Members Spike Li Posted March 10, 2011 Members Share Posted March 10, 2011 So ive been toying with the idea of picking up bass for the hell of it. In fact, before i played guitar i reeeaaaalllly wanted to play bass but once learnt how to play a borrowed acoustic bass guitars took a back seat Now that reconsidering it, i find myself in the unfortunate position of being broke/in debt so to fix my bass GAS ill have to look to what i already own... which is: JC-120 electric guitars boss ME-70 with included -octave pitch shifter I guess if i really wanted to spend some money i could get a digitech whammy pedal and Jack White it... Now ive thought about the whole speaker damaging capabilities of playing an octave lower than a guitar through my JC, but I figure that if people can use it as a keyboard amp, then a bass should be fine through it seeing as how keyboards have lower notes than a bass... Amp aside, is using a pitch shifter as a bass substitute a dumb idea? For arguments sake, lets say i wanted to gig with this setup... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FoonkySteve Posted March 10, 2011 Members Share Posted March 10, 2011 You may suffer from very slight latency issues. Other than that, ive done this before for recording, never in a live situation. It works, it doesn't sound exactly like a bass guitar, but yes it will cover the low notes. Another thing to check out, is when you you got your PShifter set for bass, when you play on the lower strings, you may also experience some wierd noises, ie the note going in and out by 5ths. Overall though. It Will work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members honeyiscool Posted March 10, 2011 Members Share Posted March 10, 2011 There's latency and glitchiness when you do this. Really, there's no reason not to get a bass guitar. I used to have a Boss Pitch Shifter pedal and really, for how much that thing costs, you could buy a bass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted March 10, 2011 Members Share Posted March 10, 2011 Pitch shifters arent bad id you mix the shifted with the normal sound together. For octaves only they fail big time substituting for a bass as the others mentioned. they are glitchey and just dont have the bass tone you need. Get a good used bass. You can buy them by the carload under $100. even if it needs a littel work you will have the real deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BryanMichael Posted March 10, 2011 Members Share Posted March 10, 2011 Use the neck pickupRoll off the treble/toneUse a compressor before the octave effectBlend in a slight bit of the original tone for "attack" and you will get this cool Motwn-y 60's baritone, tic tacky, bass sound which is quite cool and usable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members honeyiscool Posted March 11, 2011 Members Share Posted March 11, 2011 ^ To get the kind of gear where the above would actually sound good, you have to spend good money. Unless you're doing it for a stylistic reason like Jack White, get a bass. That said, an instant awesome bassy sound is an MXR Blue Box with the tone rolled. But that's fuzzy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Spike Li Posted March 11, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 11, 2011 Okay, so i gave it a shot last night and it worked better than I expected! Like BryanMichael said, i got a very usable bass tone from the neck pickup and rolling off the tone gave me a thumpy sound while dimeing it sounded very woody one (sound). The bridge wasnt as good as it was much hotter and distorted a little As far as i could tell (its not like i have a real bass to compare) latency wasnt an issue, but the pitch shifter did seem to struggle a lot when more than one note was playing/ringing out, or with the very lowest notes. All in all it was a pretty cool experiment, not a substitute for the real deal but a pretty good stand in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mistersully Posted March 11, 2011 Members Share Posted March 11, 2011 get a bass i've used an octave pedal with the guitar when i was playing through a looper for some people... fun but not the same thing get a bass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Spike Li Posted March 11, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 11, 2011 On a side note, My Hero is probably the most boring song to play on bass- its about 5 different notes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mnhhngbfs Posted March 11, 2011 Members Share Posted March 11, 2011 check out the morpheus droptune for a pitch shifter that'll track all yer notes AND do chords as well. it's a bit pricey but it's the best octave pedal i've ever heard, and it's really cool for when you want to jam to something that's tuned down and are you're feeling too lazy to just retune. pretty handy pedal[video=youtube;T0kl3_seWTI] he starts using the octave down at 5:30. it's still definitely not a bass but it sounds pretty decent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members *BLEEP* Posted March 11, 2011 Members Share Posted March 11, 2011 Okay, so i gave it a shot last night and it worked better than I expected! If you've played even a half-way decent budget bass, you would quickly realise that you're missing out on the dynamics and percussive quality that only a real-deal bass can deliver and that a 25 inch scale guitar with its puny little strings can never do, even with electronic enhancement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kayd_mon Posted March 11, 2011 Members Share Posted March 11, 2011 he starts using the octave down at 5:30. it's still definitely not a bass but it sounds pretty decent Wow! That thing is impressive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members aliensporebomb Posted March 11, 2011 Members Share Posted March 11, 2011 When our bass player left mid-gig once I used my Boss OC-2 Octave Divider to perform bass duty and it worked better than expected as well. I wouldn't recommend it full time though. Get a bass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members profgalen Posted March 11, 2011 Members Share Posted March 11, 2011 I thought Jack White used a EH P.O.G. ? I have a Micro P.O.G.. Tracks really well, also tracks chords. Still not a bass, but lots of fun with a loop pedal.http://backstage.musiciansfriend.com/Guitars/Guitar-Amplifiers-Effects/Guitar-Effects/Guitar-Effects-Pedals/Harmonizer-Pitch-Shifter-Octave-Ring-Modulator/POG2-Polyphonic-Octave-Generator-Guitar-Effects-Pedal.site1sku620675000000000.skuhttp://backstage.musiciansfriend.com/Guitars/Guitar-Amplifiers-Effects/Guitar-Effects/Guitar-Effects-Pedals/Harmonizer-Pitch-Shifter-Octave-Ring-Modulator/XO-Micro-POG-Polyphonic-Octave-Generator-Guitar-Effects-Pedal.site1sku150434000000000.skuSomeone on some good drugs made this demo[video=youtube;bzMVLAbKIB8] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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