Fretless pedal board for a minimalist?

[Soledad]

Been round the block a bit on this. Scrapped an earlier board some time ago and sold some of the pedals so a fresh start.

Wishlist is delay/reverb; chorus; octave **; subtle drive/dirt. I think that's it, suggestions welcome.

Questions:

- chorus - had a BEC3 (OK not blown away, sold), loved the TC toneprint but sold the amp, interested in the MXR. Is it better then the Boss at almost twice the price?

- octave** - want octave UP - what is around, recommended

- delay / reverb - have a TC Hall of Fame that works very well with my basses so could nick that from my other board

- drive - suggestions please.

 

Anyone got the FKT fretless box? - pricey and no flexibility but just wondering.

Also maybe a phaser - any recommendations?

 

Appreciate input 👍

[hubrad]

The tc corona chorus is great, especially if you liked their tone print. Also tc, sum'n'up for octaves up and down plus some really interesting things.. I get an almost organ-like tone from mine!

Sounds like you're sorted for reverb.

I can't comment on drive, as I never use it.

Phaser, I use an oldish mxr phase 90.. perhaps a tc to complete the set, or even one of their multi fx boards? Iirc there's no drive, but an insert for that purpose.

Good luck and fun in your quest!

[Hellzero]

Chorus: JAM Pedals Waterfall Bass, the best analogue chorus on the market, but very expensive, more fluid than the already excellent Boss you had or the mythical CE-2.

 

Octaver: Boss OC-5, does what you want and more, furthermore it has way better tracking and is more reliable than the OC-2.

 

Reverb: You already have what you need.

 

Delay: JAM Pedals Llama analogue delay in an affordable iteration.

 

Drive: One Control 360 AIAB as it emulates the Acoustic's Jaco Tone with the musical drive needed for a fretless.

 

PS: I'm a fretless player only too and these are the effects I use with a very light touch, but I am considering getting rid of everything but a reverb.

Edited September 2, 2023 by Hellzero
More info.

[Linus27]

I only play fretless these days and this is my board. I'm not totally finished with it yet but in terms of the pedals, I have the following.

 

1. Mooer Ambient A7 Reverb. Absolutely adore this pedal and it blows the TC Hall of Fame 2 that I previously had out the water.

2. Electro Harmonic Bass Clone Chorus. Really lovely chorus pedal which has the added benefit of having bass and treble controls. Previously had the TC Corona which I thought was awful and a Behringer Super Chorus which was good but noisy.

3. Boss OC-5 Octave. Simply the best.

4. Zoom MS60-B Multi-Effects. Not really using it much and still playing around with it but it does have some great patches. I'm more using it to play around with sounds to see if they work for me like flanger, compressor's, overdrive, amp sims etc.

5. TC Electronics Tuner. It's a tuner, it works and has never failed me.

 

As for future pedals, for me, they have to enhance the sound of the fretless or create a nice subtle effect that's not too distracting so I'm considering a flanger, EBS Triple Envelope Filter and maybe a compressor and something like a Sansamp Bass Driver.

 

[Linus27]

1 hour ago, Hellzero said:

Chorus: JAM Pedals Waterfall Bass, the best analogue chorus on the market, but very expensive, more fluid than the already excellent Boss you had or the mythical CE-2.

 

Octaver: Boss OC-5, does what you want and more, furthermore it has way better tracking and is more reliable than the OC-2.

 

Reverb: You already have what you need.

 

Delay: JAM Pedals Llama analogue delay in an affordable iteration.

 

Drive: One Control 360 AIAB as it emulates the Acoustic's Jaco Tone with the musical drive needed for a fretless.

 

PS: I'm a fretless player only too and these are the effects I use with a very light touch, but I am considering getting rid of everything but a reverb.

 

Just been looking at the One Control 360 pedal and it looks like I might be buying a new pedal. It looks really good 😁

[Beedster]

6 minutes ago, Linus27 said:

 

Just been looking at the One Control 360 pedal and it looks like I might be buying a new pedal. It looks really good 😁

Yes, but some rather odd narrative on the site, perhaps lost in translation?

[Beedster]

Pedal board for a minimalist feels a little bit contradictory? 

[Beedster]

2 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Pedal board for a minimalist feels a little bit contradictory? 

Not a criticism BTW 👍

[ezbass]

I’ve used EBS chs and 8ve pedals with fretless for decades, never found them wanting.

[Soledad]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

Pedal board for a minimalist feels a little bit contradictory? 

I do agree! Most of the time I play dry, straight into the PJB set flat everything. But there are times when I want to add a bit of colour, expression whatever.
Minimalist is relative to some of the boards I see on the boards thread, and I also tend to use small amounts of effect.

[Soledad]

2 hours ago, Linus27 said:

I only play fretless these days and this is my board. I'm not totally finished with it yet but in terms of the pedals, I have the following.

 

1. Mooer Ambient A7 Reverb. Absolutely adore this pedal and it blows the TC Hall of Fame 2 that I previously had out the water.

2. Electro Harmonic Bass Clone Chorus. Really lovely chorus pedal which has the added benefit of having bass and treble controls. Previously had the TC Corona which I thought was awful and a Behringer Super Chorus which was good but noisy.

3. Boss OC-5 Octave. Simply the best.

4. Zoom MS60-B Multi-Effects. Not really using it much and still playing around with it but it does have some great patches. I'm more using it to play around with sounds to see if they work for me like flanger, compressor's, overdrive, amp sims etc.

5. TC Electronics Tuner. It's a tuner, it works and has never failed me.

 

As for future pedals, for me, they have to enhance the sound of the fretless or create a nice subtle effect that's not too distracting so I'm considering a flanger, EBS Triple Envelope Filter and maybe a compressor and something like a Sansamp Bass Driver.

 

A tidy board, nice. I'll definitely look at the EH Bass Clone. Been happy with the Hall of Fame but there's always a 'better'!
I do have a Zoom B1 that I use to try things out - lot of toy for no money but not what I'd call user-friendly.
So I'll check the OC5, EH clone and the Mooer. Got a Polytune at least, so it's a start

[itu]

OK, some optional choices:

tce Stereo chorus / flanger / pitch shifter (the original eats even piezo signals)

https://www.kma-machines.com/m_queequeg2.html (don't let the simple looking UI confuse you)

https://ironether.com/pedals/nimbus/ (treble and bass are H and LPFs)

IE Divaricator is a X-over with which you can mix drive units (or a chorus...) to your sound without losing the low end

Comp might be in order, check http://www.ovnilab.com/

[Soledad]

Yes, totally forgot about comp - sold my Darkglass to fund something a while ago... mistake.

I'm going to investigate the TC stuff @hubrad, and most of the pedals recommended. Not sure about KMA as it appears to be a down only?

Think I can find some of these used and treat it like the library... buy then sell on at minimal loss if not a keeper.
And I definitely need to add in comp.

 

Very good to get a fretless gang together for this, thanks to all.
Next topics: strings, or even where the side dots belong on a fretless?!🤩

[paul_5]

I use a Butler tube overdrive in addition to a boss OC2 and aEHX Small Clone when zI need a bit of drive, but a Lovetone Meatball clone after the oc2 gives a lovely Stevie Wonder style analogue synth- works great with glissandos.

[tauzero]

Zoom MS-60B. It's got the lot.

 

I'm going through a similar exercise as I wouldn't mind putting together a tiny board for both fretted and fretless. Steve Lawson has a video on Youtube where he goes through his effects (this was some time ago so I don't know if much has changed) and his demo of the MXR bass chorus deluxe was very impressive.

[Soledad]

5 hours ago, tauzero said:

and his demo of the MXR bass chorus deluxe was very impressive.

I'll look for that - bit of an investment but I think a good chorus is a key fretless voice so worth considering. Want to hear the EH Bass Clone too and maybe I need to revisit the BEC3.

[Waddycall]

I only play fretless currently and my board is -

 

tuner (Boss)

Compressor (Seymour Duncan studio)

reverb (HOF mini)

looper (tc ditto as of yesterday)

 

i have a bass clone but don’t really like using chorus as it messes with my intonation. I want to sharpen up not mask my mistakes 🤣

i got the looper from another basschatter yesterday and within a few hours my intonation was getting better. had great fun just looping a c major scale and noodling around over that.

 

for strings I really like cobalt flats. Plenty of mids, no finger squeak, no fingerboard marks.

[Linus27]

Strings are a difficult one for me as it depends on the bass.

 

For my fretless Jazz I use LaBella Black Nylon which are fabulous and I've had a lot of compliments when I use this bass. For my main gigging bass which is a fretless Precision I use LaBella Low Tension flats. They sound awesome, really warm and balanced and again, I've had a fair amount of compliments. My other fretless Precision which I predominantly use for recording, writing and rehearsal's is strung with Rotosound 77 Jazz flats. These are probably my favourite sounding flats but do have the highest tension so tend to not gig with this bass. When I had my fretless Stringray, I struggled to find a string that I liked but when I switched to LaBella Black Nylon strings on it, the bass came alive and I never looked back.

 

There are a few strings I'd like to to try at some point, a set of T.I's just because everyone raves about them so I wanna see what all the fuss is about and a set of Dunlop flats as per the other thread. They seem to be regarded quite highly. I did quite like Ernie Ball Cobolts but it was so hit and miss on getting a dud string that I went looking elsewhere and settled on LaBella's.

Edited September 3, 2023 by Linus27

[Beedster]

The Tech 12 Fly Bass rig looks almost looks like they had fretless in mind when they put it together, is it any good? 

[tauzero]

7 hours ago, Soledad said:

I'll look for that - bit of an investment but I think a good chorus is a key fretless voice so worth considering. Want to hear the EH Bass Clone too and maybe I need to revisit the BEC3.

 

This is the one:

 

 

[Soledad]

5 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

This is the one:

 

 

Definitely shortlisting the MXR, seems to be highly regarded. Have to say what SL is doing here is some way off my patch with bright rounds on a fretted 6!! There are a few reviews on yt, always positive even allowing for its higher price. The flange gets some positive comments too... said the 'minimalist'.😂

[admiralchew]

The MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe is really excellent, has a small footprint and the flanger is excellent.

 

I used a Boss CE-5 (albeit not the bass chorus) and the MXR offered enough to justify the price different. The Ripply Fall is great but quite a bit bigger than the MXR.

 

The best small box chorus I think is the Providence Bass Chorus (although take that with a pinch of salt as I have one in the classifieds). It’s designed for bass though and does a lovely job of shimmering chorus.

 

At the boutique end the Iron Ether Polytope is brilliant but very rare, and the Horrothia Type One is great but perhaps a bit big if the MXR size is better for your board.

[Soledad]

Seems like a vote for the MXR @admiralchew - checked the Providence listing but it just got me more interested in hearing the MXR with flanger. GLWS but I think I'm on the hunt for an MXR, used so I don't lose much if/when I sell it on.

[Hellzero]

 

[Soledad]

On 03/09/2023 at 09:50, Linus27 said:

Strings are a difficult one for me as it depends on the bass.

 

For my fretless Jazz I use LaBella Black Nylon which are fabulous and I've had a lot of compliments when I use this bass. For my main gigging bass which is a fretless Precision I use LaBella Low Tension flats. They sound awesome, really warm and balanced and again, I've had a fair amount of compliments. My other fretless Precision which I predominantly use for recording, writing and rehearsal's is strung with Rotosound 77 Jazz flats. These are probably my favourite sounding flats but do have the highest tension so tend to not gig with this bass. When I had my fretless Stringray, I struggled to find a string that I liked but when I switched to LaBella Black Nylon strings on it, the bass came alive and I never looked back.

 

There are a few strings I'd like to to try at some point, a set of T.I's just because everyone raves about them so I wanna see what all the fuss is about and a set of Dunlop flats as per the other thread. They seem to be regarded quite highly. I did quite like Ernie Ball Cobolts but it was so hit and miss on getting a dud string that I went looking elsewhere and settled on LaBella's.

Good rundown of some options there. On my previous (Mayones BE4) I settled on LaBella 'white nylon' (that's what they call them and they aren't white).
I'm currently using D'Add chrome flats on the Sandberg - they are working very well on that bass so happy. Have EB Cobalt flats on my fretted P/J - can be v good but I agree quality issues. The D'Addario chromes are very consistent and have nice blue silks (mauve on the EBs) - yep, that stuff bothers me!!

What gauge LaBellas are you using?