mingsta

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1416810791' post='2613719'] If I buy one, will it make me sound like James Jamerson? [/quote] For $450 I'd expect it to make me sound like Marvin Gaye.

Have a look at the EHX pitchfork or Digitech the Drop. I've got an EHX Pitchfork and use it to get BEAD on my four string. I've also got the zoom B1on but found that it sounded too unnatural and there was more latency, hence I why I looked at a dedicated pitch pedal.

+1 for that Hercules mini stand. I have one and it fits easily in the gig bag and does a solid job.

[quote name='spaners' timestamp='1414742574' post='2592756'] Hey Mingsta, any more thoughts on the pitchfork? Mite go n try one tomoz n see how it compares to my micro pog . [/quote] Not too much more to add, except that I really like it and I think it has many more uses than my original intended use for dropping to BEAD. It would work great as a clean octave pedal and the dual mode ie octave up and down sounds great and I can see myself working that in to some of our set. I also noticed that if you have it in dual mode but not stepped down, you get a slight chorus like thickening effect. A very useful tool for a reasonable price.

I tried out the EHX Pitchfork today at Andertons in Guildford...walked out with one. Here's a few initial thoughts. I was mainly looking at it for dropping my 4-string to BEAD so I don't need to bring 2 basses to gigs. However, I can see myself using the dual mode as an effect, as it sounds great. [b]Pitch tracking[/b] - its digital, so tracking is perfect with no glitching [b]Latency[/b] - there is noticeable latency, but its not too bad. Played some of the stuff the trips up my multi-fx (like the unison bit on Superstition) and it was quite manageable with the PitchFork...after a few minutes of playing I found that I barely noticed the latency. [b]Tone[/b] - I played it with 100% wet tone, focusing on playing the E string (pitch shifted down 5 semitones to a low . It was the most natural sounding pitch shifter I've tried so far, and MUCH better than the two zoom multi-fx that I've had. This is what sold me. [b]Other stuff:[/b] It only shifts in certain increments m2 M2 M3 P4 P5 M6 M7, so bear that in mind if you're looking to use it primarily for drop tuning etc. The dual modes (where you get octave 1 down, dry + octave 1,2 or 3 up) sound great on bass and would work well with the latch mode (where effect is only in play while you hold down the pedal) for accentuating certain parts of a song. It is thankfully a decently small size (about the same as a MXR pedal) as they don't give dimensions on the website. I didn;t realise how comically big many of the EHX pedals are until I spied the display cabinet at Andertons!!! Rather annoyingly, the power is on the top, while the jacks are side mounted. I prefer all one or the other for maximising pedal board space.

[quote name='spaners' timestamp='1414047755' post='2585054'] Have a look at the new Electro harmonix pitchfork, might do the trick at not a silly price. [/quote] I'm going to check this one out at Anderton's today. Its only just out, so I'll post my thoughts on how well it performs for bass once I've tried it.

I've read a bit about the potential benefits of buffers if you're running lots of cable/true-bypass effects. In general is this less of an issue for active basses? I've done a quick A/B of plugging in direct and going through my pedal board with ~4-5 effects in series and couldn't hear too much of a difference.

I'm in an amateur pub covers/function band type set up where we change the key where appropriate to suite the singer's range. In theory, you could use a pitch pedal to do this for you, but in practice I've found that tracking and lag can be a bit of an issue. It can work well on slower songs, but gets tripped up on faster songs. Also the pitch shift can sound a bit artificial, which is fine for certain pop songs where the bass is more synthy or sub sounding, but not good for other songs where you want a nice organic bass tone (e.g rock). For example, we do Kiss from a Rose (Seal) and that sounded great on a 4str pitch-shifted down 5 semi-tones. But with Light my Fire (Doors) which is a little busier, the sound went out of the window. In the end, I always end up taking both my 5-string and 4-string to gigs in favour of using the pitch shifter. Having said that, the pitch shifter's I've used have all been in multi-fx units (Zoom B9ut and MS-60) and there might be some better performing dedicated pitch shift pedals out there. If anyone knows of one, then let me know as I'd be interested in trying.

The Zoom MS-60B is ridiculously good for £75, it's also much, much more intuitive than previous generations. Or if you want something bigger, the Zoom B3. I kind of did things the wrong way round as I bought a load of individual pedals at great expense, then got the zoom to mop up various effects that I didn't think I'd use very often. In hindsight it would have been better to get the zoom first as many of the effects are more than good enough, then fill in the gaps with a few individual pedals.

Here's my gang of four. 1993 - Musicman Stingray 4H 2EQ, Alder Body, Rose Neck (now retrofitted with a late 80's lined fretless MM neck) 2008 - Musicman Bongo 5HH Stealth, Rosewood Neck 2010 - Sadowsky Metro HPJ - Bought off Project C on this forum in 2012 2012 - Musicman Stingray 4HH 3EQ, Rosewood Neck The two stringray's are the one's that I'd never sell. The '93 I've had since I was 17, but it doesn't get that much play nowadays, unfortunately. The 4HH is my favourite bass and a wedding present from my wife.

Sold my zoom effects to Kevin. Top man and very smooth transaction.

If you're going to get a power supply, I can recommend the Harley Benton Powerplant Junior from Thomann. Its ~£30 posted and gives you five isolated 9v power outputs. This is meant to be less susceptible to noise/hum than daisychaining a single power supply.

If you master this, does it also make the Bass Face go away???

Having never played an ATK, I have no opinion. However, I reckon this discussion would go down a treat on the Ernie Ball forum

[quote name='Sharkfinger' timestamp='1411739326' post='2562426'] As a rule, I prefer stomp-boxes but that's exactly what I did. Not a fan of multi-FX but it helped me discover that all I was really after was couple of fuzzes, a good drive, chorus and octave. Thought I'd use the synth but didn't in the end. Wouldn't get rid of the B3 because if I ever get GAS for a particular effect in the future, the B3 will no doubt have it and I can try it first before shelling out on the stomp box. [/quote] Good idea. Having just splashed out a good £450 on a Pedaltrain Jnr, Power, Cables and a few "essential" pedals (Vol Pedal, Compressor, A/B box, OD), I've just become aware of the Zoom B3, which costs less than my compressor but is packed to the gills with features and looks a lot more user friendly than some of the older multi fx models. I'm still going to get me a nice Octave, Envelope Filter and possibly another OD pedal, but other than that, I may well get a B3 to stop me from the falling into the never ending circle of poverty and despair that seems to come with pedal GAS. I can use that as a one stop shop for the occassional use stuff such as reverb, flanger, chorus, phaser, pitch shift etc rather than bankrupting myself on yet more pedals. It looks small enough to co-exist with a pedal board set up too. Do you have any view on the quality of the effects on the B3, appreciate its a fairly subjective matter....

I have nothing to add to this thread, other than to say that my name is Ming and I own two Stingrays. Therefore I fully support your noble quest to build the Mingray.

[quote name='ratman' timestamp='1411555310' post='2560559'] My board cost a lot more than my car is worth lol. And the car isn't a banger! [/quote] I regret getting in to the pedal game...after 2 decades of just plugging and playing straight in to an amp. I'm currently buying a host of pedals to cover every tone shaping possibility that I don't actually need. But still....its a lot of fun!!!

To be honest, I don't really see what the gripe is about. People with some modicum of social skills will generally try to find some common ground ('Im in to music too!') or show an interest in what you do, even if its not particularly genuine. Its still preferable to someone who just bangs on about themselves for 4 hours. ...so forgive people for their small foibles and for not fully appreciating your world. They've got their own lives to be getting on with. And also think of it the other way round...would you be wildly interested if a passing acquaintance mentioned, for example, that they had a young family? How much genuine interest would you show, or would you move swiftly on to more interesting topics? Those kids might be the center of their universe... Just consider yourself lucky that you can immerse yourself in your music on a daily basis, that's reward in itself.

[quote name='Funky Dunky' timestamp='1411489913' post='2560007'] Which of the Genz Benz models do you think I could find in or around my budget? As for the Fender Rumble, I will certainly be giving it a look, and the Ibanez has my attention now too. [/quote] The genz focus cabs were their budget range, but they're bloody fantastic. I have the fifteen and at gig volume I actually prefer it to my more expensive shuttle 2x10 cab. You can probably pick one up for around 150 used. Head wise, the genz shuttle and streamliner are more likely to be in the £350 ballpark for the 600/6.2 models. The Contour head is cheaper, but not as many around.

Great thread guys...this has been really useful to me too as there's not much opportunity to A/B these pedals side by side. Badderer, have you tried putting your pedals through the effects loop on the VT Deluxe? Do you know if the FX loop comes before or after the preamp section? I need to switch between two basses, so the VTD would have to be at the start of the chain. But if I want to also DI out from the VTD (admittedly not something I do all that often), presumably I'd have to put the other pedals in to the VTD's effects loop. Hope that makes sense! Also does anyone ever use these pedals to go in to an existing Preamp/Amp setup (rather than DI'ing in to a PA or straight in to a power amp). I normally go in to a Genz Benz streamliner for small gigs so was wondering what a tubey preamp pedal going in to the tubey preamp on the Streamliner would do to my tone?

Get a used 2-eq 'Ray from the early 90s. Can be had for a nice price (unlike pre-EB) and I think they have a little extra something (based on my limited experience).

Does this bass have any sentimental value? If not, then you might be better off selling it and getting something different. It sounds like a good £300 for parts and labour. I briefly considered butchering my 94 stingray to make it an HH and refin, but concluded that with the money I'd spend, I'd be halfway to having enough for another used bass.

Ello njr911. I'm a pedal newb too, but looks like a few weeks ahead of you, and thus a few hundred quid lighter. This article gives some good guidance over considerations for order of pedals in chain, but there are no absolute rules so its a case of experimenting with what sounds best: [url="http://www.ovnilab.com/articles/chain.shtml"]http://www.ovnilab.com/articles/chain.shtml[/url] With that many pedals, you might want to think about upgrading your powersupply rather than daisychaining 8 pedals (this can cause hum, but if you're not having any problems then great!). Isolated power supplies are considered to be superior and reduce the chances of getting hum. They are very expensive, but Harley Benton do a very good value for money one. Each unit has five isolated power supplies so you could either buy two of them, or just the one unit and daisy chain the well behaved pedals and give the fussier pedals their own supply: [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_powerplant_junior.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_powerplant_junior.htm[/url] You can get the velcro off ebay, just search pedal velcro or something similar.