pantherairsoft

I've been on a rampage over the last couple of weeks to get my set up well refined and nail down to pedals that really gel with the overall sound of the new project I'm working on. I've pretty much auditioned three pedals for every space on the board and made more signal chain tweaks than I can count. Finally, I'm happy with the set up. So much so that I have pledged to myself that I won't buy another pedal for at least 6 months... I'm going to work this set up hard! For those of you interested in such things, here is the signal chain being used (note, this is for some ambient, synth textures)... Input -> Boss OC-5 Octave -> Dr. Scientist Frazz Dazzler -> Darkglass Alpha Omicron -> Red Panda Bitmap 2 -> Bananana Matryoshka -> Wampler Terraform -> Iron Ether Xerograph Deluxe (+ Moog EP-3 Expression Pedal) -> Digitech Whammy Ricochet -> Source Audio Nemesis Delay -> Source Audio Collider Delay + Reverb -> TC Electronics Polytune 2 Mini -> Output Everything is powered by a Cioks DC7 (which hasn't even hit the 40% load light yet - what a power supply!) and cabled with EBS gold flat patch cables. The Bananana Matryoshka was originally on the chopping block, but I had space for a mini pedal without ruining the ergonomics of things. Originally, this was being used exclusively as a bit crusher (before the Bitmap 2 came along), but it's worth keeping here for the Arp and LFO settings, which allow for layering some nice textures and soundscapes. I have a pile of pedals to move on now to recoup some costs! I'm super happy with this set up. Endless creative options and everything plays really well with each other.

Given that I rarely play 'normal' bass and spend my time creating synth overtones and ambient soundscapes, octave down effects always go first (to be fair, that's one thing that almost always has no place being anywhere else), but pitchshifters like whammy's are always much farther along, typically alongside modulation. Polyphonic pitch shifters don't struggle to track in the same way as many classic octave effects and using a whammy-like effect after your dirt and filters sounds WAY more synth-like than shifting the pitch of the input signal to dirt pedals and the like. In many ways, then become an EQ control to enhance the synth-like nature of the tone. I rarely use compressors at all these days, but when I do, your point about the blend is sooooooooooooo important. The difference that makes to the overall dynamics can't be understated.

This recipe is certainly the ‘norm’, but there are always exceptions and importantly there are no ‘wrongs’. For example, synth pedals often sound better after distortion pedals. Filters sound very different before and after both distortion and modulation so it depends on what you’re after. In a traditional synth bass setting where you create sounds by using Octave > Distortion > Filter, it’s common to place the compressor last in the chain, not first. This allows it to act as a limiter and it works to increase output consistency, much more like a keyboard synth. This is how I typically use compression. Whammys and pitchshifters usually go first in the chain for tracking as they sound most natural there, however, if you’re going for synth bass tone, pitch shifters will normally go along side modulation as the deliberately unnatural sound to pitch swells makes it sound even more synthesised. There are of course many more... but what I’m trying to say is, there are no specific rules. Always try everything in every position to see what works for you. It’s too easy to get trapped into what is considered the ‘norm’, but often it’s not the most optimal.

Bought a Boss OC-5 from Gaz. Super easy transaction, good comms and it arrived really fast. Couldn't be happier.

These are notoriously bad for your jack sockets as it forces pedals to bend and flex against each other and the weight of the plug. With a cable, when pressure is applied to a pedal and it slightly moves, the cable prevents anything else from moving with it. With a coupler, that force is directly applied to the jack sockets of the connected pedals. I’ve heard nothing but bad things about them, though I admit, I’ve never tried them myself (on account of them historically being considered a poor choice).

I used to be all about the Lava Cables and George L's, but I've moved over to EBS flat patch (gold version, but I'm sure the regular are fine). Personally, I'm super impressed with them.

Bought a pedal from Darren. Excellent communications and super helpful.

The one on the really old huge board? That was a custom version designed to take +/-5v CV control to every knob so it could be controlled by the Moog MP-201. It was basically a replacement to using the Moog LPF, but to retain all the functionality. The one on the smaller board is just a regular V1 Xero Deluxe.

Dammit! My multiple searches for 'blend' were a total fail Cheers! Case closed.

This is good to know - I was getting that impression from some videos, but the manual doesn't actually tell you what the knobs do per patch (I assume because the onboard display does!). Thanks!

Having tired most multi modulation pedals, I'm keep to turn my gave to the Synesthesia. I'm particularly interested in any user experiences with bass as the pedal does not appear to have a blend control (unless that's hidden deep within the menu and user manual) - I'm wondering how able you are to balance modulation tones with clean bass tones. If you have any first hand experience with this pedal, please let me know! Thanks.

If you want to part with the pro, fire me a PM!

Nice. For a period of time, he sold the regular (larger) GC in a 'bass version' too, and would even take back regular ones and mod them for bass. I understand that it just let a little clean through the signal. The GC regular and civi were never kind to low end, but then it's a bit crusher! It never bothered me as I ran mine (along with all the dirt effects) is an parallel loop along either a clean signal, or a sub octave. That said, as I prefer to play in projects without guitar etc. it's no issue to me to not always have huge low end.

The Pro came out after I'd stopped playing for a while - it looks insane, but I've never seen one in the wild. He does make some incredible toys though, I have no doubt that it rocks!

Thanks! I was pretty fond of that 2-board set up... it felt like a compromise at the time, but on reflection, it was still ALOT of pedals! I have a few pics of the last version of that...

There were two more at one point! One of my biggest regrets in life was selling the Cluster Flux. That pedal was the single most creative thing I've ever made noise with.

I used to be pretty active around here some years ago and ran a blog about effects etc... but I stepped away from bass after getting divorced and life getting messy. At that time, I sold my entire library of effects, including the WMD stuff (I used a Super FatMan from them as well). This very thread will have more pedalboards of mine in it than I care to remember, but here is the big touring board I used with Our Helical Mind, and where the WMD stuff was a pretty critical part of the sound... It's a 2-tier board, so there are a load of other pedals you can't see that were controlled by the GigRig Quarter Master, or in the loop of other effects. It looks cool, but try taking it on tour - it took 2 people to lift it (that board is 1.4m wide). I ended up refining this set up and stripping it down to two smaller Diago boards that I linked together, which revolved around making due with fewer tones and using an Eventide Pitchfacter to replace a LOT of the pedals (that thing is insanely good). Good times!

It was a few years ago, but in some capacity it played a part in almost every track you can find here - https://ourhelicalmind.bandcamp.com We were just live drums and bass, so all the instrumentation that you hear is the bass, loading with effects. The Geiger counter was one of the core elements of all the distorted and synth tones (mixed with filters, modulation and pitch shifting etc).

I love the Geiger Counter. I used to use the bigger version as part of my huge board and it ended up being one of the most used pedals I had.

If you google ‘Phase 90 Volume Drop’ I’m certain you’ll find discussion on it. I’ve got no direct experience. I just recall it being discussed a lot in the past. Given the number of awesome phaser options, it might be worth just picking up a pedal that does the job for you, rather than trying to force an existing one to work. Or, before you mod it, maybe just pick up a loop pedal with volume control (LS-2 or one of the million other options) and use that to bring it up to level. It’ll give you a chance to play with it for a while and work out how loud you actually need it to be before you change its level gain and realise maybe you wanted a small boost or something.

The Phase 90 is pretty reputable for the volume drop - just a quirk of that older pedal design. IIRC it is something to do with the resistor on the output (I think it's 150k) and replacing it for a 180k is enough to level that out. Also note that the very nature of a phaser makes it pretty hard for your ears to detect 'unity' gain, as such they tend to either sound a little quiet, or a little loud depending where in the phase sweep they are.

Indeed. This is a Pedaltrain Classic 2.

Refined set up for all things noisy/ambient/synthy. Pretty happy with everything overall and it'll certainly do me for the current project... The Vintage Microtubes isn't really my choice of OD sound (a bit too rock/metal) for the stuff I'm doing now, so I might swap that out some something a bit more ‘me’, however it does stack well with the Alpha Omicron. Also, the Xerograph is getting less use now that the Barbenera has taken prime spot for synth swells. It's a nice envelope filter, but it's not my favourite as a stand alone classic filter (that spot goes to the Subdecay Prometheus, which I miss very much!), so may be on the chopping block soon for something else. For those of you interested in the signal chain... Instrument input > Onto Nojs > Darkglass Alpha Omicron > Darkglass Vintage Microtubes > Bananana Effects Matryoshka Bass Synth > Iron Ether Xerograph Deluxe > Nemphasis Steam Bass > EBS DPhaser > Triungolo Labs Barbanera (+ Moog EP-3 Expression Pedal) > Source Audio Nemesis Delay > Neunaber Immerse Reverb > TC Electronic Polytune > Output to amp Everything is mounted to a Pedaltrain Classic 2, cabled with EBS flat patch cables (gold) and powered by a Cioks DC7 power supply (which is easily the best power supply I've ever used).