I'm doing a complete rebuild of my pedal board right now. This has made me completely re think and also just get the basics right. Thanks for such a clear and concise video format and the description is gold dust. ❤️
@@VertexEffectsInc I have a Mesa Boogie Input output buffer (dual wire), I play bass, considering your vidéo, I wonder if its ok or I should consider changing it ?
I’m so curious to know differences between building bass rig and guitar rig. I’m a bass and guitar player with near 100 pedals and change my pedalboard almost 3 times a month (yes with good power supplies, buffer in and out😉) and with a dry/wet stereo reverb/wet stereo chorus-delay. So a 5 inputs rig for sounding best imho. Can’t wait for another excellent videos of the Rig Doctor😄
Board looked cool. Lotta pedals I'd love to try. But the demo he basically used the same 2 tones the whole time. Like build whatever pedal board you want, but that is a lot of board for not doing a lot. Just from a gigging perspective, it's a lot of extra points of failure for little/no reason.
Cool video, but I'm surprised you didn't touch on the subject of splitting your signal. Us bass players benefit a lot from signal splitting, because we can use it to blend in our cleans with whatever effect we have on. I found that the blend of a mic'd cab with a DI out straight into the board sounds amazing
I was hoping for more tips for making a bass rig less about all the expensive pro audio connectors kinda ate up a lot of time. Id be interested in seeing tips for using pedals to effect bass not drastically
Love the rig! You should definitely do a video diving into the usb connection box you made for this. I'd love to see how you put that housing together.
See this is why I just bought a quad cortex off of reverb. 1500 us dollars and I have infinite possibilities. No more paying 400+ for a single pedal when they are literally captured and downloadable for free.
Yes! I really liked that episode! I am a bassplayer! I am going to build a new pedalboard very soon with a gigrig g3. I have some mogami cable left, so I am going to take the sp400..... they are less less expensive than the solderless systems......
So let me get this straight a sales engineer at sweetwater and a professional effect pedal tech with the absolute best equipment, cables and knowledge and thats the tone you delivered lol come on boys all that money and know how and you use mustang bass with flats and a mute pad 😂 thanks for the effort though
really awesome build...however the demo sounded more lackluster then what my buddy gets through his peterson tuner into a compressor running right into his garage sale hartke 3500 he got for $80. i was expecting alot more in the demo. im sure someone else could make use of all of that in a real creative way, but the demo was lacking in showing that.
I didn't get it. The jist seemed to be buy good quality products and there you go. Lots' of good sites to visit though and I thank you for that, that took some effort. My pedal board has voo doo power and ernie ball patch cables. Zero noise. Like this presentation, buffers already included. Routed nicely. Guess I already have a pro board!
Should I add a buffer (or one at each end?) to my bass pedalboard? Currently, chain of effects has bass going into: Boss TU-3s to Rolls Tiny Two-Way Crossover splitting signal at 150 Hz; low output going to MXR Bass Compressor and into Ampeg B2-RE head, high output going to MXR Bass Compressor to Ibanez TS9 to MXR Six-band EQ to MXR Bass Preamp and into Hartke LH500 head. When I add a wah, my Morley Power Wah Boost goes between compressor and TS9. I have two active basses and one passive.
Hello, I am a newbie to the world of midi and programing switchers. I have recently purchased a ES-8 and have some questions concernig it. 1. Do you need a midi thru box to assist the Es-8 in programing multiple patches/algorithms with pedals like H9 max? 2. When you bank up, does the 1-8 switches on the Es-8 become unused and allow you to program a new patch? I.E.@ Bank 1 switch 2 H9 chorus and Bank 2 switch 2 H9 delay. 3. To program and name patches, can you leave the Es-8 all hooked up when you use computer to program it? After watching videos and reading about switchers, I think my brain if fried....lol. Thanks in advance....Gary
Thanks a lot for great videos helping me building my own upright bass pedal board (whith piezo pickup). I found a document from Peterson web site, which says the inpute impendance of their StroboStomp HD are 5M ohms on BUFFERED and MONITOR modes.
G1265 is more like what he'd use - what he actually uses. The ET65 is good too, I usually only use them if I need a 4 ohm speaker since Celestion doesn't make a G1265 in 4 ohm package.
@@dylanlee4776 I'm not sure I'd agree that the Deluxe Reverb has a bass response issue. It's a small combo, I think the issue is getting rid of bass. I wouldn't want a speaker that exaggerates it more.
Sounds much smoother through the Noble! One question I do have is would an ‘always on’ Aguilar compressor pedal 2nd in chain after korg true bypass tuner also function as somewhat of an input buffer?
@@VertexEffectsInc gotcha, thanks for the info! I have a pretty long true bypass pedal chain with an xotic super clean buffer/boost at the end and a buffered pedal (ehx freeze) in the middle. Was wondering how much noticeable effect an input buffer would have, as I can’t audibly detect any signal loss from the board right now. Thanks again!
@@taylorc9411 Super Sweet is also not a great buffer if you're goal is linear/colorless, I think it's about the same spec as your Compressor if you check it out, something like 1M input, 1K output. It also has a color to it "super sweet" - ideally buffers should have no color totally 1:1. The best way to check it is to put your entire rig into a true bypass loop and bring it int/out with all the pedals in bypass and compare the tone and dynamics. Record it if you can so you can hear it both ways and compare.
Hi Mason, I'm building my first bass pedalboard exclusively for home use and recording. I really appreciate your videos, I've learned a ton, thank you! I have an Aguilar Tone Hammer and 7 other pedals - I was planning to put the TH first in the chain and use the quarter inch "out" jack to go into the next pedal on the board which is a Darkglass Hyperluminal compressor. Is this the best way to go about it? I know the Tonehammer D.I. xlr out is good for giving a feed to a mixing board but I'm not sure how it figures in a pedalboard situation and if the xlr can/should be used instead of the quarter inch output? My basses are a passive Jazz bass and an active Musicman bass. And can you recommend a volume pedal that works well with both active and passive basses? Thanks again!
Sharon, it's a tricky thing...some of these new preamps have FX loops for you to put some effects pre/post the preamp. In this case, I would run all the effects into the Tone Hammer and use the DI out of this if you are planning on running into the board without an amp. Alternatively you could run the DI out with your dry FX and then use the other output to feed your WET pedals and then feed that in parallel to your mixer or some sort of other cab sim with a DI and mix wet/dry in parallel.
Is it? Sounds like bs to me. “Computers and downloads” are just another tool in our toolboxes. Each to their own, but you’re being intentionally ignorant by simply dismissing them.
The “basics” for a great bass sound is to get a bass guitar you like, get a bass amp that you like, get a simple tuner, plug the cable from the bass into the amp and practice until it sounds good. There is no need to spend a bunch of money on “Tonewood“ or “magical tube amps.“ Just look for something that you like, that feels good, you can afford, and sounds good to you. If you do get to the point where you are playing live it might be good to get a basic DI box and perhaps an EQ pedal to shape the sound a bit. Those are the “basics.” Of course you can get as complex as you like with pedals, pedal boards, power supplies, rack systems, wireless, midi, etc. but this video was tagged as “the basics.” LOL!
Eh Mason! I was wondering if you could help a bassy boy out! So I currently run an Active Pre-amp, Passive pick-up bass. I currently use the HX stomps ability to reduce the output gain in the FX loop to run some of the more sensitive pedals (fuzz + Envelope). This currently works well enough. I was wondering if you had any more refined methods to creating a line in the signal chain to place more sensitive pedals. Active Bass >Cali76 Compressor > OC2 > HXSTOMP > HX Effects Send (-7db) > Tone Hammer Input (amp completely flat no active cut) > Tone Hammer Effects Send > Wooly Mammoth(Fuzz) > Matryoshka(Fuzz/Synth) > Spatial Delivery (Envelope) > HX Effects Return (+6db) > HX OUT > Tone Hammer Effects Return. I currently have not had any problems with it at home. This is a covid rig, so I am trying to make it gig proof when real life comes around!
I'm not sure if this would be a good "general" video and also with any stuff that's AC (I presume it's AC), it can be a tricky legal negotiation since there is more risk of electrocution when dealing with higher voltage AC signals.
Great video! I want to ask, in this video how do you power the hx stomp? Is there any psu that can power the hx stomp without the current doubler cable? Thanks in advance
Some really nasty comments here..... Just shows some people's mentality. I thought it was an interesting and informative vid. Slick pedal board. Thanks.
Hey Vertex guys, wonder if you can help me getting stuck on something. I built a very similar board based on this video (same vertex board) but the Cioks power supply, HX Stomp and Effectrode LA-1A limiting amp. But the Noble has an XLR and line out. The XLR is not affected by the volume level, but the line out is. Every interface I look at has XLR’s with mic preamps. I don’t want to use the the mic preamps because I want to use the Noble as my preamp, but not stack them. The line out is an option for recording and using a line level on interfaces that bypass the preamp (SSL12/Volt4) but then I am concerned about volume level on the Noble being active for recording. Any ideas on this?
That little box with the Noble and Power on the front, is there a build tutorial for something like that? I’m geeking out on your builds and soaking it all in. Giving me ideas on how to build my next bass board. I’d like to know about that box and how you built it! Please and thank you!
No, but you can download the spacing and dimensions for a D Punch outlet from Neutrik and drill it out yourself. That's what is used for the PowerConn.
Great. Just one question: Is it good for guitar tone if my input buffer is 2 or 5 Megs? I'm using my pedalboards for bass AND for guitar. And last question: how measre the impedance of an input or an output of a pedal? Thanks for all from France!!!
Active Basses don't need to use an Input buffer pedal but active basses often overload the inputs to guitar pedals/bass pedals. What can you use to overcome this problem with active basses overloading and driving the input front ends on guitar pedals/bass pedals?
@@VertexEffectsInc using a volume pedal changes the tone of the guitar and bass. The Electro harmonix PAD pedal changes the tone active guitar pickups and active bass pickups electronics.
@@waynegram8907 not if you use a high quality buffer or use our Boost connected to the VP. We have a lot of guys that do this. The Boost also helps compensate for output differences between passive and active pickups.
@@VertexEffectsInc yes but your new vertex boost pedal input impedance is 1meg and active bass need 2Meg to 5meg input impedance. Paul Rivera says that using 2meg to 5meg impedance you will hear a difference when using a telecaster guitar but won't hear the difference when using a Stratocaster. The High end gets chopped off he is claiming when the buffers inputs are 1meg. When active bass I'm guessing it chops off the bass response and thickness when using a 1meg input impedance.
@@waynegram8907 the bass amps range...some are as low as 500K some as high a 10M...the baseline might be more optimal a bit higher, but the loading would have the same effect relative to what you're used to hearing.
Wondered the same thing. @7:24 there's a brief shot of the output side of the Noble showing two 1/4" jacks between the power and the XLR. Maybe a loop is a custom option from Noble? I'd really like to know.
Ok so is it preferable to run a dedicated bass input buffer or is the dual functionality and space saving of the stobostomp more than enough reason to just run that for bass?
But....what does the rest of the rig sound like? The sound samples at the end are just switching back and forth between dry direct and dry Noble at different eq settings. What are some other sounds this rig can get besides dry DI and dry Noble?
Not really a night and day difference between the 2 sounds, and I'm not even sure which I liked better. Neither was great, but neither was bad. Kind of a shame. I sat through that whole thing thinking I was about to hear something special only to get "meh".
Very interesting video Mason! I would like to put together a fairly simple bass rig to be able to go balanced to mixer/interface. I currently have a Darkglass Vintage Ultra pedal. What would your suggestions be to add drive, compression, delay and other commonly used bass effects into a fairly simple bass pedalboard? Thanks for your help and keep up the great videos!!
Depends on your drive tastes. I was always a fan of the Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive on Bass because of the clean blend. I also like the Fulltone Bass Drive a lot and some of the MXR Bass Distortion/Overdrive offerings. I also like Tech21/SansAmp drives too for bass or just putting guitar Overdrives with an EQ (that goes in the Bass Range) in a parallel mixer like the Xotic X Blender. For Compression, I like the MXR Studio Bass Compressor. For the wet processing really anything will work, depends on your preferences. A lot of guys do what Robert did here for the wet processing effects and use a Line 6 or Strymon to get a Swiss Army Knife type multi effects to have a bunch of different choices under one roof!
Hey Mason, do you have any info on how to build the power sum unit you built for this pedalboard? Alternatively, can you custom build these for clients to purchase?
If we need a buffer that's between 2-5 Meg, do we need 2 of those? Say the Lehle Sunday Driver, we need one at the beginning and one at the end? Or can we do with just 1 at the beginning and a regular buffer like a Bonafide at the end?
Just ordered the HX stomp and have an ES-5 for MIDI and have the Peterson with two analog pedals. Wondering if the Noble would be needed since the Stomp has cab sims. Would you guys still go through the hassle of adding the Noble? Also using a SansAmp bass driver. FYI sending the pedaltrain back for a Vertex just not sure if I should save room for a Noble takes 6 mos to get?
Depends on the quality amp you want. The HX is great, but the Nobel is kinda the gold standard for pedalboard based amps for bass. Pretty unreal how good it sounds :)
@@VertexEffectsInc thanks for the feedback! It is settled the Noble will be my last piece of gear outside of my instrument. Seeing when the wife will let me place the order ;) Look forward to soldering my mogami 2319 to the square plugs (arrived this week) and getting my Vertex Travel Plus after my pedaltrain return. Now just need to find a case in stock to fit the Vertex! Sweetwater is running low :(
@@VertexEffectsInc also, what would recommend to set up a power strip to power the ES-5, DC-7, and Noble? I liked how the Sweetwater bass pedalboard had added jacks to the back of the pedalboard. That’s what It’s like to do.
@@madhatter7862 wait...I missed your comment on the Nobels...well, something like our pedalboards has a power module option you can install into the board: www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/VPowerMod--vertex-effects-pedalboard-power-module
Very cool, compact set-up. I wonder, however, why the Noble wasn't used to power the pedals? I know that's one of the selling points of the Noble, but maybe it doesn't have enough power for something like the HX Stomp?
Thank you for yet another great and informative video. I'm a heathen that lives and dies by his Ernie Ball VP Jr. and uses the tuner out. I have a mix of true bypass and buffered bypass pedals, too many gadgets! But, I have my split signal going to Sans Amp bass drivers. I think I'm doing ok?
10M is not uncommon for bass amps. This might be just fine as an input buffer, you'd still need an output buffer however if you were running effects after this preamp.
Great info & video as always! What I don’t understand here though is you say to match the input impedance of the amp with the input buffer. The noble is 10 megs & the Peterson tuner is 2.2 megs - why does that work based on the matching the amps input logic? I use a noble and want to incorporate buffers into my rig. All my traditional bass amps (not the noble) have a 1 meg input impedance. With the noble being 10 meg I’m wondering which input buffer to go with for running both an amp behind me & the noble simultaneously. I would prob go with the tc bonafide 1meg, the Peterson 2.2 meg, or the lehle Sunday driver (which I would not be sure if I should set to 1meg or higher for the noble for my setup). Thanks!!!
Ideally, you should match the amp and input buffer as close as possible if you want the closest representation to what the bass sounds like into the amp alone, the way it's set up here, there is going to be some loading versus the bass into the amp, however, there's a threshold when you get up higher - usually about 5M it's very difficult to hear (or feel) a difference. So there will be some offset here, not perfect, but the player also uses active basses so that also impacts the overall impedance as well based on that buffer. You can check out the DIY buffers we have kits and tutorials for and you can set the input impedance based on what value resistor you put in the R1 slot. You can even put it on a toggle switch to have a few input impedance options!
Vertex Effects thanks for the response! I got it now. The question that remains is, if I’m using a passive bass -> noble (10meg) AND running a regular bass amp (1meg) out of the noble’s 1/4” output, should I get an input buffer that’s 2.2meg + or 1meg?
I place my Peterson tuner at the end of my chain as to trouble check wire connections. If I see the signal is reaching the tuner (the tuning is functional) then I know that the signal goes to the end of the chain of pedals. This video is making me wonder if I should put the tuner at the beginning of the chain of pedals!!!! What is your advice ?
Why there? If the signal is bad you'd probably notice it without checking the tuner status? The tuner is more accurate the closer it is to the instrument.
The more I learn, the less I know. Lol I'm a total newbie. I have a question I can't figure out for the life of me. I have a sh1 sansamp. It sounds best if I plug the bass into it and then into the effects loop. I want to add my other pedals. If I run them into the loop, the sansamp alters the amp sound. I want to use the sansamp at times with a couple of pedals but not all of them. If I run the other pedals in the front it doesn't work as the sansamp is in the effects look. I don't like the sansamp through the front. Is there a way to plug everything in and not have the sansamp engaged all the time? I might have just confused myself? Lol hope this makes some sense. Thanks.
If you prefer the effects in the loop you could bypass the preamp section all together and go guitar into SH1 into your FX pedals into the return of your amplifier.
@@VertexEffectsInc thanks for the quick reply. I just tried it and even with the sh1 in the off position it still acts as the preamp and I can't use the amp controls. I guess I could live with it. Thanks again. Love your vids.
@@VertexEffectsInc I'm still thinking abou assembling one but I meant in the end of the chain. right now I only have a zoom B3 but I want to replace it with a simple compressor, preamp, overdrive, cab-sim rig
Quick questions - say I've got an input buffer in the beginning of my signal chain(Peterson or Lehle) and the last pedal in my chain that's driving my power amp(a low/high pass filter which I'm boosting the gain with to drive my power amp) has an input impedance of 1M ohms and the output impedance of 100ohms - should I be good to go?
@@VertexEffectsInc aight, saw that you change the topic to suit it better. Your channel helps a lot with my own bass rig. Excited to see what this vid can improve mine.
Yes, our videographer is not a guitar player, so he just looks at what titles score high in Google that are roughly related to our topic but doesn’t necessarily get surgical with how it relates to the content. I appreciate the comment because it had me come back to take a look at what would be more appropriate for what the topic is.
@@smithsakulkaew Just use a Sansamp instead. You get the same improved bass tone, with more control, for much much less. Noble is completely overpriced
Hi Mason, great video. Just a simple question: in case of playing a 9V battery active preamp bass (like mine Yamaha RBX765) with passive pickups, do I still have to need an input buffer before the first pedal in the chain, a simple true bypass tuner? Or then I will have just to pay attention to the output buffer, and effects loop input and output buffers? Thanks.
Very proud for my Vertex Travel Lite rig. Running into a Peterson Tuner, then to Effectrode Leveling Amplifier (tube compressor) then to the Boss ES-5, an HX Stomp and MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe into the the ES-5 effect loop. Then from the ES-5 output to the BBE Sonic Maximizer pedal, then to the Sansamp. Well, my question is.. Next week my Noble arrives (just heard from Jack). I was gonna swap my Noble for the Sansamp, and run the Noble last. Should I instead run it into an effect loop of either the ES-5 or stomp? If I do how would I use the balanced output XLR to the board? Playing at church by the way, and running a parallel output to my GSS Baby Sumo Amp through a Phil Jones 4x7. Thoughts?
If you want effects processing after the Nobles, you can run it in the Loop of the HX, otherwise just use it dead last. If you want to use the XLR output as the DI out, then it always has to be last.
@@VertexEffectsInc Thanks guys, wish my Noble had the effects loop like this one does. Not sure if earlier models all had the effects loop or if this is a customization.
Great to see bass pedal build! more of bass contents please if there is any other😁
Thanks for watching! Will do!
Agree. More Bass rig's - too ( play both so I'm happy either way ) . . . I just wanna Keep on Learning !!!
More bass rigs!!!!!
Check out Janek Gwizdala does a lot of videos about the different rigs he builds and pedals he put on his pedalboard. Great bassist as well
This is an excellent video about how to build pedal boards for people who already know how to build pedal boards.
I feel like you made this one just for me... Can't wait to watch it!
Yes! Been a long time coming!!!
Same
I've been playing bass for about 6 years, therefore I have been waiting for this video for about 6 years.
hahahaha! Hope it helps!
So glad I saw this. I just bought a Bass, and I'm currently gathering pedals, for my (5) Pedal Bass Rig.
Have fun!
I'm doing a complete rebuild of my pedal board right now. This has made me completely re think and also just get the basics right. Thanks for such a clear and concise video format and the description is gold dust. ❤️
Glad I could help!
First step, apply for a loan.
😅😅😅😅fckn A!!! Lol
Lol that's like a 10k board. Sweetwater employee discounts seem to be good
@@gonzalosanchez6387I think so, those maybe are customer return, if is that correct, he can have a nice discount...
@@gonzalosanchez6387maybe fire the mainstream pedals but the noble and the tube comp probably was full price! His pocket still felt it tho lol
For not fire lol
Excellent video, Mason!! Thanks for sharing a bass-specific build with us!!
Thanks for your patience as we took a while to get this out! Thank you for watching!
I was waiting THAT precise video since the beginning ...... thank you
Amazing! Thank you for hanging in there! Thank you for watching!
@@VertexEffectsInc I have a Mesa Boogie Input output buffer (dual wire), I play bass, considering your vidéo, I wonder if its ok or I should consider changing it ?
Awesome. More bass pedal boards plz
🙏🙏🙏 will do
Wowwww. The board looks great, congratulations. On the other hand as a producer I still prefer the direct sound. Di>1073>1176 done.
That's great...what do you do on a gig?
🤫😝
I’m so curious to know differences between building bass rig and guitar rig. I’m a bass and guitar player with near 100 pedals and change my pedalboard almost 3 times a month (yes with good power supplies, buffer in and out😉) and with a dry/wet stereo reverb/wet stereo chorus-delay. So a 5 inputs rig for sounding best imho. Can’t wait for another excellent videos of the Rig Doctor😄
We have some cool venn diagrams to talk about these differences.
Board looked cool. Lotta pedals I'd love to try. But the demo he basically used the same 2 tones the whole time.
Like build whatever pedal board you want, but that is a lot of board for not doing a lot.
Just from a gigging perspective, it's a lot of extra points of failure for little/no reason.
Cool video, but I'm surprised you didn't touch on the subject of splitting your signal. Us bass players benefit a lot from signal splitting, because we can use it to blend in our cleans with whatever effect we have on. I found that the blend of a mic'd cab with a DI out straight into the board sounds amazing
That's what the HXStomp is for. I split the signal there.
It was less about the pedal for bass and more about how to go about building the rig.
Builds a pedalboard with 9 pedals and only uses the DI Preamp pedal for the Demo 😂. Solid work 🙄
I was hoping for more tips for making a bass rig less about all the expensive pro audio connectors kinda ate up a lot of time. Id be interested in seeing tips for using pedals to effect bass not drastically
They make a living shilling that bullshit
It’s finally happening!!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Yes!!!!
Love the rig! You should definitely do a video diving into the usb connection box you made for this. I'd love to see how you put that housing together.
Super easy, just a 1:1 connector using a short USB cable.
Nice! More bass content!
Yes! Tell your Bass friends to come watch it!
We are here 😜
I’m building a very similar rig
Thx for the idea w the gc stomp for midi saves me space
See this is why I just bought a quad cortex off of reverb. 1500 us dollars and I have infinite possibilities. No more paying 400+ for a single pedal when they are literally captured and downloadable for free.
Yes! I really liked that episode! I am a bassplayer! I am going to build a new pedalboard very soon with a gigrig g3. I have some mogami cable left, so I am going to take the sp400..... they are less less expensive than the solderless systems......
Great! And more reliable!
Keep the bass-centric stuff coming,Doc.
Will do!!!
YES HE RESPONDS! THANKS FOR THE REQUEST REPONSE!
Thanks for watching!
I was drooling for the entire video
Thanks for watching Sam!
The worst bass tone ever heard. Not speaking about the way he played. Next time I suggest you hire a bassist to play the demo.
These videos are great and interesting.
So glad you dig them!
So let me get this straight a sales engineer at sweetwater and a professional effect pedal tech with the absolute best equipment, cables and knowledge and thats the tone you delivered lol come on boys all that money and know how and you use mustang bass with flats and a mute pad 😂 thanks for the effort though
Thanks for this Rig Doctor!!!
My pleasure! Thank you for watching!
thanks, that buffer thing i have to take a closer look. never heard of it before.
Yes! Buffers are critical!
really awesome build...however the demo sounded more lackluster then what my buddy gets through his peterson tuner into a compressor running right into his garage sale hartke 3500 he got for $80. i was expecting alot more in the demo. im sure someone else could make use of all of that in a real creative way, but the demo was lacking in showing that.
I didn't get it. The jist seemed to be buy good quality products and there you go. Lots' of good sites to visit though and I thank you for that, that took some effort. My pedal board has voo doo power and ernie ball patch cables. Zero noise. Like this presentation, buffers already included. Routed nicely. Guess I already have a pro board!
I want that mustang more than anything else in the rig put together.
Hahahahaha!
Get a Sansamp and a clip on tuner for the headstock. Throw them in your gig bag and never, ever buy another piece of bass gear again
After 3 years of playing bass, I barely started learning about bass gear and I have no idea what half of the things he said meant 😂
Feel free to ask questions!
Should I add a buffer (or one at each end?) to my bass pedalboard? Currently, chain of effects has bass going into: Boss TU-3s to Rolls Tiny Two-Way Crossover splitting signal at 150 Hz; low output going to MXR Bass Compressor and into Ampeg B2-RE head, high output going to MXR Bass Compressor to Ibanez TS9 to MXR Six-band EQ to MXR Bass Preamp and into Hartke LH500 head. When I add a wah, my Morley Power Wah Boost goes between compressor and TS9. I have two active basses and one passive.
Depends the output impedance and input impedance of your amp and rig. You want to hit around 1M input and 100 ohm output impedance.
@@VertexEffectsInc What is needed to measure this?
Great video for the build. The demo was disappointing though. All of those pedals just to sound like a slightly more compressed and EQ-ed clean tone.
agreed ...great build, but damn what an expensive rig for almost nothing.
Time to buy a new large pedalboard for my bass!!!!
It's always time!!!
Hello,
I am a newbie to the world of midi and programing switchers. I have recently purchased a ES-8 and have some questions concernig it.
1. Do you need a midi thru box to assist the Es-8 in programing multiple patches/algorithms with pedals like H9 max?
2. When you bank up, does the 1-8 switches on the Es-8 become unused and allow you to program a new patch? I.E.@ Bank 1 switch 2 H9 chorus and Bank 2 switch 2 H9 delay.
3. To program and name patches, can you leave the Es-8 all hooked up when you use computer to program it?
After watching videos and reading about switchers, I think my brain if fried....lol.
Thanks in advance....Gary
Yes finally!
Thank you for watching!
Thanks a lot for great videos helping me building my own upright bass pedal board (whith piezo pickup). I found a document from Peterson web site, which says the inpute impendance of their StroboStomp HD are 5M ohms on BUFFERED and MONITOR modes.
Hey mason, if you were trying to get a 65 DRRI to sound more “Mayer” would you prefer the G12-65 or WGS ET65? And why?
G1265 is more like what he'd use - what he actually uses. The ET65 is good too, I usually only use them if I need a 4 ohm speaker since Celestion doesn't make a G1265 in 4 ohm package.
Do you think the ET65 has a better bass response for the DRRI?
@@dylanlee4776 I'm not sure I'd agree that the Deluxe Reverb has a bass response issue. It's a small combo, I think the issue is getting rid of bass. I wouldn't want a speaker that exaggerates it more.
Sounds much smoother through the Noble! One question I do have is would an ‘always on’ Aguilar compressor pedal 2nd in chain after korg true bypass tuner also function as somewhat of an input buffer?
Nobel is great! What's the input impedance of the Aguilar?
@@VertexEffectsInc thanks so much for reply! Input is 1M, Output is 1K
@@taylorc9411 A little low for bass...maybe something like 2.2M input is more standard and lower on the output, like 100 ohms or so.
@@VertexEffectsInc gotcha, thanks for the info! I have a pretty long true bypass pedal chain with an xotic super clean buffer/boost at the end and a buffered pedal (ehx freeze) in the middle. Was wondering how much noticeable effect an input buffer would have, as I can’t audibly detect any signal loss from the board right now. Thanks again!
@@taylorc9411 Super Sweet is also not a great buffer if you're goal is linear/colorless, I think it's about the same spec as your Compressor if you check it out, something like 1M input, 1K output. It also has a color to it "super sweet" - ideally buffers should have no color totally 1:1. The best way to check it is to put your entire rig into a true bypass loop and bring it int/out with all the pedals in bypass and compare the tone and dynamics. Record it if you can so you can hear it both ways and compare.
Hi Mason, I'm building my first bass pedalboard exclusively for home use and recording. I really appreciate your videos, I've learned a ton, thank you! I have an Aguilar Tone Hammer and 7 other pedals - I was planning to put the TH first in the chain and use the quarter inch "out" jack to go into the next pedal on the board which is a Darkglass Hyperluminal compressor. Is this the best way to go about it? I know the Tonehammer D.I. xlr out is good for giving a feed to a mixing board but I'm not sure how it figures in a pedalboard situation and if the xlr can/should be used instead of the quarter inch output? My basses are a passive Jazz bass and an active Musicman bass.
And can you recommend a volume pedal that works well with both active and passive basses? Thanks again!
Sharon, it's a tricky thing...some of these new preamps have FX loops for you to put some effects pre/post the preamp. In this case, I would run all the effects into the Tone Hammer and use the DI out of this if you are planning on running into the board without an amp. Alternatively you could run the DI out with your dry FX and then use the other output to feed your WET pedals and then feed that in parallel to your mixer or some sort of other cab sim with a DI and mix wet/dry in parallel.
@@VertexEffectsInc Fantastic, thanks so much Mason for this super helpful info!
Really cool to see someone with real gear unlike all these folk using computers and downloads. True dedication to music is actually using real gear
Is it? Sounds like bs to me. “Computers and downloads” are just another tool in our toolboxes. Each to their own, but you’re being intentionally ignorant by simply dismissing them.
@@dirtychinchilla No, I'm not. Just more dedicated than you actually investing towards sound. You gonna bring a computer to your gig I see? LoL
Thanks for watching John!
A good mustang with flats is so vibey
Oh heck yea!
@@VertexEffectsInc an episode about keeping the low-end intact while using pedals would also be a great topic. Thanks
@@T-Hawkeyes Yes indeed!
Mason, do you know if the Rockboard power pit is switch mode or linear?
I don't know. I gave a few tips on how to ID it in one of our last videos.
The “basics” for a great bass sound is to get a bass guitar you like, get a bass amp that you like, get a simple tuner, plug the cable from the bass into the amp and practice until it sounds good. There is no need to spend a bunch of money on “Tonewood“ or “magical tube amps.“ Just look for something that you like, that feels good, you can afford, and sounds good to you. If you do get to the point where you are playing live it might be good to get a basic DI box and perhaps an EQ pedal to shape the sound a bit. Those are the “basics.”
Of course you can get as complex as you like with pedals, pedal boards, power supplies, rack systems, wireless, midi, etc. but this video was tagged as “the basics.” LOL!
Hey Dr., great vid!!! I love a good clean wired board. U have it mastered. U think of all needs, space, function & control. Thanks! U ROCK!!! 😎
Eh Mason! I was wondering if you could help a bassy boy out! So I currently run an Active Pre-amp, Passive pick-up bass.
I currently use the HX stomps ability to reduce the output gain in the FX loop to run some of the more sensitive pedals (fuzz + Envelope). This currently works well enough. I was wondering if you had any more refined methods to creating a line in the signal chain to place more sensitive pedals.
Active Bass >Cali76 Compressor > OC2 > HXSTOMP > HX Effects Send (-7db) > Tone Hammer Input (amp completely flat no active cut) > Tone Hammer Effects Send > Wooly Mammoth(Fuzz) > Matryoshka(Fuzz/Synth) > Spatial Delivery (Envelope) > HX Effects Return (+6db) > HX OUT > Tone Hammer Effects Return.
I currently have not had any problems with it at home. This is a covid rig, so I am trying to make it gig proof when real life comes around!
Some guys will use a really transparent boost up front to boost up the passive pickups so they're unity with their rig.
Hi pedal doc, can you make a video of making DIY power supply for Blackstar FLY 5watt mini amp? Looking forward to it.
I'm not sure if this would be a good "general" video and also with any stuff that's AC (I presume it's AC), it can be a tricky legal negotiation since there is more risk of electrocution when dealing with higher voltage AC signals.
Great video! I want to ask, in this video how do you power the hx stomp? Is there any psu that can power the hx stomp without the current doubler cable? Thanks in advance
Current Doubler cable - we have a diy option on our video on making you’re own power cables like this
What’s with the demo? Weedy thin bass tone with no effects applied, are you serious?
It’s just to demonstrate noise level and transparency
Don’t forget the mask!!! 😂😂😂
Some really nasty comments here..... Just shows some people's mentality.
I thought it was an interesting and informative vid. Slick pedal board. Thanks.
Slick board, sadly we don't know what it can really do...
Hey Vertex guys, wonder if you can help me getting stuck on something. I built a very similar board based on this video (same vertex board) but the Cioks power supply, HX Stomp and Effectrode LA-1A limiting amp. But the Noble has an XLR and line out. The XLR is not affected by the volume level, but the line out is. Every interface I look at has XLR’s with mic preamps. I don’t want to use the the mic preamps because I want to use the Noble as my preamp, but not stack them. The line out is an option for recording and using a line level on interfaces that bypass the preamp (SSL12/Volt4) but then I am concerned about volume level on the Noble being active for recording. Any ideas on this?
A lot of nice equipment. The bass tone is pretty thin though. Wonder why...should be beefy af
We're just comparing DI with pedalboard to DI without pedalboard to compare transparency and noise.
That little box with the Noble and Power on the front, is there a build tutorial for something like that? I’m geeking out on your builds and soaking it all in. Giving me ideas on how to build my next bass board. I’d like to know about that box and how you built it! Please and thank you!
No, but you can download the spacing and dimensions for a D Punch outlet from Neutrik and drill it out yourself. That's what is used for the PowerConn.
@@VertexEffectsInc may I then ask what powerCon you used? Was it the 20 A?
@@ericbanke2903 the D-shape ones are all the same profile I believe - depends on your set up, I usually go double what the rig requirements are.
@@VertexEffectsInc thanks very much. Love the videos you are posting. Much appreciated!!
Great. Just one question: Is it good for guitar tone if my input buffer is 2 or 5 Megs? I'm using my pedalboards for bass AND for guitar. And last question: how measre the impedance of an input or an output of a pedal? Thanks for all from France!!!
You could put a switch to create a variable input impedance or put it on a pot. Some amps do this like certain model Two-Rocks
Active Basses don't need to use an Input buffer pedal but active basses often overload the inputs to guitar pedals/bass pedals. What can you use to overcome this problem with active basses overloading and driving the input front ends on guitar pedals/bass pedals?
An easy way would be a volume pedal to attenuate the input gain, or choosing pedals designed for higher headroom.
@@VertexEffectsInc using a volume pedal changes the tone of the guitar and bass. The Electro harmonix PAD pedal changes the tone active guitar pickups and active bass pickups electronics.
@@waynegram8907 not if you use a high quality buffer or use our Boost connected to the VP. We have a lot of guys that do this. The Boost also helps compensate for output differences between passive and active pickups.
@@VertexEffectsInc yes but your new vertex boost pedal input impedance is 1meg and active bass need 2Meg to 5meg input impedance. Paul Rivera says that using 2meg to 5meg impedance you will hear a difference when using a telecaster guitar but won't hear the difference when using a Stratocaster. The High end gets chopped off he is claiming when the buffers inputs are 1meg. When active bass I'm guessing it chops off the bass response and thickness when using a 1meg input impedance.
@@waynegram8907 the bass amps range...some are as low as 500K some as high a 10M...the baseline might be more optimal a bit higher, but the loading would have the same effect relative to what you're used to hearing.
How did you route the output of the HX Stomp since the Noble doesn't have an actual FX loop?
Wondered the same thing. @7:24 there's a brief shot of the output side of the Noble showing two 1/4" jacks between the power and the XLR. Maybe a loop is a custom option from Noble? I'd really like to know.
Loop is an option, Jack builds the Noble to order
@@RobertLeeWilliamsjunior rad. thanks
Dwayne, see what Robert said!
@@VertexEffectsInc Well now MY Noble needs a loop ;p
Ok so is it preferable to run a dedicated bass input buffer or is the dual functionality and space saving of the stobostomp more than enough reason to just run that for bass?
I prefer dedicated buffers, but either can get you there.
should i use a noise gate and if i have to, where should i put it on the pedalboard?
Watch our advanced signal paths video...all is told.
Very informative. What if ya wanted to add reverb? Would that go before or after the preamp/di?
If you have an FX Loop like this Nobel amp did, I'd put it in there.
But....what does the rest of the rig sound like? The sound samples at the end are just switching back and forth between dry direct and dry Noble at different eq settings. What are some other sounds this rig can get besides dry DI and dry Noble?
Robert Williams the owner, did his own demo of the board at Sweetwater.
@@VertexEffectsInc care to share a link?
Now I just need to be a pro level player 😅 I’ve got the HX Stomp part
Anyone know what that power junction box is, noble and strymon are going to it.
Same been trying to figure it out
A metronome would have been a nice addition to the pedalboard :-)
I think I would need to find a vid on the guitar effects buffers explained...
We have them, check out our channel!
@@VertexEffectsInc Thank you. I'll sure check it.
Beautiful!!!!!!
Thank you for watching!
Do you have the link for this pedalboard being used for its functionalities?
Sweetwater is making one with the owner of the board.
@@VertexEffectsInc sure taking their..... SWEET time!
@@rekeesefil not in my control to force the demo...sorry, out of my hands.
Long live bass!
Yes!!! My favorite fish!
Have you checked out the new fender power supplies? Curious to your opinion
I’ve reached out to fender to see if they’ll send this one to review, I have yet to hear back
Not really a night and day difference between the 2 sounds, and I'm not even sure which I liked better. Neither was great, but neither was bad. Kind of a shame. I sat through that whole thing thinking I was about to hear something special only to get "meh".
Very interesting video Mason! I would like to put together a fairly simple bass rig to be able to go balanced to mixer/interface. I currently have a Darkglass Vintage Ultra pedal. What would your suggestions be to add drive, compression, delay and other commonly used bass effects into a fairly simple bass pedalboard? Thanks for your help and keep up the great videos!!
Depends on your drive tastes. I was always a fan of the Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive on Bass because of the clean blend. I also like the Fulltone Bass Drive a lot and some of the MXR Bass Distortion/Overdrive offerings. I also like Tech21/SansAmp drives too for bass or just putting guitar Overdrives with an EQ (that goes in the Bass Range) in a parallel mixer like the Xotic X Blender. For Compression, I like the MXR Studio Bass Compressor. For the wet processing really anything will work, depends on your preferences. A lot of guys do what Robert did here for the wet processing effects and use a Line 6 or Strymon to get a Swiss Army Knife type multi effects to have a bunch of different choices under one roof!
@@VertexEffectsInc Thanks for the reply! That gives me some good places to start. Excellent info, thanks again!!
@@georgebaader9817 my pleasure!
Hey Mason, do you have any info on how to build the power sum unit you built for this pedalboard? Alternatively, can you custom build these for clients to purchase?
I don't...we've been advised to stay away from AC power DIY tutorials since it can be fatal if done improperly. We don't build them for purchase.
If we need a buffer that's between 2-5 Meg, do we need 2 of those? Say the Lehle Sunday Driver, we need one at the beginning and one at the end? Or can we do with just 1 at the beginning and a regular buffer like a Bonafide at the end?
Just ordered the HX stomp and have an ES-5 for MIDI and have the Peterson with two analog pedals. Wondering if the Noble would be needed since the Stomp has cab sims. Would you guys still go through the hassle of adding the Noble? Also using a SansAmp bass driver. FYI sending the pedaltrain back for a Vertex just not sure if I should save room for a Noble takes 6 mos to get?
Depends on the quality amp you want. The HX is great, but the Nobel is kinda the gold standard for pedalboard based amps for bass. Pretty unreal how good it sounds :)
@@VertexEffectsInc thanks for the feedback! It is settled the Noble will be my last piece of gear outside of my instrument. Seeing when the wife will let me place the order ;) Look forward to soldering my mogami 2319 to the square plugs (arrived this week) and getting my Vertex Travel Plus after my pedaltrain return. Now just need to find a case in stock to fit the Vertex! Sweetwater is running low :(
@@VertexEffectsInc also, what would recommend to set up a power strip to power the ES-5, DC-7, and Noble? I liked how the Sweetwater bass pedalboard had added jacks to the back of the pedalboard. That’s what It’s like to do.
@@madhatter7862 No reason to do that, you can fit that all into your DC-7 and power everything from there.
@@madhatter7862 wait...I missed your comment on the Nobels...well, something like our pedalboards has a power module option you can install into the board: www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/VPowerMod--vertex-effects-pedalboard-power-module
Is the DC power from the Noble DI good to use? It doesn't seem to be isolated from their website? Did you use it's over out or no?
It's not isolated so there will be lots of circumstances where it won't work without adding noise.
@@VertexEffectsInc Was the toroidal transformer from the Noble DI troublesome for noise being so close to the other pedals??
Very cool, compact set-up. I wonder, however, why the Noble wasn't used to power the pedals? I know that's one of the selling points of the Noble, but maybe it doesn't have enough power for something like the HX Stomp?
It's not isolated.
Thank you for yet another great and informative video. I'm a heathen that lives and dies by his Ernie Ball VP Jr. and uses the tuner out. I have a mix of true bypass and buffered bypass pedals, too many gadgets! But, I have my split signal going to Sans Amp bass drivers. I think I'm doing ok?
I’d loose the tuner out and get a high quality input and output buffer.
EBS Stanley clarke preamp has an 10 Mohm input impedance. Do I need to put more isolate input buffer?
10M is not uncommon for bass amps. This might be just fine as an input buffer, you'd still need an output buffer however if you were running effects after this preamp.
What is the best pedal chain for bass players?
We have a good guitar signal path one and most of it holds up for Bass.
I didn’t like the tone of that bass. I feel like he or something was holding back?
Great info & video as always! What I don’t understand here though is you say to match the input impedance of the amp with the input buffer. The noble is 10 megs & the Peterson tuner is 2.2 megs - why does that work based on the matching the amps input logic?
I use a noble and want to incorporate buffers into my rig. All my traditional bass amps (not the noble) have a 1 meg input impedance. With the noble being 10 meg I’m wondering which input buffer to go with for running both an amp behind me & the noble simultaneously. I would prob go with the tc bonafide 1meg, the Peterson 2.2 meg, or the lehle Sunday driver (which I would not be sure if I should set to 1meg or higher for the noble for my setup). Thanks!!!
Ideally, you should match the amp and input buffer as close as possible if you want the closest representation to what the bass sounds like into the amp alone, the way it's set up here, there is going to be some loading versus the bass into the amp, however, there's a threshold when you get up higher - usually about 5M it's very difficult to hear (or feel) a difference. So there will be some offset here, not perfect, but the player also uses active basses so that also impacts the overall impedance as well based on that buffer.
You can check out the DIY buffers we have kits and tutorials for and you can set the input impedance based on what value resistor you put in the R1 slot. You can even put it on a toggle switch to have a few input impedance options!
Vertex Effects thanks for the response! I got it now. The question that remains is, if I’m using a passive bass -> noble (10meg) AND running a regular bass amp (1meg) out of the noble’s 1/4” output, should I get an input buffer that’s 2.2meg + or 1meg?
I place my Peterson tuner at the end of my chain as to trouble check wire connections. If I see the signal is reaching the tuner (the tuning is functional) then I know that the signal goes to the end of the chain of pedals. This video is making me wonder if I should put the tuner at the beginning of the chain of pedals!!!! What is your advice ?
Why there? If the signal is bad you'd probably notice it without checking the tuner status? The tuner is more accurate the closer it is to the instrument.
The more I learn, the less I know. Lol
I'm a total newbie. I have a question I can't figure out for the life of me. I have a sh1 sansamp. It sounds best if I plug the bass into it and then into the effects loop. I want to add my other pedals. If I run them into the loop, the sansamp alters the amp sound. I want to use the sansamp at times with a couple of pedals but not all of them. If I run the other pedals in the front it doesn't work as the sansamp is in the effects look. I don't like the sansamp through the front. Is there a way to plug everything in and not have the sansamp engaged all the time? I might have just confused myself? Lol hope this makes some sense. Thanks.
If you prefer the effects in the loop you could bypass the preamp section all together and go guitar into SH1 into your FX pedals into the return of your amplifier.
@@VertexEffectsInc thanks for the quick reply. I just tried it and even with the sh1 in the off position it still acts as the preamp and I can't use the amp controls. I guess I could live with it. Thanks again. Love your vids.
So will the tc electronic buffer to just fine for the output buffer?
Yes! Absolutely!
whats a buffer? and where can I take my pedalboard to get set up or set up advice?
Check out our Buffer videos in our Rig Doctor Playlist. You can hire consulting services over on www.therigdr.com.
@@VertexEffectsInc ok but for consulting is it over a video call?
@@TheCds777 there are different options, typically Zoom is most common.
Mason, if I have an active DI do I still need a buffer?
On the input of the rig? Tell me more about the pedals and the rig.
@@VertexEffectsInc I'm still thinking abou assembling one but I meant in the end of the chain. right now I only have a zoom B3 but I want to replace it with a simple compressor, preamp, overdrive, cab-sim rig
@@thebassrogue if you're going to an amp, you'd want one on the output at least.
@@VertexEffectsInc thanks Mason!
Nice video!
Glad you enjoyed it
Should’ve shown more than just the direct sound vs the noble
This wasn't the demo, it was just showing the build had no noise relative to the bass alone, Sweetwater did the play through video.
How did you connect the HX Stomp to the 3A? On the Zuma or even from the small box of the noble?
HX Stomp only draws about 1A, I made a current doubler.
Quick questions - say I've got an input buffer in the beginning of my signal chain(Peterson or Lehle) and the last pedal in my chain that's driving my power amp(a low/high pass filter which I'm boosting the gain with to drive my power amp) has an input impedance of 1M ohms and the output impedance of 100ohms - should I be good to go?
Should be fine as long as it's always on.
I live in Maryland where can I find someone to help with building a solid professional bass pedal board
Have a look at our Pedalboard Costs video and we name builders all over the country.
Hello, the XLR from the noble goes to the FOH, but if I need to go to a IEM also how do I do it from the end of the pedalboard?
I have no idea what the buffers are? What's the difference between a input and output buffer? Can someone help me please?
Watch our buffer videos, we have several
My dad must be Jeff Bezos if I can afford to have Noble on my first bass rig.
I think you’ll find the content irrespective of the products used, that the teaching on this subject is universal
@@VertexEffectsInc aight, saw that you change the topic to suit it better. Your channel helps a lot with my own bass rig. Excited to see what this vid can improve mine.
Yes, our videographer is not a guitar player, so he just looks at what titles score high in Google that are roughly related to our topic but doesn’t necessarily get surgical with how it relates to the content. I appreciate the comment because it had me come back to take a look at what would be more appropriate for what the topic is.
@@smithsakulkaew Just use a Sansamp instead. You get the same improved bass tone, with more control, for much much less. Noble is completely overpriced
@@ileutur6863 is the Sansamp tube or solid state?
Hi Mason, great video. Just a simple question: in case of playing a 9V battery active preamp bass (like mine Yamaha RBX765) with passive pickups, do I still have to need an input buffer before the first pedal in the chain, a simple true bypass tuner? Or then I will have just to pay attention to the output buffer, and effects loop input and output buffers? Thanks.
The preamp is the input buffer.
@@VertexEffectsInc thank you so much!
Ok ok high quality. No what pedal goes first. Next!
Huh?
Very proud for my Vertex Travel Lite rig. Running into a Peterson Tuner, then to Effectrode Leveling Amplifier (tube compressor) then to the Boss ES-5, an HX Stomp and MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe into the the ES-5 effect loop. Then from the ES-5 output to the BBE Sonic Maximizer pedal, then to the Sansamp. Well, my question is.. Next week my Noble arrives (just heard from Jack). I was gonna swap my Noble for the Sansamp, and run the Noble last. Should I instead run it into an effect loop of either the ES-5 or stomp? If I do how would I use the balanced output XLR to the board? Playing at church by the way, and running a parallel output to my GSS Baby Sumo Amp through a Phil Jones 4x7. Thoughts?
Would send pics if I could on here..Think would be proud..also soldered the midi from Stomp to ES-5 and square plugs per Mason’s videos.
If you want effects processing after the Nobles, you can run it in the Loop of the HX, otherwise just use it dead last. If you want to use the XLR output as the DI out, then it always has to be last.
@@VertexEffectsInc Thanks guys, wish my Noble had the effects loop like this one does. Not sure if earlier models all had the effects loop or if this is a customization.
i ordered the noble no fx loop on mine and no option on the website to order with one@@madhatter7862
YOUR KILLING ME WITH THE MEG THIS BLAH BLAH THAT, AND AT THE END THE BASS SOUNDS FLAT AS HECK, CAN YOU BREAK IT DOWN IN LAYMEN S TERMS NEXT TIME