Acoustic question

[starman]

Hello everyone,

I have an acoustic bass, could you recommend me a good way to set up a Reverb and EQ to use with this type of acoustic instrument?

 

Thank you very much

[tbskoglund]

Hello,

Thanks for your questions.

Does your bass have some sort of pickup that would allow you to connect it to an effects processor? Or are you planning on using a microphone?

Do you already have an Eventide device that you need help setting up? Or are you looking for advice for which device to get for your setup?

[starman]

Hello tbskoglund,

Well, my acoustic bass is an Ibanez AEB8E-BK model, yes it has a Fishman on-board preamp and a regular 1/4 TS jack to connect it to an effect processor or to my bass amp. So, I don’t use it with a microphone

I already have an Eventide H90 to setting up

 

Thank you very much

[apalazzolo]

With the understanding that I don’t have any actual experience using an H90 with an acoustic bass … and assuming we are not talking about a stand-up bass (a double bass) … and assuming you’re interested in relatively subtle enhancements of your acoustic sound:

I’d start with EQCompressor (EQC) serially running into SP2016 Reverb (SPR).

EQC has a lot of factory presets and many of them are specifically for bass.   Two things about this algo: 1. I play guitar and like subtle compressors.  Although transparent, this compressor will squash more than a 20 ton vice so I use it set VERY low.   Maybe bass calls for a lot of compression?  I don’t know.  I’m just saying that this thing can SQUISH! 2. In the H9, EQC had an awesome graphic display that is not in the H90 Control software. If you plan to explore EQC in depth, I recommend you install H9 Control software and run it in demo mode so you can see all the factory presets and how moving the knobs affects things.  Just playing around with the H9 graphic display will help you get a feel for what the knobs do.

The H90 has a lot of great reverb algos, but SPR has become my favorite … especially for subtle/natural enhancement.   There are 1000 options but I would start with something like  Type= Vintage Stereo Room … Position= 67 … Diffusion=67 … Decay .5s – 1.5s … Pre-delay … 20-70 ms.

As an alternative to EQC you can try Sticky Tape (probably with the W&F Amount and Rate set to zero).  There is a compressor in there that is fairly subtle.  The filter knob and tape speed will both provide some EQ.  The Offset and Width can add some thickness and stereo spread.

Hope that helps.

 

 

 

[starman]

Any suggestions/tips?

Let me know,

thanks

[tbskoglund]

I would suggest the same as apalazzolo recommends above. Let me know if you have tried those and are looking for further suggestions.

[brock]

System -> Global -> Source Type -> Sub (Bass), if you haven’t already.  It will help to ‘tune’ the filters.

For the ‘natural’ sounds of an acoustic bass, I might try the Hall or Room algorithms first.  Built-in EQ adjustments.  Choosing Room sacrifices some control over the mids to gain control over the early / late reflections.  You may prefer to dial out the low end reverb decay, as it can easily turn into competing mush.

I am kind of partial to a reverb bloom, using a small Blackhole, Inv-Gravity at 0.  I would think that most reverb for bass will benefit from being on the smaller side, barring special FX.  The important part for me is that each of these algorithms (including the SP2016 suggested above) has Pre Delay, to put separation between dry & wet.

Some suggested starting points.  Experimentation is key.  You may end up preferring the high metallic sheen of a Plate, that doesn’t step on the bass.  Or some rattling of Springs (with or without tremolo) for more of a classic ‘amped’ sound.  A heavily effected bass?  ModEchoVerb.

[starman]

Ok guys, I will give it a try and I’ll keep you informed

In the meantime, I wanted to ask one last thing that is still not clear to me: in my case where I use the electric bass, under the System -> Global -> Source Type ->  setting, should I select “Bass” or “Sub”? Which of the two works better with my electric bass?

Let me know

Thank you very much

[Author]

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