krispn

http://www.ovnilab.com You’ll find out all you need to know with reviews, explanations etc. It’s the one guy doing all the reviews so you get consistency with the reviews and comparisons.Definitely worth a look, read a few reviews of pedals which catch your eye or might be available in the FS section.

It’s one of those techniques, folk will know you’re doing it** it’s just what you prefer to hear. Theirs school p bass slap sound which keeps the chunk or the Marcus type sound with the active bass/treble boosted on a twin pick up bass. **in as much as the crowd pay attention to anything... apart from that one guy up the front shouting “Slappda bass” whilst playing air slap bass that would put Alan Partridge to shame.

Do you still have the Stella comp -I’d say that must be a candidate for compact, unobtrusive great sounding comp if the review was anything to go by? @Beedster you just missed a dbx160 rack but they might be a decent option as a lot of the more recent pedals to market such as the keeley and Stella are based off the dbx comp.

TC Spectra comp has many many options and variables to play with but ultimately a lot of presets so you can quite easily audition them at a rehearsal space in seconds using the app if you’re an iPhone user (or could borrow an old one from a family member if someone has one kicking about. Hell I might even have an old one kicking about you can have let me just check there’s no d*ck pics on it... I’d downloaded hundreds 😀

Always did this with a pre amp/power amp set up with the power amp on full and pre amp gain/output to set the level needed. Depends on the manufacturer maybe?

I've been playing both a P and my JMJ Mustang this morning here at home and going direct into my amp, eq bypassed and they both sound great. Maybe a little more 'clarity' from the P bass purely based on 'all things being equal' the short scale bass can sound a little 'thumpier' but if your keeping your eq in check on the amp either will sound good. Don't underestimate the following as it could save you money in the long run... Strings can be changed to make any bass sound brighter of more 'round' (steel, nickel or flats etc.) and pick ups swapped if you wanna get into the down the road but... Get back to the shop, get back to the shop and wear each bass on your strap, feel which bass sits on you better or which feels the most comfortable to play. Don't be swayed by the name on the head stock - my last few gigs have all been on a used CV Squier jazz bass (with some used pick ups that I bought on here - whole package was about £200) and it sounds and plays great. I'm very happy with it. I gig a JMJ Mustang in my other band primarily as it's a much busier gig for the left hand and it's lighter for those longer sets too. The shorter scale does feel really comfy irrespective of the gig. At the end of the day if it feels right and plays right it's the right bass be that a squier or a USA Pro!

I was thinking of that Moloko Sing It Back (boris remix version of course) type sound which has that tone rolled off bass sound. A modern classic!

I think a lot of classic bass lines on dance track with live bass were recorded on jazz style bridge pick ups with the tone rolled back. I recall reading something about getting ‘that’ type of sound years ago or was discussing it with a local producer who was a bassist too.

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Fair enough just trying to point you in the direction of a few example. Let us know how you get on with it and post a few settings on the relevant thread once you get close be that Future Impact Helix related or otherwise. I’m sure a lot of folk would be interested in a similar patch/setting/sound.

I think my point was he’s not trying to - and doesn’t need to as they have all the gear as in synths. Again my earlier point just play the groove with a sound that works for your band. If a bright treble heavy picked sound doesn’t work in your band then...

Back to the plot... If you wanna nail the Attention bass from this live version play with a pick and have a bright treble heavy tone (it really lacks any low end punch or meat) but like I said earlier Dmitry is playing on top of the synth so probably wants the bass to poke out a bit. Still sounds a bit meh compared to the recording but then that’s a keyboard patch trying to sound like a bass then heavily processed and layered. Be harder to make the bass sound like a keyboard trying to sound like a bass than a decent phat bass tone and it might work better in a live band mix... If you wanna provide the low end, phat version with your band it’ll be easier on a 5 string tone rolled back a bit and favour whatever pick up works with your lot. I’d keep it finger style, you could thumb it or slap it but finger style will be fine. Depending if you want that ‘swell’ type thing he has going on you could likely find an effect on the hxfx or use a pumping compression which might get you there - the comp would help with the part if you thumbed/slapped it but that’s your call. Like I say depends on what you want the bass to be doing in the context of your band’s sound , sound like the recording or favour a more treble forward/brighter pick sound. Simples!

Of course this is the new wood not the cedar. D’oh!

@Cuzzie Yeah those clips sounded pretty close.

Oooh

Yeah he’s acknowledged that it’s softer and the range won’t be available in any relic versions for this reason. The super light range are ridiculously light though!

Plus good old insulation tape is another, less elegant solution.

I’ve played them in rehearsal only looking for new tracks for our female singer to do. We do other songs where the original ‘main bass’ is synth. I just play a variation of the main synth lines with a bit of an interpretation of other parts in the song. Just Can’t Get Enough springs to mind. In the choir gig it was the same. I was using eq, drive and comp as my only effects and it was more important to nail the feel than the exact part and generally it wasn’t as important but we did have a synth/keys player too. I suppose what I’m saying is if you’re in a band where you need to ‘nail’ exact tones then it become more important. If you’re trying make the songs fit in with the sound of your band then it’s good to work some classics to suit your (bands) style. I‘m aware of your reluctance to gig pedals and this makes it ‘fit for our band’ approach sometimes just makes sense.

I don’t use much live apart from eq, comp and some low gain and it sounds right with our band style - if you ‘need’ the effect fair enough but for the most part just play it cleanly and well and respect the groove and it’ll work. I listened to a podcast with Charlie Puth’s live bassist and he was on about his live tone for Attention and I immediately checked out the live track - bass sounded quite high end-y and not the great a bass sound. Did it blend with the keys part? Not really to my ear. Again if you don’t use that much in effects live just nail the groove the other stuff is all icing on top.

Those frequencies any good for slap? 😀

If you have exposed pole pieces a really simple tip is to cut some small strips of card, remove the pick up case and lay the card either side of the pole pieces and once you replace the cases it should make the pole pieces sit level or ‘just’ below the casings. Very simple and effective.

So in summary we can say the Quad Cortex is an expensive unit, not dissimilar to other high end processors. Taken in the wider scheme it could potentially be replacing multiple items which collectively would have a similar total value. Plus it’s new and shiny and kids are a financial abyss!

If you have the stems I’ll bash together a mix for fun. 😀