Stub Mandrel Posted September 1, 2019 Share Posted September 1, 2019 Why not get a rhythm guitarist and an octave divider pedal? That way you can stay at home and avoid interacting with guitar types completely 🤣 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted September 1, 2019 Author Share Posted September 1, 2019 56 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said: Why not get a rhythm guitarist and an octave divider pedal? That way you can stay at home and avoid interacting with guitar types completely 🤣 They might start hitting on the singer. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr4stringz Posted September 8, 2019 Share Posted September 8, 2019 I get pretty damn decent results for a ‘guitar’ signal through the aforementioned T-Rex Quint Machine (does octave up, down and 5th, all of which can be used simultaneously or turned right down). As has been mentioned it sounds weird and ‘wrong’ on its own, but with a Green Russian Muff after it in the chain sounds great. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted September 12, 2019 Author Share Posted September 12, 2019 Spent this evening engrossed with my new toys. Bass into EHX Tri Parallel Mixer. First send to guitar amp via Digitech Ricochet into Bass Whammy into guitar pre amp pedal into reverb. Second send to bass amp. It sounds sublime. Can mute either bass or guitar and add in 4th 3rd, 5th or whatever from the Whammy giving the 'guitar' two stages one for single notes the second for power chords. Going to work hard to get used to the set up and when to use it and on which songs then unveil it to an unsuspecting band rehearsal on Tuesday evening. Thanks for all the advice and ideas and to @dannybuoy for the pedals. I love it when a plan comes together. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 A couple of other things I used with that setup: An Option Knob to be able to change modes with my foot (well, it was cheaper than a MIDI setup!): Also, feeding the fake guitar into a TC Mimiq stereo doubler sounds amazing. Not too useful if you're just using a single guitar amp, but if going to the PA, recording, or just listening in headphones, it really helps separate it and make it sound like a double tracked guitar. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted September 13, 2019 Author Share Posted September 13, 2019 4 hours ago, dannybuoy said: A couple of other things I used with that setup: An Option Knob to be able to change modes with my foot (well, it was cheaper than a MIDI setup!): Also, feeding the fake guitar into a TC Mimiq stereo doubler sounds amazing. Not too useful if you're just using a single guitar amp, but if going to the PA, recording, or just listening in headphones, it really helps separate it and make it sound like a double tracked guitar. Hmmm, stereo guitar... interesting... and that doohicky to allow me to swing my Doctor Marten boots at the pedals is genius. Thanks again! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted September 13, 2019 Author Share Posted September 13, 2019 So, meet our new rhythm guitarist. Doesn't drink, smoke, take drugs, turns up on time about as often as I do, plays in time, happy to take a back seat and only play under solos and choruses, agrees with all band decisions without argument and plays for free. I just wish he'd chip in for rehearsal costs and carry his own gear. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 ...and isn't going to hit on your singer! 😂 Looking forward to some sound clips! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 1 hour ago, stewblack said: So, meet our new rhythm guitarist. Doesn't drink, smoke, take drugs, turns up on time about as often as I do, plays in time, happy to take a back seat and only play under solos and choruses, agrees with all band decisions without argument and plays for free. I just wish he'd chip in for rehearsal costs and carry his own gear. Just add an octave divider and you'll be able to stay at home while it plays both parts for itself... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted September 13, 2019 Author Share Posted September 13, 2019 It's so much fun. Seriously. A totally different discipline to just bass of course. I just discovered the joys of the two pitch shifts in parallel rather than in series. Now that opens a whole new can of worms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 (edited) 15 minutes ago, stewblack said: It's so much fun. Seriously. A totally different discipline to just bass of course. I just discovered the joys of the two pitch shifts in parallel rather than in series. Now that opens a whole new can of worms. I must admit I'm intrigued by the Boss SY-1, especially having dug up Theme 1 recently, and Kashmir, and Gimme Some Loving, Perfect Strangers and... I think I need one... 🙂 Edited September 13, 2019 by Stub Mandrel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted September 13, 2019 Author Share Posted September 13, 2019 46 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said: I must admit I'm intrigued by the Boss SY-1, especially having dug up Theme 1 recently, and Kashmir, and Gimme Some Loving, Perfect Strangers and... I think I need one... 🙂 No question about it. Of course you need one 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newfoundfreedom Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 (edited) I do pretty much the same thing with a Fender ABY pedal and my Line 6 M13. The ABY pedal splits the signal. One goes to my bass rig, the other to the M13 for the dummy guitar. This gives the option of switching between bass / guitar, or bass and guitar simultaneously. On the M13 I run an octaver, then tube distortion, then smart harmony, which basically gives me a power chord on guitar when I play a single note on the bass. This then runs out to my Vox valvetronic guitar amp where I can add amp simulation and / or numerous other effects. It works quite well and is pretty much indistinguishable from an actual guitar playing power chords, although it's obviously limited to playing the same notes as you play on bass, which means it only really works well with simple bass lines. I've also just sent for a BeatBuddy (drum machine pedal) so I can add drums into the mix while I'm playing bass and guitar parts for a modern day one man band. At least that way, if any of the band members are going to turn up for practice p!ssed and unrehearsed it will be me. ☺️ Edited September 15, 2019 by Newfoundfreedom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted September 15, 2019 Author Share Posted September 15, 2019 I'm well into this. I don't have a 'smart harmony' like yours @Newfoundfreedom I've looked into the Boss Harmonist but I'm a bit confused what happens with major and minor chords so for now I'm sticking with octave and fifths. Thirds would be a great addition of course. As far as ABY goes I wonder if A + B pedal might be better. So I can drop the bass out or the 'guitar' and kick back in whichever is out. Don't see how to do that with A/B Y. But I've not tried so... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newfoundfreedom Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 (edited) 40 minutes ago, stewblack said: I'm well into this. I don't have a 'smart harmony' like yours @Newfoundfreedom I've looked into the Boss Harmonist but I'm a bit confused what happens with major and minor chords so for now I'm sticking with octave and fifths. Thirds would be a great addition of course. As far as ABY goes I wonder if A + B pedal might be better. So I can drop the bass out or the 'guitar' and kick back in whichever is out. Don't see how to do that with A/B Y. But I've not tried so... The Smart Harmony is one of the built in effects on the M13. The M13 does the whole job, other than splitting the signal. That's where the ABY comes in. It has one button which switches between A and B ( let's say A is your faux guitar and B the bass ) and another button which switches both on simultaneously.(Y) So say for example you want to do a guitar only intro. You would hit button 1 so A was lit up then hit button 2 when you want to bring in the bass.(Y) If you wanted to do a bass only intro then you would hit button 1 until B lights up. Then hit button 2 to bring the guitar in.(Y) While both are active (Y mode) you can press button 1 to toggle between A and B which gives you the option of dropping out of Y mode (both instruments playing together) into your choice of either either A or B (i.e bass or guitar). It's difficult to explain but it's actually really easy to use in practice. Basically you can play either "instrument" on its own, or both together, and also preselect which of the two plays when you come out dual (Y) mode. I'm actually thinking of getting another one to further split the guitar signal and run to a second guitar amp for a full on 2 guitar plus bass "band". That would allow me any combination of bass / guitar 1 / guitar 2, but I'm still trying to figure out if there's a better way to do it with the gear I already have. Edited September 15, 2019 by Newfoundfreedom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted September 15, 2019 Author Share Posted September 15, 2019 @Newfoundfreedom That's brilliant thank you. At present I'm 'wasting' my non-parallel mixer using it as a splitter - but it does the job really well with the phase switch and independent volume controls. However it can do so much more! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dosi Y'Anarchy Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 (edited) The Fishman Fission, as already mentioned. But also the t-rex quint machine....Thomann were knocking t-rex stuff out pretty cheap recently. I just checked: £78 on Thomann, thats like half the price elsewhere. Edited September 16, 2019 by Dosi Y'Anarchy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 (edited) 43 minutes ago, Dosi Y'Anarchy said: The Fishman Fission, as already mentioned. But also the t-rex quint machine....Thomann were knocking t-rex stuff out pretty cheap recently. I just checked: £78 on Thomann, thats like half the price elsewhere. Dosi - do you know what the Quint Machine, which I think was first released in mid 2014, is like in terms of tracking and latency with bass? If it's good on both these counts then this could be a very interesting alternative to the Digitech Mosaic on my board, particularly at Thomann prices. The only decent reviews I've seen so far have been on guitar and, let's face it, tracking the low notes on bass is a whole different string game! The tone report review is pretty glowing: https://tonereport.com/reviews/t-rex-quint-machine Edited September 16, 2019 by Al Krow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dosi Y'Anarchy Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 I have tried the quint machine once or twice. I thought it sounded passable if you were to put some EQ or drive after it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 49 minutes ago, Dosi Y'Anarchy said: I have tried the quint machine once or twice. I thought it sounded passable if you were to put some EQ or drive after it That's perhaps the most damning with faint praise comment I've come across all year. Brilliant! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dosi Y'Anarchy Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 33 minutes ago, Al Krow said: That's perhaps the most damning with faint praise comment I've come across all year. Brilliant! Heh. I mean it does do the octave up and the 5th up in a pedalboard friendly package. I just wasn't impressed with how it sounded, however I'd be happy to try it again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 (edited) On 01/09/2019 at 15:46, Woodinblack said: Tbh, I would very surprised if you couldn’t get the stomp to do the same thing. Spot on. Just had 15 mins sorting out a pretty decent patch on HX Stomp. => Two 'dual pitch' effects in parallel (totally pants in series) with pitch shift on one set a 0, -12 for octave down and the other at +7, +12 for 5th and octave up to create a Fishman 5-8 patch, does the trick nicely. [Aside: the ability to do a decent pitch shift without significant latency is something my Zoom multis have struggled with, and placing effects in parallel is simply not an option. So it's at this more processing-hungry end where the newer HX kit really comes into its own]. Can thicken up / make more aggressive by combining with fuzz. Job done! And actually that would work really well on tracks like Bruno Mars' Runaway Baby - sounds a lot fuller than something like the Digitech Mosaic with its single octave up. Although tbf I've still not found anything that tracks as well and with minimal latency on the Stomp as the Mosaic if you're looking for a polyphonic single octave up (e.g. to get a 12 string guitar effect), so the Mosaic continues to survive for another day - sorry @bassfan Edited September 16, 2019 by Al Krow 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted September 18, 2019 Author Share Posted September 18, 2019 After a solid week of work it was game on last night. Well rehearsal on at least. I hadn't told the band what i've been up to as I was interested in their reactions to the sound not their pre judgement. They were utterly underwhelmed. I know we should never anticipate another's reaction to something we hold dear and then judge them if their response fails to meet our hopes and expectations. It's not up to me what others think. But still. Went home quite deflated. If they noticed at all they didn't say and the first comment came as I was just messing with the Whammy between songs, some snidey reference along the lines of wonder what he got for Christmas. Problem is I need every penny this band can earn and half of the others are doing it for fun. This, in my experience always leads to conflict. They speak airily of adding guitar players, horn sections, backing vocalists, string sections, rappers, second keyboard players, marching brass bands and so forth and all I see is my 'cut' getting smaller and smaller. OK OK they only want a guitarist but my point stands. So, lets have it please, a Basschat list of great bands with just keys, bass and drums (singers optional, don't mind if the vocals come from the musicians or from a separate entity but no other instruments) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stylon Pilson Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 Well, if they didn't notice any difference when your faux-guitar came in, then that suggests that adding a guitarist wouldn't have any noticeable effect upon what your band sounds like. Maybe you can put this theory to them? S.P. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stylon Pilson Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 53 minutes ago, stewblack said: So, lets have it please, a Basschat list of great bands with just keys, bass and drums (singers optional, don't mind if the vocals come from the musicians or from a separate entity but no other instruments) To me, Ben Folds Five will always be the quintessential guitarless three-piece rock band. S.P. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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