My nephew wants to sound like cliff burton

[Locrian99]

So yea my nephew texts me today and says “how do i get my bass to sound like for whom the bell tolls”. So once the tearing up with pride passed first thought was the morley thing, not sure what fuzz circuit is in it. But i dont think hes at the point of a wah anyways. Reading sounds like he also used a muff a ts and a cs2. I was thinking id start by making him a green russian (clearly not the muffi circuit cliff used but good for bass). I might do a moonshine the clean blend might be nice, not sure the compressor is allthat needed. What else ya think for that.

I forget what bass he has something cheap, hes 14. Dont mind making him a plethora of pedals though.

 

[Feral Feline]

HPF

So, the Frequency Interchange Filter. Second most important pedal to any bass-player, right after Tuner.

Won't be the "FUN" thing, so make the FIRST one that gnarly fuzz you mentioned, one that Cliff might've used, but I'd make the HPF as his 2nd or 3rd pedal, and then explain why it's so important to bass-players, to HIMSELF. Start him down the right path.


How long has he been playing? Just starting or since he was 9 or ?


Then another fun one, like an auto-wah (not quite as WWCP *(What Would Cliff Play?) as a full on Wah with a treadle, but a lot of FUN anyway.

Then a boost, to send the Fuzz into chaos.

Then a potent EQ.

Then an Octaver.

Then a DI/Pre

Then a Flanger (or Phaser)

Then a loop-switcher for combining the Phaser and Fuzz in one stomp.

Then a Chorus (or Phaser...)

Followed by a Cab Sim

With a Hard-chop Tremolo after that...




You see the pattern, yes?
Gotta sneak those IMPORTANT utility pedals in there amongst the Gee-Whillikers-Walley-This-Sure-Is-a-FUN-effect pedals.

"Have yer cake, yee wee bairn-budding-man, but eat yer purritch, too! Ayyyye — now therrre's a gooood laddy."


DO NOT get him a compressor until after he's already mastered control of his own dynamics.


That's my 2¢ adjust for inflation to 2-bits.

 

[Feral Feline]

If he's a really big fan of Cliff Burton:

https://equipboard.com/pros/cliff-burton

If you look at what Cliff had (according to the items in that link above) and extrapolate a little ... it ticks a lot of different types of FX boxes:

An Alembic Bass, so an Alembic Preamp could be a good'n'​

Ibanez TS-9 — lots of options and lots of mods for making it more bass friendly​

Morley Fuzz Wah (see below)​

Morley Boost Wah (also below)​

​

Boss CS-2 Compression Sustainer — Get a SheepyLove Squishy from our very own Szukalski​

MXR 145 Limiter — if you look at the reviews, this thing is a "hidden gem", but better compressor than limiter, but buildable!​

​

Ibanez HD1500 Harmonics/Delay Rack Mount — Ibanez EM5 Soundtank Delay PCB is available at Aion​

Boss DM-2 Delay — Madbean Aquaboy​

Washburn A-AD9 Analog Delay — Lotsa fun delays to choose from in the PPCB shop.​

AMS DMX 15-80S Digital Delay — PPCB's DMD-2​

​

MXR M134 Stereo Chorus — Not the M134, but the PPCB Caesar is good to go in the bass-chorus line.​

​

Wah/Filter​

Electro-Harmonix EH-4250 BASS BALLS — Yeah, funky metal. PCBs available for this with lots of fun mods, check out Mark Hammer's version!​

Morley Power Wah Boost — A TWOFER! 1) Boost portion only, 2) a Cocked Wah pedal​

Morley Power Wah Fuzz — 1) Fuzz 2) Cocked-wah/autowah​

​

​

AMPS > PREAMPS​

Peavey Mark IV Series 400 Bass Amp — Have schematic, so this one's "doable" — might be a layout floating out there already.​

Randall RBA 500 — Nothing available that I know of, so need a schematic etc...​

Sunn Beta — SCORE! Several options to choose from for this one. Various PCBs vero and perf are available.​

Mesa Boogie D-180 200 Watt Tube Bass Amp — This would be a killer Pre, but... maybe Bassify some of the Mesa guitar-pedals already cloned?​

Mesa Boogie 4x12 — Cab sim​

Well that was fun.
I don't know how accurate Equipboard is, but the Burton-Lore is aplenty on TalkBass.

 

[jcpst]

From what I can gather here, I 2nd hooking him up with a fuzz that sounds good on bass. That’s a good start- it’ll blow his mind and he’ll have a ton of fun with it.

CreamPie Fuzz
Persica Fuzz
Pyrocumulus Fuzz
Chuck’s Bass Klon [build report]

what else folks

 

[Feral Feline]

FFFUZZZZZZzzzzzzzz
MUFFs good on bass, other than the obvious Russkies:

• Kewpie — Umbrella Mayonaise
• Glyph — BAT Pharaoh
• Colossal — MojoHand Collosus
• Thunder Pipe — BoE's follow up to the Musket, the Blunderbuss

Top picks that haven't already been mentioned:

• Snuffy — WooLee MamMoth
• Dirt Dauber Sub-Octave Fuzz — Beetronics Whoctahell
• Arkaim — MountainKing Megalith

There's lots more, besides...

 

[JasonWickersham]

Sooooo.. not sure if this is completely allowed buuut.. I have one of the big honkin chrome Morley pedals, and the fuzz circuit is laid out but not populated. Pedals needs an LDR, but that should be it for getting the wah portion up and running.
I am sure the fuzz portion wouldn’t be too difficult to pul off.


Being an old Cliff head, I’d be up for getting this into the hands of someone passionate about the sound.