phagor

An A/B switch will work, but if you want to balance the two basses so that they are similar, you'll need something with level controls. I have an EBS Microbass which is great for this - I can switch between two basses with different eq, and a bit of overdrive on one channel. There are other similar boxes - the Basswitch IQ DI (pricey), Radial Bigshot... Or you could use a Boss LS2 - they go for £50 second hand and are very useful for other things, like blending fuzz with your direct sound. Another cool option is the Korg Pitchblack Plus - a tuner with 2 switchable inputs. No level controls though.

Interesting idea. I see that the new EHX Big Bass Muff Deluxe has a switchable crossover section for controlling the frequency range of the distortion: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfSLR30N24k"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfSLR30N24k[/url] I while back I was looking for something like this and saw that UK-based SFX had a crossover pedal. I've not heard much about it, and the website says "The pedal design is currently under review". [url="http://www.sfxsound.co.uk/mainpage.asp?page=xm"]http://www.sfxsound.co.uk/mainpage.asp?page=xm[/url] I don't know enough about electronics, but I think that there's an issue that when a signal goes through a filter, its phase is changed by different amounts at different frequencies. If you then mix that signal with the original one, you get phase cancellation, which can make the sound hollow or weird. A phase inversion switch on the filtered signal can help, but not for all frequencies. I think some careful filter design might be able to get around this. Or maybe putting the original through an "all pass" filter to get similar phase cancellation.

That's a lovely bass synth sound, but quite mild - mostly just a sine wave. Dincz advice is spot on for this track. In general, there's lots of us trying to get a synth sound from our basses (search for 'synth bass' here or on Talkbass to find a zillion threads). The main ways are: 1) Use a keyboard! 2) Use a synth pedal, like the Boss SYB5, Ibanez SB7, EHX Bass Micro Synth, Markbass Super Synth, Korg G5, Akai Deep Impact 3) Use a combination of pedals, often octaver -> fuzz -> envelope filter

You have a couple of options, but they will be nearly as expensive as buying a Stingray and not as good! Option 1) Roland VBass or VB99 plus GK3B pickup - a processor that can model the sound of a MM Stingray, plus a lot of other basses and effects Option 2) Look for a second-hand Line 6 Variax bass - discontinued now, but uses similar modelling to give you the Stingray sound Alternatively, get a luthier to add a MusicMan style humbucker pickup to your P bass. Forgetting about the Stingray sound for a bit, I would recommend you get a cheap multieffect processor as your first purchase - so you can experiment with different sounds and find what you like. Then you can buy better quality single pedals later, if that's the way you want to go. The Zoom B3 seems to be everyone's favourite at the moment.

Combining a filter with another pedal is fun. Octave before is good. I also like a fuzz before - it adds lots of extra frequencies that makes the envelope effect more obvious. One problem is that most fuzzes act like compressors - they squash your bass's dynamic range, so the filter doesn't react as much as it does with just dry bass. I like the Groove Regulator 2 or more recent Wonderlove that has an effect loop to solve this problem. Bass into the GR2, fuzz (and octave) in the effect loop - much more responsive and synth-like.

I like mine a lot. It has a fat sound, because it has three oscillators that can be detuned. I really wanted to like the Octavius Squeezer, but with only one oscillator it never sounded that big to me. The tracking is good - it responds quickly and tracks notes pretty much anywhere on my 5 string. Occasionally I find it a bit frustrating when trying to play a specific bass line - it sometimes misses a note or doesn't play it the way you articulated it. But if you are writing your own bass lines for the pedal, you won't have any problems. The presets and editing by computer are good on the whole. You have a lot of control over the sound and dynamics. I wish they had added extra waveforms like square and pulse, and maybe an LFO, but that would have made it more complicated. On the pedal itself, sometimes I wish I could reach down and tweak something on the fly but most controls you need the computer for. I would also like the controls and foot switches to work differently. There's only one switch to go through the presets. I keep shooting past the one I want, then I have to loop all the way around! But on the whole, I think it's the best synth pedal that actually sounds like a synth, apart from maybe the Deep Impact. I'd like to get one to compare, but I'm not going to pay £500 quid for it!

To be honest, it's hard to find something cheaper than the LS2 for blending two signals. Most have more features and are therefore more expensive. I can think of: Wounded Paw Blender v3/4 Ruppert Basswitch (maybe) Small mixer, like a Behringer But I think you could use a simple blend pedal with a splitter lead to blend two pedals: The pedals would probably need to be buffered. Some blend pedals you can check out: Barge Concepts VB JR (defunct now I think) Xotic Effects X Blender Wounded Paw Blender v1 After using a VB JR for ages, I bought an LS2 off Ebay cheap and have been very happy with it. It seems complicated but, to be honest, I just set it A-B Mix and left it; I just tweak the knobs occasionally. One advantage over a simple blend is that you can control the overall level (by turning both knobs up) as well as the blend (balance between the two).

EBS Microbass has a speaker simulator on the DI output. From memory it's fairly subtle, but a very useful box all round.

Tried flat wound strings? They'll give you a thicker meatier tone. OK you can't switch them on and off like an effect... Not all of them are treble-less - try the Thomastik Jazz Flats or D'Addario Chromes, which still have a nice top end bite if you need it.

It's a Chunk Systems Brown Dog fuzz according to their website: [url="http://www.chunksystems.com/users.htm"]http://www.chunksystems.com/users.htm[/url]

There seem to be three types of bass synth effects: 1. Effects that take your bass sound and distort, octave and filter it (Korg G5, EHX Bass Microsynth, Digitech Bass Synth Wah, Sibob's modular). Because these don't follow your bass's pitch as such (except the octavers), they often track well, but they sound a bit fuzzy and gritty. Good for 70's analog synth sounds. 2. Pedals that track the pitch of your playing and generate a synth waveform (Akai Deep Impact, Markbass Super Synth, Boss SYB 5, Chunk Systems Octavius Squeezer). These have oscillators like those in analog or digital synths that follow your bass's pitch. Tracking is sometimes a problem, especially on low notes or open strings, but these sound more like a real synth, and some can cop 80's 90's etc bass sounds better. 3. Individual piezo pickups on your bass combined with a unit like the Roland GR55 that models the signal into a synth (amongst other) sounds. Tracking is supposed to be very good and you can do many other things - model different basses, amps, effects etc. You can also drive a MIDI synth, but here there is a tracking issue with low notes again. They all have their pros and cons. I have a EHX Bass Microsynth - it's great, fun to use because it has lots of sliders to play with, but it always sounds kinda dirty, and you can't switch between different sounds. I also have the Markbass Super Synth which sounds big and fat and is programmable, but you need to plug it into a computer to edit the sounds. Plus the modular approach Sibob mentioned. I'd try as many as you can in a shop before buying, see what suits you, your songs and playing style the best.

I found that I needed fairly good IEMs - normal ipod earbuds don't do the job when playing alongside a drummer, with monitors on stage etc. The bottom end just blows out and distorts too much. I got some Shure SE 350s for this - not the cheapest but certainly not the most expensive in-ears. They work great - they have two bass drivers and a tweeter in each earpiece. Also you can fit various types and sizes of foam / flanged plugs to them to find out what works best for you.

I'd love to hear a better demo too. I was thinking about this pedal for three applications - one is a nice chorus-y detune. Another is to pitch shift an octaver back up an octave, to get the analog octave tone, but at the normal playing pitch instead of an octave down. This might work with the Pitch Box before the octaver, if the warbling doesn't mess up the tracking, or after the octaver. Last bit of fun was to put this before distortion in my blended loop, an octave or maybe a 12th up, for that Akai Unibass type of bass+guitar effect.

I've been looking at the Pitch Box for a while. Somebody posted a sound clip of it over on Talkbass: [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f36/tiny-pedals-1590a-pedals-833936/index15.html#post12573928"]http://www.talkbass....ml#post12573928[/url] Sounds good, but maybe a bit warbly on the octave up. Detune sounds great.

There's the fairly rare Pearl OC 7. Sometimes pops up on Ebay and Gumtree.

Thanks Chris!

Just bought Chris's 3 Leaf GR2. Chris was perfect; great communication, pedal shipped promptly and was well-packaged. Would thoroughly recommend you do business with him!

Another couple to add to the list - Barge Concepts VB-JR and VFB-2: [url="http://www.bargeconcepts.com/vbjr.html"]http://www.bargeconcepts.com/vbjr.html[/url] [url="http://www.bargeconcepts.com/vfb1.html"]http://www.bargeconcepts.com/vfb1.html[/url] I've got the VB-JR and it works well - clean sounding. They do various custom options too.

Bit late to the party, but I've got one too, a Deluxe with the envelope follower. I think it has a very Moogy quality, but will be interested to see how it compares to your Moogerfooger. When the resonance kicks in, it can get quite thick and dirty sounding. On the whole I like it. It's very flexible, which also means that it can take a bit of fiddling to get a particular sound. I wish there was a bit more control over the envelope - the fast/slow switch is a bit limiting. To be honest, I think I would always need another, more straightforward envelope filter on my pedal board, something like a 3 Leaf Proton for funky stuff, to partner with the Xerograph for synthy lines. Bit extravagant having both though!

I have a Thunder III, with PJ pickups, unlined. It's a lovely bass, well made, with lots of tone options. Which model Thunder are you looking at? I played a fretted IA for a while - not as nice. The only other issue with the Westones is the body shape - the body is tiny and is a little headstock droopy on a strap. I think playing without lines is not a problem if you have good left hand (or fretting hand) technique - one finger per semitone, fingers at 90 degrees to the strings, carefully thought-out position shifts. If you're playing by yourself, you won't notice any bad intonation, so I recommend playing with others or playing along to backing tracks to help your tuning.