|
| General
bass effects sound clips |
|
Note
I'm a
self-taught, intermediate bass player. While I lack formal training, I
do
have a fair amount of experience with wide variety of
hardware multi-effects from Behringer, Line6, BOSS, and Roland, as well
as other pedal and rack effects, and most software amp simulators and
various plugin effects. Hopefully that lends itself towards some
quality patches and sounds.
As you'll see below I've done a HORRIBLE job of keeping my clips
organized and documented. I often just record some clips, save them
with some file name that seems detailed at the time, then forget about
them. Or I share them on website forums and forget to add them here
until 6 months later. So detailed and accurate information isn't really
available. Plus I've used a variety of instruments and recording gear
along the way. What I can say is that I've done my best. Most of
these clips were recorded in
2009 shortly after taking up bass
guitar, wanting to play some dirty electronica type bass lines, and
then burning through tons and tons (and tons) of hardware effects. Both
my playing and recording skills were pretty amature. But hopefully
adequate enough to illustrate some of the fun sounds you can get out of
the effects below.
Newer clips are at the bottom of the page.
Click back to
my main page for links to other sound clips.
Enjoy!
2012 CLIPS
| SOUND CLIP |
NOTES /
COMMENTS |
Wah Huge Pork Loin touch sensitivity test
| Lakland Duck Dunn P-bass with Lindy Fralins, GHS
Pressurewound, finger style, Pork Loin, SVT-CL w/Peavey 15" BW
recording by Heil PR-40. A quick test to illustrate how the Pork Loin
is *NOT* touch sensitive regarding the overdrive quality. Yes, the
volume goes up and down with my playing intensity but you'll notice the
same amount of overdrive is affecting my signal during the loudest and
quiestest parts of my playing. Other than this flaw I totally love the
tone of this overdrive. It retains nearly all of the original tone and
just layers a nice, smooth, harmonic overdrive to the sound. And has a
LOT of differnt sounds from classic and kind of dull sounding to clanky
and harsh, or clean boost.
|
OD vs Distortion vs Fuzz
|
Lakland 44-60 jazz bass into Way Huge
Pork Loin dialed for mild crisp overdrive, BOSS ODB-3 dialied for gainy
distortion, Chunk Systems Octavious Squeezer dialied in for non-gated
fuzz with maximum monster gain. All run into my GR-55 used purely for a
basic amp sim.
|
Thermonic Effects TE.01 Tube Overdrive
|
Quickie 1-take demo.
Lakland Duck Dunn, Lindy P, Labella flats, finger style, into Zoom B3
Ampeg sim, along with an Abbey Road drum loop. Clean/bypass, then
increasing gain while trying to roll down the volume for unity. Does
everything from clean boost, to light grit, to monster tube fuzz.
Maintains a good tone even though there's only a volume and gain
control provided.
|
Devi Ever Supermassive Black Hole modded
|
Installed a 200k
resistor between the footswitch lead and the PCB input to reduce the
gain going into the effect which tightens the gate significantly and
seems to solidfy the low end considerably. It's now my favorite gated
fuzz for bass. Roll your instrument volume down 1/3 or 1/2 and it
should barely pass the gate threshold for a super short-n-tight sound
with a sputtery decay.
|
ADA MB-1 programmable tube preamp
|
Picked up one of
these in a trade and spent a little time trying it out. It has a tube
preamp driven by two 12AX7 (I believe) and a solid state preamp, each
with their own gross EQ curves (countour), plus a shared 5 band EQ,
compressor, and chorus. And a crazy amount of rear I/O including two
programmable FX loops. All saved into presets. FUN! I haven't gotten a
clean-ish tone I really like yet but watch-OUT!!! some of those dirty
tones are pretty awesome right out of the 1/4" full range output.
Lakland Duck Dun P-bass with LaBella flats and a Fralin pickup played
finger style, run through a couple clean and a bunch of dirty presets I
created, then an old Peavy Fury with nickel rounds and the original
Dimarzo pickup played with a pick and run through the same presets,. I
rarely use the Peavey, rounds, or a pick these days so it was fun to
throw it in there for contrast. Sometimes dirt just sounds better with
a pick.
|
AKAI Drive3 fuzz
|
Lakland Duck Dunn,
Lindy P, GHS ground wounds, pick into Ampeg SVX VST. Clean tone, then
the warm fuzz at low gain, then high gain, then the rest is the muff
fuzz at various gain and tone settings to show the various sounds you
can get.
|
2011 CLIPS
| SOUND CLIP |
NOTES /
COMMENTS |
| Clipped
BOSS OC-2 |
Bass
into GT-10B, OC-2 in the FX loop, then XLR out to my interface. No
compression, amp sim, etc, just dry bass and the following effects
only. EQ +20db low +20db overall, tight noise gate, OC-2 soloed on
OCT1. Then I add maxed out tremolo after the EQ but before the OC-2 to
glitch the OC-2. Unfortunately I didn't record a regular OC-2 sound for
comparison. But rest assured its smooth and synthy, not all
fuzzy sounding as heard in this clip. |
| KORG G5 synth w/ BOSS OC-2 |
KORG G5 bass synthesizer with some
delay/chorus/verb for the
first progression, then I play the same progression an octave higher
but turn on a BOSS OC-2 which is in front of the Korg G5. Note how much
fatter and richer it makes the KORK G5 sound. Then I turn the OC-2 off
and play the progression down an octave. Totally the same notes, the
OC-2 just gives it a lot more character. Try the BOSS OC-2 in front of
your effects, particularly other analog tracking effects such as synth.
It's like magic fatness! Note I have an
entire KORG G5 Bass Synth page available. |
| KORG
G5 synth w/ BOSS OC-2 |
KORG
G5 with a horribly weak sounding down-swept filter for two
progressions, add the OC-2 which adds a slight amount of fatness but
makes it harder to trigger the KORG envelope detection, then blend in
the raw OC-2 sound with the KORG for a seemingly good sounding,
percussion type bass synth tone. Excellent illustration of how
the BOSS OC-2 can make bass synth tones so much better. It took an
unusable tone and morphed it into a wonderful tone. At least in my
opinion. :) Sorry about the clipping in the track, bad recording
on my part. |
| ZVEX
Wooly Mammoth clone |
Quickie
clip using a Sabertooth based clone, Lakland Duck Dunn with Lindy
Fralin's, and a basic amp sim in my Roland GR-55. Super monster
gain, tons of low end. |
| Wooly
Mammoth clone VS Brown Dog synthiness comparison |
Trusty
Lakland Duck Dunn into BOSS OC-2 with OCT1 soloed. Then the clip is
structured like this: 1) Mammoth clone at nearly full gain
2) Octavius Squeezer's fuzz at nearly full gain and with
gate on, this is essentially the same as a Brown Dog with the fuzz
soloed. I always think the Brown Dog sounds much more synthy,
it's a more cleaner square wave sound where the Mammoth continues to
sound like dirty bass fuzz. Of course, both sounds change after adding
modulation, etc. but the Brown Dog always sounds much more synthy to my
ears. |
| Zoom
Ultra Fuzz UF-01 |
Lakland
Duck Dunn with Lindy
Fralin's picked, and a basic amp sim in my Roland GR-55. Clip goes like
this: Zoom with Gain 1 O'clock, Color 3 O'clock, Tone 11 O'clock. Gate
off, then Gate around 1:30 and Volume boosted to unity. Same thing
again but I roll the Lakland tone down so you can hear how it fattens
the fuzz tone.Same thing with a DOD FX-25 in front with all knobs at
minimum to provide dub type filter in front to cut highs and boost
lows. At the end of the gated sections I also roll the Lakland volume
down so
you can hear how the Zoom's gate tricks out the sound with glitchy
decay.
Note this pedal has a "reso" knob which can provide
overtones and self-oscillation. However, it requires a passive
instrument plugged directly into the input. Or a significant level
boost into the pedal, like a gain boost or boosted overdrive in front.
Which also changes the overall character of the fuzz. The reso doesn't
really sound that different with bass, it doesn't mix in that well so
you end up only really hearing it between notes, and only when the gate
isn't too high. |
| Way
Huge Pork Loin overdrive vs MESA Bottle Rocket tube overdrive |
Lakland
Duck Dunn with Lindy
Fralin's picked, and a basic amp sim in my Roland GR-55. Clean signal,
then Pork Loin at a low gain, then a high gain, then I roll the bass
volume down so you can hear how it responds. Then MESA Bottle Rocket at
a moderate gain (11 O'clock) then a high gain (2 O'clock) then I turn
the Pork Loin on in front of it to drive the tubes then I get all crazy
and crank the Pork Loin volume knob higher to REALLY push the Bottle
Rocket tubes for monster drive. Somewhere in there I rolled the bass
volume down so you could hear how the MESA tubes respond to input
volume. I also stuck a short Addictive Drum track in there briefly just
for some audio fun. At the end I turn the Pork Loin off, roll the MESA
gain back down to 11 O'clock and then finally turn it off for clean
tone.
It's
important to note that these effects sound vastly different when run
into a real tube amp. I have a MESA 400+ and the Pork Loin totally
kills - it really overdrives the MESA tubes but the serious clean that
always bleeds through the Pork Loin keeps the tone very ballsy and
punchy. Really a simple clean boost into a tube amp is about all it
takes to push great overdrive, I usually keep the Pork Loin overdrive
knob fairly low when running into the 400+. The Bottle Rocket gain
usually gets lowered into the 400+ since the actual amp generates so
much tubey gain all by itself. But the Bottle Rocket really sounds
pretty great through anything, in my opinion. I've really grown to love
tubes. |
| EHX
English MUFF'n overdrive vs MESA Bottle Rocket tube overdrive |
Lakland
Duck Dunn with Lindy
Fralin's picked, into BOSS GT-10B for a non-effected loop, into the
MESA Bottle Rocket and EHX MUFF'n, then into my GR-55 for a basic amp
sim. The dry loop is the riff with the volume rolled down
slightly, same thing with volume on full so you can hear how the
overdrives respond. I couldn't record a particularly long loop, sorry.
:) I then toggle between the MESA and the EHX starting with a
very low gain for just a little warmth then rolling the gain on each
device up each time the loop progresses until I hit maximum gain
on each device, then end with the dry loop again for
comparison. MESA
had the bass at 1 O'clock, trebel at 11 O'clock. EHX low 1
O'clock, mid 2 O'clock, high 8:30 O'clock. Both with volume/output at
attempted unity gain. |
| EHX
English MUFF'n overdrive vs MESA Bottle Rocket tube overdrive TUBE SWAP |
I
swapped the tubes between the two pedals so the MESA has the 12AY7 pair
and the EXH has the 12AX7 pair just for comparison. The MESA now lacks
much usable gain and I have to start with the gain at 12:00 and output
at max just to get some barely usable output levels. The EHX now has
monster distortion on tap and I start with the gain at nearly the min
and it's basically unusable at max gain, at least for bass. I think
each pedal more or less retains their general EQ scheme and sound with
the MESA being a little darker. Same setup as above except just max
volume out of theLakland
Duck Dunn with Lindy
Fralin's picked, into BOSS GT-10B for a non-effected loop, into the
MESA Bottle Rocket and EHX MUFF'n, then into my GR-55 for a basic amp
sim. I run through the MESA and it's gain range, then the EHX and
it's gain range. Note I had to roll the output down slightly as I
increased gain to try to keep some unity levels. |
| EHX
English MUFF'n overdrive TUBE SWAP |
I
swapped the tubes in just the EHX English MUFF'n and run through the
gain ranges. First a 12AX7 in the V1 socket and stock 12AY7 in the V2
socket. Then I stick a 12AU7 in the V1 socket and leave the 12AY7 in
the V2. Note I had to roll the output down slightly as I
increased gain to try to keep some unity levels. I'll have to spend
some time comparing the various clips but I think I'm liking the 12AU7
in the V1 and the stock tube in the V2. Cuts down on the gain a bit,
and definitely cuts down on the output as I have to run the output knob
at max or nearly max with the 12AU7 in the V1. But it mellows the pedal
out a bit, though I suppose I could just run the stock tubes with the
gain lower and probably be about the same. You be the judge. |
| BOSS
OC-2 Synth Mod |
You can see what appears to be the origin of
the BOSS OC-2 "synth mod" in this YouTube video.
I didn't have a DPDT switch and I was only interested in OC1 so I
just took a run of wire and ran it from #1 to #3 in the video, noting I
have a Japanese pedal. In the clip I recorded a simple loop using my
GT-10B then ran it through the normal OC-2 then the "synth mod" OC-2.
First dry for comparison, then OCT-1 soloed max, then Direct and
OCT-1 blended max, then OCT-1 soloed into my Zoom Ultra Fuzz, then
OCT-1 soloed into my EHX English Muff'n, then dry again. What the
mod primarily does it remove the output filter for the octave
generators so you get a more or less pure square wave, which sound ver
much like what you normally get out of a square fuzz like a Chunk
Systems Brown Dog when pushing a normal OC-2 OCT1 into it. Look a few
rows up for my Mammoth vs Brown Dog clip where I push my normal OC-2
into the Brown Dog. |
| BOSS
OC-2 Synth Mod |
Clip
to compare the before/after into a square fuzz effect which is what
many people use to morph regular bass into synth without the "synth
mod". Played with a pick so I could push my playing speed, and
some slower staccato at the end so you can hear residual string-mute
noise from each pedal. In this clip I recorded a simple loop using my
GT-10B then ran it through the normal OC-2 into a gated fuzz in my
Octavius Squeezer (theoretically the same fuzz as the Brown Dog) then
the "synth mod" OC-2 alone, then the "synth mod" OC-2 into the same
gated fuzz just so you can hear what it sounds like into a square fuzz.
Note there's some ongoing discussion of this mod on TalkBass.com here: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f36/boss-oc-2-synth-mod-sound-clips-813877/
|
| BOSS
OC-2 Synth Mod |
Clip
to compare the before/after into the KORG G5 and Source Audio Bass
Envelope Filter Pro. In this clip I recorded a simple loop using my
GT-10B then ran it into a LS-2 for faster switching between the two
signal paths: normal OC-2 into a gated fuzz in my
Octavius Squeezer (theoretically the same fuzz as the Brown Dog) and
then
the "synth mod" OC-2 alone. I give you the dry, then the two OC-2's
against each other, then toggle between the two OC-2 into three KORG G5
presets (1 synth, 1 filter, 1 formant filter), then three BEF Pro
presets (1 fat sweep, 1 formant, 1 fast LFO), then the two OC-2s
against each other at the end for comparison again. I suppose
they're not really that different, but the normal OC-2 into fuzz
carries a more bass-focused tone which often comes through the filters
as "deeper and fatter" where the "synth mod" tone still has lows in the
tone but there's so much more highs in the raw tone I think they
tend to suck away some of the overall low end from what you end up
hearing. |
| BOSS
OC-2 various raw tones available |
Here's
a clip demonstrating all of the "factory" tones you can get from the
unit. Here's what's in the clip: direct, OCT1 raw waveform (R48),
OCT1 envelope out (R32), OCT1 filter out (IC4 PIN7, factory sound),
OCT2 raw waveform (R51), OCT2 envelope out (R56), OCT2 filter out (IC4
PIN1, factory sound). I simply jumpered the signal at various
points in the circuit as noted in parenthesis. Note I'm using a
Japanese PCB as detailed here: http://www.hobby-hour.com/electronics/s/oc2-octave.php
I'm no electronics guru, but it looks like the filter
section for OCT2 is slightly different than OCT1, so it's possible to
direct the raw OCT1 signal through the OCT2 filter section for a
potentially different tone. |
| BOSS
OC-2 various raw tones available |
Blending the raw OCT1, raw OCT2, and the direct
signal in various ways. |
| Zoom
Ultra Fuzz into English Muff'n |
Zoom
gated fuzz into Muff'n real tube overdrive. My other fuzz sounds
horrible into the Muff'n, turns into ultracompressed, mega-bass mush. I
think the generally higher slant to the Zoom tone pushes into the tube
overdrive for an awesome gritty, sputtery distortion. Then I turned it
into dancey rocktronica with some Roland TD-6 V-Drums into a couple
BOSS VF-1 multieffects. Probably my best live drumming yet, I only had
to edit out parts of the last half of the track to hide my off-tempo
playing. Heh. Bass is 100% live straight through. |
| Aguilar
Fitler Twin for synthy sounds |
Quickie
ad-hoc clip for a person wanting to buy an Aguilar Filter Twin I
received in trade. Trusty Lakland Duck Dunn into synth modded OC-2 with
OCT1 and OCT2 maxed with my English Muff'n tube overdrive for some
extra grit. Then I turn the Filter Twin on which is inserted in between
the OC-2 and Muff'n. You get some totally awesome formant sounds with
the two blended and with the velocity on the downsweep at 11:30 and
velocity on upsweep at 1 O'clock, threshold to taste depending how far
you want the filter to open. Eventually I turn the Muff'n off so you
can hear just the OC-2 and Filter Twin, end with just the synth modded
OC-2 in all it's glory. At least that's what I think I did. :)
That's what you get with ad-hoc, baby, no specific memory of what
you just did 5 minutes ago! |
OLD 2009-2010 CLIPS
| SOUND CLIP |
NOTES /
COMMENTS |
| BOSS
VF-1 LOFI processor sound clip |
It starts with clean bass, then just the
BIT feature at 8 then 1 noting
it's more of a dirt sound, then I add in the SAMPLE RATE which gives
the bit crushing sound and noise, then I diddle with the filter section
cycling through LPF/BP/HP then back to LPF and play with the cutoff and
resonance. Lastly I push a MXR Bass Octave Deluxe and then BOD + Brown
Dog through the LOFI so you can see what it does to signals other than
clean bass. It can generate total pure noise depending on what you feed
it. Unfortunately I whipped through this fairly fast and failed to
write down the various settings I used so I'm going off memory as to
what values for the various settings I used. One setting I didn't use
was the PRE FILTER = ON which functions somewhat like a pre noise gate
as it cuts out the clicks and noise between notes you play. There's
also a POST FILTER which I have never found a use for as it basically
muffles the entire sound and seems pretty useless. The BOSS
VF-1 has a ton of functionality for a pretty cheap $100 - $150
product. All MIDI controllable, with four assigns you so you can assign
4 parameters to pedals/CC though I haven't gotten that far yet. But I'd
think you could assign CUTOFF FREQUENCY to a CC pedal to sweep with it,
though I'd expect it to be a stepped sweep based on how it functions
when sweeping the front panel control knob. |
| Chunk
Systems Brown Dog VS Moog Freqbox |
Everything is played on my B string. Starts
clean; Brown Dog with gate
max, fuzz 2 O'clock, pure dirty no clean, switch to hard; then Freqbox
set to saw, Freq on 2, Mix on 10, hard sync on, everything else off. I
bounce back and forth between the BD and Freq, and lastly run the BD
into the Freq to illustrate the difference in sound and tracking, then
noodle with the tracking down my B string. At the very very end I
loosen the BD gate from max to about 2 O'clock where I normally run it.
That seems to give the Freq nearly limitless sustain and help tracking
those low B notes much better since the gate doesn't sputter. |
| Moog
LPF vs Electrix FilterFactory LPF |
Open
E played through a Chunk Systems Brown Dog with Gate = 2 O'clock, Drive
= Max. You hear the clean tone first, then I enable the Moog Low Pass
Filter with Envelope = Off, Mix = 10, Filter = 4 Pole, Resonance = 6,
and I manually sweep the Cutoff Frequency knob with my hand. I then
switch to the Electrix FilterFactory with LFO disabled (Singleshot=On),
2 Pole Stereo (closer to the Moog's 4 Pole I think), Resonance = 2.5,
Filter Type = Low Pass, and I manually sweep the Frequency knob. |
| Electrix
FilterFactory LFO |
I've
got the FF set as follows: * Resonance at one notch above
2.5 * MIDI CC5 expression set for 10-55 to give the
pedal
the most control over the low range without totally excluding the
highs. * LFO set to 1:1 * LFO speed 3 notches past 12 O'clock * LFO
Wave on reverse saw wave. * LFO Depth at 11 O'clock *Bass run
thru DOD FX25 and Chunk Systems Brown Dog |
| Electrix
FilterFactory HPF |
MXR Bass Octave Deluxe, BOSS VF-1 bit
crusher, into the FilterFactory set as follows: *
Resonance at one notch above
2.5 * MIDI CC5 expression set for 0-80 to give the
high
pass filter access to the lowest possible filter frequency (gets super
high as you'll hear). Then into a second BOSS VF-1 for
delay/verb. One thing I forgot to do was cut in some dry non-filtered
sound so you could hear with the original sound was. It's voiced fairly
high via the bit crusher without any specific abundant crushing lows. |
| Various
Fuzz with Octave and Filter Sweep |
Devi Ever BIT / Legend of Fuzz.
Volume 8:30, Control 11:30 Chunk Systems Brown Dog.
Dirty 1:00, Clean 11:00, Gate max, Fuzz max Guyatone TZ3. Volume
1:30, Depth started at about 1:00 and at 1 min into the audio I changed
Depth to 11:00 Dr
Scientist Frazz Dazzler. Sizzle max,
Gain 3:00, Volume 9:00, Mix 3:00, Gate on Devi Ever Truly
Beautiful Disaster. Volume 3:00, Fuzz min, Oscillation
3:00, Blend 3:00, Gate on. Note that all knobs are ass backwards, so
when I say "max" I mean the knob is pointing at where max should be,
but to the pedal that's really min since the knobs are ass backwards.
It's maddening. Pigntronix Disnortion. Level 1:00,
Shape 5, Gain 3:00, Octavia Filter max
Here's how I had my non-fuzz effects set. BOSS OC-2
Oct1 max, everything else min for pure wet octave down EBS
BassIQ. Threshold 11:30, Attack 2:00, Mode HiQ
Here's
what you'll hear. * Dry bass * Bass through the fuzz in the order
listed above, with the Pigtronix fuzz, then fuzz + octava last * Bass
through OC2 * Bass through OC2 then through the fuzz in the order
listed above, with the Pigtronix fuzz, then fuzz + octava last * Bass
through OC2 and BassIQ * Bass through OC2 and BassIQ then through the
fuzz in the order listed above, with the Pigtronix fuzz, then fuzz +
octava last. |
| Dr
Scientist Frazz Dazzler |
This
clip highlights the Dr Scientist Frazz Dazzler on bass. Frazz has the
gate on the whole time. You'll hear clean bass, then Frazz with Sizzle
= Max and Gain = 3 O'clock, then Gain = 12 O'clock, then Gain = 3
O'clock, then I roll the Sizzle down to 9 O'clock where I think it
sounds best on bass with Gain = 3, then Gain = 12 O'clock, then I turn
on a DODO FX25 before the Frazz to cut the highs and it REALLY fattens
up the Frazz fuzz sound, I think it sounds best with the FX25 in front
actually as it really cuts the high end fizziness of the Frazz, it's
like a completely different box run like that. Lastly I throw in the
Chunk Systems Brown Dog for comparison as it's my benchmark gated fuzz
and the one that's been on my board the longest. |
| Zoom
UF-10 Ultra Fuzz vs Brown Dog |
ZOOM: Gate: 9 O'clock Color: 1
notch below max Reso: n/a doesn't work on my pedal Tone: 10:30 O'clock
Gain: 9 O'clock Level: Max
Notes: If I turn the gate up any further the level drops significantly,
so this is the max gate I can get while still maintaining this level of
output.
BROWN DOG: Dirty: 11 O'clock Clean: Off Gate: 2 O'clock Drive: 9
O'clock Switch: Hard |
| Catalinabread
Heliotrope VS BOSS VF-1 Ringmod |
Here's a super quick clip of the
Catalinabread Heliotrope through a couple settings (no gain on any,
cycle through hi/low, and cycle through some sample/resolution
settings), then some then with the Chunk Systems Brown Dog feeding it.
Then a quick clean bass and the BOSS VF-1 with effect = 80% direct =
60%, start on normal ringmod, cycle through some frequencies, then BOSS
VF-1 intelligent ringmod (you can hear it tweaking while trying to
match the input frequency), then cycle through some frequencies. |
| SansAmp
RBI vs ASA MB-1 |
My
attempt to create a patch that mimics the SansAmp RBI tone. SansAmp is
EQ'ed flat. Then I try a few different mid/hi-mid combinations on the
MB-1 in an effort to get that serious 900Hz mid-scoop the RBI has while
also providing hi-mid boost. The MB-1 has no ability to cut the highs
at 10K like the RBI does. Anyway, you be the judge. You'll hear the
RBI, then the MB-1 preset using a -14 cut at 880Hz, RBI, MB-1
preset using a +3 boost at 1680Hz, RBI, MB-1 preset using a
+10
boost at 1680Hz. The MB-1 only has one EQ section, HI MID that covers
the 900Hz to 1680Hz range. So you can opt to either cut around 900Hz or
boost the upper mids. Basically it lacks enough EQ control to
accomodate the needs to really attack the RBI tone. |
| Copilot
Orbit vs Brown Dog |
Copilot Orbit's fuzz circuit (no VCO
blended in), Int = 4 O'clock. You'll hear clean bass, Orbit, then Brown
Dog for comparison. |
| Copilot
Orbit VCO |
You'll hear clean, just the Orbit VCO (Mix
= Max for pure VCO), then the same Orbit settings but
with the DOD FX25 (Sensitivity = Min for pure high cut) in front.
Illustrates how you can really affect the
Orbit with some pre-EQ or filtering to tame the VCO. |
| Copilot
Orbit VCO |
A
short clip with just VCO again, unsure on the settings, but it's a
nasaly, warbly ring, with Addictive Drums in the background. |
| Bass
Synth via VST |
Regular
4 string bass guitar fed into a laptop. I don't recall the exact VST
chain but it went something like this: Bidule as the VST host,
FrettedSynth synth, various FabFilter plugins like Volcano for the
arpeggio sounding filtering, and Timeless for the high-voiced warped
sound. All processed from a single, live mono bass line. Cool stuff!
But extremely complicated to program, setup, and get to work well. |
| FrettedSynth
Saffron |
FrettedSynth
offers a lot of seriously great sounding free VST synth apps that track
guitar or bass. This clip has the actual bass panned hard to one side,
the FrettedSynth output the other so you can hear tracking. I cannot
recall when I made this clip, but probably early on in my FrettedSynth
use. I haven't used in over 9 months, but I recall getting the tracking
to perform much better than what you hear in this clip with the missed
notes. |
| Clipped
BOSS OC-2 |
I
accidentally discovered that if you push a super hot signal into a BOSS
OC-2 you can get it to clip and change it from a smooth synthy octave
into a really dirty machine, almost 8-bit sounding, but fuzzy from the
clipping. The last part of the clip adds a tremolo (or something
similar) to the signal before the OC-2 to give it a kind of quasi pulse
width sound. |
| CoPilot
Orbit, Octave, FilterFactory |
I
don't recall the exact setup. But from the MP3 file name apparently it
goes like this. MXR Bass Octave Deluxe > CoPilot Orbit >
FilterFactory. I start with the fuzz, add the octave in front, then the
filter after. Good example of the typical bass synth via efffects
signal chain of octave + fuzz + filter. |
| TS
Audio To MIDI |
An
audio to MIDI Windows application. Raw bass panned hard to one side,
the triggered softsynth to the other. I don't recall ever using
this app beyond general testing though it sounds like it tracks fairly
well in the high range of the bass guitar. |
| BBE
BMAX-T preamp |
Probably
one of my favorite preamps. Has a really deep, smooth, tubey sound.
What it doesn't have is a ton of functionality beyond the basic preamp
stuff so no crossover, level controllable FX loop, etc. The overdrive
via high gain sounded really, really poor, and I also recall them to
have somewhat noisey tube type crackles on the very end of note decay,
though it was low in volume and you really had to have your ear up to
the speaker cab to listen for it. I doubt it would ever come across in
the mix, or live. Note that some of the early models had a gain stage
issue where the gain was always way too hot which prevented any type of
really clean / clear tone. But they're inexpensive, 1U, easy to use.
I owned both the solid state and the two of the tube versions,
both tubed units had the tube noise issue so I'm doubtful it was just
me, though it could've been my setup or the way I was using it. You
certainly cannot hear it in this direct recording though. Sounds great
if you ask me! |
| BBE
BMAX-T preamp noise |
Ahhh,
found a clip where I have the gain set slightly higher and you can hear
how it starts to overdrive... but in a completely unpleasant way. The
gain stage was always overly sensitive, even with gain below 12
O'clock, and with the factory gain stage update. |
| iRig
vs Korg Pandora vs MESA Titan |
Quick
testing of a couple of pocket sized amp sims VS the real deal. Note the
iRig was using the first release of Amplitube for the iPhone. I never
could get it to sound decent, it was always un-clear sounding, clipped
and buzzy sounding, and you really had to push the gain and volume on
everything to get a decent output which furthered the
clipped/buzzy/dirty sound. It was a serious disappointment for bass.
The Korg Pandora is great, very versatile, surprising full featured and
really great sounding for a dinky little piece of hardware and has TONS
of output volume available. I actually think it sounds the best in this
recording. But note I recorded the MESA Titan via DI out, so you're not
getting any cabinet or mic flavor in the recording, I threw in some
Titan tube overdrive/fuzz in there, too. Love the overdrive on the
Titan. |
| Source
Audio Bass Envelope Filter |
Start
with a synthy tone created with my BOSS GT-10B and BOSS OC-2 in the FX
loop, leverage a beat-synced slicer, push that into the awesome Source
Audio Bass Envelope Filter that I modified to have an expression pedal
jack to control the filter frequency. I run through a variety of filter
voices and settings, but I couldn't possibly tell you what they were
other than the MP3 file name indicates "filter 17" so I'm assuming it's
only using that specific filter voice. The BEF has a really quick
filter reset time so things like slicers, hard tremolo, etc. easily
trip the filter envelope which is one of the great features of this
particular filter. Full dislosure: I'm a BETA tester for the Bass
Envelope Filter Pro they're working on in Spring 2011. But I was a
regular Joe user that paid full retail for the non-Pro version you hear
in this clip. |
| Source
Audio Bass Envelope Filter |
Another
Source Audio Bass Envelope Filter. Similar to above, synthy tone
genereated and fed into the filter, apparently filter 10 based on the
MP3 file name. I then bop through settings on the filter, likely with
the expression pedal modulating the frequency parameter.Full dislosure:
I'm a BETA tester for the Bass Envelope Filter Pro
they're working on in Spring 2011. But I was a regular Joe user that
paid full retail for the non-Pro version you hear in this clip. |
| BOSS
SE-70 drive sounds |
BOSS
SE-70 This unit is similar to the VF-1, but older, less overall
functionality, and even more restrictive with the way the effects are
packaged into algorithms. People like this unit for it's fully analog
drive section, and the fact The Prodigy used it to some degree on some
of their tracks (something about oscilating reverb if I recall
correctly). While the drive section definitely sounds vastly
superior to the VF-1 digital drives it still doesn't sound as good as
your typical stomp box and still required a lot of EQ or amp block
(used as EQ) to help shape the tone. At least when used with bass
guitar, anyway. I believe I ran the my bass into the SE-70
directly, then output that into the front input of my MESA Titan, then
recorded DI out of that. So again, you're missing physical cabinet and
microphone flavoring of the tone. |
| Bass Synth
Effects |
No
idea what I used to create this clip. But I believe BOSS GT-10B, BOSS
OC-2, and some filter assigned to an expression pedal to get that
screaming high voiced sound. |
| Hip Hop
Bass Tone |
No
idea what I used to create this either. But I believe just my bass into
the BOSS GT-10B and OC-2 in the FX loop. Check out my GT-10B page for a
"super low too" or "pure sub" patch, going off memory on that one. |
| Electronica
Bass |
And again.... no idea. But probably fuzz (CoPilot
Orbit?) + chorus. |
| Ambient Bass |
Sounds
like a guitar, but it's totally my bass played high on the neck and
into a BOSS Phaser stompbox pedal (I believe the BOSS PS-3), and
apparently some drive effect and some delay. Ended up sounding like
some sort of ambient shoegaze type guitar. I really like the melody and
think the drums loop fits it perfectly. But certainly not very bass
sounding. |
| Electronica
Bass |
Everything but the drums you hear is my bass
through hardware effects of some sort. |
| Electronica
Bass |
Everything but the drums you hear is my bass
through hardware effects of some sort. |
| Filter Bass |
Some sort of attempt at synthy bass sounds using
a filter. Possibly an Electro Harmonix Bassballs. |
| Electronica
Bass |
Some sort of octave + fuzz + envelope filter. |
| Industrial
Bass |
Some
sort of octave + fuzz + filter that I'm modulating frequency
and/or resonance somehow. No idea what's creating this but I believe
hardware pedals, BOSS VF-1, and Electrix Filter Factory. In general I
think it sounds like crap, exept it has this really interesting
sounding noise in the background created from all the effects
amplifying and morphing the picking noises. |
| Industrial
Bass |
Clip I recorded using hardware pedals, BOSS VF-1,
and Filter Factory. |
| Various
Effects |
First
half of this clips sounds like gated fuzz (Brown Dog?) for the bass,
some sort of HPF for the "lead" synth sound, then the second half
is.... I have no idea. But sounds like overdrive and reverb, I just
have no idea what I used to create it. But I like how it sounds. :)
You're not allowed to steal that riff, I totally plan on using
it for my next groove rock band. |
| Electronica
Bass |
More unknown fuzz + filter sounds. |
| Electronica
Bass |
And more. :) I believe this is just the
BOSS GT-10B with the OC-2 in the FX loop. |
| Bass
Synth via VST |
Regular
4 string bass guitar fed into a laptop. I don't recall the exact VST
chain but it went something like this: Bidule as the VST host,
FrettedSynth synth, various plugins like FabFilter Volcano. All
processed from a single, live mono bass line. Cool stuff!
Very well defined, nice stereo separation but still cohesive.
Overall really happy with how this synth sound turned out. But
extremely complicated to program, setup, and get to work well. |
| Bass
Synth via VST |
Regular
4 string bass guitar fed into a laptop. I don't recall the exact VST
chain but it went something like this: Bidule as the VST host,
FrettedSynth synth, various plugins like FabFilter Volcano. All
processed from a single, live mono bass line. This one didn't turn out
as well, sounds kind of mushy and undefined. |
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