Advice on bass boosting

[bassix]

Hi everyone,

Looking for a bit of advice on getting a pedal or alternative to get a boost on certain parts of our tracks.

I'm currently playing a P bass through a Ashdown RM-500 and am happy with the core sound.

Certain parts of the song, i.e. when its a bass lead or guitar drops out it could just do with a bit of a boost. Being useless with pedals thought I'd put the question out there for knowledgeable people to clue me up! I'm not looking to distort the signal any further than I have currently, maybe just make it little more ballsy as if I'd turned the gain up a little? Is this as simple as getting a bass booster?

Thanks in advance!

[ras52]

[quote name='bassix' timestamp='1473947480' post='3134410']
Is this as simple as getting a bass booster?
[/quote]

Probably! I used to use an EQ pedal for this... rather than boosting across the range, you may just need to add a little "poke".

[Lozz196]

This ones always a tad awkward Liam, as so many pedals have their own sound as well. A booster such as the MXR Microamp will boost the pickups, without adding in any tone.

Another possible is an Ibanez Tube Screamer - with the drive/gain set as low as possible, then fiddling about with the levels to get the same volume, as it is a middy pedal it will add more to the areas that gain/drive affects, so that will pad things out a bit.

Something else I`ve heard of people doing is having an always on compressor to tame things a bit, then switch it off when you need more going on.

[Japhet]

EHX Bass Soul Food is a good pedal. You can use it as a clean boost or dial in more grit if you want. It's cheap and easy to sell on too.

[ahpook]

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1473947834' post='3134416']
Probably! I used to use an EQ pedal for this... rather than boosting across the range, you may just need to add a little "poke".
[/quote]

Agreed, couldn't have put it better myself.

[Painy]

I use a Joyo Roll Boost for exactly this and it works perfectly.
Just a clean volume boost - anything up to 35dB of it if you particularly want to blow your amp up!
If you don't mind waiting for it to come from Hong Kong then you can pick them up on eBay for under £30 new.
Couldn't recommend it more highly!

[bassix]

Thanks for the contributions, given me plenty to ponder on.

[chris_b]

I don't know what kind of music you band is playing but I do a lot of trio gigs and never boost the bass at any time.

When the guitarist stops there are no holes, gaps or spaces to fill. We leave those spaces empty (just bass and drums).

It's called dynamics and dynamics makes the music more interesting for an audience.

If you and the drummer are rocking or grooving well there should be no drop in energy level, which you have to make up for by changing tone, increasing volume or number of notes or anything else, when the guitarist stops playing or does a solo.

Edited September 16, 2016 by chris_b

[lefrash]

My old band are quite sparse sounding in places, where the bass is quite often the only non-percussive instrument playing. This is where I learned how to properly use an octaver. I need to play things a bit differently but the sound it creates is far more pleasing to my ears than just boosting the bass.

Obviously its not to say it would work for you, but it might be worth a thought.

[bigjimmyc]

I'm with Lozz. I use a compressor all the time for my sound, but when I need more dynamics for a lead part I just turn it off.

For some basses you could flip between pickups, particularly if you have dual volume and/or tone controls.

[CliveT]

MXR micro amp sounds what you need. If you like the current tone and EQ you have then the micro amp just ads gain. I use mine to boost up my fretless to the same level as my main bass, and for the occasional solo.

[fretmeister]

You could add some mids.

But I think it is far more interesting to get your best Jack Bruce hat on and realise that the "empty space" is merely the blank canvas for the bassist. If you were just playing roots, then even a swap to Root-Fifths, or octave etc will fill it up a lot. Don't be scared of doing a little walking too.

[redbandit599]

EHX LPB1 is a simple and a cheap booster, I use one for a real volume jump on a couple of bits ( e.g a big single note fuzzy flanged synthy one note intro that I want to fill the room) but use a Boss EQ with a bit of lift in the high mids when I just need to stand out a bit.

Could probably make do with the eq and just reset the level of it.

[AustinArto]

Stick on a Boss OC-2 with the -1 Oct and Guitar signals dimed and play what you were originally playing up an octave.

There is basically no problem that cannot be solved by the application of a Boss OC-2.