Pedal issues

[Renno92]

Hi Basschat 

 

so I’m having issues with various pedals and looking for some advice. 
 

my rig is as follows

 

EBMM stingray special 

fender USA P bass 

orange Terror 500 

orange OBC115 

 

my current board 

 

Boss TU3 

DG Hyper Luminal 

DG VMT 

Walrus Julia 

MXR preamp 

 

these pedals work and sound great but my main issue is the majority of pedals. They sound terrible, I cannot get a useable drive, OD or fuzz. No matter which brand they all sound muffled and weak. 
 

I’ve had the DG A/O and it doesn’t matter how I set it, it sounds the same throughout the entire sweeping of knobs. Today the MXR bass deluxe fuzz arrived and it’s either too quiet to hear or all out fuzz. Big muffs & Boss the same. EHX mono synth just makes noise and the MXR envelope filter does nothing except boost. 
 
my clean sound is magnificent and using the current board is great. I use pedals and have done for over 22 years on my guitar board and they all sound great before someone says you need to learn. I can’t get a decent sounding drive for my bass rig at all. I can’t keep losing money by sending the pedals back. I’m based UK. 
 

reason I’m asking is that I’m getting really frustrated by it all, surely there has to be an option out there 

 

I’m in two bass bands, one playing 80’s style (any recommendations for synth type sounds) 

second band is just an indie alternative rock covers. 

thank you 

 

[itu]

1) What's your bass?

2) Have you tried to put the OD/fuzz/dist before any other pedal, including the tuner? Bass-cable-OD-tuner...

[Renno92]

54 minutes ago, itu said:

1) What's your bass?

2) Have you tried to put the OD/fuzz/dist before any other pedal, including the tuner? Bass-cable-OD-tuner...

Main gigging bass is EBMM stingray special 4HH 

 

backup is Fender USA P bass 

 

 

I’ve tried various orders, single pedals, different cables, power packs. You name it. I’ve done it mate and still no joy 

[itu]

I tried many OD/fuzz/dist pedals. The thing that helped me in the first phase was to find the right pedal for my main basses (MG Genesis 5, and Vigier Passion 4 with battery powered preamps). This was actually very eye-opening, as my custom fretless 4 (only one pickup, and a step attenuator) didn't like the same pedals. Talk about impedance mismatch or something. It wasn't about signal level.

 

I don't know your sound preference, so I can't help you directly. My travel through all OD/fuzz/dist pedals took a few years. And my bass playing friends were super helpful when they loaned their equipment to my numerous tests. I tried many effects that had good reputation, but many of them produced only lousy and cheapo sound to my ears.

 

(A sidenote: Some compressors were behaving oddly with certain bass electronics, therefore I did a similar comparison with those, too.)

 

When I found some sound pedals (Spruce Effects, Amptweaker), I even added a X-over (IE) to let the low frequency band (<400 Hz) to go through uneffected. Now I can turn the knobs there and back, but the base stays steady.

 

P. S. Envelope has always been the first in line, because it really likes the varying signal of the bass. It hates a comp and a X-over.

[Rodders]

15 hours ago, Renno92 said:

these pedals work and sound great but my main issue is the majority of pedals. They sound terrible, I cannot get a useable drive, OD or fuzz. No matter which brand they all sound muffled and weak. 

 

This to me sounds like a contradiction in terms unless I have missed something (i.e. these pedals sound great but sound terrible, muffled and weak).  Perhaps try simplifying things as much as possible pick one Darkglass or MXR pedal that you have listed and focus on achieving a good sound with it (a sound that will work in a band mix ideally) as the only thing in your signal chain to your amp, then build your pedalboard around it. 

[LeftyJ]

11 hours ago, itu said:

I tried many OD/fuzz/dist pedals. The thing that helped me in the first phase was to find the right pedal for my main basses (MG Genesis 5, and Vigier Passion 4 with battery powered preamps). This was actually very eye-opening, as my custom fretless 4 (only one pickup, and a step attenuator) didn't like the same pedals. Talk about impedance mismatch or something. It wasn't about signal level.

 

(A sidenote: Some compressors were behaving oddly with certain bass electronics, therefore I did a similar comparison with those, too.)

 

This! Especially fuzz pedals, like the MXR Bass Deluxe Fuzz mentioned by OP, are very sensitive to signal impedance. On my EBS rig I also have to keep a close eye on my treble and bright EQ settings and tweeter level, or it will just be top end fizz noise rather than a nice drive. Probably won't be as much of a problem with OP's Orange rig. 

 

@Renno92, do you get similar results with the passive P or do your drives respond differently to that? 

[Bigguy2017]

Try a buffer pedal first in line

 

The BrightOnion Micro Buffer Pedal, TC Electronic Bonafide or Fender Level Set are all small, inexpensive boxes

[MichaelDean]

Just now, Bigguy2017 said:

Try a buffer pedal first in line

 

The BrightOnion Micro Buffer Pedal, TC Electronic Bonafide or Fender Level Set are all small, inexpensive boxes

The TU3 has an always on buffer built in. Shouldn't need another.

 

Have a play with Stompenberg on Thomann's website. It tweaks the pedals as you play with the knobs. You can also upload a recording of your bass, connect your audio interface to it to play live or use their backing tracks to see what sounds good. Don't forget to try some guitar pedals too. I've got a Mojo Mojo on my board at the moment and I've had the Joyo Ultimate Drive in the past (a Fulltone OCD clone).

https://www.thomann.co.uk/stompenberg_devices.html

[Renno92]

2 hours ago, LeftyJ said:

 

This! Especially fuzz pedals, like the MXR Bass Deluxe Fuzz mentioned by OP, are very sensitive to signal impedance. On my EBS rig I also have to keep a close eye on my treble and bright EQ settings and tweeter level, or it will just be top end fizz noise rather than a nice drive. Probably won't be as much of a problem with OP's Orange rig. 

 

@Renno92, do you get similar results with the passive P or do your drives respond differently to that? 

Hi there. Thank you for your response. 
 

yes I’ve tried the passive p and the same response. I’ve gone through my kemper power head and tried a friends ampeg & fender cabs too last night. Same results which makes me think the pedals are faulty. 

[Renno92]

2 hours ago, Rodders said:

 

This to me sounds like a contradiction in terms unless I have missed something (i.e. these pedals sound great but sound terrible, muffled and weak).  Perhaps try simplifying things as much as possible pick one Darkglass or MXR pedal that you have listed and focus on achieving a good sound with it (a sound that will work in a band mix ideally) as the only thing in your signal chain to your amp, then build your pedalboard around it. 

sorry about my OP. 
 

pedals like walrus audio Julia and the DG VMT sound great along with my dry clean sound and EHX micro POG 

 

majority of my issues are drive pedals that just sound terrible. 
 

Every pedal I get, I always single out to start and just purely have that, I then build by board around it to see if it works well with other effects etc. if it does then it’s a keeper but straight away using the pedals on their own are no good. Doesn’t change when adding comp etc to it pre/post 

 

thank you 

[TimR]

I get this too.

 

The bottom end disappears.

 

As suggested a low pass bypass might help but that's not easy to do.

 

My Joyo Double Thruster has a 'blend' control so can mix the distortion and the clean signal. 

[itu]

1 hour ago, TimR said:

As suggested a low pass bypass might help but that's not easy to do.

 

My Joyo Double Thruster has a 'blend' control so can mix the distortion and the clean signal. 

Blend is definitely different from X-over.

 

If I remember right, Rolls makes a decent priced X-over. IE Divaricator is hard to find. KMA Tyler is pretty big, but a good unit, too.

[LukeFRC]

On 25/09/2024 at 18:01, Renno92 said:

these pedals work and sound great but my main issue is the majority of pedals. They sound terrible, I cannot get a useable drive, OD or fuzz. No matter which brand they all sound muffled and weak. 

Muffled sounds like not enough top end, and weak sounds like not enough output volume? 
What kind of sound are you after and does your cab have a tweeter?