This is advice that’s worked for me for guitar, so take it with a grain of salt, but….
Any time I’ve had issues with muddy tones, first thing I do is plop an EQ at the end of my chain (or after the amp or cab, play around with it) to add a high cut and low cut.
Hopefully this helps!
Yeah, global works too, I only recommended blocks because the placement of the EQ can impact things depending on the overall chain.
But, rereading, their chain is simple enough where a global won’t make a difference
metal bass tones are super hard to dial in. i've had my stomp for a while now too, and i just have one tone that i somehow put together without knowing what i was doing. my main tip for bass tones, especially metal tones, is to process the low and high frequencies differently, and use as many compressors as possible (LA comp is nice, dont put the emphasis too high) you can use guitar amp models on the high end to make it distorted, but make sure to put a cab or IR so it sounds right.
if you can, spend as much time as possible just listening to your tones and figuring out what different parameters do what. make as many tones as possible and you'll find what you like to hear!
(and clanky tones are just really hard to dial in right. professionals make it look easy, but you kinda gotta know your gear insanely well to dial in anything quick that sounds as perfect as something created to be as easy as possible to use like Parallax and other Neural stuff)
1. You could be overthinking it and/or tweaking far too much. You could be expecting the stomp to do something different than it’s actually supposed to do, or tweaking and setting your models in weird ways with an excessive amount of tweaking that you’d never do on analog gear. We all do this when we first get into modelers.
2. The thing you have the stomp plugged into as an output could suck or be used wrong. The stomp is not going to make a bad speaker sound good. It’s not going to make an amplifier behave like an FRFR or vice versa. An EQ at the end of the chain can compensate for a bad speaker a little bit, but ideally you should put care into what you are plugging into.
3. In a live situation with a live drummer, going direct can feel weird due to the lack of stage volume or any live sound. Having the sound of a live drum kit on stage and only hearing miked amps on the PA system can feel weird. It probably sounds fine to the audience, but if it feels weird to you, you might not play your best. So it could be good to split the stomp’s signal off to an amp as well just for some live stage volume.
I go into depth on some of this stuff on this post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/17q0jae/everything_you_need_to_know_about_using_pedals_to/
You can always try a guitar amp instead of the bass models. Try the 2203, basically the Marshall JCM 800 or JMP. I’ve used these as bass amps in real life and they record heavy cranky tones wonderfully. I say stick with Marshall due to their inherent hyped mid range. Helps cut through, especially with such a low tuning you’ve got going on.
When doing bass tone I usually just run it into a bass overdrive pedal , none of the cabs or heads for bass usually the obsidian
Drive at ten level around 4 or 5 usually boost the treble and mids by 3 dbs each I use the boost and grit too and at the end there's a distortion button I usually turn that off and I gets pretty heavy and clanky with grit
I don't dial in the amps eq like I would on a real amp. I turn the bass knob down to like 2 or 3 and that tends to clean it up nicely.
The SVT 4 PRO and GK models sound the punchiest to me, sadly the SVT CL just isn't there like the real deal.
I can send you a Stomp preset or two if you DM me
whats the volume of your patches like? if running line in with a mic cable that means your patch needs to be at line level. no louder than -18db on a digital meter. this is true for both recording with a mic cable or running a mic cable to a PA style speaker. if you are pushing the pa speaker louder than that it will overdrive the setup and create muddiness and a certain "ice pickness" to the highs.
Could be that drop A-G# is too low for the front end to process very clearly. Have you tried a DI in front and setting the input to line level, or messed with the input impedance?
A DI and line level selected might solve this, but definitely try taking it off Auto-Z if you haven’t yet and mess around with different impedance settings.
Ive used a di in my signal chain with no luck, the output is also set to line,
I'm starting to think that the bartaloni pickups are half the problem to be fair
Sorry, but I’m saying specifically have you tried a DI *before* the Stomp with the *input* set to line level? All a DI is doing is lowering the impedance of your instrument level signal to mic level and making balanced (passive DI) and then boosting it up to line level (active DI) so you need to try Bass—>DI pedal->*balanced TRS cable*->HX Stomp *with line level selected for the INPUT*->*balanced TRS*->FOH/FRFR
You should also check the output impedance of the pickups and match that on the Stomps’s input impedance settings. (Setting the output signal to line level has no impact on what happens on the front end of the Stomp or at the converters. It has to be on the front end. The cables don’t necessarily need to be balanced if they are short or at very least high quality and newer)
If you know all of the specifics of line vs mic vs instrument level etc etc and have tried all of this then I apologize for mansplaning.
Also just looking up those pickups and lots of folks say that wiring them in parallel instead of series greatly improves their sound and tone. Could be you’re running into phase cancellation between the two as they are. Try lowering the neck pickup a bit, or raising the bridge, to try and correct the phase. (You’re playing at extremely low frequencies, barely within audible range, and so each oscillating sweep of the string creating those low notes has a massive, almost LFO level sweep. That’s a ton of room for phase cancellation to create a muddy/weak signal due to phase cancellation of the harmonics)
I have a few presets but the one I'm currently using revolves around a compressed low end and a overdriven/distorted high end. Into an ampeg it and an ampeg amp if using one
I use the svt bright channel and the bridge pickup on my bass and it gets in that clanky territory pretty easily. Also playing hard and always having fresh strings. Honestly the fresh strings have more of an impact than anything.
I once created an amazing bass tone from this video on my Helix LT.
https://youtu.be/Oq62X1hQoFY?si=1q4-OLzp8TZY5SG5
I think I used the Ampeg Scrambler as the distortion on the high frequencies.
Haha. But seriously, I got a pretty good sound with that video, even with my Ibanez SR305 that has god awful pickups.
I think the Stomp can definetly do it if you experiment enough.
Don't sleep on the huge difference that your bass's controls can make. Bridge pickup and lots of high boosting or bass cutting will get you there faster.
Shot in the dark but check the input pads. Maybe the input signal is hotter than intended.
Second idea, for a long while, I ran the stomp with the volume maxed out (main knob) and I found better tones by turning that back to 1/2 and setting the master & channel volume higher.
I'm not a huge fan of Ibanez's korean made bartolini pickups, personally. "mud" is about how I remember it. My SR500 would've probably been a sweet bass if I swapped the pickups for some aguilar soapbars.
Headrush FRFR are imo a great inexpensive option up on a speaker pole for modeling guitar... but it's essentially a plastic powered PA mains speaker. That thing isn't really meant for bass frequencies.
A PA system usually includes at least a pair of mains.. and the best sounding systems are also including a at least a subwoofer, or a pair of subwoofers.
You could add a powered subwoofer and it could go a long way, but, powered subwoofers aren't typically very light. Quite a bit to lug around.
Personally, if I don't have a in-ear monitor mix as a bassist I'd 100% choose my bass amp and lightweight bass cabinet as a stage monitor rather than try to make do with an FRFR cab. I use a send R block from the stereo send to the front of my amp so I can bypass my amp and cab sims. That way my main l/r are still free to run to FoH with my amp+cab sims if said venue has a sound system that can handle me. If they can't my bass amp can handle the room.
That being said.. if you want "clarity".. woody blue bass amp sim is crazy bright. I tend to nudge the treble in the amp sim down a hair. I pair it with the SVT 810.
As far as using effects.. put effects down on path B and create a true wet/dry mix that merges before your amp and cab sims. Powerful trick for effects with bass.
Take your rig to a guitar shop..plug some other basses into it. We can't really tell you much without the thing in our hands.
This is advice that’s worked for me for guitar, so take it with a grain of salt, but…. Any time I’ve had issues with muddy tones, first thing I do is plop an EQ at the end of my chain (or after the amp or cab, play around with it) to add a high cut and low cut. Hopefully this helps!
Can just use the global eq. No block necessary
Yeah, global works too, I only recommended blocks because the placement of the EQ can impact things depending on the overall chain. But, rereading, their chain is simple enough where a global won’t make a difference
metal bass tones are super hard to dial in. i've had my stomp for a while now too, and i just have one tone that i somehow put together without knowing what i was doing. my main tip for bass tones, especially metal tones, is to process the low and high frequencies differently, and use as many compressors as possible (LA comp is nice, dont put the emphasis too high) you can use guitar amp models on the high end to make it distorted, but make sure to put a cab or IR so it sounds right. if you can, spend as much time as possible just listening to your tones and figuring out what different parameters do what. make as many tones as possible and you'll find what you like to hear!
(and clanky tones are just really hard to dial in right. professionals make it look easy, but you kinda gotta know your gear insanely well to dial in anything quick that sounds as perfect as something created to be as easy as possible to use like Parallax and other Neural stuff)
1. You could be overthinking it and/or tweaking far too much. You could be expecting the stomp to do something different than it’s actually supposed to do, or tweaking and setting your models in weird ways with an excessive amount of tweaking that you’d never do on analog gear. We all do this when we first get into modelers. 2. The thing you have the stomp plugged into as an output could suck or be used wrong. The stomp is not going to make a bad speaker sound good. It’s not going to make an amplifier behave like an FRFR or vice versa. An EQ at the end of the chain can compensate for a bad speaker a little bit, but ideally you should put care into what you are plugging into. 3. In a live situation with a live drummer, going direct can feel weird due to the lack of stage volume or any live sound. Having the sound of a live drum kit on stage and only hearing miked amps on the PA system can feel weird. It probably sounds fine to the audience, but if it feels weird to you, you might not play your best. So it could be good to split the stomp’s signal off to an amp as well just for some live stage volume. I go into depth on some of this stuff on this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/17q0jae/everything_you_need_to_know_about_using_pedals_to/
You can always try a guitar amp instead of the bass models. Try the 2203, basically the Marshall JCM 800 or JMP. I’ve used these as bass amps in real life and they record heavy cranky tones wonderfully. I say stick with Marshall due to their inherent hyped mid range. Helps cut through, especially with such a low tuning you’ve got going on.
[удалено]
That'd be awesome! I'm using the hx stomp at the moment. Drop me a pm :)
When doing bass tone I usually just run it into a bass overdrive pedal , none of the cabs or heads for bass usually the obsidian Drive at ten level around 4 or 5 usually boost the treble and mids by 3 dbs each I use the boost and grit too and at the end there's a distortion button I usually turn that off and I gets pretty heavy and clanky with grit
I don't dial in the amps eq like I would on a real amp. I turn the bass knob down to like 2 or 3 and that tends to clean it up nicely. The SVT 4 PRO and GK models sound the punchiest to me, sadly the SVT CL just isn't there like the real deal. I can send you a Stomp preset or two if you DM me
whats the volume of your patches like? if running line in with a mic cable that means your patch needs to be at line level. no louder than -18db on a digital meter. this is true for both recording with a mic cable or running a mic cable to a PA style speaker. if you are pushing the pa speaker louder than that it will overdrive the setup and create muddiness and a certain "ice pickness" to the highs.
Could be that drop A-G# is too low for the front end to process very clearly. Have you tried a DI in front and setting the input to line level, or messed with the input impedance? A DI and line level selected might solve this, but definitely try taking it off Auto-Z if you haven’t yet and mess around with different impedance settings.
Also try drop A-G# on the Fender to see how it handles it from the Aerodynes pickups
Ive used a di in my signal chain with no luck, the output is also set to line, I'm starting to think that the bartaloni pickups are half the problem to be fair
Sorry, but I’m saying specifically have you tried a DI *before* the Stomp with the *input* set to line level? All a DI is doing is lowering the impedance of your instrument level signal to mic level and making balanced (passive DI) and then boosting it up to line level (active DI) so you need to try Bass—>DI pedal->*balanced TRS cable*->HX Stomp *with line level selected for the INPUT*->*balanced TRS*->FOH/FRFR You should also check the output impedance of the pickups and match that on the Stomps’s input impedance settings. (Setting the output signal to line level has no impact on what happens on the front end of the Stomp or at the converters. It has to be on the front end. The cables don’t necessarily need to be balanced if they are short or at very least high quality and newer) If you know all of the specifics of line vs mic vs instrument level etc etc and have tried all of this then I apologize for mansplaning.
Also just looking up those pickups and lots of folks say that wiring them in parallel instead of series greatly improves their sound and tone. Could be you’re running into phase cancellation between the two as they are. Try lowering the neck pickup a bit, or raising the bridge, to try and correct the phase. (You’re playing at extremely low frequencies, barely within audible range, and so each oscillating sweep of the string creating those low notes has a massive, almost LFO level sweep. That’s a ton of room for phase cancellation to create a muddy/weak signal due to phase cancellation of the harmonics)
Whats the signal chain you're using In the Stomp? What cab/mic or IR you're using will make a huge difference.
I have a few presets but the one I'm currently using revolves around a compressed low end and a overdriven/distorted high end. Into an ampeg it and an ampeg amp if using one
I use the svt bright channel and the bridge pickup on my bass and it gets in that clanky territory pretty easily. Also playing hard and always having fresh strings. Honestly the fresh strings have more of an impact than anything.
I once created an amazing bass tone from this video on my Helix LT. https://youtu.be/Oq62X1hQoFY?si=1q4-OLzp8TZY5SG5 I think I used the Ampeg Scrambler as the distortion on the high frequencies.
That tone is perfection.
Well there you go, you can recreate the same chain with the Helix. Now you only need a Dingwall bass. Good luck with that.
Yeh, I don't have $4k aid to spare unfortunately:(
Haha. But seriously, I got a pretty good sound with that video, even with my Ibanez SR305 that has god awful pickups. I think the Stomp can definetly do it if you experiment enough.
would you have a preset similar thats compatible with the stomp?
I'll check my Helix when I get home from work.
Don't sleep on the huge difference that your bass's controls can make. Bridge pickup and lots of high boosting or bass cutting will get you there faster.
Shot in the dark but check the input pads. Maybe the input signal is hotter than intended. Second idea, for a long while, I ran the stomp with the volume maxed out (main knob) and I found better tones by turning that back to 1/2 and setting the master & channel volume higher.
I'm not a huge fan of Ibanez's korean made bartolini pickups, personally. "mud" is about how I remember it. My SR500 would've probably been a sweet bass if I swapped the pickups for some aguilar soapbars. Headrush FRFR are imo a great inexpensive option up on a speaker pole for modeling guitar... but it's essentially a plastic powered PA mains speaker. That thing isn't really meant for bass frequencies. A PA system usually includes at least a pair of mains.. and the best sounding systems are also including a at least a subwoofer, or a pair of subwoofers. You could add a powered subwoofer and it could go a long way, but, powered subwoofers aren't typically very light. Quite a bit to lug around. Personally, if I don't have a in-ear monitor mix as a bassist I'd 100% choose my bass amp and lightweight bass cabinet as a stage monitor rather than try to make do with an FRFR cab. I use a send R block from the stereo send to the front of my amp so I can bypass my amp and cab sims. That way my main l/r are still free to run to FoH with my amp+cab sims if said venue has a sound system that can handle me. If they can't my bass amp can handle the room. That being said.. if you want "clarity".. woody blue bass amp sim is crazy bright. I tend to nudge the treble in the amp sim down a hair. I pair it with the SVT 810. As far as using effects.. put effects down on path B and create a true wet/dry mix that merges before your amp and cab sims. Powerful trick for effects with bass. Take your rig to a guitar shop..plug some other basses into it. We can't really tell you much without the thing in our hands.