Bass drop tuning pedal, which one you’ll recommend?

[Ed_S]

I've used the Digitech Drop fairly extensively and whilst I wouldn't record with it, I've found it to be perfectly adequate for live work (in a loud band where bass isn't a solo or featured instrument) mainly to avoid having to change instruments and break up the flow of the gig. I never needed to go down lower than 3 half-steps, which is good because I felt it got a bit iffy with bass any lower than that. The other thing that I did was put a MicroThumpinator in front of it on my board, the idea being to try and remove as many unnecessary frequencies as possible which might confuse it. I have one on my live board and one on a reduced board that lives at the rehearsal space, and the one with the filter in front of it does behave a little better. Misbehaving seems to manifest itself in a slight chorusing effect, so even then it's not the end of the world - just a bit 80s!

 

Not sure how much use they'll get when we return from hiatus, as during the last couple of years I've gone back to playing 5s pretty much exclusively, but even if I just put it in octave mode with the switch set to momentary, it could still have a use. I can't really comment on actual drop tuning and those lever thingies, as to me that's just an out of tune bass - I have no idea which note I'm playing, but I know where to get the next one I want relative to the one I can hear, so the Drop pedal was the right solution for me.

[Happy Jack]

From the Cheap Pedals thread I started six weeks ago:

Two pedals that I have used extensively since Covid are the Digitech Drop and the Digitech Luxe. That's about £350 worth of kit (if you can find them) and very nice they are too. I broke my Drop at the last gig - trod on the p/s at the pedal socket, doh! - and I simply have to have a whole-tone pitch-shift for one particular song so I went looking for cheap alternatives. I found the Mooer Pitchbox MPS1 for £59. It's about a third the size of the Drop, it does exactly the same job only with rather better tracking, and if you flick the switch from setting #2 (pitch-shift) to #3 (de-tune) it also does exactly what the Luxe does.

[fretmeister]

On 28/07/2022 at 23:51, adamg67 said:

 

So, to elaborate on   "switching between tunings would do my head in" (which TBH is pretty clear to start with, and it's clear that an extender would do my head in, since what it does is switch between tunings). I don't want to (and don't have to) deal with 2 different tunings where the patterns and relationship between the strings is different. I don't want low E to move to a different place, especially when I'm making stuff up. One of the best things about bass for me is that everything is in 4ths and the patterns don't change, adn the relationhips between each string is the same. I have a couple of ways of getting down to lower notes if I want them, one is my 5 string, which I'm using in a band at the mo and it works a treat. I can switch between 5 and 4 no problems these days, and often do. The other is an octaver as above, which I like, it's different and has a really nice werid effect where you can go up the fretboard and end up at the same pitch. Both of them keep all the 4 string notes in the same place, and all the strings tuned in 4ths. Tuning to drop D, however it's achieved, doesn't do that.

 

Hopefully that makes it clear why I reallly wouldn't like a d-tuner, extender etc. But then, I kind of think you knew that already

no I didn’t.

 

I interpreted your earlier post as the process of switching tunings would do your head in, not the actual playing in different tunings.

 

The process does my head in too. But I’m happy playing in different tunings as long as I’m not sight reading.

[prowla]

2 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

From the Cheap Pedals thread I started six weeks ago:

Two pedals that I have used extensively since Covid are the Digitech Drop and the Digitech Luxe. That's about £350 worth of kit (if you can find them) and very nice they are too. I broke my Drop at the last gig - trod on the p/s at the pedal socket, doh! - and I simply have to have a whole-tone pitch-shift for one particular song so I went looking for cheap alternatives. I found the Mooer Pitchbox MPS1 for £59. It's about a third the size of the Drop, it does exactly the same job only with rather better tracking, and if you flick the switch from setting #2 (pitch-shift) to #3 (de-tune) it also does exactly what the Luxe does.

...so, it does mooer for less?

[adamg67]

5 hours ago, fretmeister said:

no I didn’t.

 

I interpreted your earlier post as the process of switching tunings would do your head in, not the actual playing in different tunings.

 

The process does my head in too. But I’m happy playing in different tunings as long as I’m not sight reading.

Indeed, and I shouldn’t assume what you meant, and I shouldn’t post after a bottle of red (but I probably will do it again) 😀

 

I might try drop D on a spare guitar I’ve got when I’m feeling brave.

[MikeStockport]

I'm a small guy with small hands and so I really don't like playing a 5 string. I prefer short-scale basses and low B strings on short-scales generally sound muddy and indistinct. Besides, the band I play in (a chart covers band) plays maybe one or two songs in an entire set that requires a note below a bottom E, so most of the time, a low B string will go to waste. I have the Digitech Drop pedal and I do really like it, but it does have one problem: to change the number of semitones it drops by, you have to bend down and twiddle the knob on the pedal (no sniggering, please), which is not the easiest thing to do on stage, especially when you're more, er, senior and bending down is something you want to keep to a minimum. It would be nice to have a drop pedal where I could change the drop interval with a footswitch. At the moment I'm using a multi-effects unit with three presets, all identical apart from the drop interval, but it does seem like using the proverbial sledgehammer to crack a nut. Any alternatives? And I'm another of those awkward people for whom drop tuning does my head in.

[Japhet]

5 hours ago, MikeStockport said:

I'm a small guy with small hands and so I really don't like playing a 5 string. I prefer short-scale basses and low B strings on short-scales generally sound muddy and indistinct. Besides, the band I play in (a chart covers band) plays maybe one or two songs in an entire set that requires a note below a bottom E, so most of the time, a low B string will go to waste. I have the Digitech Drop pedal and I do really like it, but it does have one problem: to change the number of semitones it drops by, you have to bend down and twiddle the knob on the pedal (no sniggering, please), which is not the easiest thing to do on stage, especially when you're more, er, senior and bending down is something you want to keep to a minimum. It would be nice to have a drop pedal where I could change the drop interval with a footswitch. At the moment I'm using a multi-effects unit with three presets, all identical apart from the drop interval, but it does seem like using the proverbial sledgehammer to crack a nut. Any alternatives? And I'm another of those awkward people for whom drop tuning does my head in.

 

Can you put it in the effects loop of your amp and have it at a more convenient height?

[Minininjarob]

Excuse my beginners ignorance but isn’t this the ideal opportunity to buy another bass which you can set up to the different tuning and have ready to use? 
 

[2pods]

What about the Poly Pitchshift thingy on the HX Stomp and up ?

Lots of people claim there's hardly any latency, and Stomps can be had for reasonable money