Today’s Show Me Your Pedalboard entry comes from Chris from Halifax, Nova Scotia! Chris is a bass player who utilizes a plethora of envelope filter options, and makes great use out of splitting his signal! Let’s take a look at what Chris is working with.
Chris’ signal chain starts off into a Peterson Strobo Stomp VS-S Strobe Tuner, all tuners are fundamentally the same, and as long as it keeps your instrument in tune then it’s fulfilled its purpose. I dig the blue enclosure though! From the tuner the chain continues onto an Electro-Harmonix Enigma Q-Balls a bass centric envelope filter modeled after EHX’s classic Q-Tron Envelope Filter. The Enigma Q-Balls features a built in distortion in addition to the envelope filter. The Enigma splits Chris’s signal into stereo. On the “wet” side of the signal split, the chain moves onto a Digitech Synth-Wah Envelope Filter, a vintage Russian Electro-Harmonix Bass Balls Envelope Filter, followed by a new Electro-Harmonix Q-Tron Envelope Filter (try and see if you can’t find a vintage big metal chassis Q-Tron, they’re not particularly hard to find, and are relatively inexpensive in comparison. In my opinion they also sound way better, can’t go wrong with OG Electro-Harmonix). After the Envelope Filters is a Morley Wah ending in a Line 6 DL4 Delay/Looper.
On the “dry” side of the signal split from the Enigma is a Tech 21 SansAmp VT Bass Amp Modeler, followed by an Empress Multidrive, into an Electro-Harmonix Ravish Sitar ending in the Line 6 DL4.
You’re working with a lot of cool stuff here Chris. Multi-amp setups can pull a lot of great sounds and blended tones, but for that reason I think the inclusion of the VT Bass Amp Modeler is a bit redundant. Swap it out with a gnarly fuzz by pedal makers such as Mantic Conceptual, Fairfield Circuitry, and Malekko. You could also throw a compressor at the beginning of your chain to really get your bass tone to pop, which is a huge benefit in multi amp setups. But that’s just my opinion, do what works for you!
Thanks, Chris, for sending in your board! The wonderful thing about being a pedal enthusiast is that there is always something to learn, people can find completely different uses for the same pedal which is what makes each and every board unique. If you haven’t sent in your board email us at juan@pedalsandeffects.com and it could be featured right here, at PedalsAndEffects!
N30g30
A compressor after the filters would be a great idea. I usually think filters love the full dynamics coming off the instrument. I think the FEA labs compressors sound great and are pedal sized.
I love seeing the ravish !!! I run the part of the output to a small guitar combo for some lush sounds.
Your amps+cabs have a lot of character but I can imagine you don’t want to haul them around and so you have the vt bass – or maybe you want to record from it. I haven’t used a vt bass but thinking of it. I’m not sure where in the chain I would put it here though.
Chumbly
Thanks so much Juan for your attention and I value your input greatly! I’ve been weighing the options for a compressor at the front of chain for a long time.(Mxr M87 or Empress comp), it’s a $ thing. The VT is used as a tube overdrive sim that I can stack with the fuzz or distortion of the Multi-Drive or vice versa.
Thanks Juan for a brilliant site that I check daily!