Members Texas Noise Factory Posted August 20, 2006 Members Share Posted August 20, 2006 Originally posted by Phantasm I really don't buy into the Wal being as important as people think - and I'll tell you how I have that opinion. About 6 months ago I went on the Wal quest. It took quite a while to track one down and a whole lot of money. I finally got it in and after messing around with it for quite a while and trying as hard as I can, I turned it right back around out the door to a happy buyer in Canada. I went to Bass Central and spent a lot of time playing everything and ended up with a MTD 4-string with a Mahogany body and a fancy top (very much like a Wal, in that respect.) It doesn' thave the Wal electronics, but they didn't really float my boat (yes, I know that statement is sacrilidge to almost everyone who will read it...) most of the time I left them on 10 and maybe pulled up the vol for the pick attack because a lot of the other settings made the bass sound "muffled" to me, and I'm big on clarity. I did try tons of settings though. Believe me, I was heartbroken when I couldn't get the sound to happen for me and I didn't want to give up after the long search for the instrument. When you talked to Greg, did he say anything else of interest about the recorded tones? I've played a couple, and they did blow my mind not plugged in. I haven't had the opportunity to try one through my Rig at band volume, but I know that Greg used an SVT & 8x10 cab as well. Did you get the opportunity to try one through that rig? I know Ampegs color the sound alot, but I think that was another big part of his sound... Anyway, it sounds like your MTD was worth the search though! I use Gibson RD Artists, and my Cutlass mostly live and in the studio. I like the clean active electronics for the clarity as well. I just like to dirty it up with the tubes!! I'd still like to own a Wal. My experience so far just isn't worth the price of admission just yet. That was about the only thing I got outta Greg. He was kinda out of it after the show, but he seemed pretty nice as a person. Kinda shy... And I didn't know how to talk to a rockstar. You know.... As a normal person. I admit I was kinda starstruck. *oh well* probably not the person he wanted to talk to at the moment. I got to watch the show close up and got to see him and Ken trade off on the Wal. All of their pedals were on shelves in a rack. Everything was midi-switched by one tap of a switch on their controllers. Pretty cool, and I bet it was necessary to avoid tap dancing on pedals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 82Daion Posted August 20, 2006 Members Share Posted August 20, 2006 Originally posted by Wolftopus I find that the Fulltone cuts a bit of the lows as well. It also seems to compress the tone which I really don't like, if I do a chord with distortion I want it to go boom. I've spent so much money on different distortion units for bass that I eventually just had one built for me. I heard recently about a bass distortion made from a Japanese company that I forget the name of that is supposed to be the best bass distortion money can buy. It wouldn't happen to be the HAO Rust Ride, would it? I have one, and I don't perceive any low-end loss. Plus, the tone it emits is godly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FreestyleIntruder Posted August 20, 2006 Members Share Posted August 20, 2006 Don't use distortion! muahahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wolftopus Posted August 20, 2006 Members Share Posted August 20, 2006 Distortion is awesome!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members henre Posted August 20, 2006 Members Share Posted August 20, 2006 Originally posted by J. BOSS ODB-3 ... didn't chop off my lows due to the blend feature. So in the end, it still comes down to this: distortion WILL KILL YOUR LOW END, and the only way to get it back is to active EQ it back in, or blend the distorted signal with the clean. I'm opting for the latter, since 95% of the time (in my experience), distortion just takes away all the oomph that a nice, clean bass provides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Darkstorm Posted August 20, 2006 Members Share Posted August 20, 2006 Theres two basic reasons why a eq pedal will do it better then equeing it with amps eq in most cases. 1. Pedal is going to be active eq not passive like most amps tone controls which are passive. 2. Most bass amps dont have the needed low bass eq freq settings. Lowest freq center on most bass amps for bass control is 120Hz or higher, thats not low enogh. Exception to #1 & #2 would be with bass amps that have active eq and several bands (aka 8 or more). Main frequencies to bring back in via active eq are low bass. 40Hz or 50Hz as a need to have. The active eq of course needs to be after the overdrive or distortion. BTW: I'd never use blending the dry with OD/dist cause that just weakens the OD/Dist. And thats uneeded. You can get as heavy a sound as you want with most any OD/Dist pedal you chooseby boosting the low bass back in after the OD/Dist pedal with a suitable active eq pedal that has the needed low bass controls. Of course if your processor has a 6-10 band eq in it the pedals not needed cause the processor allready has that after the OD/Dist module Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phantasm Posted August 20, 2006 Author Members Share Posted August 20, 2006 Originally posted by Texas Noise Factory I haven't had the opportunity to try one through my Rig at band volume, but I know that Greg used an SVT & 8x10 cab as well. Did you get the opportunity to try one through that rig? I know Ampegs color the sound alot, but I think that was another big part of his sound... Yep, I did... I've tried a whole lot of stuff in the past year! With the hurricane, i've spent a lot of time working on the house and in the evenings trying out new gear. I've bought/sold/returned a lot of stuff and I've found some treasures but a lot more things that I enjoy listening to someone else use but they don't work for me. A lot of the guys who go on that big search for tone don't share their secrets when they get to the end! I understand though, it's hard work and can be very expensive to get the sound in your head (if it's even possible.) If I knew someone around here who was an amazing rock bass tech, I'd be willing to pay him/her to work with me on my rig. I'd GLADLY pay. Maybe one day I'll run across someone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phantasm Posted August 20, 2006 Author Members Share Posted August 20, 2006 Originally posted by Darkstorm Theres two basic reasons why a eq pedal will do it better then equeing it with amps eq in most cases. 1. Pedal is going to be active eq not passive like most amps tone controls which are passive. 2. Most bass amps dont have the needed low bass eq freq settings. Lowest freq center on most bass amps for bass control is 120Hz or higher, thats not low enogh.Exception to #1 & #2 would be with bass amps that have active eq and several bands (aka 8 or more). Main frequencies to bring back in via active eq are low bass. 40Hz or 50Hz as a need to have. The active eq of course needs to be after the overdrive or distortion.BTW: I'd never use blending the dry with OD/dist cause that just weakens the OD/Dist. And thats uneeded. You can get as heavy a sound as you want with most any OD/Dist pedal you chooseby boosting the low bass back in after the OD/Dist pedal with a suitable active eq pedal that has the needed low bass controls. Of course if your processor has a 6-10 band eq in it the pedals not needed cause the processor allready has that after the OD/Dist module Thanks for the advice, and for taking the time to type all that out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J. Posted August 20, 2006 Members Share Posted August 20, 2006 Originally posted by henre So in the end, it still comes down to this: distortion WILL KILL YOUR LOW END, and the only way to get it back is to active EQ it back in, or blend the distorted signal with the clean. I'm opting for the latter, since 95% of the time (in my experience), distortion just takes away all the oomph that a nice, clean bass provides. I agree with you 100%. In my opinion, a wet/dry blend is absolutely essential for a good bass distortion sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phantasm Posted August 21, 2006 Author Members Share Posted August 21, 2006 Originally posted by 82Daion It wouldn't happen to be the HAO Rust Ride, would it? I have one, and I don't perceive any low-end loss. Plus, the tone it emits is godly... What sort of distortion is the HAO? Is it an overdrive, or a really aggressive distortion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Yools Posted August 21, 2006 Members Share Posted August 21, 2006 Originally posted by J. I agree with you 100%. In my opinion, a wet/dry blend is absolutely essential for a good bass distortion sound. I'll throw in my $0.02 US here and agree. I've done it both ways - for a while, I had my pedalboard set up with a DOD passive mixer; split the signal into two, kept one clean and sent the other through all my effects, then re-combined the signal with another mixer and sent it to a mono amp. Worked pretty good, but I found that my pedal board created a lot of noise (could probably be fixed with better splitters/mixers) Lately, I've switched to using a stereo rig with one amp EQ'ed with a lot of high mids into a 2x10 cab and the other with a lot of lows and low mids into a 2x15 (with my amps, it seems to work best if I cut the extreme lows and extreme highs a bit). I split the signal from my bass with a Looper A/B/Y, run one line through the effects (distortion, flanger, wah) then into the high amp and send the other into a Fulltone bass drive and then into the lows. I'm using a cheap-ass DOD Grunge pedal for the distortion, and I find that I finally get awesome distortion with tons of low end. That DOD actually works great in this application, because it has WAY more gain than I'd ever need. I keep the Fulltone set for overdrive rather than lots of distortion, so it keeps the lows; when I put them both on, it is truly massive. The first option, in my opinion, is a good low-cost alternative; if you're serious about lots of distortion and competing with heavy guitars, you should consider getting a second amp/cabinet. -Yools Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ryanizzle Posted August 21, 2006 Members Share Posted August 21, 2006 works for me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EricF Posted August 21, 2006 Members Share Posted August 21, 2006 Originally posted by ryanizzle works for me! +1 I love the Muff'n! It has a big bottom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ryanizzle Posted August 22, 2006 Members Share Posted August 22, 2006 before i had the muff'n, i had a little big muff (one knob noisy beast). for playing bass, i would run it through the 'low effects' loop on my amp and set it to 300 or so. the low end stayed there, and the higher parts were distorted. it worked out nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 82Daion Posted August 22, 2006 Members Share Posted August 22, 2006 Originally posted by Phantasm What sort of distortion is the HAO? Is it an overdrive, or a really aggressive distortion? It depends on the EQ curve you have selected and the level of the signal you have going into it. It's not super-agressive, but it does more than add a little warmth to the tone. The Bright mode is pretty agressive. The Normal mode is warmer with less treble, but it's still got a nice bite. The Warm mode rolls off a lot of treble; it's the most lo-fi sounding setting, and it's also the least agressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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