krispn

I’ve alluded to this in other threads but the idea of a synth bass is far more alluring than actually employing it on a gig. We cover some tunes where a synth ‘could’ work but the reality is that adapting a bass line to work in the context the your band is often preferable to getting a dialled in ‘tone’. That’s certainly what’s worked for me in my bands, confounded when there’s been a keys player too which there has been in one of my main gigging ventures. Sometimes groove, feel and the 1 are the priority. No disrespect to established synth users. I just couldn’t make it fit in my current gigs and accepted this many moons ago🙂

I'm shifting an EBS valve drive and I think it ups the internal voltage with some trickery - it certainly sounds proper valve-like hitting the front end of my solid state amp. It's actually a really good combination!

I think I saw this for sale on FB and was keen. Gimme a nudge if it doesn't work out

I run a EBS Valve Drive in front of my solid state amp and it does a magnificent job of making it sound right valve-y. The VD (fnarrp) can be voiced as more modern or vintage via the footswitch so you can go full on jack Bruce or keep it more in check on the modern setting. I've used it as an 'always on' and then complimented it with another drive (Aguilar THDI) basically using the two gain stages very effectively. You can get a proper big drive sound this way which doesn't have to be heavy metal crushing.

Yup hence the experimenting with lots of cabs - much fun!

I’ve enjoyed experimenting in the past with a 115 and 410 but running the lows into the 410’s to keep them ‘tight’ and running the highs to the 115 to soften the highs. My old Eden power amp has a tone control on each channel as well so I could further monkey with the tone going to each cab. Might be counter intuitive to your needs if you’re after big subby lows but if you have access to the gear worth an experiment. In my old practice room we had heaps of speakers to try our- I actually shared it with a fellow bc’er!

?

might be worth a listen

Bass Soul Food might give you what you’re after. There’s varying opinion with them but you can nab one used pretty cheap and it does really need to be heard in a band mix as it could sound a bit middy and ugly on its own. That’s a fair point if I say so myself make sure and demo the pedal with your band. All too often folk on forums especially the TB crowd are buying and flipping gear within days having not tried them in context with their bands. Very important and not to be overlooked!

I was gonna say the same normally with finger style I’m only hitting about 5-10dB but it’s not a noticeable compression but it will catch things if I get overly thumb-y. The beauty of a comp which has metering and enough controls to dial in what you want.