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Distortion on bass guitar


Stag
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...how do you actually use it, in a live gig situation?

Im in a rock covers band. I have a nice Rick 4001 and a Les Paul bass. Both of these are grrrrrreat (as Tony T Tiger would say) for using with distortion but, its just [i]where[/i] you use the distortion thats the thing that gets me. I know it would suit a blazing solo or something but we dont really have a lot of call for that... yet. haha

Anyone else's opinions would be welcome. Do you like it? Do you use it? Tell me your stories oh wise ones...

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yes... Mr Lee has made some good things happen with it, and not necessarily all the way through a song either (Tom Sawyer being the obvious good example under the solo). Still thinking about where I can drop it in our set... and get the level right on it like mentioned above, dont want to just drop out of the mix :-(

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[quote name='Stag' post='336030' date='Nov 25 2008, 09:09 AM']yes... Mr Lee has made some good things happen with it, and not necessarily all the way through a song either (Tom Sawyer being the obvious good example under the solo). Still thinking about where I can drop it in our set... and get the level right on it like mentioned above, dont want to just drop out of the mix :-([/quote]


I'll give you a shout in a tick Steve! ;o)

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See if you can find Daisy Chainsaw's one hit "Love Your Money" - lovely grindy noisy bass sound on that.

And of course there's the Ben Folds Five back catalogue for Muffed-up goodness, although Robert Sledge didn't have a guitarist in the way. His Muff pretty much makes this performance of [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XG1INvA1aes"]Fair[/url].

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That Ben Folds one is quite interesting... thats kind of the sound im looking at, a driven fuzz sound but not so OTT that it rules the whole song. Their sound guy was on the money for that one.

My question again isnt really where it "should be"... some times I can "feel" where it would suit but then the other little voice in my head says "noooo... the band wouldnt like it". Or is that just me?

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[quote name='Stag' post='336700' date='Nov 25 2008, 10:10 PM']That Ben Folds one is quite interesting... thats kind of the sound im looking at, a driven fuzz sound but not so OTT that it rules the whole song. Their sound guy was on the money for that one.[/quote]

Not OTT? That's a green russian Muff completely cranked!

But yeah, he's a tasteful player. It suits the song in a way that you wouldn't expect.

[quote name='Stag' post='336700' date='Nov 25 2008, 10:10 PM']My question again isnt really where it "should be"... some times I can "feel" where it would suit but then the other little voice in my head says "noooo... the band wouldnt like it". Or is that just me?[/quote]

I loved this earlier advice so much that I didn't want to contradict it: "Don't plan it, just have it ready on your pedal board, make sure to give it a good volume boost or you'll just drop out of the mix, you'll know when the moment is right." I'm sure he typed it with his tongue firmly in his cheek but it's top quality. :)

Fuzzing up the bass is something you can only do with the co-operation of the rest of the band. If the guitars are fuzzed it probably won't work. It works best on tunes where the bass drives the thing along, where you can be at the front of the mix. Or it works well to add sustain to long notes (as in that Ben Folds Five tune), or it's handy for adding colour to other effects, or to give a filter something more interesting to chew up (when I crank the resonance on my Meatwad and put heavy fuzz through it, you can hear each individual harmonic get popped off the top of the sound as the filter sweeps down).

Basically, fuzz is a versatile effect, but everybody has to be on-message for it to work. If you're scared of upsetting your band mates by switching it on, you'll never switch it on.

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[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='336600' date='Nov 25 2008, 09:27 PM']See if you can find Daisy Chainsaw's one hit "Love Your Money" - lovely grindy noisy bass sound on that.

And of course there's the Ben Folds Five back catalogue for Muffed-up goodness, although Robert Sledge didn't have a guitarist in the way. His Muff pretty much makes this performance of [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XG1INvA1aes"]Fair[/url].[/quote]
Daisy chainsaw were brilliant i fancied the pants off katy jane the singer.

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[quote name='YouMa' post='336744' date='Nov 25 2008, 11:09 PM']Daisy chainsaw were brilliant i fancied the pants off katy jane the singer.[/quote]

I saw her first!

Yeah I remember when that EP came out every boy in every sixth form across the land had to launder his trousers. She was ace.

Not wanting to lower the tone (too much... hehehe) but, bloody hell...

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The only way to see the video for Love Your Money on YouTube at the moment is to hit the 1:46 mark on [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gD4fwjmpPdI#t=1m46s"]this one[/url]. But it's worth it, really gnarly tune!

Ooh, and after that you get Sugarcubes - Hit! Old-school Bjork and the worst rapping probably ever. :)

Edited by thisnameistaken
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