Jump to content

Pedal for making guitar play bass + harmonizing


NickCormier

Recommended Posts

  • Members

So heres what I want to do. I want to continue to play guitar, and be able to pitch shift it down to play bass lines.. That is the most important thing.

 

I think the ability to be able to dial in any harmonizing interval while im playing also, would be sweet.. but the main thing I need is just a pitch shift to bass (not harmonized bass, but turning into bass) As I dont wanna carry around basses and guitars with me. Just guitars and a pedal..

 

So I am looking at the Digitech WH-4 Whammy pedal, it seems to have all the options I want... But would it do what I want good?? Hows the tracking on it?? I have no real intentions of using it as an actual whammy pedal, I just want the bass pitch shifting and good harmonizing..

 

Keep in my, I get all my tone from my Pod X3, which im quite happy with for tone.. I just wish I could play different pitchs. I hear people saying the Digitech whammy alters the tone and makes it crappy, well I think im ok with that as I could probably program the Pod to make it good again, The main thing im concerned about is tracking, and how well it converts Guitar lines into bass lines, or converts harmonized lines..

 

Anyone??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

You do NOT want the whammy, any of them. They lag a tiny bit and are not perfect, so they are not very good as harmonizers, esp. for bassline playing. Try to find a PS-5 or PS-3 to play through and see if it works for you, otherwise maybe a HOG if you can afford it, or maybe just an octave pedal?

 

Also... the Digitech Synth Wah makes some awesome fuzzy synthy octave-down basslines if you're looking for something crazy fun and cheap.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

You do NOT want the whammy, any of them. They lag a tiny bit and are not perfect, so they are not very good as harmonizers, esp. for bassline playing. Try to find a PS-5 or PS-3 to play through and see if it works for you, otherwise maybe a HOG if you can afford it, or maybe just an octave pedal?


Also... the Digitech Synth Wah makes some awesome fuzzy synthy octave-down basslines if you're looking for something crazy fun and cheap.

 

 

The PS-3 lags more than a Whammy IMO...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Looking at vids on youtube, Digitech Whammy seems like it'l work (
) Where as the MicroPOG looks like garbage.. Also is alot more expensive, with no harmonizing options really, just "replicating 12-string" or wahtever..

 

 

The tracking will be the fastest on that...The whammy tracks crappy, which is its charm in the octave ups...But the octave downs don't do it for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

The PS-3 lags more than a Whammy IMO...

 

 

I stand corrected. OP: why don't you go to guitar center and play though every octave pedal they have and see which sounds best to you?

 

I think the benefit to the POG/HOG series is that they have FAR superior tracking to pretty much any other pedal you can get (as far as I know). The micro POG is limited to octaves (1 down, 1 up) so no harmonies, but it should sound a lot better than the whammy for octave down. I guess it depends on whether you need it to sound the best/track the best, or you need the expression pedal for harmonizing.

 

The best thing to do for your application would be to get a rackmount harmonizer that you can use midi to control how it harmonizes with you... but that's big bucks. Sadly, for pitch shifting, you still have to shell out a lot to have it sound good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Then buy a whammy
:freak:
Calling the micro pog "garbage" isn't gonna take you far round these parts
;)



The youtube videos dont lie. If you have a micropog and think its so great, make a youtube video to demonstrate it and show me otherwise. To me, and i watched about 5 videos, they dont sound like they are worth $200 at all.

and I just watched about 10 vids of the boss PS-3/PS-5, they sound pretty horrid also. And im even a long-time boss fan, Loving my dads Boss pedals which hes been using for 10+ years. I just go with my ear(and needing the use of major and minor intervals, not just perf 4ths and 5ths), not hearsay and brand-bias.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I haven't heard of a pedal that can intelligently harmonize alongside you. The whammy can go back and forth in a sweep, but you'd have to get pretty damn good at finding the right notes for it to be perfect. Like I said earlier, artists who do intelligent harmonization use rackmount units (big bucks, unfortunately). If you like the whammy, though, go for it... You can probably pick one up for ~135 shipped in the spam thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The youtube videos dont lie. If you have a micropog and think its so great, make a youtube video to demonstrate it and show me otherwise. To me, and i watched about 5 videos, they dont sound like they are worth $200 at all.


and I just watched about 10 vids of the boss PS-3/PS-5, they sound pretty horrid also. And im even a long-time boss fan, Loving my dads Boss pedals which hes been using for 10+ years. I just go with my ear(and needing the use of major and minor intervals, not just perf 4ths and 5ths), not hearsay and brand-bias.

 

 

So, you're saying that crappy cameras and mics don't lie?

 

Nothing personal, dude, but you'd be better off pounding sand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

no one has mentioned the foxrox octron, which of course does both octave up and down. I've been using this for bass lines and it works pretty well. The tracking is pretty good on medium settings, but on extreme settings, you do lose some tracking. It is nearly 90% perfect... The octron is $200 and i would not hesitate to recommend it. :thu:

 

go to 1:30 or so

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

For simple octaves, rather than harmonisation: Boss OC-3: tracks the lowest note in what you play, and allows mix of original + 1 & 2 octaves down.

The OC-2 needs single notes, but has more of a compressor built in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I haven't heard of a pedal that can intelligently harmonize alongside you.

 

 

The PS-5 and HR-2 both do it.

 

But The POG has the best tracking and "best" sound ever in a pedal pitch shifter. If that doesn't satisfy homeboy, time to go rack.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Ive got a HOG and it does the bass sound perfectly, kick in some more comp, tweak the filter and you're there....

 

Now, expecting THAT to sound good and "basslike" thru a guitar amp is quite another matter. I'd DI the signal with a good box straight to a mixer if I was you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...