Pedal That Gives "Palm Muting" Effect?

[thebrig]

Is there a pedal that can give a palm mute effect? I know I should be doing it with my palm, but since severing a couple of tendons in my hand almost a year ago, and the onset of arthritis in both hands, I find it very difficult to do.

I consider myself lucky that I can still play, albeit, with some pain, but some of the songs we play require some palm muting, so I was wondering if there is a pedal that I could just kick in to give me a muting effect as and when needed, I've tried foam which works well, but sometimes I only need the muting in parts of the songs so its not really practical.

[jrixn1]

There is this: https://www.bassmute.eu/bm_mainframe.html I've never used one but looks interesting, and the only thing which exists if you need to flick the muting on and off quickly.

[Reggaebass]

I’ve got a bassmute fitted on one of my precisions, they are great, easy and quick to click on, but they are expensive, I also use foam, and I’ve never used one but I’ve heard these are good 

[Reggaebass]

1 minute ago, jrixn1 said:

There is this: https://www.bassmute.eu/bm_mainframe.html I've never used one but looks interesting, and the only thing which exists if you need to flick the muting on and off quickly.

Yeah, that’s the one I’ve got 👍

[thebrig]

I've considered the bass mute but around £120 does seem a bit steep

[Reggaebass]

2 minutes ago, thebrig said:

I've considered the bass mute but around £120 does seem a bit steep

Very true, and they don’t come up for sale very often either 

[thebrig]

4 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Very true, and they don’t come up for sale very often either 

When we do eventually get back to gigging again, I often use a different bass so I would need more than one of these.

Out of interest, do they come off without damaging the finish? I'm a bit wary of sticking things on my basses.

[Reggaebass]

1 minute ago, thebrig said:

Out of interest, do they come off without damaging the finish

They fix with double sided tape, I originally had it on one of my jazzes and it came off with no damage, but I wouldn’t trust that to happen to one with a nitro finish

[paul_5]

Could you not do it with a cheap noise gate and set the threshold really low?

[BoomTing]

You could try the bit of sponge under the strings on a bass, if it works for You then see if there was one bass You could use for all muted numbers?

[ezbass]

All sorts here https://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/The_BAss_Mute.html 

[thebrig]

32 minutes ago, ezbass said:

All sorts here https://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/The_BAss_Mute.html 

That might be worth a punt

Edit: Thinking about it, it would still prevent me from being able to change to muting during the song as and when needed 🤔

Edited April 4, 2021 by thebrig

[dodge_bass]

You could try the Source Audio C4 pedal with an envelope with a quick attack and very short sustain to emulate the muting? You can use your dry signal with the envelopes in the pedal. Probably the closest you’ll get to emulating a physical technique with an effects pedal. @Quatschmacher could probably be more specific about the details. 

[thebrig]

11 hours ago, dodge_bass said:

You could try the Source Audio C4 pedal with an envelope with a quick attack and very short sustain to emulate the muting? You can use your dry signal with the envelopes in the pedal. Probably the closest you’ll get to emulating a physical technique with an effects pedal. @Quatschmacher could probably be more specific about the details. 

Thanks I will look into what they can do

[Hellzero]

In the past, I was muting with my pinky. It's another (not so well) known technique, but it's very effective when mastered.

That said, I ended up putting an Elio Martina Bass Mute that @jrixn1 mentioned on my gigging main bass, which was way more easy for the lazy guy I can be.

[ubit]

Compression turned up can give a similar effect to muting.

[itu]

A Harley Benton / GLX noise gate which has attack and decay: NG100.

[rze99]

John Deacon used foam up against the bridge which works well.

[thebrig]

On 06/04/2021 at 00:09, rze99 said:

John Deacon used foam up against the bridge which works well.

I've used foam in the past which does work, but in some songs I only want the muted effect in certain parts, hence the need for something I can kick in and out when needed

[rze99]

9 hours ago, thebrig said:

I've used foam in the past which does work, but in some songs I only want the muted effect in certain parts, hence the need for something I can kick in and out when needed.

Sorry missed that point. As a guitarist. when I play bass I find I just do this automatically on both guitar and bass, playing with a plectrum. Wen playing bass with finger I do what Sting does  - use my thumb and mute with my palm.

I'm playfully imagining some form of G bender -like contraption that automatically lifts a mute under the strings when you pull down on the strap....

[Dad3353]

43 minutes ago, rze99 said:

...I'm playfully imagining some form of G bender -like contraption that automatically lifts a mute under the strings when you pull down on the strap....

We're on it; just a few little kinks and details to sort out  ...

[Ben Jamin]

The EHX Attack Decay is probably your best bet for a pedal solution

See demo from about 2:40

https://youtu.be/fUmS4FLXMMQ

[thebrig]

11 hours ago, Ben Jamin said:

The EHX Attack Decay is probably your best bet for a pedal solution

See demo from about 2:40

https://youtu.be/fUmS4FLXMMQ

That's an interesting pedal, for what it does I thought it would cost a lot more than £102