Boodang

Good suggestion and great pedal, as all Iron Ether pedals are, but... have you tried to buy one?! They're rocking horse sh*t it terms of trying to get hold of one. I'm on the email email waiting list for several of their pedals and it's a long wait! Plus not cheap... $250 plus import. EHX parallel = £100, in stock now.

If your favourite pedal doesn't have a blend then you just need a parallel mixer pedal to do the job. I use an EHX tri mixer, not just for overdrive but for other effects as well. Parallel mixing opens up a lot of possibilities. Another parallel pedal is the KMA which has a frequency crossover for splitting the signal.

Yeah, problem is I've just moved to another country, hence looking for a new band to join, and my toys (basses and drum kits) are a long time catching up, hence the opportunity to have a drum was irresistible! I borrowed a bass for the initial session, I must give it back.

I got asked to join a band as their bassist last month (I was recommend by a friend). I turned up for the first rehearsal as a bit of a try out, the drummer wasn't there as he was on holiday, so while we were warming up I jumped on the kit (can never resist a drum kit!). Upshot is, by the end of the session they want me to be their drummer as they prefer my feel. I didn't really want to do that to the drummer so I said let's see when he gets back as I was happy to play bass. Thought it was going to be an awkward conversation but it turns out he'd rather play bass than drums. Turns out he's a really good bassist! So, looks like my main gig is on drums for the moment.

Not sure about my #1 bass but I think my #1 pickup for all situations has to be the Sims Super Quad... a J, P or humbucker in one housing. Hmmm, I think I can feel a new custom bass coming on!

He was a true prophet.

A bit like analogue octavers, the mono synth tracks best with less harmonic content in the note, so playing towards the neck rather than nearer the bridge definitely helps. But your right, not the best tracking pedal. Having said that the sounds are too good to ignore so I persevere.

Creamery pickups come highly recommended. I've got several jazz and P basses with his custom pickups in and they are amazing. The P bass needs no eq with his 'custom '14' solo pup in it. He also does a '52 tele in either alnico 5 or 2 magnets but you can have discussion with him about the tone you want and he'll wind to suit. Why go off the shelf when for the same money you can go custom!

Active EMGs into active preamp = no problems. My experience of active EMGs is that they have a much wider frequency response than passive pickups (less coil windings = greater frequency response), with the consequence that I end up using more EQ to tailor the sound than I would with passive pups, especially the top end (unless of course you like that wide open sound). There's a good jazz pickup comparison video on youtube where they go through about a dozen different pickup manufacturers (Bartolini, Dimarzio etc) and the EMG's come out really trebly.

Depending on what synth sounds you require (anything specific?), another alternative is to use an octave pedal (preferably one with an octave tone control so you can go from smooth to edgy) and an envelope filter pedal. Edgy octave into envelope = synthy goodness. You can even add some overdrive in there to really get it going. So, not a dedicated synth pedal but more versatile. If you can get hold of one, a COG T65 octave pedal; it has an octave down and plus an octave up with overdrive, and the pedal has a switchable parallel loop in which you can insert the filter. Also check out the Iron Ether pedals... there's a great demo with an Idiot Box bass overdrive going into their filter pedals for some insane sounds. Perhaps a more expensive way to do it than say the EHX but lots of GAS fun and experimentation where you can come up with your own unique sounds.

Tried a few recently and keep coming back to the EHX bass mono synth. Attaching an expression pedal brings it to life and really transforms it. Oh, and added bonus, it's cheap!

Absolutely no idea, but.... apart from this vacuous statement I'd thought I'd mention that tilt EQ was my main discovery last year, especially useful on compression. Acquired a couple of pedals with tilt on them, never really thought about it before but turns out I'm a fan and I find it really useful. Between tilt eq and compression my tone sculpting is sorted. Who knows, you might find that on the Diamond it's a useful feature.

I used to prefer an ebony or resin board for fretless but now I've gone back to rosewood as my favourite. My latest custom bass has a slab rosewood board which is extended up to the neck pickup as a finger ramp. It could be just auto-suggestion but the TI flats feel more 'buttery' to play on the rosewood compared to my resin and ebony fitted basses.

Well, I was bit off on the price!

I've got 2 amps on stage, one either side of the drum kit so the guitarist can hear me. The spare left in car is an old HH and just seems indestructible!

In which case, my comment regarding Trujillo and the effort he went to is even more pertinent! Mind you, he seems to be enjoying himself quite a lot in footage of him playing the glued together bits of wood.... certainly not a 'meh' moment for him.

You're not alone! I'm totally paranoid about equipment failures. I use 2 amps on stage, just in case, and still leave a 3rd in the car. I use 3 to 4 basses live so no issues there but I've got at least 2 spare sets of strings for each. My pedalboard has a spare psu in situ just in case, and I've got a multi effects pedal programmed up as a backup in case there's an issue with my pedals. I'm an electronics technician so I've got a soldering iron and spare bits in the car as well. In fairness I've never had a failure at a gig of anything but all the spare bits I bring have proved plenty useful for other people!

Jaco's bass might have been in a thousand pieces and glued back together but are you telling me that if you had it in your hands you'd go just go 'meh'?! In which case Trujillo certainly went through an awful lot of effort for just some glued together bits of wood!

Interesting (and I'm going to use that word deliberately), an AMP BH-420 amplifier came up for sale a while ago that turned out to be supplied to Jaco. The 420 was Jaco's amp of choice post Acoustic 360 and was designed by the same people. Can't remember the exact price but went for somewhere around the $1k, so can't say how much the bass of doom is worth (although Trujillo might) but that's what his last amp went for. Have to say, if it came up again at that price I'd snap it up (maybe, if you licked the capacitors you'd get some Jaco magic!).

Provenance.

Yep, know what you mean by the download thing, it's the reason I can't get on with the latest source audio pedals. TC though do a thing where the toneprints can be downloaded by making your phone make noises like an old modem which you then hold over the pickups. Like magic the pedal gets the preset... no idea how it works but ridiculously simply. But get that it's not for everyone. One compressor that hasn't been mentioned yet, and one of my favs, is the Aguilar TLC. You can set the attack time and comp ratio which I find it quite useful. It needs tweeking a bit more than some other pedals to get your settings but as a result it's a bit more flexible. Anyway good luck at the weekend, you can't go wrong with the pedals that have mentioned so far.

Get your J and put the pickups in series!

Amps are not the only place to find a preamp! I do all my tone shaping on a pedal board, so yes, a preamp pedal can be a good thing to get. However.... there's a few ways you can do this. A simple preamp like a tc electronic spectradrive, an all in one like a Helix or the latest Zoom, or a series of individual pedals. Sounds like it's time for a bit of gas and some experimentation!

Ah, the compressor pedal rabbit hole! The thing to ask yourself, do you want a reasonably transparent compressor or one that colours your sound? A good place to start is the tc electronic Spectracomp, as A. It's v cheap s/h & B. The toneprints mean it's not a 1 trick pony, it'll do everything from subtle transparent to 3 band full on colourisation.

Maybe the guy coming out needs to invest in one of these.... https://gruvgear.com/products/kapsule