Do you struggle to get certain sounds?

[Lozz196]

I do struggle to get other sounds but that`s mainly due to that even though I`m trying to achieve them I find as they`re not my preferred tone they just sound wrong to me when I play them. I suppose that`s just a way of telling me I have the right sound for me.

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, diskwave said:

This...Tho to place my comment in some sort of context.

Its taken me many years to realise that for me and all the people I ever worked with there really is just one tone that does it all.. and I'll refrain from banging on about P basses cause you can probably achieve it with plenty other instruments. Anyway what I mean is. A hard punchy tone which is predominantly of the low mid variety will cover 99.9999% of all music.

Ive even played Duran type material with the ubiquitos P bass and it sounded very close to JT's barky tone. The only tone that I might have struggled with is Geddy Lees but then that clanky scooped thing quite frankly doesn't sit well with me anyway, plus Ive never had to play any Rush ever. But everything else and I include Reggae too....a crisp low mid punch will always win the day.

 

By October I've spent two years gigging with no effects except for ONE gig. I realised I was overdoing them to no great benefit.

 

My playing has improved to compensate, I find I am much more aware how pickup balance (if using a two pup bass) contributes and how much more finger position, attack, muting, digging in for more overdrive etc. can change my sound.

 

I'm ready to go back to effects, but I want to use them in a subtler way. I also want to get some brighter, funkier tones dialed in for certain songs and also work on better overdrive/distortion sounds that don't either obliterate everything else or just disappear.

 

I've booked a two-hour session at a good rehearsal studio just for me. I'll be taking my new active Sire as well as a P and a Jazz (all with new or nearly new strings), my usual rig and all my pedals.

I hope to come away with my no-effects sound dialled, and a better idea of which effects work and when - and which ones add nothing useful. I've already made some massive improvements by re-ordering the effects, especially putting the HPF after compression and octaver.

 

[Boodang]

Subjective of course, but a recent discovery for me for funkier sounds is the use of phasors, which I find preferable to envelope filters. Currently using an Aguilar grape phasor and Warm Audio Mutation. Together they sound super funky.

 

Out of interest with the re-ordering of effects, with the hpf after the octaver, will this have the effect of the octaver producing a sub frequency and then the hpf taking it out? Or is it more subtle than that?

[Stub Mandrel]

6 hours ago, Boodang said:

Out of interest with the re-ordering of effects, with the hpf after the octaver, will this have the effect of the octaver producing a sub frequency and then the hpf taking it out? Or is it more subtle than that?

 

Two reasons - first is to stop me doing stupid things like putting a 5-string's low-B through the signal chain, second is they seem to disagree a bit, especially the voltage doubler in the HPF. Normally noiseless, if the HPF is before the compressor the very high frequency noise is amplified and the octaver then drops it into an audible hiss. Only there when not playing anything , but enough to be an irritant.

[Stub Mandrel]

Summary of how it went:

I have changed the order of my pedals. See above, permanently moved HPF.

Decided which is the best overdrive and changed its settings. Behringer Valve Screamer clone is way too bright, even with tone right down. Mojo Mojo is darker and a better fit for me.

 

The HM2 pedal (had it since the 80s) is glorious, but completely unsuited to what I need - even Peaches.

 

Tweaked my compressor settings, slightly more attack. Investigated the effect of switching it in and out on hoe the overdrive (and amp) react.

 

Reduced the eq on my amp. Things had crept away from being pretty flat; now I've just boosted bass a bit (Orange Terror).

 

Still not sure about octaver. Joyo XVI. Changed the balance of up, down and dry. Decide it's great for Superstition, but not much else. May use it as a five string surrogate.

 

Decided I was very happy with my chorus setting (Max width, level and delay, minimum speed) - it's an 80's Ibanez Digital Chorus and still works well. Crikey I see they are famed for their warmth and go for about £150!

 

Matched effects to a few songs. Absolutely nailed the bass sound for Crazy Train.

 

Got to know the preamp on my Sire a bit better.

 

Made a bloody racket.

 

 

Now, why didn't I go in the loft and find my DOD DFX9 or my Melos Mini-Fazer?

 

 

 

EDIT: I recorded the whole thing on my GoPro - which rewarded me by telling me the SD card had to be reformated, losing everything...

Edited September 5 by Stub Mandrel

[DocTrucker]

Started to consider this, but after ten or twenty minutes of screwing around with dials I realise I'm lost!

 

I've lost a load of my hearing on my right side, and due to being nervous about loosing a similar amount on the left I've set out to try to make this easier for myself. I've ditched the boss pedals and gone for a Zoom B3n and try to get  my sounds great out of my headphones or Laney 410 115 stack.

 

I've now found my drum isolation headphones (I use them in place of ear plugs at rehearsals) are very bassey, and I suspect at least the laney head amp is colouring the sound. The different Ashdown Combo 410 at the rehearsal room for sure seems to be weak on mid mids upwards. Perhaps I just need to move it way back from me to get the right angle from the cones centre line for mids and trebble.

 

My next line of attack is to do a little more searching on what input tones work well for specific effects such as overdrive.

 

Meanwhile my fingerstyle needs help but I'll start another post for that!

Edited September 6 by DocTrucker
B3n, not B6n