Guitar Interactive – Issue 66 2019

(^166) Guitar Interactive Issue 66
Immediately you should hear (using proper
earphones or decent speakers - laptop
speakers and earbuds won’t deliver the
results) the difference in low end despite the
kicking in of a nice gnarly drive. If you cant,
then wait for the moment I turn up the level
of the clean bass sound. The “weight” comes
back as the lower frequencies return, even on
a 4 string bass. Think how useful this would
be in drop tuned situations. I’ve even used
this method when tuning a whole octave
below our standard E string!
I’ll just add, whilst we are talking about
blending: This parallel path mixing isn’t just
for distortion effects mind - you could blend
whatever effects you like in to either path. A
synth effect and envelope filter in one path
and maybe an octave with EQ boost on the
other allowing a separation of the effects
rather than having to feed all four effects
into each other in series and thus making the
resultant output confusing.
Using a blending pedal like models such as
this one from COG allows a user to come
up with lots of really interesting effect path
configurations, but for more simple set ups,
manufacturers of bass specific drive pedals
are adding in either a ‘blend’ knob on board
or the ability to mix in the clean signal via
a separate control. I have three pedals that
I would like to demonstrate to you that
have their own sonic signatures. This isn’t a
“which is best” shoot-out by the way, rather
a column to show you what options we can
have in our quest for that ultimate sound
design!
THE BASSMENT_DAN VEALL THE BASSMENT SETTING THE TONE