is definately out of the question. I'm Hoping to find a way to phatten my tone with effects pedals.

Rich, do you know if it's true bypass and if not - is it a tone sucker? Cheers

Just after advise for developing a killer tone. To give some indication of the kind of tones I like think Flea, Justin Chancellor, Tim Commorford - you know, the thick, granite like or just pure phat rock tones. It'd probably be a good idea to list my crurrent pedal board first:- Bass>OC2>Fulltone Bassdrive>EBS wah one>Meatwad>EBS Multicomp>MXR Flanger>amp I find that the bass drive is good for thickening up the sound but I only use it for a few songs, I wouldn't like to have it on all the time as, even though I'm in a heavy rock band, not all the songs require the grind. I think what I'm after is more of a beefed up 'natural' bass tone. I've read that some players use a permanent slight chorus to thicken up their tone. I'm not a fan of chorus myself but have never used it in this way before. Any advise would be most welcome. Also, advise need not be confined to my existing pedals, any new pedal suggestions would be most appreciated (although Not by my wallet!)

Deffo go with the Diago. It's expensive, Although half the price of the DC brick, but it's so light and you can alway expand it's connections as your pedal collection grows!

I got a meatwad a few weeks ago, fantastic pedal it is too. Previously I owned a Q-tron and an EBS IQ and the Meatwad out quacks both of them. It's just so tweakable, I'm getting new tones out of it all the time. I touched lucky and didn't get hit with any import charges. Thisnameistaken - is there any chance you could give us a sound clip of the Meatwad with the expression pedal? I didn't go with this option but am thinking that I should have. Go on, fill me with regret and envy!

Hi John, as much as I would love to be a full time rock star my main job is in insurance (although not music insurance!) but the same principals should apply so I may be able to help. Some company's should accept screen prints from the likes of Ebay or Loot as indications of the worth of certain items. I work in motor insurance and if there is a dispute in valuation we always ask the customer to provide proof of their own valutation and using clippings from auto trader would do. Although, to be honest, you should only have to prove their market value in the event of a claim anyway? It's unusual for an insurer to request proof of the insured items value before they offer the policy? I'm insured with Music Guard, I've advised them of the value of the items I want covered and have the premium paid by direct debit. They have not asked for valuations and I have peace of mind knowing that they are covered. They are Net based and their site is easy enough to navigate, I'd recommend taking a look at them. Hope that helps Ste

Billy Gould's an excellent shout, he hardly gets mentioned on bass forums and I don't know why, he's a class act. Pure metal it's gotta be Steve Harris for me. I love Tim Commerfords style and sound too alhough that's more of a hip hop - metal hybrid thang!

Thanks for the speedy replies there. Just worked out I'd only be savin between 10-15 quid from UK internet shop prices so for it's not worth the hassle. But thanks for the help. Cheers

I'm eyeing up a couple of pedals and found that you can buy them for between 1/2 and 3/4 of the price you would pay for them over here. Has anyone dabbled with the USA EBAY market at all? Are there any hidden customs or handling charges that I need to be aware of? Thanks

Excellent and humourous thread this has turned out to be! I think I have minor niggles which at least slightly irritate me, as we all have, but I do have one which does stand out. I've always been in bands who write their own music, I've either been the main music writer or a co-writer. I don't write for guitar or drums and prefer the other musicians to put their own stamp on these parts, afterall, that's what jamming is all about! Now, the one thing that really, really, really gets my back up is when I've been practicing on my own and have gotten a collection of riffs together which should make the humble beginnings of a good tune. At this point I can't wait for the next band practice so I can show these riffs to the lads and start layering guitars, drums and vocals over them and see how the tune unfolds. The emphasis here is riffs. Sometimes, (not often in my current band I have to add!) guitarists will see this as an opportunity to just solo over everything!!!!!!!!! Man, that makes me proper angry! The amount of exclamation marks I'm using here shows how angry I am!!!!!!) Afterall, I've put time, effort, inspiration and love into these riffs and instead of helping complete the song and writing a guitar part he goes into noodle overload. So for the verses you have, what - a solo? For the chorus you have - thats right, another solo! For verse two you have.....etc, you get the idea. OK, deep breath, rant over. Wow that was really therapeutic! Thanks for listening!

Thanks for the advise. Thats encouraging in terms of using a courier. The bass should be finished on thursday (allegedly:~) I'll just have to work out how soon I can get down there, If I can't wait that long then I think I'll courier it. Cheers

I'm not sure how accurately you can convey a set up though without trying a bass first. Every bass will have tiny differences in string tension and neck tension etc and these will impact the set up. Saying that, I don't think I will leave it to a courier service. I'll just have to find a way to get down there and try it out! thanks for the advise.

Jon has almost given birth to my new Shuker 4 string. Absolutely can't wait to get my hands on it. It will be ready a week saturday. Unfortunately it looks like I won't be able to pick it up for a further 2 weeks after that as I will be busy on those two weekends and can't take any time off mid week. I could arrange a courier but I'm worried that the set up may not be perfect for me. What if it needs a little tweaking? I'd hate to have to take it back because of slight fret buzz - everyone picks/plucks at different strenghs after all. I'm not particularly heavy handed but do like to dig in occaisionally. Has anyone any experience of this? What are his basses like "straight out of the box?" Thanks in advance.