Synth bass pedal order

[SimonK]

Hi all,

 

Been experimenting with synth bass sounds, but the aim is to use my current pedals rather than buy a specific synth pedal (thank the 2025 gear abstinence thread for that!). So far I have:

 

Octave -> Chorus/Flanger/Filter -> Fuzz

 

My thinking is that the Octave needs the cleanest signal to track properly, and the fuzz goes last as it, well, fuzzes everything, meaning the modulation pedals work best in the middle?

[jimbobothy]

... I've seen a few YT vids where the order is comp - octave -  fuzz/dirt - modulation. That seems to work for me when I have a synth bass inclination.

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 12:24 by jimbobothy

[Boodang]

1 hour ago, SimonK said:

Hi all,

 

Been experimenting with synth bass sounds, but the aim is to use my current pedals rather than buy a specific synth pedal (thank the 2025 gear abstinence thread for that!). So far I have:

 

Octave -> Chorus/Flanger/Filter -> Fuzz

 

My thinking is that the Octave needs the cleanest signal to track properly, and the fuzz goes last as it, well, fuzzes everything, meaning the modulation pedals work best in the middle?

Octave not only needs the cleanest signal but also least amount of harmonics. So playing nearer the neck will give a better result than playing near the bridge. 

[SimonK]

I was inspired by 16:15 from the following, especially as I have exactly the same octave and chorus pedals, but annoyingly the camera glare makes it really hard to see the setings!

 

 

[Richard R]

2 hours ago, SimonK said:

 the camera glare makes it really hard to see the setings!

 

 

 

Ask the question in the YT comments of the video. 

[spyder]

I use octave / fuzz / chorus / reverb / comp. 

[SimonK]

So this is what I've been experimenting with this afternoon. I've put the Octave and the envelope filter first in the chain as they were both struggling to track after the compressor, then fuzz, then chorus is last in the chain (but before the EQ & preamp). I'm not totally convinced I have found a sweet spot RE setting so if anyone has experience in these things and fancies a comment. The decay setting on the filter seems to make a massive difference to the sound albeit loses some of the low end and hence the EQ setting.

 

[paul_5]

I use compressor > octave > fuzz/drive > envelope filter > chorus for some Stevie Wonder-esque squelchy synth tones.

[bassbora]

When I am modern type synth in a band I go oct=>fuzz=>filter but I don’t always use the fuzz. I have found the Iron Ether XD give me the best synth sound. It has that 4 pole switch and just works differently than other filters I find. 
 

For Stevie Wonder type of thing I just use a filter (Wonderlove) and might add an oct occasionally. 
 

I have just found this works best for my setup and bands but there is no wrong or right you just have to experiment. 

[dannybuoy]

I prefer fuzz before octave. Then the fuzz doesn’t get bogged down with too much low end and you end up with clean sub bass underneath the dirt. Hardly makes any difference to tracking in my experience, if anything it tracked better!

Filter after fuzz for synth, filter before dirt is more for classic rock tones.

Chorus generally at the end, but whatever sounds best.

Edited Sunday at 20:48 by dannybuoy

[Richard R]

I watched the Ian King video at lunch. Really nice to see what's important to someone playing for a living and why.

At nearly $1000 that Caveman pre-amp and DI is well out of my price range, but it's just the right tool for the job in his case.

[pantherairsoft]

There is obviously no 'right' answer, but for classic squelchy synth tones, the most common order is Octave > Dirt > Filter > (Modulation), with Modulation being optional.

 

Depending on your particular fuzz and filter, you might need to mix things up, and depending on the output of your bass, you might find fuzz before octave works better, but as a 'go to', the chain above is usually the place to start. The true sweet spot tends to come from tweaking the cutoff of your filter according to whatever your fuzz is pushing into it.