dannybuoy

They haven't had their day yet, but that time is coming. Maybe a couple more generations from now, but I didn't feel the Helix could replace my favourite analog pedals just yet. Things will change when you can design and upload your own FX creations to a modeller like the Helix, but some standardisation has to take place with a common open file format before that can happen. Tons of pedals are digital these days, but every one we buy needlessly converts to and from analog to digital, adding latency and reducing fidelity... Take away the physical components and you are left with the algorithm, which can be sold at a lower price. A system like VST FX for your DAW but on your pedalboard is required where you can buy effects for a few quid each or even free from multiple vendors and upload them. Closest we have to that right now is the Mod Duo on Kickstarter.

TC Electronics Spectracomp and Mojomojo: Heard a few glowing reports for both but have learned to take internet forum opinions with a pinch of salt. I expected the Spectracomp to be noisy and the Mojomojo to have some low end loss, but was pleasantly surprised to find neither were true. Both pedals have replaced boutique competitors costing many times as much even though price was not a factor in my decision. Tech 21 DP-3X: Pre-ordered this expecting to move it on after trying it out. I'm not familiar with dUg or Kings X, didn't like his tone that much either from demos, and the pedal had the biggest mid scoop ever, lowpassing the clean at 200Hz and highpassing the dirt at 1.2KHz. Biiiig hole in the mids. Yet it totally works in a heavy rock mix to carve space for the guitars and create an overall big wall of sound. Lows are punchy and present, dig in a bit and you can still cut through from above.

Or here! 😉

Separate power supply for the Moog, or invest in a supply with isolated outputs!

Get some taller feet on that board and put the power supply and MIDI hub underneath! What do you use the hub for anyhow? I just used mine as an expensive dongle to make the Manta work with my Dunlop mini expression pedal.

@Al Krow if you're not ultra limited for space, the full size Spark is a great bass overdrive as well as a clean boost by the way!

Not even close IMHO, the Mojomojo wins that fight. I bought the Beta when it first came out, moved it on pretty quickly as it was very muddy with a baked in bass boost. I actually bought a second one a few years later as I was using a very bright sounding always on Darkglass B3K/M900 sound and wanted a darker sounding drive pedal to boost into it. It worked pretty well for this purpose, and it went on my band board. But listening to the pedal direct it was pretty bland, and the drive quite harsh and fizzy. Not tubey at all, very transistor like - a lot like a tubescreamer in fact, just with hyped lows and subdued highs. The Mojomojo has just as much (or even more if you want it) low end depth but the drive is much more natural sounding, a softer top end yet with more clarity / less mud than the Beta. I can happily play a P-Bass into a Mojomojo direct into headphones, and I couldn’t say the same for the Beta.

Missed the humbucker requirement. I don't think there are that many options in a Strat size. Do you want a humbucker for the tonal qualities or noise reduction? If you want a humbucker for noise reduction, maybe try some of the noiseless Strat pickups out there. If it's more the sound, what is it exactly you don't like about the current one? 'More vintage' is rather non-descript as it means different things to different people. Are you after lower output, less bass, and more mids/highs?

I would try a lipstick pickup like the Danelectros use?

Joyo AS is only used as a crunchy amp sim for the octave up fake guitar sound. Mojomojo for a fat dirty boost if playing more classic rock / blues / etc with a P Bass. DP-3X for more modern rock with my BB1025X. Also keeping the Agro, B3K and Alpha Omega on standby! Everything else is on the way out.

The ODB-3 has separate level controls for clean and dirty, so I would’ve thought the LS-2 would be redundant?

Keep the basses, get a new wife.

I’ve not tried the Marcus set, but I found the regular Dunlop Super Bright steels great for slap, very low tension which made it much easier. https://www.jimdunlop.com/product/dbmms45105-7-10137-08601-2.do?sortby=ourPicks&refType=&from=Search&ecList=6&ecCategory=

It's a rehoused Behringer (apparently they all are from this new cheap line they've released) Slow Motion SM200, so see if you can find any reviews of that!

Just saw this going for a bargain and couldn't resist! https://www.thomann.de/gb/digitech_ventura_vibe.htm

A pick does give a brighter more aggressive sound yes... But there are a lot of things you can do fingerstyle that are very hard to reproduce with a pick. Rolling the fingers for rapid triplets, muting strings, pinching the top and strings to play both together, hammering downwards to make the string bounce off the frets, etc... For me it's not pick vs fingers, just use what works best. In my originals bands I've had a few tracks that used a pick, most with fingers, even one that started with a pick then switched to fingers half way through. On the original question, I can play certain things a lot faster and clearer with a pick (e.g. Hysteria by Muse, even though Chris plays it with fingers). I also have a lot more stamina with a pick. I used to play a bassline I wrote that had a lot of straight 16ths in it and my hand would cramp up trying to play the entire song, but I could manage ok with a pick. Ultimately though I pursued with fingers because the subtle muting to cut off the note just before hitting the next one just made it groove a lot more!

Master both fingers and pick, use whichever fits the song best. The end! Although not quite the end, as slap should really be in that list too, but I'm rubbish at it!

Nice, never heard it isolated! Want another roto sim even more now though!

Are you having a laugh. No!

I would probably say the other way around, which goes to show you probably shouldn't listen to anyone! Mojo for the darker more midrange focussed bass (e.g. a Precision), and B3K for the brighter/scooped bass (e.g. a Jazz). I am using the Mojomojo with a Precision or Sandberg Basic (essentially a Stingray with the pup nudged up a couple of mm towards Precisionville), both strung with flats, going for something extremely touch sensitive, with bottomless lows, fat creamy low mids, and clarity without harshness up top. Sounds a lot like the drive I get from the Tonehammer but with more thump.

At the risk of sounding like a stuck record, I'll recommend the TC Mojomojo again - £40 new, about as different to a B3K as it's possible to get. Roars from down under like a big V-Twin when you dig in rather than blending in some grindy upper mids. It's found a home on my board, beating several boutique pedals costing way more than that.

Many years ago I even bought an expensive rotary speaker sim pedal just to cover this track, it was kind of a halfway house between a phaser and tremolo, and I could get pretty close with a Small Stone phaser too. Either would work I reckon! I was just giving the Mojomojo a run through with this riff earlier, sounded great. Might have to pick up another rotary sim!

That'll be perfick!

If you're trying to make it sound like the original, I would lean more towards an overdrive than fuzz... and some kind of modulation pedal - I think it was a leslie speaker on the recording? What's on the board already? This would get my vote - https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/TC-Electronic-MojoMojo-Overdrive/EY9 The Joyo Moonbase bass overdrive looks interesting too but not tried it nor seen any real world reviews. Little bit more expensive, but also tiny and perhaps worth a punt: https://www.joyoeffectpedals.co.uk/joyo-jf-332-moonbase-bass-guitar-effect-pedal-overdrive-jazz-blues?language=en&currency=GBP I'm also selling a Joyo Orange Juice for your magic number of £35 posted too if that's of any interest! If it is definitely more of a fuzz you are after, Chowny Fuzzster perhaps?