Doom

[Supernaut]

Starting a Doom band. 
 

Usual drop C sort of stuff. 
 

Spark Booster, Blower Box, Big Muff. 
 

Struggling to think what else I would need except a massive valve amp? 
 

Ta. 

[Stofferson]

Nice wah pedal to pair with the fuzz.

 

[ezbass]

Compressor for more focus and less flub perhaps?

[Baloney Balderdash]

Octave fuzz!

 

Behringer SF300 Super Fuzz, or Orange Fur Coat.

 

Perhaps reverb for atmospheric parts, and maybe a phaser too.

 

Some sort of delay as well, which might make the reverb redundant.

 

 

Edited February 10, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[Wilson_51_]

Sounds like you have a good set of starting pedals. 
 

I don’t think you need anything else to be honest. 
 

if you are running a fuzz or distortion all the time maybe look at a clean blend for if it doesn’t go bass-ee enough. 
 

Phaser/flanger style pedal pushed by the fuzz always sounds great. I’ve never found delays to work for me but have started using a EQD afterneath reverb for atmosphere stuff which sounds awesome (again pushed by a fuzz) 

 

On a slight shift in topic, the rest of  my band plays in drop c but I found I prefer to tune to C standard.
 

Good luck with this and let us know how it goes!
 

 

[SumOne]

I found if needing low C then a 5 string with standard tuning was best as it is designed for that tuning (scale length, pickups etc), goes a bit lower to B (or lower), playing shapes stay the same, and you still have the G. 

 

My doom pedals in chain order were:

 

 

For big sustain the Pigtronix Philosopher Bass compressor worked well. 

 

Octaver like the OC-5 with +1 and -1 is good to feed into fuzz. 

 

MXR Brown Acid has been my favourite doomy fuzz. EHX Green Russian muff is good too, a bit more synthy sounding. 

 

Rats always sound a bit more thrash than doom to me, the Blowerbox Landphil is great though. 

 

Adding modulation like flanger, Phaser, Chorus can make some interesting effects. 

 

What sounds good through headphones doesn't necessarily sound good through a Cab. Personally, I liked my 2x12 speaker with adjust tweeter - to do the lows and the higher frequency fizzy fuzz. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MichaelDean]

A bit of reverb can make you into a massive wall of noise too. Wah pedals are fun. I've been using my GX-100 in a doom band and it's been great trying out some other bits like an octave and chorus for some bits.

 

A gate can be useful too. I've got one set up so I can be silent if needed with my base dirt and then it doesn't affect any of the bigger noisy stuff I'm doing. 

[Baloney Balderdash]

I do realize that this is probably more circumstantial than what OP likely would want to through, but since everyone else is coming with examples from their own setup:

 

Mixing drives in parallel really opens up for some totally unique distortion tones that one wouldn't be able to achieve otherwise, and adds a certain extra depth (or dimension, if you will) to the distorted tone that wouldn't be obtainable any other way (well except bi-amping, I guess, but then again that is essentially the same thing, more or less).

 

I got a really massively ballsy and monstrously heavy distortion tone, that still is surprising well articulate and well defined considering, and also have this unique extra layer of depth to it, by running my bass signal with an added 1 octave up, via a customized Toneprint on my TC Electronic Sub'N'Up Mini, into a Boss LS-2 with a Mosky Black Rat RAT clone, in Turbo RAT mode, dialed in with a relatively high gain setting, in one of the effect loops, mixing it  in parallel at about equal measures with a Joyo American Sound (other upper mids focused overdrive pedals could work as well), dialed in with the upper mids boosted some, pre gain stage, and to just on the verge of breakup, stacked into a Boss MT-2 Metal Zone, dialed in with a relatively moderate gain setting.

 

I really love how this sounds, as said massively ballsy and monstrously heavy distortion tone, that still is surprising well articulate and well defined considering how raunchy and massive this sounds, as well as having this extra layer of depth to it, not obtainable by other means than mixing two different drives in parallel.

 

As far as I am concerned this is the absolute perfect high gain distortion/fuzz when such is needed for doomy stuff.

 

And I'd imagine using something like the EHX Switchblade Pro Deluxe, instead of a Boss LS-2, which would allow for additionally blending in clean/dry signal, or in this case {dry+1 octave up} signal, with the two drives mixed in parallel, would give additional clarity and articulation if needed without really compromising the massive heavy and ballsy -ness of it.

 

 

In any case a pedal that allows for blending drives in parallel or eventual with clean/dry signal, like for instance the Boss LS-2, which would allow for either blending two drives in parallel, or blending one drive with clean/dry signal, or the EHX Switchblade Pro Deluxe, which would allow for both two drives blended in parallel, and additionally blending in clean/dry signal, would absolutely be recommendable for retaining bottom end and increased definition and articulation, which otherwise easily can get lost when using drive pedals, especially high gain ones, on bass, and otherwise adding an extra layer of depth to the drive, only obtainable by blending two different drives in parallel.

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[lidl e]

On 10/02/2023 at 09:49, Supernaut said:

Starting a Doom band. 
 

Usual drop C sort of stuff. 
 

Spark Booster, Blower Box, Big Muff. 
 

Struggling to think what else I would need except a massive valve amp? 
 

Ta. 

Octave up in front of fuzz!

[velvetkevorkian]

On 10/02/2023 at 11:51, ezbass said:

Compressor for more focus and less flub perhaps?

Flub usually seems like a feature for most doom acts...

[greentext]

On 10/02/2023 at 11:47, Stofferson said:

Nice wah pedal to pair with the fuzz.

Came here to write this, pink torpedo the wah, crank up the fuzz, your having a sweet old doomy time 🤘

[Skybone]

Subtle overdrive is all you need.

[thodrik]

I do a lot of downtuned doom and stoner stuff. I generally use a couple of different overdrives stacked together on very low settings to get my drive 'tone'. That runs into a V2 Sansamp Bass Driver. I can pretty much run that into the PA or whatever amp I bring, which is usually a Mesa Walkabout 1x15 combo or an EBS Fafner into a Trace Elliot 1x15. I try to keep my pedal board setup reasonably simple so that (a) it is easy enough to carry around and (b) any problems or malfunctioning bits can be identified and address quickly at a gig.

I am still considering going down the Helix route, but damn, I do love the mechanics and tactile nature of working with amps, cabs and pedals and plugging stuff in. Essentially I treat signal chains as audible Lego. 

My alternative doom rig actually just plugging my bass straight into a Mesa Block 750 or Trace Elliot V6, pushing the gain on the preamp and running that into a Mesa Powerhouse 6x10. As you can imagine, this setup certainly does doom, it also does back problems and permanent hearing loss. 

[velvetkevorkian]

15 hours ago, greentext said:

pink torpedo the wah

Had to parse this a couple of times, thanks profanity filter!

[Baloney Balderdash]

1 hour ago, velvetkevorkian said:

Had to parse this a couple of times, thanks profanity filter!

I still don't get it...

 

Cocked wah?

 

Or?

 

I feel sorry for people named "Richard", actually my uncle's name is "Richard" (that's not his name though, thanks profanity filter for discriminating people named "Richard", like they wouldn't already have insecurities about their name, and I doubt having it straight out censored will make them feel any better about it).

 

At least my uncle's middle and last name is not Willy Johnson. 

 

 

Edited February 13, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[velvetkevorkian]

33 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Cocked wah?

Yeah -- refers to leaving the wah pedal active without sweeping it

[Baloney Balderdash]

22 minutes ago, velvetkevorkian said:

Yeah -- refers to leaving the wah pedal active without sweeping it

I know, I just wasn't sure that was what originally was written, thanks for clarifying though. 

Edited February 13, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[greentext]

2 hours ago, velvetkevorkian said:

Had to parse this a couple of times, thanks profanity filter!

hahaaha i didn't even notice that it had changed it haha 

[dudewheresmybass]

I use a joyo Orange juice into an Orange getaway driver - masses of low end and a chewy, almost gurgling quality to the drive

[greentext]

Ive been using a Boss OS-2 and a Source Audio OFD multieffect in the big muff setting going into a Traynor TS120-B or Fender Super Bassman (if someone can help me carry it from the car 😬) through a Aguilar 2x12 for big fat stoner rock/doom band tones and it is unstoppable. The big valve thing just hissing and spluttering just does it for me.

 

Also something I like is throwing on an always on light chorus as it just gently modulates the bass enough to pop above the mix every now and again and gives it a spacey feeeeel.

Occasionally ill throw on the octaver for added filth but rare as i hate any dry in my octaver mix so usually its to subby to get any clarity and im already pushing a lot of low end. EDIT: and of course the wah!

Edited February 13, 2023 by greentext
adding more info

[Supernaut]

Any recommendations on string gauge for drop C / D standard? 

[Pamparius]

On 13/02/2023 at 21:12, greentext said:

Also something I like is throwing on an always on light chorus as it just gently modulates the bass enough to pop above the mix every now and again and gives it a spacey feeeeel.

May I ask which chorus you are using?

 

 

[Stofferson]

1 hour ago, Supernaut said:

Any recommendations on string gauge for drop C / D standard? 

What bass you got dude?, I use elixir 45-105 in Eb Standard, holds well, if you wanted to go down for D standard and drop C, maybe 50-110.

I Read somewhere that DR strings made Geezer some 115's for when Sabbath played in C, cant see much online.

[greentext]

10 minutes ago, Pamparius said:

May I ask which chorus you are using?

 

 

Its a 90's DOD Deep Freeze. I think there where 2 generations of the Deep Freeze and mine is the earlier one. In my opinion its the best bass chorus i've heard. 

[greentext]

1 hour ago, Supernaut said:

Any recommendations on string gauge for drop C / D standard? 

I used a 120 DR set for drop C for years on a 34' scale and worked a dream, but I wasn't jumping back to D standard i feel it would be to much tension for D standard. I think the 50-110 will be a safer bet but might get a bit saggy in drop C depending on scale length.