Bass DI pedalboard

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DailyDovetails

Well-known member
My daughter is looking to join the jazz band at her school next year. She currently plays the cello and is wanting to learn electric bass. I have a few bass guitars that I dabbled with in my early 20's so she can play those until we decide to get her something of her own. What I'm thinking would be neat for her to have would be a kind of basic all in one pedal that she could take with her. My thought is that it should have some sort of amp/cab simulation, maybe a drive and/or fuzz pedal and a compressor. That way if there was already an amp where she was playing she could still have drive and compression available and if not she could run right into the mixer, she could also jam with me through the mixer I mostly play through this way also. Ideally whatever I came up with would be fairly flexible in that it could do some rock, jazz and as she has interest in it maybe some funk/slap.

I have a couple thoughts on possible boards, the first would be EMU amp sim, possibly an EQ(if so which one), some sort of drive(advice needed here) and a compressor(advice also needed here). The other thought I had would be a Unicab, an amp sim(advice needed) then it would be followed by the drive and compressor like the other board. I think she would prefer pedals where the controls were more simple/intuitive and versatility would be a plus also.

Note that although I have played bass a small amount I really am a guitarist at heart and making assumptions from that experience. I know many of the other members on here are bass oriented individuals and am hoping you can give me some advice.
 
For bass, you are definitely going to want a compressor. I have the Delegate Compressor in my build pile. I haven't gotten to it yet, but I've seen demos on it, and I think it's a good choice. An amp sim is also a good choice, but I haven't built one yet, but I use the amp sims in my HX Stomp extensively -- you can nail a lot of bass tone with a good amp sim.

Two other pedals that I think are almost required for a bass rig are an eq and a clean boost.
 
BryGuy said:
Chuck D. Bones bsss klon is great. I also like a vintage microtube. You can build one on the Odsidius Preamp. I’m sure others will chime in with their favorites.
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Those are both good suggestions would you run the vintage micro tube as an amp sim or as dirt? And the bass klon directly after the compressor as a clean/ slightly dirty boost?
 
chris.knudson said:
For bass, you are definitely going to want a compressor. I have the Delegate Compressor in my build pile. I haven't gotten to it yet, but I've seen demos on it, and I think it's a good choice. An amp sim is also a good choice, but I haven't built one yet, but I use the amp sims in my HX Stomp extensively -- you can nail a lot of bass tone with a good amp sim.

Two other pedals that I think are almost required for a bass rig are an eq and a clean boost.
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I have a delegate I built recently I could try. Do you have a preference on EQ? Would a single parametric like the EQ anyone or Mercurial fit the bill well? And then leave the rest of the shaping to the amp sim?
 
I usually run my microtube always on in to a sans amp I built on a madbean board. Then throw another dirt in between the two that’s on/off as needed.
 
BryGuy said:
I usually run my microtube always on in to a sans amp I built on a madbean board. Then throw another dirt in between the two that’s on/off as needed.
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I assume you’re taking about the sludgehammer board. That one looks really promising for the amp/speaker sim. Nice that it has the XLR out also.

BryGuy said:
The Nobelium also looks interesting.
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I agree. I did the particle accelerator recently and it probably has the best clean sound I have used. I would worry about my daughter packing it around but it has been on my radar for myself as well as a few of the other c2c projects.
 
I have read on this forum that a LP/HP filter is very useful to shape the tone and tame the low end.

I tried the Frequency Interchange Filter from PPCB, and it does something very different than all the Bass EQ i ever tried, including Tech21 VT bass preamp and its active 3 bands EQ. It's really effective to suppress the mudiness coming from some of the lowest frequencies, which aren't really useful most of the times, especially with gain effects.

I just discovered it, and i think it's really effective to be able to dial a great tone from any dirt circuit connected before it.

Darkglass circuits are fine, i like both the BK3 and the vintage microtubes very much, only downside is that they are quite mids-forward and don't have any effective mids control, just a mids boost on the BK3. Their tone controls aren't very interesting neither, at least in my experience. Compared to other bass dirt circuits, I don't think they are really versatile, on the other hand the blend knob allows to color the sound much like an amp-sim.
 
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eh là bas ma said:
I have read on this forum that a LP/HP filter is very useful to shape the tone and tame the low end.

I tried the Frequency Interchange Filter from PPCB, and it does something very different than all the Bass EQ i ever tried, including Tech21 VT bass preamp and its active 3 bands EQ. It's really effective to suppress the mudiness coming from some of the lowest frequencies, which aren't really useful most of the times, especially with gain effects.

I just discovered it, and i think it's really effective to be able to dial a great tone from any dirt circuit connected before it.

Darkglass circuits are fine, i like both the BK3 and the vintage microtubes very much, only downside is that they are quite mids-forward and don't have any effective mids control, just a mids boost on the BK3. Their tone controls aren't very interesting neither, at least in my experience. Compared to other bass dirt circuits, I don't think they are really versatile, on the other hand the blend knob allows to color the sound much like an amp-sim.
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I will have to look into that one a little. It’s similar to the hi and cab size on the UniCab I’m thinking but it does appear to have more going on in the circuit.
 
Most of the big bands I've played with frowned on the idea of stomp boxes for guitar, let alone bass. Anything you give her will likely be more than necessary for highschool jazz band. Comp, good, frequency interchange great, most useful imho is an excellent di so she can go ampless easily. I love the nobelium but the sludgehammr over at madbean is also useful if you're not feeling the tubes.

The recently announced drebbel pre seems like an interesting option too but I have zero experience with it. Yet.
 
Mentaltossflycoon said:
Most of the big bands I've played with frowned on the idea of stomp boxes for guitar, let alone bass. Anything you give her will likely be more than necessary for highschool jazz band. Comp, good, frequency interchange great, most useful imho is an excellent di so she can go ampless easily. I love the nobelium but the sludgehammr over at madbean is also useful if you're not feeling the tubes.

The recently announced drebbel pre seems like an interesting option too but I have zero experience with it. Yet.
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This, all this seems extreme for a high school jazz and, BUT a radial tone bone bass bone is a killer utility to have. A compressor is a must for any bass player. The Ginger is a good bass ampeg amp sim, as well as the sludgehammer.
 
jimilee said:
This, all this seems extreme for a high school jazz and, BUT a radial tone bone bass bone is a killer utility to have. A compressor is a must for any bass player. The Ginger is a good bass ampeg amp sim, as well as the sludgehammer.
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Funny you mention it since I just took mine off my board for the first time since like... 2008-9? Did not suck. Got my money's worth. That thing was the heart of my rig for a long time. 20240217_204030.jpg
 
DailyDovetails said:
I assume you’re taking about the sludgehammer board. That one looks really promising for the amp/speaker sim. Nice that it has the XLR out also.


I agree. I did the particle accelerator recently and it probably has the best clean sound I have used. I would worry about my daughter packing it around but it has been on my radar for myself as well as a few of the other c2c projects.
Click to expand...
I wasn't going to suggest the Nobelium because it's a high voltage pedal, but if you're looking for a pre-amp with a DI capability, I think this might be the pedal you need.
 
jimilee said:
This, all this seems extreme for a high school jazz and, BUT a radial tone bone bass bone is a killer utility to have. A compressor is a must for any bass player. The Ginger is a good bass ampeg amp sim, as well as the sludgehammer.
Click to expand...
My hope is she will be able to play it at school for the jazz band and at home she can play more rock oriented stuff with me.

The tone bone seems interesting and the price isn’t too bad used. I will check it out.

Tonight we messed around a bit with what I had already and I actually liked the delegate compressor into the Mofeta direct into the mixer the best so far. It wasn’t bad with the mercurial boost or the rat I made with a bunch of clipping options in between either.

I will likely end up building the Nobelum also as I have had interest in it and a few other c2c projects already.
 
I think just getting her started with a few knobs would be the way to go. Then she can play with your stash at home and find her own sound.
A comp and a pre/eq should be enough to start with jazz band. I'd stay away from 4 knob compressors to start. Maybe something like effects layout citrus press (JHS pulp n peel/Orange squeezer with clean blend). Simple and effective. The maybe a Maleficent Mids(all aboard the JHS train!) for a simple tone shaper. A Frequency Interchange into a maleficent mids would be good simple to e shaping as well.
High pass, low pass, mids boost/cut, mids sweep, resonance. That's a pretty capable set of controls for tone shaping without being too intense. Also pretty easy to explain/learn.
The MM work fine for bass without any cap value changes iirc.
Maybe toss a Boneyard bass Klone in there for a little dirt.
The new Drebbel preamp looks interesting but I haven't heard it yet.

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jwin615 said:
I think just getting her started with a few knobs would be the way to go. Then she can play with your stash at home and find her own sound.
A comp and a pre/eq should be enough to start with jazz band. I'd stay away from 4 knob compressors to start. Maybe something like effects layout citrus press (JHS pulp n peel/Orange squeezer with clean blend). Simple and effective. The maybe a Maleficent Mids(all aboard the JHS train!) for a simple tone shaper. A Frequency Interchange into a maleficent mids would be good simple to e shaping as well.
High pass, low pass, mids boost/cut, mids sweep, resonance. That's a pretty capable set of controls for tone shaping without being too intense. Also pretty easy to explain/learn.
The MM work fine for bass without any cap value changes iirc.
Maybe toss a Boneyard bass Klone in there for a little dirt.
The new Drebbel preamp looks interesting but I haven't heard it yet.

​

​

Click to expand...
I think that seems pretty reasonable. It’s pretty close to what I do for a clean sound on the guitar. I think I will probably build the sludge hammer when it’s back in stock and then build a few more compressors before we pick one to build for her. maybe I will just do a micro pedal board instead of an all in one. I do think the delegate that I have would be fairly frustrating for her. Thinking of doing the general tso, meridian and likely an engineers thumb as I like a compressor on the guitar as well and don’t think I’m really done exploring them yet.
 
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