EHX Electro-Harmonix Effectology, Vol.17 Transforming Guitar to Bass

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkDLQAvrEQQ

Intelligent Ring Mod

I wanted to show this bass sound against a rhythm track.  My solution was to create a hand drum using the effect chain shown below.

Using a dummy plug to turn the Big Muff on without a guitar connected, I used its white noise through a Pulsar pedal to create a rhythmic pulse.  Having a booster LP1 after the Big Muff created so much gain that the unit became microphonic. This allowed me to actually “play” the Big Muff like a drum.

An undocumented feature of the Ring Thing is its ability to follow the pitch of what you play and tune itself automatically.  This feature is monophonic and produces great bass and synth sounds.  The output needs to be boosted in level before being routed into the mod jack.  For the boost I used a LPB-1.

A Germanium Over Drive was last in the chain to fatten the sound.

The Ring Thing’s coarse knob controls the global pitch center.  It was set at -2 octaves.  Below is the effect chain and setting for the Intelligent Ring Mod.

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Taurus Pedals

This chain has tons of gain and I was able to play the bass line using just one hand.  I adjusted the Riddle’s stop frequency with my right hand, but a expression pedal could also be used.  Below is the chain and effect settings used in the video.

As a backdrop for the Taurus sound, I created a faux vocal choir sound.  Below is the chain and settings for the important pedals in this chain.

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String Bass

The combination of the HOG and Microsynth produced a string bass sound.  The HOG was lowered one octave in pitch using the expression pedal in the Exp. Reverse mode.

A very small amount of distortion was added on the Microsynth to give the sound a buzz, only at the beginning of notes.

To produce the sound of a snare drum being played with brushes I used the Electro-Harmonix warranty card!

A Soul Preacher compressor pedal was used to bring the string level up in volume and a Cathedral reverb was set for a warm room sound.

Below is the effect chain for the String Bass and pedal settings.

A Wiggler pedal was used for the vibrato guitar

Thanks for watching.
Bill Ruppert

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This is an exellent one Bill! Has a little bit too much env. on the upright bass, but still it’s really convincing. I would def. use all of what I saw here in more than one ocasion. Keep rocking

Fantastic! I love the Ring Thing. Thanks for calling attention to that feature Bill.

SanquiFlerb
Thanks!
The envelope filter is very slow and any less the square wave top end would overtake the sound.
The filter start frequency is set low enough to make the square wave sound more like a string buzz than distortion.
The sound reminds me of many of the basses I have heard recorded direct in the studio.
It helps to pick with the side of the thumb on the right hand.
Thanks again for watching.
Bill

- 06 July 2010 12:34 PM

This is an exellent one Bill! Has a little bit too much env. on the upright bass, but still it’s really convincing. I would def. use all of what I saw here in more than one ocasion. Keep rocking

Thanks Tut!
Yea I was thrilled to find it would follow the pitch of the guitar.
For me that was all that was missing from the Ring Thing.
It was there all along!
The output does need to be boosted before it goes back in the mod jack.
Use any booster or compressor you have, I used an LPB-1.
Bill

The Ghost of Sim Tut - 06 July 2010 12:34 PM

Fantastic! I love the Ring Thing. Thanks for calling attention to that feature Bill.

Warranty Card!

Pure gold once again Bill

bill ruppert - 06 July 2010 01:02 PM

SanquiFlerb
Thanks!
The envelope filter is very slow and any less the square wave top end would overtake the sound.
The filter start frequency is set low enough to make the square wave sound more like a string buzz than distortion.
The sound reminds me of many of the basses I have heard recorded direct in the studio.
It helps to pick with the side of the thumb on the right hand.
Thanks again for watching.
Bill

- 06 July 2010 12:34 PM

This is an exellent one Bill! Has a little bit too much env. on the upright bass, but still it’s really convincing. I would def. use all of what I saw here in more than one ocasion. Keep rocking

Oh, I see, but I wasn’t expecting more from you than what I heard on the video, I mean, it’s pedals fault, not yours . It’s really amazing. So amazing that I’m watching the video again!

Thanks SanquiFlerb!!!
Bill

Hi Bill,do you believe that I’ll achieve the same effect of hand drum by using the Bass Big Muff too?or it can be reached only by using the guitar big muff?also,it’s compulsory the use of the LPB-1?

thank you very much,

Dario

So with the Ring Thing what happens if you go into pitch shift mode and shift a note an octave down, leave your expression pedal there, and keep playing?

Dario
Yes the Bass Big Muff works GREAT as a hand drum!
You need the Pulsar or the his will be constant and not suonding as a pulse.
As for EQ I boosted 125Hz by 15dB and 1.25K by 15dB when recording.
If using an amp just turn up the bass and upper mids.
Bill

LOOPMAN - 07 July 2010 05:40 AM

Hi Bill,do you believe that I’ll achieve the same effect of hand drum by using the Bass Big Muff too?or it can be reached only by using the guitar big muff?also,it’s compulsory the use of the LPB-1?

thank you very much,

Dario

Hi Julian,
That would pitch shift the signal down one octave.
Its the same input signal just down one octave.

Its a different sound than the pitch following ring mod.
Bill

julian - 07 July 2010 09:36 AM

So with the Ring Thing what happens if you go into pitch shift mode and shift a note an octave down, leave your expression pedal there, and keep playing?

hey bill, youre a genius.

Thanks Fried!

Bill-
I use rubber clerk’s thimbles between my strings at the bridge to get a “fretless/upright” sound- would these interfere with the HOG’s tracking at all?