Is there such a pedal?

[fretmeister]

13 hours ago, funkydoug said:

Orange bass butler? 

 

I've just been watching demos of that. It does seem impressive.

 

Quite expensive and large though. And the power requirement is a bit annoying!

[Cosmo Valdemar]

4 hours ago, fretmeister said:

 

I've just been watching demos of that. It does seem impressive.

 

Quite expensive and large though. And the power requirement is a bit annoying!

I had one for a while, didn't really do it for me. It sounded too much like two separate tones rather than a cohesive sound. 

I know that's what it's setting out to do so it's not the pedal's fault. 

[fretmeister]

23 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

I had one for a while, didn't really do it for me. It sounded too much like two separate tones rather than a cohesive sound. 

I know that's what it's setting out to do so it's not the pedal's fault. 

 

I've had that issue with dual signals in the past. The secret is additional compression on the clean signal.

The drive already has an element of compression on it as part of the overdrive. So the clean side needs compression so the note attack and decay react in the same way to the driven side.

 

It can be a bit of a sod to dial in, but when it is then it is much more like a single sound rather than 2. The clean also needs just a tiny bit of hair on it too. That sort of tone that sounds a bit dirty on it's own but clean in a mix like those famous isolated bass tracks.

[Osiris]

How about a Source Audio Aftershock? You'd need to sit down, plug it into the PC for a while but with 44 different drive engines to choose from - you can even run 2 together, either in series or parallel - plus clean blend, high and low pass filters and a 4 band fully customisable EQ including 2 fully parametric mid bands you'll be able to dial in exactly what you want if you're happy to put the time in. 

 

And coincidentally, I might be putting one up for sale soon, only a couple of months old so it's still immaculate with the box and all the accessories. And yes, I have no shame 😁

[Cosmo Valdemar]

22 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

 

I've had that issue with dual signals in the past. The secret is additional compression on the clean signal.

The drive already has an element of compression on it as part of the overdrive. So the clean side needs compression so the note attack and decay react in the same way to the driven side.

 

It can be a bit of a sod to dial in, but when it is then it is much more like a single sound rather than 2. The clean also needs just a tiny bit of hair on it too. That sort of tone that sounds a bit dirty on it's own but clean in a mix like those famous isolated bass tracks.

That's why the EBS Billy 'meshes' together so well - the on board compression. It certainly sounds a lot more solid with the compression on.

[fretmeister]

1 hour ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

That's why the EBS Billy 'meshes' together so well - the on board compression. It certainly sounds a lot more solid with the compression on.

 

I'm giving a lot of thought to that.

 

I'm not really using my Ultrawave Bass - other than to annoy people!! - so I might move that on to raise a few quid.

[funkydoug]

15 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

That's why the EBS Billy 'meshes' together so well - the on board compression. It certainly sounds a lot more solid with the compression on.

On the EBS Billy, what’s the crosssover frequency (roughly) between clean and dirt? And does the user have control over that? 
Cheers

[Cosmo Valdemar]

2 hours ago, funkydoug said:

On the EBS Billy, what’s the crosssover frequency (roughly) between clean and dirt? And does the user have control over that? 
Cheers

There isn't one - there are independent clean and drive volume controls, the clean side is your unaffected tone. 

 

Billy explains things better than me:

 

 

[LukeFRC]

3 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

There isn't one - there are independent clean and drive volume controls, the clean side is your unaffected tone. 

 

Billy explains things better than me:

 

 

Isn’t tone doing crossover point? Or is that a boost? 
 

I’ve got a crossover drive pedal that has adjustable crossover and does similar things to the EBS - it’s nice 

 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

4 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

Isn’t tone doing crossover point? Or is that a boost? 
 

I’ve got a crossover drive pedal that has adjustable crossover and does similar things to the EBS - it’s nice 

 

The EBS tone knob adjusts the frequency of the drive channel.

[Bigwan]

 

[Hellzero]

The Okko FX Motörbass might be worth checking out, especially as you're using a P-Bass humbucker pickup and not a single coil.

 

The Harder (high mids) control will help you get that distorted sound you're after, which is typical from a single coil as @Cosmo Valdemar noticed.

[Hellzero]

To me, the EBS Billy Sheehan pedals are too soft sounding, rounding all the growl of the pickups, but they suit his sound perfectly.

 

And I love the way he's playing and his approach, but strangely I hate most of the bands he's been playing with... Go figure. 🤦🏻‍♂️

[baldwinbass]

I just spotted the Secret EFX Omnia Bass Drive review by @Dood in Bass Gear Magazine, worth watching the demo.

"It sounds like a driven amplifier tone, not just a great bass sound with a fizzy distortion layered on top."

Simple controls, works on 9 to 24V DC, and I particularly liked the way it responds to playing dynamics.

[Earbrass]

[Dood]

5 hours ago, baldwinbass said:

I just spotted the Secret EFX Omnia Bass Drive review by @Dood in Bass Gear Magazine, worth watching the demo.

"It sounds like a driven amplifier tone, not just a great bass sound with a fizzy distortion layered on top."

Simple controls, works on 9 to 24V DC, and I particularly liked the way it responds to playing dynamics.

 

Now that is a great lil pedal! Alex Lofoco sent over his very own pedal for the review and, understandably wasn't about to not let me keep hold of it for a bit! 

 

Here's the video and review: https://www.bassgearmag.com/secret-efx-omnia-bass-drive-alex-lofoco-signature-pedal/ 

[Dood]

I'm just having a think about the various (countless) pedals I have video reviewed over the years and which ones were notable for their flexible tones. 

 

I liked the GR Bass distortion, the EBS as previously mentioned. I tell ya a great pedal that you wouldn't usually associate with mid frequency drive: the Tech 21 Steve Harris pedal does a superb grit when you get it in its sweet spot. The Darkglass Vintage pedals on low settings are good and you'd do well to give Barefaced's Machinist a whirl as it has the ability to parallel blend fuzz, distortion and clean low end together. It's a bit pedal though off you need space on your board. 

The Orange Bass Butler sounds great and, well, if you have deep pockets, Neural DSP's Quad Cortex will do everything you want and a whole lot more, but that's outside of requirements! 

[Cuzzie]

 

 

17 hours ago, Dood said:

I'm just having a think about the various (countless) pedals I have video reviewed over the years and which ones were notable for their flexible tones. 

 

I liked the GR Bass distortion, the EBS as previously mentioned. I tell ya a great pedal that you wouldn't usually associate with mid frequency drive: the Tech 21 Steve Harris pedal does a superb grit when you get it in its sweet spot. The Darkglass Vintage pedals on low settings are good and you'd do well to give Barefaced's Machinist a whirl as it has the ability to parallel blend fuzz, distortion and clean low end together. It's a bit pedal though off you need space on your board. 

The Orange Bass Butler sounds great and, well, if you have deep pockets, Neural DSP's Quad Cortex will do everything you want and a whole lot more, but that's outside of requirements! 

Ah yes Barefaced machinist is a cracking pedal - so many great tones.

I had a good back and forth chat with Alex about it, ultimately I sent it back, not because of lack of quality (sound and build) but because compared to how and where I play on the bass, existing pedals I had suit me better.

 

For reference I mainly play pick near the bridge and compensate EQ etc accordingly 

 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

I've given that ZZ Top album a good listen, and there are some surprisingly clean bass tracks on there! But for the dirty songs, I still think it sounds very close to the EBS Billy (not that I expect for a minute that Dusty Hill would have used one!). 

I've been fiddling with mine and it really helps if I run my cheap Behringer EQ in the dirty loop to pull out the lows, it really tightens up the distortion and doesn't interfere with the clean lows. 

That said, on the ZZ Top recording, the tone of the bass is doing most of the work - the distortion is the seasoning.

[fretmeister]

Dusty's rig rundown on youtube was interesting. Elwood (when he was still 'just' the tech) pointed out that people are surprised how filthy the bass tone is.