# Bass pedalboard



## Leberbs (Oct 19, 2015)

I'm going to be playing for Sunday morning services. I'll be going DI straight to the board with nothing fancy happening. Just plug in and the sound guys adjust the volume and EQ. I'll have an amp on stage for reference. Can't change that set up.

What tone shaping effects could I add on my board to add some different flavors and have a consistent volume to the room? Lots of low/ low-mid build up in the room.

I'm playing a Schecter Stiletto Studio 5. I just ordered an MXR M87 hoping to add that consistency I'm looking for.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions?


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## TheEmptyCell (Oct 19, 2015)

Some sort of Parametric equalizer would be the best if you want to be able to dial into a problem frequency and then get rid of it.

A high pass filter would be good to keep the ultra lows (35 hz and down) out of the PA, because most sound guys want to push a wall of bowel rumbling mud through the PA, while you're trying to get a nice, tight sound on stage.


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## iron blast (Oct 20, 2015)

A Good Di and compressor are a must. You could get a pre amp and just run thru the effects loop of the house amp if you don't dig the amps sound. As far as Di's I'm all about the Avalon u5, the focusrite isa one, UA twinfinity, melenia td1, and reddi box. All of these sound rediculous good but that said they are all pricey but if you want your tone to be really good those will do the trick. As far as compressors I'm really digging the mxr bass compressor, the darkglass symmetry, Ehx black finger, and origin cali76


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## Grand Moff Tim (Oct 20, 2015)

Yup, iron blast's got it. You're going to at very least want compression, a preamp, and a DI. 

You can get some good Pre/DI combos out there, if you're looking to save some space. 
Some popular preamp/DI combos are the Darkglass B7K, the Aguilar Tone Hammer, and the Tech 21 SansAmp series. 

I personally use the MXR Bass Preamp because it's super transparent and has a handy mid freq knob in addition to the usual mid level knob, and then I use a separate pedal for amp tone simulation in front of that, if the need arises.

For compression, another good one I'd recommend in addition to the ones iron blast mentioned is the Aguilar TLC Compressor. It's simple, transparent, and versatile, while not being too crazy expensive.

I actually built a small pedalboard specifically because I needed something portable to take to local gigs or jam rooms, where I have to use either FOH PA or house amps. I needed something small enough to attach to my gigbag, but that included all the basics to make any FOH or amp sound acceptable.

Here's my current mini-board setup:







The board is a pedaltrain nano.

The pedals are:
Aguilar TLC compressor
Creation Audio Labs Grizzly Bass
EHX Bass Muff
Korg Pitchblack tuner
MXR Bass Preamp

I mostly use the MXR for EQ and DI, and the Grizzly is what I use for boost or amp simulation. It has gain/boost, OD, distortion, mid scoop, and hi-cut filter knobs. It's a fanatastic little box. Super versatile. 

Anyway, let us know what you end up with. It's always fun looking at people's boards.


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## hairychris (Oct 20, 2015)

Compressor for sure, and maybe something like a SansAmp Bass Driver DI (amp sim/drive + DI in a single box).

When DI-ing to FOH I use my amp, which is a lightweight (5lb and fits in a gigbag pocket) GK MB800, so that I can use my preamp tone & gain stacks.

Otherwise I'm not really the right person to ask as for me "flavour" is 2 fuzz pedals and a RAT clone.


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## Leberbs (Oct 20, 2015)

iron blast said:


> A Good Di and compressor are a must. You could get a pre amp and just run thru the effects loop of the house amp if you don't dig the amps sound. As far as Di's I'm all about the Avalon u5, the focusrite isa one, UA twinfinity, melenia td1, and reddi box. All of these sound rediculous good but that said they are all pricey but if you want your tone to be really good those will do the trick. As far as compressors I'm really digging the mxr bass compressor, the darkglass symmetry, Ehx black finger, and origin cali76



I'll definitely research those. 
I won't be able to do anything with the amp because it's just for stage reference (sounds great though. Ampeg PF-500) and I doubt they'll let me replace their DI box, but I'm going to try. 
They take the DI out of a radial passive unit that splits the signal between FOH and the amp. FOH is just my bass. Not sure why they don't use the DI from the amp. I guess they want an unprocessed signal? Then again, they don't really do much with that signal. It's just a hum to my ears.



Grand Moff Tim said:


> Yup, iron blast's got it. You're going to at very least want compression, a preamp, and a DI.
> 
> You can get some good Pre/DI combos out there, if you're looking to save some space.
> Some popular preamp/DI combos are the Darkglass B7K, the Aguilar Tone Hammer, and the Tech 21 SansAmp series.
> ...



Really good info. Effective board. I like it =)
I've been looking at the MXR. I may have to pull the trigger and try it out.
You also mentioned the Tech 21 Sansamp stuff. Are you speaking of the Black and yellow one or the collection as a whole? The VT and character series look good too. Any experience with either of them?



hairychris said:


> Compressor for sure, and maybe something like a SansAmp Bass Driver DI (amp sim/drive + DI in a single box).
> 
> When DI-ing to FOH I use my amp, which is a lightweight (5lb and fits in a gigbag pocket) GK MB800, so that I can use my preamp tone & gain stacks.
> 
> Otherwise I'm not really the right person to ask as for me "flavour" is 2 fuzz pedals and a RAT clone.



I'll ask why they don't use the amp's DI, but I doubt I'll be able to change that.


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## hairychris (Oct 20, 2015)

Leberbs said:


> I'll ask why they don't use the amp's DI, but I doubt I'll be able to change that.



Some sound guys don't like it as you can change the volume on the amp and it (depending on the amp) changes the volume of their signal.


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## Leberbs (Oct 20, 2015)

hairychris said:


> Some sound guys don't like it as you can change the volume on the amp and it (depending on the amp) changes the volume of their signal.



Ah, that does make sense.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Oct 20, 2015)

Leberbs said:


> I
> You also mentioned the Tech 21 Sansamp stuff. Are you speaking of the Black and yellow one or the collection as a whole? The VT and character series look good too. Any experience with either of them?



I'm not personally a SansAmp user, but I know they're super popular. I'm pretty sure at least half the bands over the last two gigs I played were using the black and yellow Sans Amp, all through house amps. I had a chat with one bassist about his rig afterwards, and he seemed keen to point out that the SansAmp was a huge part of shaping his tone.

That's not the only pedal I've seen get some appreciation, though. The VT Bass seems well liked over on TalkBass for giving your amp some Ampeg tube-style tone and dirt. It's available in a larger version with more features, too. Couldn't hurt to see if any stores near you have some to try out.


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## iron blast (Oct 20, 2015)

I'm running a Eden navigator pre with a sansamp Vt deluxe for the grit. I'm in love with it. The Eden has a tube Di with a seperate volume control so I can give the front of house the amount of headroom they want. The tone is epic. The Eden pre also has very good compression on board.


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## Systolic (Oct 21, 2015)

I'll just add that a _QUALITY _compressor and some good tone shaping is ideal here. I'm not a huge sansamp fan either. The VT bass i had was wonderful if that kind of tone is your thing. The Darkglass B7K is not just a grit/distortion pedal. It's great for tone shaping, but is definitely not transparent, you'd need to like it's baked-in tone. Zoom B3 is also fantastic for having tons of options that sound good.


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## iron blast (Oct 21, 2015)

If going darkglass route I'd go for a vintage deluxe over a b7k unless you are doing metal IMHO the distortion is pretty agressive in comparison I opted for the Vt Deluxe because it allows 6 presets so I can have a variety of tones and less crap on my board. all I use is a black finger tube compressor, boss ns2 noise gate(soon swapping for ISP), digitech synth wah, and the Vt deluxe ATM but I am planning on adding a good bass chorus


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## Leberbs (Oct 21, 2015)

https://youtu.be/ZBKxMaWSKuU?t=1m35s

I'm sold...Of course the deluxe version though.


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## Fathand (Oct 22, 2015)

These always depend on your needs, so if you're picky with the EQ and like to tweak it to fits the room an EQ of some sorts might be needed - I usually just tweak my sound to fit everything else going on and leave the room frequencies to the sound guy. 

In my experience a compressor is handy if you're playing mostly clean, any OD/distortion will naturally compress the sound so if you have any handle of playing/picking hand dynamics you might go without if that's the case. Active (especially EMG) pickups generally tend to sound a bit compressed too, so if your Schecter got those a compressor might not be needed. 

DI is pretty much a total must for bassists these days - And you've got a wide variety of choices from clean to more dirty sounding ones. The original sansamp seems to divide opinions nowadays but I still haven't found a pedal with that kind of "Instant tube grit" sound (it does a bit cleaner sounds too), both live and in the studio. 

The MXR Bass DI+ came close, but IMO it needs an amp of some sorts to work perfectly. Both work as a DI too, but the sansamp has better usable sound right out of the box. The new Ampeg pedal seem interesting, it's on my "buy" list with the Eden DI pedal (which is cheap!).


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## Leberbs (Oct 22, 2015)

Fathand said:


> These always depend on your needs, so if you're picky with the EQ and like to tweak it to fits the room an *EQ of some sorts might be needed - I usually just tweak my sound to fit everything else going on and leave the room frequencies to the sound guy.*
> 
> In my experience a compressor is handy if you're playing mostly clean, any OD/distortion will naturally compress the sound so if you have any handle of playing/picking hand dynamics you might go without if that's the case. *Active (especially EMG) pickups generally tend to sound a bit compressed too, so if your Schecter got those a compressor might not be needed.*
> 
> ...



What EQ would you recommend for bass? The point of this board is to meet the sound guys half way. They aren't that seasoned running sound. So, I think if I can get my tone and volume under control, they can do minor tweaks for the room. 
What's happening now is the bass player will hit up high on the neck and he disappears in the mix. The sound guys compensate his volume, the chorus comes up, and he drops down low. Not only does the volume overkill the band, but the lows build up in the room and he literally has to stop playing to get the hum to stop. I'm trying to avoid that.

I want to check out that ampeg also. Pretty much every demo of that thing I've heard just isn't my style. No place around my area sells higher end gear like that. Can't try before I buy =/


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## TheEmptyCell (Oct 22, 2015)

Leberbs said:


> What EQ would you recommend for bass? The point of this board is to meet the sound guys half way. They aren't that seasoned running sound. So, I think if I can get my tone and volume under control, they can do minor tweaks for the room.
> *What's happening now is the bass player will hit up high on the neck and he disappears in the mix. The sound guys compensate his volume, the chorus comes up, and he drops down low.* Not only does the volume overkill the band, but the lows build up in the room and he literally has to stop playing to get the hum to stop. I'm trying to avoid that.
> 
> I want to check out that ampeg also. Pretty much every demo of that thing I've heard just isn't my style. No place around my area sells higher end gear like that. Can't try before I buy =/


That's a job for a good compressor. Even out those volume differences. There should be no need for individual parts of songs to need to be volume attenuated at the board.

Also, it seems like your sound guys are putting too much mud in the mix. Ultra-lows are great for electronic bands, and bass drums, but I'd still recommend a High Pass Filter to keep things clean. This can also help protect the speakers on the house amps if you're playing a 5 string bass or tuning down.


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## Leberbs (Oct 22, 2015)

TheEmptyCell said:


> That's a job for a good compressor. Even out those volume differences. There should be no need for individual parts of songs to need to be volume attenuated at the board.
> 
> Also, it seems like your sound guys are putting too much mud in the mix. Ultra-lows are great for electronic bands, and bass drums, but I'd still recommend a High Pass Filter to keep things clean. This can also help protect the speakers on the house amps if you're playing a 5 string bass or tuning down.



Ordered a compressor on the 18th. Have a feeling I'll have to open a case on eBay 

High pass filter on the console or on my pedalboard?


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## TheEmptyCell (Oct 22, 2015)

Leberbs said:


> Ordered a compressor on the 18th. Have a feeling I'll have to open a case on eBay
> 
> High pass filter on the console or on my pedalboard?



Put one in the pedalboard, because you can't rely on the sound guy to give you good tone out front.


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## Leberbs (Oct 25, 2015)

I got the MXR Pre-amp in the mail yesterday.
That thing sounds soooooooo good!
Only complaint, maybe it's just in the room I'm in, but there's a particular range of mids I can't cut without using both the pedal and my mid control on the bass. I think I might need an EQ pedal to get me closer to what I'm hearing in my head.

Thoughts, comments?


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## Leberbs (Oct 31, 2015)

I got the MXR compressor. I can't seem to get a consistent tone. Like, my 5th string caps out the gain reduction LEDs and distorts a bit whereas my first and second string barely even register on the compressor. Could this be a pickup height issue?
Thoughts?


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## TheEmptyCell (Nov 4, 2015)

Leberbs said:


> I got the MXR compressor. I can't seem to get a consistent tone. Like, my 5th string caps out the gain reduction LEDs and distorts a bit whereas my first and second string barely even register on the compressor. Could this be a pickup height issue?
> Thoughts?



Pickup height, string gauge, any number of things. If you've got a real flabby low string, you may actually be hitting it too hard even for a compressor to adjust properly for.


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## Leberbs (Nov 6, 2015)

TheEmptyCell said:


> Pickup height, string gauge, any number of things. If you've got a real flabby low string, you may actually be hitting it too hard even for a compressor to adjust properly for.



I started another thread more specific to this problem. I think I have it figured out though. You're right, I think I was hitting too hard.


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## Leberbs (Nov 8, 2015)

Grand Moff Tim said:


> Anyway, let us know what you end up with. It's always fun looking at people's boards.





This is what I have so far. Not sure how I like the VT Bass and I have no clue how to use nor get a good tone with the MXR bass compressor. 
Here are some pics of the pedalboard. I had my uncle build an imitation pedaltrain metro 8"x16". http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/gear-equipment/302356-diy-pedal-board.html


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## Grand Moff Tim (Nov 8, 2015)

Leberbs said:


> View attachment 48700
> 
> This is what I have so far. Not sure how I like the VT Bass and I have no clue how to use nor get a good tone with the MXR bass compressor.
> Here are some pics of the pedalboard. I had my uncle build an imitation pedaltrain metro 8"x16". http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/gear-equipment/302356-diy-pedal-board.html




Cool, man. You're digging the MXR preamp, I hope?

You'll probably be happier with the VT after some more knob-fiddling, I bet. As long as you aren't after some crazy gritty metal distortion, you should be able to get most tubey dirt tones you'd want out of it.

Have you tried digging around on TalkBass for settings ideas for the MXR comp? Or if there isn't a thread dedicated to that already, you could always start one. I'm sure someone there will have some advice. Maybe also try reading the review for it on OVNIlabs, since he's pretty thorough. 

I use the Aguilar comp, though, so I can't really personally offer any help. Just keep in mind that if you're using it properly, a bass compressor's effect is going to be very subtle. Unless you're using heavy, squashed compression settings, it's likely not something you'll notice much until you've been using it for a while and then accidentally turn of, and you think "WTF, why does my tone sound weird?" before you notice it isn't on.


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## Leberbs (Nov 8, 2015)

Grand Moff Tim said:


> Cool, man. You're digging the MXR preamp, I hope?
> 
> You'll probably be happier with the VT after some more knob-fiddling, I bet. As long as you aren't after some crazy gritty metal distortion, you should be able to get most tubey dirt tones you'd want out of it.
> 
> ...



That MXR Preamp not only sounds fantastic, it's also a lifesaver for the situation I'm in. I send the DI to FOH and 1/4" output to FX return of the house amp from that pedal, meaning I have a nearly identical sound on stage and FOH. It's great for my personal reference and I can tweak my EQ on the fly if I feel I'm cutting too much or not enough in my in-ear monitors.

My first night playing with the church band was Thursday for rehearsal and then this morning for service. I never have gotten so many compliments on my tone. All I was running was the MXR Pre both times. It's a great addition to any rig I think. It just happens to give me that deep clean tone that is favorable in a praise and worship setting.

I found that the VT Bass compresses its circuit wwwaaayyyy too early into the dirty tones. I'm still messing with it though.

I started a thread about reducing gain with pickups, compressor, limiter, etc. and it seems my plucking hand is wild. I need to practice going easy on the thicker strings. 
I digress... I have not read much on the compressor itself and how to get a good tone. I guess I'll have to research and try some mild settings.


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