So Gene accidentally put it in my head that splitting signal chains can be cool.

On my melody side I have
Compression -> Reverb -> Distortion -> mixer
Compression -> Reverb -> mixer

This sounds nice to have the distorted and clean sounds at the same time from different parts of the room.

On the bass side I have
Compression -> Boss CEB-3 -> mixer left and right

I tried the bass side in stereo off of the CEB-3 and got some weird distorted metal sounds coming out, whereas in mono it sounds like a normal chorus. The two sides are running to the same mixer, so I don't think it should be a phase issue. Any ideas from you experts?

Thanks in advance,
Daniel

EDIT: The editor made it unclear where the side chain came from, so I updated.

Hey bud, I'm hardly an expert, but I have a setup that's working pretty good (For me) with that "3rd element" you mentioned... Now, I don't activate it too much, but it's there if I want it. I'm entirely focused on learning to play better... lol

Stick MS>Boss GT100>Amp/PA
Stick BS>BossGT100>Amp/PA
GK3 MS>Roland GR55>Amp/PA

So, I have 3 separate amps (2 Roland Jazz Choruses and a Roland Keyboard Amp for the GR55) and 2 Boss GT100's and a Roland GR555. All 3 units are midi'd so that one button gives me my patch change. Plus, Tuners all over the place! And the Bosses are built like tanks and sound pretty good! The GT100's have built in FX loops and loopers also, so I'm pretty set, actually. Not quite the quality of, say a Strymon reverb but it'll do... it'll do...

So, at the source is where the signal splitting happens for me; I tried using sends and stuff but I wasn't happy with the tone, plus with only 3 pedals to lug around there's a lot less to go wrong...

I have been getting into mixing different amp sounds but in the digital domain. Over the last year, I've been experimenting with blending and not using EQ. The problem I've been having is that I had a hard time getting the huge bass end that I want and still get a nice upper end that still cuts through. In the past, I was trying to EQ the hell out of it but it just didn't sound right. Then I came across the Billy Sheehan Signature Drive pedal by EBS which blends a driven signal with the direct clean signal and each side has it's own insert so you can put whatever effects you want independently and blend them together. On the drive side, I use almost no drive and use the tone knob to make a treble-y sound and blend that with very bassy direct sound. I get that nice round bass sound and pleasing high end blended in which is so much more pleasing than using EQ.
However, it's still necessary to put this through some kind of amp sim or an actual amp for it to sound good. I've gotten mixed results from using DI bass but when you blend that with an amp sound (sim or real) you get something special. (Another blending example!)

I've recently gone to a computer only setup using MainStage and getting amazing sounds. On the bass side, I'm getting that rounded tone on one channel. The bass amps sims in MainStage lets you blend a DI signal together with the amp sound right in the amp sim. On another channel, I have a distorted sound through an Ampeg style amp and into a stereo chorus. Blend these together and it's HUGE!

The MainStage set up gives me infinite possibilities without actually having multiple amps, DIs, pedals and do it all in the digital domain.
But I digress...

The point I'm making is that the sound I've been getting with blending has been soooooo much better than trying to achieve it through EQ and a single signal chain.

Dean, that's the secret to getting the perfect sound you're looking for--blend from several sources, instead of trying to EQ the bejeesus out of one. You can also get a really fat sound. All your sources have to be dry, or with the same FX, for best effect, and then add FX last. I use that trick in MIDI world when you can make different things all trigger at the same time, and blend them together. I use 5 piano banks or more sometimes and blend them together to get a fat, "perfect" piano sound (to me, anyway). I can never get there by EQ'ing alone.

Interesting post. Thank you, Gentlemen.

A lot of different approaches, eh?

Hey Dan, thanks for the good word.

That is not normal behavior for the CEB-5. The CEB-5 is a crossover Chorus pedal, which allows one control over over the amount of chorus on the lower strings. An idea, just making this up as I go, would be to determine which channel was handling the low frequencies and try some variations with your gain trim so you are not overloading that channel. There is a real art to gain trimming, one that I was not aware of until I started using a mixer with some frequency.

Oh heck, maybe it's broken?!

I have really enjoyed having a stereo rig. I am only running the melody side in stereo. It sounds pretty cool the way the mono upper registers of the unaffected bass side sound against the affected side of the melody strings in the same register. It annoyed my at first, but now I've really come to appreciate it.

Fun post, thanks for sharing.

Hi Gene! and Friends!

I found the answer by checking out the TalkBass.com forum. Apparently I needed to turn down the level coming out of the compressor. The CEB-3 requires a quieter signal when running in stereo than in mono. Go figure.

It has been fun to read how the rest of you have been getting your extra voicing. As a simple, old man of almost 40, I think I will stick with this current analog solution.

Now that I have this portion figured out, this means I am getting another mini-module for the pedal board of 4 x 1/4" connectors so that the path goes Stick in on the right and 4 outs on the left. Fun!

-Daniel

I dig the stereo-ness of the Stick but ever since I saw this idea for a dividable pickup and started to get my left hand accompaniment on Stick a little further along, I am imagining a 3 way split output on a Grand Stick. With the 3 low bass strings having their own output and the 3 high strings on the bass side being able to be out put to a 3rd set of processing and amplification I believe the idea of a 3rd distinct voice could be realized without too much change in the way most players approach the left hand accompaniment. I'm not talking about splitting coils either but dividing the pickup in half in string groups like this dividable Hambone "Some-Bucker". You couldn't get much wire around a small 3 pole/3 string pickup so it might have to be an active circuit like the ACT-2. Just a thought.........

After reading this thread...I realize I am at the bottom foot of the totem pole. You guys are tech wizards. I'm comfy at the bottom though.

Cheers,
Pry M8