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Drive fussiness


landwomble
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Hi all.
Usually I play clean, however I'm tidying my effects chain a bit and am looking for new options.
All I want is something akin to the effect I get when I play onstage at gig level with my bass facing my amp - natural sustain through volume/acoustic feedback with maybe a tiny bit of very mild tube saturation drive.
If I could find this in a pedal that also does compression then happy days.
Tech21 sansamp? Zoom B3? Something else?

Particularly looking for something where it's easy to dial in tone. I have zoom b2 but TBH don't use it a lot. The b3 looks easier to use as it apes 3 pedals with 3 "real" knobs each? Or am I going to be disappointed with digital?

Suggestions, please!

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[quote name='landwomble' timestamp='1436132623' post='2815303']
...All I want is something akin to the effect I get when I play onstage at gig level with my bass facing my amp - natural sustain through volume/acoustic feedback...
[/quote]

This is something I've been thinking a lot about lately. How could you possibly reproduce that effect? Would you need some sort of sustainer (like fernandes) built into the bass?

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You can add sustain with the release control on your compressor, or with some drive pedals (drive pedals having an innate compression to them anyway).
I wouldnt worry about the quality of the newer zoom digital effects. I have a Ms60b on my board and now wouldnt go without it. To replace it with individual effects would not only take alot of realestate, but also require things like modding pedals to add a mids control (which the zoom has, but the original does not).

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[quote name='elephantgrey' timestamp='1436186520' post='2815681']
You can add sustain with the release control on your compressor, or with some drive pedals (drive pedals having an innate compression to them anyway)....
[/quote]

It's more than just sustain though isn't it? Some harmonic overtones maybe?

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Well what it does is sustain the note longer than normal by matching the frequency of the strings, and also feed the sound back through the amp circuit.
You could maybe put a compressor and an overdrive in a feedback loop (the looper pedal kind that blends the return back out to the send), but that would be hard to control, maybe better just to use them without and try and replicate the sound that way.

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Yeh I've tried it with a feedback loop and with a bunch of my pedals (I must have 30 dirt pedals) but it's not doing the same thing. I guess you'd need an amp sim in a feedback loop to get closer, but is it really as simple as that? I'll try my BDI21 in a feedback loop when I get chance anyway, I've not done that before

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This all sounds like a fun experiment!
It strikes me that the feedback loop thing will be frequency-dependent, as only certain notes actually give you acoustic string feedback. Of course, the exact notes depend on so many factors.. distance, cab, angle, reflective/absorbent surfaces etc.

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Hi All,
Thanks for all the responses.
Appreciate there's a definite difference between real acoustic, high volume semi-feedback giving sustain and a drive pedal - I guess what I'm after is something approximating that warmth and completely maintaining the bottom end. It's obviously not quite the same as a pedal can't actually vibrate the strings.
Whilst I could get this by turning up to 11 I'm a bit old for that these days and prefer a more ear-friendly volume for rehearsals!
A lot of the drive pedals I've played with have been very extreme and not something that I'd ever use in a real world situation - so I'd be interested in experiences using FX like the M60B and B3 for this type of overdrive.
Context is a rock and blues type band, rather than Death Metal, if you see what I mean!

Edited by landwomble
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For adding a bit of dirt to your sound, I really like the EBS Billy Sheehan pedal. It splits your signal into 2 after the input and you have separate volumes for the clean and overdrive sounds so it's easy to dial in as much or as little overdirve as you want. Then also has a compressor switch with 3 settings (off, medium, high). Worth a look for you I think. It also has effects loops for the clean and overdrive via insert or 'Y' cables.

I also have a sansamp paradriver (similar to the bass driver but also has a midrange control), useful for adding a bit of grit and sound shaping before the amp..

Same as everything tho, you won't know til you try them unfortunately. Nothing like your own ears to judge your sound! We are all usually our own worst critics!

Edited by LewisK1975
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