Great video! To get the sounds I need, I have to place my filter later in the chain, as octave and at least one dirt/drive pedal gives the filter something more to work with. And, after countless iterations on my board, the compressor ended up last in the chain. Really depends how you want your drives to react. I have a synth-heavy setup, so maybe I stray a little from the standard setup.
Chain of effects for a bass rig is something I've obsessed over and experimented with for as long as I've been playing (38 years this May). The culmination of my efforts is a two head system with a crossover box to split signal between the two heads at 150 Hz. Signal path goes from instrument to tuner to xover. Low output from xover goes through a bass compressor and into a Hartke LH500 head and out a 1x15 cabinet. High output from xover goes through a bass compressor to Morley Power Wah Boost to TS9 to effects loop of an Ampeg B2-RE head, where chorus/flanger and delay pedals sit and feed into an Ibanez HD1500 harmonics/delay rack unit. Signal comes out the effects loop return and into a bass preamp before going into the Ampeg head's input and out a 4x10 cabinet. Amp volumes are always adjusted to match.
Thank you so much for this tech advice. I reorganized my pedals today based on this video, the sound changed instantly to a much better, buzz free sound. 👌🏿 Greetings from Uganda 🇺🇬👊🏿🖤
Have you considered doing a video on parallel signal paths for bass? Go over how to best set it up, cabling considerations, potential phasing issues, options for mixers ( studio vs pedalboard), mic positioning and considerations, choice of microphones, mixing in final signal from microphone, best ways or options for exacting the clean signal.
I use a boss LS-2 line selector in A+B mode I use this to blend the 2 channels together, one has a patch cable only for the dry signal the 2nd channel I use for my effects pedals. I go bass -> tuner -> LS-2 -> Behringer BDI21 Pream/DI -> split to amp on stage and then into and FOH. For the 2nd channel of the LS-2, my effects are compressor -> Dumble distorting set minimal (i don't like heavy distortion) -> Chorus -> delay. I find having the dry uneffected blended with the effects helps preserve the low signal.
YESSSS!!!! Thanks for this video!!! Janek is the man. I find that when I put the Octave before anything the Octave seems to sound better, also, the Boss LS-2 helps for having better sound especialy if you run A+B mix together. French guy here, sorry if my english is bad 🤣
Hearing someone I highly regard like Janek basically describe what Ive setup from my own experience is SOOOOO satisfying!😃😄 Lots of the same pedals and same settings and same order🤗
I believe that a lot of bass players (me included) search for a kind of "synth" type signal when comes to filters and octavers/distortions. I've seen Mason signal path in more guitar rigs usually. A good topic to me it would be impedance for the bass player/upright player, a lot of upright players use piezo pickups that have an even higher impedance and mess up a lot with the signal by it self and it gets worst when you have to switch from electric to acoustic.
Two big ones! What a great help for us bassists, I've been following Janek for years, and I use some pedals he indicated, but my instrument is active, and I use a slightly different booster that has a valve and has an end-to-end welded circuit, that is, it has no plate!! Boost, OC2, BB preamp, envelope filter, Dr.Scientist Bitquest (digital), Zcat pedals delay/chorus/freeze (digital), this is my signal in sequence. I don't use a compressor, but if Mason has any tips he will be very much but very welcome. Take care 🙏🏻
One tip I have is that if you like having a clean blend alongside distortion or some modulation effects a boss line selector or anything with similar functionality is worth it's weight in gold for essentially allowing you to add a clean blend to any distortion which imo tends to massively improve the sound and ability to sit well sonically in a band context.
Got mine at the end of the pedal chain because it's buffered and I've got some fuzz pedals which wouldn't like a buffered signal in the front. Additionally I can mute my whole pedalboard with one click.
Usually yes it goes first. Of course as others said it might depend upon buffered or true bypass type too. If you don’t have other pedals that can compensate buffered pedals you might wanna put in near end but usually it goes first in pedal chain. I have a PolyTune 3 and it can do either true bypass or buffered and it’s at the front of the chain. I only use like 4 other pedals anyway too
Cliff Burton's strategy was bass to compressor to Morley Power Wah Boost to TS9 to amp during part of his career in Metallica. This allows for some varied and impressive tones.
@@VertexEffectsInc He was an awesome innovator of playing technique and tonal experimentation even before joining Metallica. I believe he would have risen to much greater heights (and likely outgrown the band) had he lived on :)
Very interesting to see the different takes and ideas about sounds between you and Janet and I guess we'd get a different set-up for every bass player we'd ask to comment. I'd personally put the compressor after the OD/Distortion to get more dynamics out of those effect and to tame the extremes coming out of them. But hey... that's me :) Thanks for the video!
@@VertexEffectsInc I like to keep it a bit more dynamic than a limiter but yes... a harder set compressor to take care of the peaks. Distortion is mostly smack on but with OD I want to play more with the dynamics from clean to breaking up by playing harder and softer. Putting the compression before that kills off the dynamic range of the playing and gives me less headroom to play with. Again... my 5 cents :)
My favorite pedal that I use on bass is the Boss PS3. On setting 4 you can have chorus and a slap delay at the same time. Great for 80s/new wave lead bass tone.
I can say that using a Sansamp for distortion before a fuzz works fine. Sometimes I like combining the two for a lot of texture in the sound. I'm using the Aguilar Fuzzistor shown in this video. It's also a nice way to make your sound a little more modern if you turn the fuzz all the way down and turn up the tone. The Aguilar pedals do weigh a million pounds tho.
It's more dependent on the fuzz than the SansAmp. Some Fuzz pedals will be fine with any low impedance hitting it. A lot of the vintage transistors styles will not.
Yaaay Bass stuff . . . Guitar stuff . . . Pedalboard builds . . . Signal routing . . . making patch cables = Love it all !!! I honestly Eat, sleep, drink & breathe Music, Pedals & effects. The only thing I can do 24/7/365 - ( dare I say ) even more then watching NFL Football !!!
I think you are right, using this setup is fine. My rig right now: Boss tu3 into Darkglass hyper luminal (compressor) into Darkglass alpha -omicron (distortion) into Boss ceb-3
@@VertexEffectsInc added input Buffers, plus thinkin about either svt scr-di or microbass 3 preamp. Do you think putting the preamp after distortion would be right?
My live rig is tuner-> BBE Octicomp (compressor)-> Donner Square (octaver)-> Two Notes LeBass (tube preamp) with Source Audio eq in fx loop-> XLR out to board/ 1/4" out to power amp/cab. For recording the octaver goes to DI, XLR out for parallel processing and 1/4" out to preamp. This way my "raw bass" gets the octave down as usually when recording we simulate bi-amping. I rarely use chorus or reverb.
Awesome informative video as always 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Thanks a lot, Mason and Janek 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼 I’m relatively new to the Bass game, recently decided to record bass for my guitar instrumental stuff by myself 😁 It turns out that I can use most of my guitar pedals with bass and it makes me happy 😊 On the pedal order matter, I agree with Mason) Tried dozens of different varieties and methods described in this video worked best for my ears😊
Great video! Here’s how my board is setup. Boss WL50 wireless to Strobostomp tuner to Seymour Duncan Studio Bass Compressor (really like the parallel processing on this pedal) into my Zoom B3, where I’ve normally got Octave->Drive->Chorus then out to my amp where I’ve got more drive on tap after the pre-amp if need be. I love having the flexibility of the B3 multi-effects pedal because I can basically dial up whatever sequence of 3 effects I want in whatever order & most of them sound really close to the original pedal they’re modeled after.
@@mattastic247 I've had it for about 3 or 4 months now & I love it! I honestly can't believe it took me this long to find it & that you don't see more of them out there.
After watching the guitar signal path video, I moved my volume pedal after my noise gate loop (gain stage) and before my reverb, it can give you really cool synthy or upright bowed bass sounding swells, and the noise gate loop cuts the hum from the bass and then the noise of the gain pedals, and having the volume after it means you can trigger the gate to open with the volume down and have nice clean swells, instead of putting it up front, which means the gate opens during the swell and jumps suddenly
My head is exploding. I'm gonna have to watch this again. Also I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that most of us will have a much simpler setup (1 or 2 effects at a time). I love the idea of the Boss selector thingy enabling multiple simple combinations of effects.
This is such a killer channel man!! There's so much valuable information that has already helped me get so much more out of my rig. The one thing I didn't see covered in this video is where to put a preamp. I have a Darkglass harmonic booster which is a clean preamp, and I'm wondering where in this order would it fit best.
Take the word "preamp" out of it and think about it in terms of what it actually does. Anything before the amp is a preamp, so this is really just a new term guys are using to make it sound cool a different. If it's a boost and you want it to add gain (saturation) put it before your drive pedals. If you want it to add volume only, put it after your drive pedals.
Great video. I wanted to mention that I split my signal A/B with a Radial box. I set it so when I click the switch it goes to A ( wet) where my tuner is so I can tune silently. B is running to a sansamp VT bass pedal direct to the board thus I always have a pure bass sound with the wet side. Sounds absolutely massive. Sometimes playing smaller clubs ( where I don’t split) is a bummer. However, large club or outdoor big deck, oh the brutality! Split that signal!
In general, I agree on filter pedals going before drives/distortions; however, for some reason, I just prefer the sound I got putting wah pedals after drives/distortions vs before with the rest of the filters.
Word of warning to anyone trying to use that Woolly Mammoth mentioned specifically in this video: try that thing out before and after any buffers to see what you prefer. The sound is drastically different and if you want that super almost untamed fuzz sound, make sure you place that sucker before any buffers. After a buffer, it's highly similar to a lot of other fuzz pedals out there. Before buffers, it's in its own lane, which is why it's been cloned so many times. Not saying either is wrong or right, but personally if I'm buying something that expensive I wouldn't want it to sound like any other fuzz.
This is a very nice and informative video that has basically everything we (bass players) should know. Thank you. I pretty much agree with most things here but go w/ Janek with the "put your music first", we experiment and learn. Still, good points the Rig dude brought with Passive vs Active and all. Funny/nice how YT recommends the right thing. I bought the Bug Muff and was seeing some vids about it...
Thanks for the vid, it was very informative. It was also awesome to get the second options/opinions from Janek. It also amused me somewhat all the little *pops* for the pedal icons, props for that.
This is what's on my board (or is going to be). The one's in brackets are on the buy list (if you have other options for pedals please let me know). What are your thoughts on the signal chain? My aim is to get the synthbass type of vibe. Signal chain: 1. BASS --> 2. PolyTune 3 w/buffer (Tuner) -> 3. MXR M288 (Octave) -> 4. [Darkglass B3K] (OD) -> 5. MXR M84 Bass Fuzz Delux -> 6. [NANO POG] (for solos) -> 7. MXR M82 (Envelope) -> 8. EHX Qtron + (Envelope) -> 9. Malekko E.Filter (Envelope) -> 10. [Compressor (Cali 76 or MXR)] -> 11. MXR EVH Phase 90 -> 12. MXR M234 (Chorus) -> 13. TC Hall of Fame 2 -> 14. Dunlop Volume Pedal -> 15. [MXR Carbon Copy Deluxe] -> 16. MXR Micro Amp M133 -> 17. [Bass DI] -> 18. Boss Looper RC-10 -->AMP
I think that knowing where each pedal goes means that you want to understand each pedal individually first. Understanding how they work in isolation means that you can make them work together the way you want.
@@VertexEffectsInc wouldn't a di that has cab simulations for example nux's melvin lee davis bass preamp,vmeant to be a finishing sound and won't blend well into the other pedals.
As a good poor basist, my signal chain is solely composed by two pedals: A distortion and an envelop filter (Krozz Devices's Kraken Hearth, I recommend you guys check this!) and I put them in that order: Distortion and Envelop. I'll try to change their position.
Great vid! I do a lot of studio work and live playing. I was the touring bassist for the Motown group The Miracles as well so nailing the Jamerson sound was crucial. I’ve never bern much of a pedal guy but as of late am getting into it and building my first pedalboard. Your videos are extremely informative and Janik’s kind advice is very much appreciated.
One advantage of many bass DIs is that they have built-in buffers. For example SansAmp, who makes one of the most famous bass DIs, has high-quality buffers in all of their pedals. So, since your DI will be first or near first anyways, you can skip a stand-alone buffer. Worth asking DI manufacturers if their units have a built-in buffer.
Some of the DI's aren't that low impedance however, I've seen some that are 1K, so there aren't real standards when it comes to the impedances of the DI and now low and effective it is at driving cable capacitance.
My bass board for many years has consisted of: 1. Boss Tuner 2. Digitech Bass Whammy 3. Crybaby Bass Wah (being replaced by the new Justin Chancellor Wah) 4. JHS Unicorn Vibe 5. JHS Muffuletta Fuzz 6. ZVEX Distortron 7. MXR Phase 100 8. EHX SuperEgo Plus 9. EHX Memory Boy Deluxe 10. Friedman Buxom Boost I prefer to put my pitch modulation first because I want it to act more like an extension of the instrument. Pitch bends are more like a whammy bar bends and octaves or harmonies behave more like having an eight string bass or playing chords for example (the Whammy also makes a great chorus). I also see the Wah as an extension of the tone control of a bass so I have it early in the signal chain. I like the sounds of modulation before and after distortion so that's why have the vibe and phaser on either side of the distortions. I have a Seymour Duncan Studio Bass Compressor I'd like to incorporate for some parallel compression but I'm not sure where to place it. I might replace the boost with the comp to tighten everything up and give me the output headroom but I also like using compression early in the chain to tame the dynamics from the instrument. Maybe the Rig Doctor will have a prescription.... I mean suggestion.
I think it depends on what you want to run the compression in parallel around, you could use any sort of parallel mixer like I have suggested here, xotic makes a good one
@@VertexEffectsInc The comp would be an always on effect like my boost and it has a built in blend for running the parallel comp. I typically like to run compression on bass to tame dynamics of the instrument but I also like the idea of running it last to help even out dynamics of all the effects. I definitely need to experiment.
i guess that the goal they tried to archieve is that you can comprehend the sound chain, not replicate some tone. When the chain gets more intricate, its when you combine different type of pedals. With the info they put in this video, following some things, you should get the sound you want to replicate. Or you can watch a video of how X bassist pedalboard is and replicate that.
I use my compressor (MXR) to calm the peaks when I get aggressive, particularly when using a pick or using slap/pop. Some dirt pedals react to those peaks in a way that I like, so my compressor goes after the dirt in my chain. Otherwise, my chain reflects Masons recommendations.
Advice on only going direct to board? I play at different churches and never use an amp. Pedal board chain is Tuner - Octave - Distortion - Compressor - Ampeg Preamp with DI to board. Thoughts?
You're basically gonna treat the DI as the amp at that point. Some of them have FX Loops as well to put some of the wet effects if you're getting any gain from the Preamp DI.
The EBS Signature Drive by Billy Sheehan is another sleeper drive where it combines distortion and clean sounds, as well as having FX loops on both sides
I like to use filters or wah pedals after compressors cause I think if you use them before the compression it could cut the dynamics of the wah or the filters! Mason it would be awesome if you review the Pedalboard of Justin Chancellor from Tool!
Hello. LOVE your videos! Very informative. I have a stupid question about the order of bass effects. I have an Ampeg DI so the sound engineer can get a clean signal by using my output or XLR. I then start my chain from the thru of the DI. However, I put my tuner before the DI so the FOH doesn’t have to hear me tuning and my entire signal can be muted. Is this ok? I haven’t noticed any difference in tone by the way.
Tip for the perfect chain, radial bassbone 2, boss tu3, nemphasis overdrive, future impact, mxr dyna bass compressor, bass whammy. Thanks and complements for the video, bye from Italia
I personally prefer my DI Out at the end of my chain since I have a Sansamp on one board and the Darkglass X Ultra on my other board. I love having my entire DI sound, effects and all including my cab simulation sent to front of house instead of it being sent as parallel signals. It's less work for the sound guy, less work for me, and I've found it more pleasant on the ears
I do the same. I didn’t have a problem sending clean and effected signals to the board when we had our own sound and I could have it mixed like I wanted it. My last gig was all rented sound which is a whole different situation. Those guys want your dry signal period, so I learned not to give them a choice!
There are a lot of ways to do it....sometimes if you want to blend clean with a mic'd amp, doing an early DI is great. If you have a Sansamp or similar preamp with a DI out then at the end is obviously better.
New to bass pedals and this is very helpful. I play passive bass with small board consisting of Peterson Strobe HD tuner > Origin Call 76 >Origin DCX > Radial JDI going to FOH (no amp). You mentioned the importance of using buffers to match amp but as I don’t use amp do I need to care about buffering?
I play at our church and we play direct with no amp. I’m new to bass pedals and was curious about the order as well. My signal chain is…boss tuner, octave, overdrive, chorus, compressor, Aguilar tone hammer DI then to the house. Does that sound right? What would you do?
Please let me know if the following order is acceptable for general live gig. Genre: funk/rock/alternative. Thank you very much. Bass guitar>volume>tuner with buffer>compressor>octave>envelope filter>metaldrive>amp.
Thank you very much for the video! What happens with the noise suppressor though? My pedalboard consists of the Peterson tuner, mxr bass compressor, Darkglass harmonic booster, Darkglass b7k ultra, then chorus and bonafide buffer. Where should I put my boss noise suppressor?
@@VertexEffectsInc Pedal gain. I am also going to buy an alpha omega ultra and put it between my b7k ultra and my chorus. So what i would normally do is put the suppressor after the harmonic booster and loop the two preamp pedals that have distortion in it, then go to chorus and bonafide. I am trying to build a rig that plays both with amp or ampless using the Darkglass cab sims.
Hi from Italy, I would like some advice for my effects chain: radial bassbone 2- boss tuner tu3- nemphasis bass overdrive- future impact- mxr dyna bass compressor- bass whammy. Thank you and congratulations for your videos
I think all these fall into categories in the video, you might consider getting the Whammy up front to track your dynamics better, perhaps the compressor after that.
I hope in Google translator 🤞: I thought I’d take advantage of the send e return of the bassbone which also has boot as well as a DI, but it doesn’t convince me much
Thanks for this amazing video, couldn’t be more helpful really. Regarding the compressor pedal, what if it is an always on pedal ? Would you place it somewhere else like at the end of the signal path or would you still keep it between filter and pitch pedals ? Thxxxxxxx
It depends what you want the compressor to effect? A lot of guys find it messes with the dynamics of some pedals so they opt to put it further down the chain, others find it to be complementary across all pedals. Some of it is gear dependent, some of it is just preferential.
Use this guide to determine where to place it based on what the multi effects is used for. The effects in those devices cover the same categories as shown here in terms of effect type.
My signal chain is this: 1. Tuner 2. Orange Fur Coat Octave Fuzz 3. MXR Bass Compressor 4. Darkglass B3K Overdrive 5. Sansamp Para Driver Sometimes I really wonder if this is the best way but it doesn’t sound wrong really. Any thoughts?
On the topic of dirt, my DOD carcosa sounds amazing when boosted by a Darkglass B3K right before it. I don't know what about these two works so well, but it boosts the pick attack and midrange without affecting volume or getting muddy. Doesn't sound as good the other way around, other fuzzes get buried in the mix too and I've tried over a dozen of them
I love your videos. I do have a question for you please. I like to use the same pedalboard for my bass guitar and my electric guitar. Iike having them both connected and I simply switch between them. I am using the JHS Mini A/B switching utility to achieve this. I also have a buffer on my pedalboard right at the beginning of the chain and at the end (Empress buffer). Where does the Mini A/B go in the chain, is it in front of the buffer or right after the buffer? Right now I am using it in front of the buffer, however I am unsure if the Mini A/B is capable of delivering the correct impedence to the guitar generated by the buffer. Thank you and keep up the excellent work.
Thank you! Love this video. I have been having a bass pedalboard for a while now and I learnt a bunch from both Mason and Janek here. I don't have the best stuff on the market because I'm here in India and some pedal brands are just not available here but I got some ideas now. I personally like the drives before my envelope filter(MXR Bass Envelope Filter) because I like the way the extra gain works with the envelope filter getting triggered.
About to put together my first bass board and this (as well as your other videos) have been helpful. I'm trying to figure out what order to put my pedals I have. What would be recommended for Peterson Strobostomp HD Tuner, Dunlop Justin Chancellor Fuzz/Wah/UK filter, MXR Compressor, and a Sansamp preamp/DI?
My rig is a Dunlop mini volume (SR Turbo Tuner mini in AUX for always on tuning) -> HX Stomp with an Empress Bass Comp MKII in the FX loop so I can place it wherever I want in blocks to interact with effects -> Ditto (only for fun) -> Radial JDI. Easy Peazy Lemon Squeezy. Would a buffer help this out in any way? I could just keep the Ditto at home for funsies if a buffer would help conserve tone.
@@VertexEffectsInc Maybe I should pop the Empress Comp to the front? It's an always on for me so I could use it as a buffer in theory? I lose the ability to place it where I want with the processing but I get a block back. Oof. Decisions!
I'm wondering if it would be better classically to put a micro bass synth pedal before or after a compressor considering it's reaction and restrictions of being a triggered pedal? I tend to leave the compressor as an always on pedal
I have the micosynth and due to how sensitive the controls are, I would put the compressor after. Any filter based (touch sensitive) device would be defeated if the compressor is before IMO.
I look at the signal chain in what I call the natural order. Sound of instrument first, sound of amp and then sound of room last. That means making the instrument sound good first...tuner, compressor, noise gate, eq. Then amp......overdrive, fuzz, etc. Room.....reverb, delay etc. I put wah where I like it. Its stronger after the overdrive and want to envelope one reverb so its after one but before another. I used this method for any pedal I get.
As you can see and what I call the natural order, a Wawa pedal or an envelope filter is not something found in nature so therefore it's Rogue and can go anywhere you want it depending on what you like. And that goes with an octave pedal as well.
Amazing video! General questions: are there any problems with using guitar pedals on bass? And how do I check the impedance sensitivity of a pedal? I'm a beginner to the pedal world hahaha
I prefer lighter gain pedals first. here's why. if you put a TS after a big muff it filters the frequency response of the big muff to the TS and you lose all your top and bottom end and the gains structure sounds odd. If you boost a muff or distortion with a TS or distortion plus or whatever flavor you like it adds gain and in many cases will add mid and fill out the higher gain while retaining the overall req response. if you want a volume boost put a boost after your high gain but I find it more practical to have the best of both worlds.
I pretty much had to question this whole video after he said higher gain to lower gain. Dude needs to strap on a pbass, step in front of a big amp and run a low gain pedal feeding into a fuzz. Feel that in your bones and then redo this video.
Mason, thank you for all the awesome videos. I was able to successfully solder all the patch cables for my pedalboard and switcher, and I cannot thank you enough for all of the videos you’ve provided on here that helped me get there. I have a question for you. I have my pedals attached to the board with dual lock. I have the trim removal kit and I’ve tried removing some just to see how hard it would be but they really wouldn’t budge. Any advice on how to free them from the board in case I want to swap them out here and there?
I use an upholstery crowbar, they're made out of plastic and won't damage your pedals. I think we have these linked in our recommended pedalboard tools/materials in the description.
Mason, when you're talking about using a DI right out at the start (2:28). I'm considering considering this for a clean channel. Now if I put a passive Radial ProDI after a tuner/input buffer would that mess with the impedance from the buffer to libe drive my pedals after the output of such a DI?
I'm kind of shock about the EQ 😱😂Most of filter and dynamic pedal poorly trigger low and well trigger mid. IMHO it's better to help filter and dynamics with an EQ in front. In opposit, I'm totaly agree with you about the placement of volume pedal (but Janek is a magician so he can put in front, it doesn't matter for him 😂)
If you’ve got a DI at the end of your chain, is there any benefit to also having one at the very beginning? Do sound guys have a preference one way or another in terms of how they want to receive your direct signal?
Great Video! Thank you for this bass centric pedal chain. :) If it is ok to ask, Ernie ball vpjr volume tuner has a send return loop, is it going to be a good work around as beginning and end buffer? Thanks!
I have my tuner and compressor before my radial aby pedal that I use to split my chain. I do this because I want to compress my bass and be able to mute both sansamp bass drivers going to FOH. Is this a recommended/effective way to run my pedalboard. Also, are there pros and cons of my setup. Thanks for everything and thanks for listening to your viewers. The music community appreciates your knowledge.
Cool video. I've got a question about a couple of pedals I have.....an EHX Bass Monosynth, and a EHX Attack/Decay..... where would be the best place in the chain to get the best sound from them? And what about a loop pedal? Thanks!
Oof, my chain is way off of this. I go Digitech drop, tuner, aby, A: EQ [bass cut] Boss od200, tc electronic plethora, crybaby. B: EQ [treble cut] MXR Bass comp. AB into Saturnworks passive signal blender ISP decimate with the 2notes lebass into the loop. And somehow it all works 🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️
Where would a Boss SY-1 fit into your thought process? They suggest putting it at the beginning and right now I have it second behind a tuner. Chain is Tuner> SY-1 > MXR Envelope Filter > OC-3 > Mooer Tender Octaver Pro > Big Muff and a TC Electronics Flashback X4 through the fx loop. Any thoughts out there???
I just try my new set up... tuner + bass overdrive + eq + distortion + noise gate... try it at couple times at small gig at my hometown... the sound is superb... Btw thank for this video and superb explanation.. bcause for bassist.. everything is subjective... 😅
Do you agree with our advice on bass pedal order? Let's talk in the comments below!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
00:00 Introduction
02:17 Bass v.s. Guitar Signal Path
03:02 Input Buffers
05:50 Tuners
06:34 Filter Pedals
09:38 Dynamic Pedals
12:03 Pitch Pedals
16:14 Distortion/Overdrive
22:44 EQ Pedals
24:10 Volume Pedals
25:27 Modulation Pedals
29:17 Time-based Pedals
32:38 Output Buffers
34:46 Bass FX Loop Tips
36:15 Bass Signal Path Recap
40:57 Thanks for Watching!
Great video! To get the sounds I need, I have to place my filter later in the chain, as octave and at least one dirt/drive pedal gives the filter something more to work with. And, after countless iterations on my board, the compressor ended up last in the chain. Really depends how you want your drives to react. I have a synth-heavy setup, so maybe I stray a little from the standard setup.
I have a question about noise gates, please. Which goes last in the chain? The noise gate or the output buffer? I am guessing the buffer. Thanks!
Personally I prefer my tubescreamer before my Russian big muff
Mine goes tuner-compressor-bass DI-output buffer. Is there anything to lose or gain by running compression before the DI?
This is great content!
Finally Some bass content
Working on more ;)
100%
Chain of effects for a bass rig is something I've obsessed over and experimented with for as long as I've been playing (38 years this May). The culmination of my efforts is a two head system with a crossover box to split signal between the two heads at 150 Hz. Signal path goes from instrument to tuner to xover. Low output from xover goes through a bass compressor and into a Hartke LH500 head and out a 1x15 cabinet. High output from xover goes through a bass compressor to Morley Power Wah Boost to TS9 to effects loop of an Ampeg B2-RE head, where chorus/flanger and delay pedals sit and feed into an Ibanez HD1500 harmonics/delay rack unit. Signal comes out the effects loop return and into a bass preamp before going into the Ampeg head's input and out a 4x10 cabinet. Amp volumes are always adjusted to match.
Nice...thanks for sharing!
Ain't nobody got the time or money for that complicated setup. All you need is an all tube head going into a Greenboy fEARful cabinet.
@@Knight_Boxx *LOL* Bi-amping isn't all that complicated, unless you're running the heads into the effects returns (which I've also done).
Update: Signal now split at 250 Hz :D
Yesss!!! Thanks for taking the time to put this together, Mason! Much appreciated :-)
You bet! Please share!
no one talks signal paths so eloquently like you. love your channel.
Thank you so much for this tech advice. I reorganized my pedals today based on this video, the sound changed instantly to a much better, buzz free sound. 👌🏿
Greetings from Uganda 🇺🇬👊🏿🖤
Glad it helped!
Have you considered doing a video on parallel signal paths for bass? Go over how to best set it up, cabling considerations, potential phasing issues, options for mixers ( studio vs pedalboard), mic positioning and considerations, choice of microphones, mixing in final signal from microphone, best ways or options for exacting the clean signal.
I use a boss LS-2 line selector in A+B mode I use this to blend the 2 channels together, one has a patch cable only for the dry signal the 2nd channel I use for my effects pedals. I go bass -> tuner -> LS-2 -> Behringer BDI21 Pream/DI -> split to amp on stage and then into and FOH.
For the 2nd channel of the LS-2, my effects are compressor -> Dumble distorting set minimal (i don't like heavy distortion) -> Chorus -> delay.
I find having the dry uneffected blended with the effects helps preserve the low signal.
YESSSS!!!! Thanks for this video!!! Janek is the man. I find that when I put the Octave before anything the Octave seems to sound better, also, the Boss LS-2 helps for having better sound especialy if you run A+B mix together.
French guy here, sorry if my english is bad 🤣
Thanks for watching!
Hearing someone I highly regard like Janek basically describe what Ive setup from my own experience is SOOOOO satisfying!😃😄 Lots of the same pedals and same settings and same order🤗
I believe that a lot of bass players (me included) search for a kind of "synth" type signal when comes to filters and octavers/distortions. I've seen Mason signal path in more guitar rigs usually. A good topic to me it would be impedance for the bass player/upright player, a lot of upright players use piezo pickups that have an even higher impedance and mess up a lot with the signal by it self and it gets worst when you have to switch from electric to acoustic.
Thanks for sharing!
Two big ones! What a great help for us bassists, I've been following Janek for years, and I use some pedals he indicated, but my instrument is active, and I use a slightly different booster that has a valve and has an end-to-end welded circuit, that is, it has no plate!! Boost, OC2, BB preamp, envelope filter, Dr.Scientist Bitquest (digital), Zcat pedals delay/chorus/freeze (digital), this is my signal in sequence. I don't use a compressor, but if Mason has any tips he will be very much but very welcome.
Take care 🙏🏻
Only thing I would experiment with is the Filter pre/post the BB Preamp to see how it performs.
One tip I have is that if you like having a clean blend alongside distortion or some modulation effects a boss line selector or anything with similar functionality is worth it's weight in gold for essentially allowing you to add a clean blend to any distortion which imo tends to massively improve the sound and ability to sit well sonically in a band context.
The tuner comes first you might want to tune in the middle of the show at some point you don’t want to feed the p.a ! Tuner first !
My thoughts exactly
Got mine at the end of the pedal chain because it's buffered and I've got some fuzz pedals which wouldn't like a buffered signal in the front. Additionally I can mute my whole pedalboard with one click.
Comp > tuner for me. I tune lower and the comp helps the tuner track better.
Anyone with a distortion heavy (be it fuzz or overdrive) would be well served having it at the end
Usually yes it goes first. Of course as others said it might depend upon buffered or true bypass type too. If you don’t have other pedals that can compensate buffered pedals you might wanna put in near end but usually it goes first in pedal chain. I have a PolyTune 3 and it can do either true bypass or buffered and it’s at the front of the chain. I only use like 4 other pedals anyway too
Cliff Burton's strategy was bass to compressor to Morley Power Wah Boost to TS9 to amp during part of his career in Metallica. This allows for some varied and impressive tones.
Wow! Cool!
@@VertexEffectsInc He was an awesome innovator of playing technique and tonal experimentation even before joining Metallica. I believe he would have risen to much greater heights (and likely outgrown the band) had he lived on :)
Very interesting to see the different takes and ideas about sounds between you and Janet and I guess we'd get a different set-up for every bass player we'd ask to comment.
I'd personally put the compressor after the OD/Distortion to get more dynamics out of those effect and to tame the extremes coming out of them. But hey... that's me :)
Thanks for the video!
So you'd use it more like a limiter? Some compressors will be less equipped to do this depending on the type of compression.
@@VertexEffectsInc I like to keep it a bit more dynamic than a limiter but yes... a harder set compressor to take care of the peaks.
Distortion is mostly smack on but with OD I want to play more with the dynamics from clean to breaking up by playing harder and softer.
Putting the compression before that kills off the dynamic range of the playing and gives me less headroom to play with.
Again... my 5 cents :)
My favorite pedal that I use on bass is the Boss PS3. On setting 4 you can have chorus and a slap delay at the same time. Great for 80s/new wave lead bass tone.
Wow! Cool!
I can say that using a Sansamp for distortion before a fuzz works fine. Sometimes I like combining the two for a lot of texture in the sound. I'm using the Aguilar Fuzzistor shown in this video. It's also a nice way to make your sound a little more modern if you turn the fuzz all the way down and turn up the tone. The Aguilar pedals do weigh a million pounds tho.
It's more dependent on the fuzz than the SansAmp. Some Fuzz pedals will be fine with any low impedance hitting it. A lot of the vintage transistors styles will not.
Yaaay Bass stuff . . . Guitar stuff . . . Pedalboard builds . . . Signal routing . . . making patch cables = Love it all !!! I honestly Eat, sleep, drink & breathe Music, Pedals & effects. The only thing I can do 24/7/365 - ( dare I say ) even more then watching NFL Football !!!
Thanks Michael!
I think you are right, using this setup is fine.
My rig right now:
Boss tu3 into
Darkglass hyper luminal (compressor) into
Darkglass alpha -omicron (distortion) into
Boss ceb-3
You might consider some quality buffers for input and output.
@@VertexEffectsInc added input Buffers, plus thinkin about either svt scr-di or microbass 3 preamp.
Do you think putting the preamp after distortion would be right?
@@michisauer Yes, if you want the pedals running into it to be printed to what the DI line feeds into.
My live rig is tuner-> BBE Octicomp (compressor)-> Donner Square (octaver)-> Two Notes LeBass (tube preamp) with Source Audio eq in fx loop-> XLR out to board/ 1/4" out to power amp/cab. For recording the octaver goes to DI, XLR out for parallel processing and 1/4" out to preamp. This way my "raw bass" gets the octave down as usually when recording we simulate bi-amping. I rarely use chorus or reverb.
Nice!
Awesome informative video as always 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Thanks a lot, Mason and Janek 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼
I’m relatively new to the Bass game, recently decided to record bass for my guitar instrumental stuff by myself 😁 It turns out that I can use most of my guitar pedals with bass and it makes me happy 😊
On the pedal order matter, I agree with Mason)
Tried dozens of different varieties and methods described in this video worked best for my ears😊
Thanks for sharing!! 👍👍👍
Hey! Bass content! Hell yeah!
Yes!!!
Great video! Here’s how my board is setup. Boss WL50 wireless to Strobostomp tuner to Seymour Duncan Studio Bass Compressor (really like the parallel processing on this pedal) into my Zoom B3, where I’ve normally got Octave->Drive->Chorus then out to my amp where I’ve got more drive on tap after the pre-amp if need be. I love having the flexibility of the B3 multi-effects pedal because I can basically dial up whatever sequence of 3 effects I want in whatever order & most of them sound really close to the original pedal they’re modeled after.
Nice! Thanks for sharing!
That Duncan compressor is great. The parallel function is key.
@@mattastic247 I've had it for about 3 or 4 months now & I love it! I honestly can't believe it took me this long to find it & that you don't see more of them out there.
After watching the guitar signal path video, I moved my volume pedal after my noise gate loop (gain stage) and before my reverb, it can give you really cool synthy or upright bowed bass sounding swells, and the noise gate loop cuts the hum from the bass and then the noise of the gain pedals, and having the volume after it means you can trigger the gate to open with the volume down and have nice clean swells, instead of putting it up front, which means the gate opens during the swell and jumps suddenly
Rock on!
Yes!! I mostly play bass so this is great! I’ve been dabbling in guitar so this whole channel has been great for me!
Glad you enjoy it!
My head is exploding. I'm gonna have to watch this again. Also I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that most of us will have a much simpler setup (1 or 2 effects at a time). I love the idea of the Boss selector thingy enabling multiple simple combinations of effects.
Hope you find it helpful!
@@VertexEffectsInc very much so. More like a master class.
This is such a killer channel man!! There's so much valuable information that has already helped me get so much more out of my rig. The one thing I didn't see covered in this video is where to put a preamp. I have a Darkglass harmonic booster which is a clean preamp, and I'm wondering where in this order would it fit best.
Take the word "preamp" out of it and think about it in terms of what it actually does. Anything before the amp is a preamp, so this is really just a new term guys are using to make it sound cool a different. If it's a boost and you want it to add gain (saturation) put it before your drive pedals. If you want it to add volume only, put it after your drive pedals.
janek for the win!
Janek is the BEST!
Great video. I wanted to mention that I split my signal A/B with a Radial box. I set it so when I click the switch it goes to A ( wet) where my tuner is so I can tune silently. B is running to a sansamp VT bass pedal direct to the board thus I always have a pure bass sound with the wet side. Sounds absolutely massive. Sometimes playing smaller clubs ( where I don’t split) is a bummer. However, large club or outdoor big deck, oh the brutality! Split that signal!
In general, I agree on filter pedals going before drives/distortions; however, for some reason, I just prefer the sound I got putting wah pedals after drives/distortions vs before with the rest of the filters.
Personal preference overrides all!
Great video. Great editing. You can tell a lot of work was put in making this. Keep up the Bass content please.
More to come!
Thanks bros, picked up a Vertex T, appreciate you guys sharing your knowledge 🙏🏼
Great to hear!
Word of warning to anyone trying to use that Woolly Mammoth mentioned specifically in this video: try that thing out before and after any buffers to see what you prefer. The sound is drastically different and if you want that super almost untamed fuzz sound, make sure you place that sucker before any buffers. After a buffer, it's highly similar to a lot of other fuzz pedals out there. Before buffers, it's in its own lane, which is why it's been cloned so many times. Not saying either is wrong or right, but personally if I'm buying something that expensive I wouldn't want it to sound like any other fuzz.
This is a very nice and informative video that has basically everything we (bass players) should know. Thank you.
I pretty much agree with most things here but go w/ Janek with the "put your music first", we experiment and learn.
Still, good points the Rig dude brought with Passive vs Active and all.
Funny/nice how YT recommends the right thing. I bought the Bug Muff and was seeing some vids about it...
Thanks for watching!!!
Thanks for the vid, it was very informative. It was also awesome to get the second options/opinions from Janek.
It also amused me somewhat all the little *pops* for the pedal icons, props for that.
This is what's on my board (or is going to be). The one's in brackets are on the buy list (if you have other options for pedals please let me know). What are your thoughts on the signal chain? My aim is to get the synthbass type of vibe.
Signal chain:
1. BASS -->
2. PolyTune 3 w/buffer (Tuner) ->
3. MXR M288 (Octave) ->
4. [Darkglass B3K] (OD) ->
5. MXR M84 Bass Fuzz Delux ->
6. [NANO POG] (for solos) ->
7. MXR M82 (Envelope) ->
8. EHX Qtron + (Envelope) ->
9. Malekko E.Filter (Envelope) ->
10. [Compressor (Cali 76 or MXR)] ->
11. MXR EVH Phase 90 ->
12. MXR M234 (Chorus) ->
13. TC Hall of Fame 2 ->
14. Dunlop Volume Pedal ->
15. [MXR Carbon Copy Deluxe] ->
16. MXR Micro Amp M133 ->
17. [Bass DI] ->
18. Boss Looper RC-10 -->AMP
Consider an output buffer if you’re using an amp on the DI split.
I think that knowing where each pedal goes means that you want to understand each pedal individually first. Understanding how they work in isolation means that you can make them work together the way you want.
You can take this approach as well but not really the scope of this video, more of a general overview here :)
Never thought about running the di first, I also like the compressor last in the chain
Cool!
@@VertexEffectsInc wouldn't a di that has cab simulations for example nux's melvin lee davis bass preamp,vmeant to be a finishing sound and won't blend well into the other pedals.
As a good poor basist, my signal chain is solely composed by two pedals: A distortion and an envelop filter (Krozz Devices's Kraken Hearth, I recommend you guys check this!) and I put them in that order: Distortion and Envelop. I'll try to change their position.
I'll have to check them out!
Great vid! I do a lot of studio work and live playing. I was the touring bassist for the Motown group The Miracles as well so nailing the Jamerson sound was crucial. I’ve never bern much of a pedal guy but as of late am getting into it and building my first pedalboard. Your videos are extremely informative and Janik’s kind advice is very much appreciated.
This is great. Thank you. I would love to see something like this for an acoustic guitar board.
Great idea!
One advantage of many bass DIs is that they have built-in buffers. For example SansAmp, who makes one of the most famous bass DIs, has high-quality buffers in all of their pedals. So, since your DI will be first or near first anyways, you can skip a stand-alone buffer. Worth asking DI manufacturers if their units have a built-in buffer.
Some of the DI's aren't that low impedance however, I've seen some that are 1K, so there aren't real standards when it comes to the impedances of the DI and now low and effective it is at driving cable capacitance.
My bass board for many years has consisted of:
1. Boss Tuner
2. Digitech Bass Whammy
3. Crybaby Bass Wah (being replaced by the new Justin Chancellor Wah)
4. JHS Unicorn Vibe
5. JHS Muffuletta Fuzz
6. ZVEX Distortron
7. MXR Phase 100
8. EHX SuperEgo Plus
9. EHX Memory Boy Deluxe
10. Friedman Buxom Boost
I prefer to put my pitch modulation first because I want it to act more like an extension of the instrument. Pitch bends are more like a whammy bar bends and octaves or harmonies behave more like having an eight string bass or playing chords for example (the Whammy also makes a great chorus). I also see the Wah as an extension of the tone control of a bass so I have it early in the signal chain. I like the sounds of modulation before and after distortion so that's why have the vibe and phaser on either side of the distortions. I have a Seymour Duncan Studio Bass Compressor I'd like to incorporate for some parallel compression but I'm not sure where to place it. I might replace the boost with the comp to tighten everything up and give me the output headroom but I also like using compression early in the chain to tame the dynamics from the instrument. Maybe the Rig Doctor will have a prescription.... I mean suggestion.
I think it depends on what you want to run the compression in parallel around, you could use any sort of parallel mixer like I have suggested here, xotic makes a good one
@@VertexEffectsInc The comp would be an always on effect like my boost and it has a built in blend for running the parallel comp. I typically like to run compression on bass to tame dynamics of the instrument but I also like the idea of running it last to help even out dynamics of all the effects. I definitely need to experiment.
Never given buffers a thought. Cheers for the information
Our pleasure!
I went to the same high school that Bob Reynolds did, awesome to see D.A. Alum mentioned here!
Nice!
Haha another Jacksonville jazz cat!
I’d love to see you do a similar video with a metal or rock guitarist or somebody who doesn’t have such a synth bass sound
i guess that the goal they tried to archieve is that you can comprehend the sound chain, not replicate some tone. When the chain gets more intricate, its when you combine different type of pedals. With the info they put in this video, following some things, you should get the sound you want to replicate.
Or you can watch a video of how X bassist pedalboard is and replicate that.
Great video, but I would have liked to hear all the signal chain at the end. Hope you can make a video were we can listen this.
Thanks for the idea!
I use my compressor (MXR) to calm the peaks when I get aggressive, particularly when using a pick or using slap/pop. Some dirt pedals react to those peaks in a way that I like, so my compressor goes after the dirt in my chain. Otherwise, my chain reflects Masons recommendations.
Good stuff!
Advice on only going direct to board? I play at different churches and never use an amp. Pedal board chain is Tuner - Octave - Distortion - Compressor - Ampeg Preamp with DI to board. Thoughts?
You're basically gonna treat the DI as the amp at that point. Some of them have FX Loops as well to put some of the wet effects if you're getting any gain from the Preamp DI.
I run super similar - tuner - comp - chorus - ampeg di
Juhu! Basspedal Content. Amazing 😍😍😍😘😘😘
Thank you so much 😀
The EBS Signature Drive by Billy Sheehan is another sleeper drive where it combines distortion and clean sounds, as well as having FX loops on both sides
I'll have to check it out!
So, I do passive jazz bass into boss gt1b into sansamp bass driver v2. That’s it, and I LOVE it!!!
Cool
I like to use filters or wah pedals after compressors cause I think if you use them before the compression it could cut the dynamics of the wah or the filters!
Mason it would be awesome if you review the Pedalboard of Justin Chancellor from Tool!
Hello. LOVE your videos! Very informative. I have a stupid question about the order of bass effects. I have an Ampeg DI so the sound engineer can get a clean signal by using my output or XLR. I then start my chain from the thru of the DI. However, I put my tuner before the DI so the FOH doesn’t have to hear me tuning and my entire signal can be muted. Is this ok? I haven’t noticed any difference in tone by the way.
Tip for the perfect chain, radial bassbone 2, boss tu3, nemphasis overdrive, future impact, mxr dyna bass compressor, bass whammy.
Thanks and complements for the video, bye from Italia
See my other response to you :)
I personally prefer my DI Out at the end of my chain since I have a Sansamp on one board and the Darkglass X Ultra on my other board. I love having my entire DI sound, effects and all including my cab simulation sent to front of house instead of it being sent as parallel signals. It's less work for the sound guy, less work for me, and I've found it more pleasant on the ears
I do the same. I didn’t have a problem sending clean and effected signals to the board when we had our own sound and I could have it mixed like I wanted it. My last gig was all rented sound which is a whole different situation. Those guys want your dry signal period, so I learned not to give them a choice!
There are a lot of ways to do it....sometimes if you want to blend clean with a mic'd amp, doing an early DI is great. If you have a Sansamp or similar preamp with a DI out then at the end is obviously better.
Thank you for this. Thank you. Thank you! THANK YOU!!!
Loved the format. More. More! MORE!!!
🙏🙏🙏
New to bass pedals and this is very helpful. I play passive bass with small board consisting of Peterson Strobe HD tuner > Origin Call 76 >Origin DCX > Radial JDI going to FOH (no amp). You mentioned the importance of using buffers to match amp but as I don’t use amp do I need to care about buffering?
I play at our church and we play direct with no amp. I’m new to bass pedals and was curious about the order as well. My signal chain is…boss tuner, octave, overdrive, chorus, compressor, Aguilar tone hammer DI then to the house. Does that sound right? What would you do?
You might try the compressor after the octave to compare.
@@VertexEffectsInc Thank you so much! I’ll do that!
Please let me know if the following order is acceptable for general live gig. Genre: funk/rock/alternative. Thank you very much.
Bass guitar>volume>tuner with buffer>compressor>octave>envelope filter>metaldrive>amp.
Looks okay, might also try the VP as a master volume before the amp.
Thank you very much for the video! What happens with the noise suppressor though?
My pedalboard consists of the Peterson tuner, mxr bass compressor, Darkglass harmonic booster, Darkglass b7k ultra, then chorus and bonafide buffer. Where should I put my boss noise suppressor?
Noise suppression depends on the gain. Is it amp gain or pedal gain?
@@VertexEffectsInc Pedal gain. I am also going to buy an alpha omega ultra and put it between my b7k ultra and my chorus. So what i would normally do is put the suppressor after the harmonic booster and loop the two preamp pedals that have distortion in it, then go to chorus and bonafide. I am trying to build a rig that plays both with amp or ampless using the Darkglass cab sims.
Thank you both! This gave me direction and some things to think about and test.
Our pleasure!
Love your videos, brother. Keep them coming!
🙏🙏🙏
Hi from Italy, I would like some advice for my effects chain: radial bassbone 2- boss tuner tu3- nemphasis bass overdrive- future impact- mxr dyna bass compressor- bass whammy.
Thank you and congratulations for your videos
I think all these fall into categories in the video, you might consider getting the Whammy up front to track your dynamics better, perhaps the compressor after that.
I hope in Google translator 🤞: I thought I’d take advantage of the send e return of the bassbone which also has boot as well as a DI, but it doesn’t convince me much
Thank you very much Mason this is ground gold!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for this amazing video, couldn’t be more helpful really. Regarding the compressor pedal, what if it is an always on pedal ? Would you place it somewhere else like at the end of the signal path or would you still keep it between filter and pitch pedals ? Thxxxxxxx
It depends what you want the compressor to effect? A lot of guys find it messes with the dynamics of some pedals so they opt to put it further down the chain, others find it to be complementary across all pedals. Some of it is gear dependent, some of it is just preferential.
Awesome video! Really useful stuff. Quick question: how would a bass player integrate a multi-effects pedal into the rig?
Thanks!
Use this guide to determine where to place it based on what the multi effects is used for. The effects in those devices cover the same categories as shown here in terms of effect type.
@@VertexEffectsInc thanks!
My signal chain is this:
1. Tuner
2. Orange Fur Coat Octave Fuzz
3. MXR Bass Compressor
4. Darkglass B3K Overdrive
5. Sansamp Para Driver
Sometimes I really wonder if this is the best way but it doesn’t sound wrong really. Any thoughts?
I think this is good.
On the topic of dirt, my DOD carcosa sounds amazing when boosted by a Darkglass B3K right before it. I don't know what about these two works so well, but it boosts the pick attack and midrange without affecting volume or getting muddy. Doesn't sound as good the other way around, other fuzzes get buried in the mix too and I've tried over a dozen of them
Nice!!!
Very informative! Thank you!! Could you possibly do an HX Stomp video and different options of where to put them in the chain (for bass)? :)
No change for an HX, the effects inside it have the same types of effects in this video. The sequencing would be the same as you see here.
I love your videos. I do have a question for you please. I like to use the same pedalboard for my bass guitar and my electric guitar. Iike having them both connected and I simply switch between them. I am using the JHS Mini A/B switching utility to achieve this. I also have a buffer on my pedalboard right at the beginning of the chain and at the end (Empress buffer). Where does the Mini A/B go in the chain, is it in front of the buffer or right after the buffer? Right now I am using it in front of the buffer, however I am unsure if the Mini A/B is capable of delivering the correct impedence to the guitar generated by the buffer. Thank you and keep up the excellent work.
I'd put the Buffer first and the the splitter so the buffer hits both sides of the splitter.
Where in the chain would you put a bass SYNTH pedal? Akai SB-1 Deep Impact for example.
Thank you! Love this video. I have been having a bass pedalboard for a while now and I learnt a bunch from both Mason and Janek here. I don't have the best stuff on the market because I'm here in India and some pedal brands are just not available here but I got some ideas now.
I personally like the drives before my envelope filter(MXR Bass Envelope Filter) because I like the way the extra gain works with the envelope filter getting triggered.
Glad to help!
About to put together my first bass board and this (as well as your other videos) have been helpful. I'm trying to figure out what order to put my pedals I have. What would be recommended for Peterson Strobostomp HD Tuner, Dunlop Justin Chancellor Fuzz/Wah/UK filter, MXR Compressor, and a Sansamp preamp/DI?
I'd put tuner, wah, fuzz, filter, comp, DI.
My rig is a Dunlop mini volume (SR Turbo Tuner mini in AUX for always on tuning) -> HX Stomp with an Empress Bass Comp MKII in the FX loop so I can place it wherever I want in blocks to interact with effects -> Ditto (only for fun) -> Radial JDI. Easy Peazy Lemon Squeezy. Would a buffer help this out in any way? I could just keep the Ditto at home for funsies if a buffer would help conserve tone.
I found the HX aren't great for signal conditioning, so yes, still a buffered input would be valuable.
@@VertexEffectsInc thank you.
@@VertexEffectsInc Maybe I should pop the Empress Comp to the front? It's an always on for me so I could use it as a buffer in theory? I lose the ability to place it where I want with the processing but I get a block back. Oof. Decisions!
Nicely done Mason.
Glad you enjoyed it
great I now know the best order for my single pedal
Edit: well not anymore, I have a compressor AND an overdrive/di
9:00 that Bass is killer! I love that you can get all the way up the neck like that. Any idea of the scale length of that Bass?
really great video, thanks. Very well spoken and specific.
Glad it was helpful!
Where do synth pedals fit in to your signal chain Mason. Is it in the filter section or elsewhere?
I'm wondering if it would be better classically to put a micro bass synth pedal before or after a compressor considering it's reaction and restrictions of being a triggered pedal? I tend to leave the compressor as an always on pedal
I have the micosynth and due to how sensitive the controls are, I would put the compressor after. Any filter based (touch sensitive) device would be defeated if the compressor is before IMO.
@@jaribu2758 Thanks!
Do you want the bass to act like a synth and then add effects on top of that? If so put the synth as close to the bass as possible.
I split my signal, uncompressed signal goes to the synth pedal
Do u use a buffer bassists?
Thank you, greatly appreciate it. Next up Path on a budget.
👍👍👍
I look at the signal chain in what I call the natural order. Sound of instrument first, sound of amp and then sound of room last. That means making the instrument sound good first...tuner, compressor, noise gate, eq. Then amp......overdrive, fuzz, etc. Room.....reverb, delay etc. I put wah where I like it. Its stronger after the overdrive and want to envelope one reverb so its after one but before another. I used this method for any pedal I get.
As you can see and what I call the natural order, a Wawa pedal or an envelope filter is not something found in nature so therefore it's Rogue and can go anywhere you want it depending on what you like. And that goes with an octave pedal as well.
There's not "right" way, just recommendations as I made here as a starting place.
Amazing video!
General questions: are there any problems with using guitar pedals on bass? And how do I check the impedance sensitivity of a pedal?
I'm a beginner to the pedal world hahaha
Not at all. Some might work better than others but you can definitely experiment without any issue.
I prefer lighter gain pedals first. here's why. if you put a TS after a big muff it filters the frequency response of the big muff to the TS and you lose all your top and bottom end and the gains structure sounds odd. If you boost a muff or distortion with a TS or distortion plus or whatever flavor you like it adds gain and in many cases will add mid and fill out the higher gain while retaining the overall req response. if you want a volume boost put a boost after your high gain but I find it more practical to have the best of both worlds.
Personal preference is everything!
I pretty much had to question this whole video after he said higher gain to lower gain. Dude needs to strap on a pbass, step in front of a big amp and run a low gain pedal feeding into a fuzz. Feel that in your bones and then redo this video.
Mason, thank you for all the awesome videos. I was able to successfully solder all the patch cables for my pedalboard and switcher, and I cannot thank you enough for all of the videos you’ve provided on here that helped me get there. I have a question for you. I have my pedals attached to the board with dual lock. I have the trim removal kit and I’ve tried removing some just to see how hard it would be but they really wouldn’t budge. Any advice on how to free them from the board in case I want to swap them out here and there?
I use an upholstery crowbar, they're made out of plastic and won't damage your pedals. I think we have these linked in our recommended pedalboard tools/materials in the description.
Mason, when you're talking about using a DI right out at the start (2:28). I'm considering considering this for a clean channel. Now if I put a passive Radial ProDI after a tuner/input buffer would that mess with the impedance from the buffer to libe drive my pedals after the output of such a DI?
No, because the thru is just passive, just like a small cable. No problem.
I'm kind of shock about the EQ 😱😂Most of filter and dynamic pedal poorly trigger low and well trigger mid. IMHO it's better to help filter and dynamics with an EQ in front.
In opposit, I'm totaly agree with you about the placement of volume pedal (but Janek is a magician so he can put in front, it doesn't matter for him 😂)
If you’ve got a DI at the end of your chain, is there any benefit to also having one at the very beginning? Do sound guys have a preference one way or another in terms of how they want to receive your direct signal?
Great Video! Thank you for this bass centric pedal chain. :)
If it is ok to ask, Ernie ball vpjr volume tuner has a send return loop, is it going to be a good work around as beginning and end buffer?
Thanks!
EB VP with a panning pot?
I got a dumb question here. Does the amp in the end also means every kinds of preamp pedals like tonehammer as well?
I have my tuner and compressor before my radial aby pedal that I use to split my chain. I do this because I want to compress my bass and be able to mute both sansamp bass drivers going to FOH. Is this a recommended/effective way to run my pedalboard. Also, are there pros and cons of my setup. Thanks for everything and thanks for listening to your viewers. The music community appreciates your knowledge.
Thank you for sharing and for watching!
Cool video. I've got a question about a couple of pedals I have.....an EHX Bass Monosynth, and a EHX Attack/Decay..... where would be the best place in the chain to get the best sound from them? And what about a loop pedal? Thanks!
Do you use them together? If not, order won't matter.
Oof, my chain is way off of this. I go Digitech drop, tuner, aby, A: EQ [bass cut] Boss od200, tc electronic plethora, crybaby. B: EQ [treble cut] MXR Bass comp. AB into Saturnworks passive signal blender ISP decimate with the 2notes lebass into the loop. And somehow it all works 🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️
Very nice!
💥💥💥 let’s see some other bass players boards you have made. 👊🏽
We're working on more :)
This is really well done. Lots to think about.
🙏🙏🙏
Where would a Boss SY-1 fit into your thought process? They suggest putting it at the beginning and right now I have it second behind a tuner. Chain is Tuner> SY-1 > MXR Envelope Filter > OC-3 > Mooer Tender Octaver Pro > Big Muff and a TC Electronics Flashback X4 through the fx loop.
Any thoughts out there???
Thats works, the closer to your bass the better.
@@VertexEffectsInc word thanks for the response. Your content is great too man
I just try my new set up... tuner + bass overdrive + eq + distortion + noise gate... try it at couple times at small gig at my hometown... the sound is superb...
Btw thank for this video and superb explanation.. bcause for bassist.. everything is subjective... 😅
Thanks for sharing!