The Bassist's Effects Line Up

wanna ask a simple question.. how did u guys overcome the tone lost problem after a bunches of effect? any thing will help?
 
my freakish looking pedalboard

21mvkg5.jpg

what we see here is:

bass -> A/B switcher (1) -> Ibanez LU10 Tuner
(2) -> Blue Ark Dual Bypass Looper: which then leads to ->

Channel 1 : MXR M-80 Bass Distortion DI

Channel 2: Arion SCH-Z Chorus -> BOSS PH-2 Super Phaser -> Line 6 Echo Park

everything gets bypassed into the

Yamaha NE-1 Preamp -> MXR Dynacomp.

here's a closer look at the dual bypass looper:
21mvqrr.jpg


the feedback loop doesn't tend to catch the signal from the bass, much easier with a guitar. but i've run all my effects through it before, namely the PH-2 helps catch the right frequency and with the delay, chorus and distortion going on i've had much fun just creating all sorts of weird noises. doesn't take much technical virturosity to have a good time with them, sooo it's mainly a fun muck-around into the sonicsphere.

channel 1 houses all my dirty effects, for the moment its just an mxr m-80, possible expansion with an overdrive pedal. MXR M-80 has great colour for a distortion pedal, i love it. chose it over an overdrive because i wanted that colur instead of driving my amp. more distinct tone i reckon. the 3 band EQ works swell on the clean setting too, usually i leave it on, along with my NE-1 and dynacomp.

channel 2 houses the clean effects:
ARION SCH-Z Chorus has a slight volume boost, somewhat irritating, but it was cheap. rather unique drenchy chorus tone, i would roll the tone all the way down since it tends to add a touch of unnecessary bass. therés a sweet spot though, which i use for some driving songs, akin to Victor Low's bass tone on CS's Three album.

BOSS PH-2 Phaser. fairly useful pedal, doesn't sound good on its own, but with the chorus it adds a very spacey and dreamy effect with revolving peaks here and there. useful when using the feedback loop on a bass, but irritatingly piercing when used with a guitar.

LINE 6 Echo Park. awesome delay pedal with nice drenchy delays or short reverbs. coupled in the feedback loop and you're in noise heaven. used in conjunction with the other two for more spacey rock goodness. doesn't have its place in a guitar heavy band, but it's just there to muck around and experiment with.

the dual bypass allows me to select a group of effects whenever i want, and bypass all of them for a clean signal.

on a good day, i'll just bypass everything from the bypass looper and just go through the NE-1 and dynacomp for whatever bass i play.

YAMAHA NE-1 is a great easy to use pedal that helps you find a certain sweet spot. on some settings it helps add attack, on some it flattens everything out, slightly dubby for slower songs, but usually it just helps me add a certain presence to my tone.

MXR M-102 Dynacomp just does what it's suppose to do. great for even slap tone, and also just helps even everything out. my first time playing with compression and i like it alot.

the A/B switcher at the start just allows me to access my tuner onstage with the touch of a button. everything has been grouped to be true bypassed just in case should all else fail. -)

*phew*
that was a mouthful.[/img]
 
Finally! Found someone else who uses an Echo Park :) Also managed to find a photo:

DSC_1558.jpg


All this is due to change soon though... cutting down :/ I need to find a way to get an expression pedal in there for the PH-3.
 
Litford: wow ..hardcore effects box ... just a simple question .. how the heck do you A/B your effects? I'm thinking of doing that but i still can't figure out how .. okay .. here's an example of an effects chain patter ..

Bass > A/B switcher

Channel A > Tuner, Octaver > Compressor

Channel B > Chorus > Envelop Filter > Reverb

alrighty .. i got up to the split channel .. how do i get it to the amp? and what if i want a clean signal without any effects?
 
Hi exin, i think what you're looking for is more a looper than an A/B switcher.

the A/B switcher just redirects your signal, so say you have two amps, you can send your signal into either one, or if you can customise your A/B switcher you can send to both amps.

currently my setup is one signal goes to my tuner, and the other goes to my effects chain / amp.

the magic lies in the dual bypass looper. what www.theblueark.com did for me, is that he created two loops. one loop houses my clean effects, and the other houses my dirty effects. so whenever i wanna use one GROUP of effects, i just activate the entire chain on my looper, if not everything gets bypassed. (yes, ark is great like that, even if all else fails my signal still goes through. unless it dies at the NE-1 or dynacomp)

so in this case, i get a clean signal if i bypass both my m-80 distortion and (chorus, phaser & delay). and the rest of the signal goes into my NE-1 and Dynacomp because they are after the effects loop.

and whatever effects i don't want in a loop, i just switch them off, while leaving my loop on.

make sense? have a look at my "diagrams" haha.. i tried to make them as presentable as possible.

OR
==

if i'm reading you right, you wanna use your A/B switcher to select between the two effects chains you put as example? the only way i can see using an A/B switcher to help select a group of effects, is that if your amplifier has two inputs to recieve either signal.
 
Litford: yes yes! that's was looking for ... cos for myself i want my signal as unadulterated as possible ... running through as little effects as possible, so the looper is something that i wanted. To select a group of effects to use when i want it ..

thanks! .. i think i'll order from Blue Ark when i stored up enough effects .. =) ..
 
hey, does anyone know the price of the ebs octabass?
also, which do you find more useful for bass? phaser or flanger?
 
well, i like the NE-1, it does add a bit more colour and it's brainless to tweak a desired tone as well. adds nice deepness if you like Nathan East's sorta tone, so i reckon it's got its uses. but i havent really found a setting where i get lotsa grunt or bite from it, so maybe it's not meant for that sorta tweaking.

hmmm.. phaser or flanger? i think a flanger has a more usable sound. like the way justin chancellor plays on some tool songs. hmmmm.. using my phaser, the swells are actually rather irritating to actually play bass with, not unless you're going into extended volumous breakdowns. or the other usable feature of a phaser to me is to use it with a high rate and have a sorta spacey warble.
 
hurhur.. i have absolutely no idea.
for starters, you think i sound familiar, how much more do you think that adds to me not knowing you? plus you didn't leave any clues..

anyway, to get this done a whole lot quicker, my name is brian. i doubt i've even met 0.1% of the people on this forum.
 
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