EQ double bass using a looper

[Martin34]

I recently bought a TC Ditto looper. It has a good sample sound, and while at a gig last weekend I realised I could loop a bass line, then leave it playing while adjusting the EQ on my amp. What a great solution, and certainly beats asking other musicians to 'play' your bass while trying to set EQ. And the sound doesn't have to be affected by the bass at all as you're only eq'ing the loop (which is the bass sound). I ended up getting a really good sound, and set the EQ to cancel out those boomy spots in the room, that you would never normally be able to experience. Plus the looper is a whole new world of bass exploration! Best £70 I've spent recently!

[hubrad]

Neat idea.. does the looper affect the voicing of the bass at all, or leave it pretty natural as per your amp settings?

[Martin34]

Hi. It's basically what's coming from the pickup. In my case the underfoot pickup gives a good bass fundamental, but I need to do some fine tweeting to try to get some realistic wood and string sound. I went through a polygons mini brute 3 with the 15' speaker. Last time I played there it was really boomy! I raised the amp onto a skateboard with rubber practice 'wheels' then set the EQ. I then got a really great sound out of a boomy room! Plus when you get the sound you want, you can play along, or make another loop, because at a certain point the amp will affect what's going through the pickup, feed back etc. But overall it's a great way to set your own EQ!

[Maude]

I like this one idea, thanks.

Need to buy a looper now though

[elephantgrey]

Loopers are also a really good practice tool. They are really handy way to listen back to what you've just played, you'd be surprised how listening back makes you hear things you wouldn't whilst playing. Also you can do things like play some chords up the neck, and practice bass lines/improvisations on top.

[pineweasel]

Also very handy for experimenting with effect settings. Just stick the looper at the front of the effect chain, record something suitable and mess around with your pedals at leisure.