New Nolly bass patch idea?

DandyDrew

New Member
As I am getting familiar with new tones and ideas with the Axe Fx 2, I noticed on Nolly's FB that he posted up a picture of a patch he was working on for his bass tones. I am quite a fan of what he is doing with his bass sounds.Typically, I have seen that the tone tends to have 2 signals: 1 where the low end left clean and 1 where the mid range is distorted to help given some bite/grit and blend with the guitars.

Any wild guesses to what he might be up to here?

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I saw this picture as well, I can't say much on what's actually happening but it looks like he's substituting amp models for 2 drive blocks (probably one for mids and another for high end grit and cut), there's also lots of filtering with both drive blocks taking multiple routes through the different setups. Both of the drives also run into a cab block, but the top one also has a route skipping it so I can only assume that's his high end grit. His fundamental low end seems to be a comp'd and EQ'd di signal into the cab block.
 
He's doing what exactly what you would do in a recording studio using a DAW or console with outboard gear. I understand completely what he's doing, but to break everything down it would require me to write about 10 full paragraphs and I just don't have that amount of time or motivation. Search around on the internet for how to record heavy bass. Typically in the studio for heavy bass you'll have three different tracks of bass (Bass DI, light drive, and distorted). Like I said, search around. You should find what you're looking for. Or maybe someone else will explain it all.
 
OP, what is it about this that is throwing you? The key to understanding this preset is to know what each of the Filter and PEQ blocks are doing. Tough to say without knowing. Do any of the Scenes engage/bypass any of the blocks. Even with two drives and so many filters, it all depends on whether they are set up for subtle processing or radical filtering and distortion, though I'd guess that at least a couple of them are being used to hi pass or low pass the main signal. This type of parallel processing is pretty common IMHO, especially when you're going for a fair amount of grit and dirt on bass, in order to keep the sound from losing impact.

Any chance you could give a quick look at those filter and PEQ blocks and describe or screenshot their curves?

[edit: yeah, totally agree with those guys ^^^^^ ]
 
All I have seen of this preset is the picture posted. I am relatively new to mixing and making presets. I will see what I can find about setting up 3 separate tracks. I know of the idea of using 2 but I can see the benefits of an extra track for more sculpting control.

I was kind of thrown off on how the top track is going to a cab and also being bypassed?!

I can see how the top and middle track is the light drive and distortion tracks. Generally, at what range would you filter those tracks? I have always just added drive/distortion to a single separate track from 400hz to around 5k. This gives the brit and drive while maintaining a clean defined low-end.

If anyone has some sources they could share or maybe a quick rundown would be helpful and highly appreciated!
 
I can see how the top and middle track is the light drive and distortion tracks. Generally, at what range would you filter those tracks?
I typically high-pass my light drive and distortion tracks anywhere from 500Hz to 700Hz. I also low-pass them at 4kHz or higher.
 
I typically high-pass my light drive and distortion tracks anywhere from 500Hz to 700Hz. I also low-pass them at 4kHz or higher.

Okay, so my filters were pretty much the same. I am curious to what is the benefit of having a light drive and distortion together in the same range? I am guessing it is because you want 1 to cut threw the mix and the other to blend with the guitar sound?
 
Okay, so my filters were pretty much the same. I am curious to what is the benefit of having a light drive and distortion together in the same range? I am guessing it is because you want 1 to cut threw the mix and the other to blend with the guitar sound?
I can't see the point in mixing 2 distortions in the same range either, that's why I figured one was for midrange presence and the other was the cutting grit (he has said in that one rig rundown he's a fan of that throaty midrange growl, and Imo the glue for the guitars would be better suited in the guitars dominant freq range). I could have 100% be wrong but wouldn't the stronger distortion drown the other out anyway?
 
I am curious to what is the benefit of having a light drive and distortion together in the same range? I am guessing it is because you want 1 to cut threw the mix and the other to blend with the guitar sound?
When reamping or adding a plug-in to the lightly driven track, I'm looking to strengthen the midrange of the bass guitar's tone. With the distorted track, I'm going for straight up distortion, but it still has to sound musical. In my experience, the distortion track gets filtered more heavily than the others.
 
I can't see the point in mixing 2 distortions in the same range
I'm not mixing two distortions. One track is lightly driven and I usually achieve this with a drive pedal, bass amp, or plug-in. The other track IS a distortion track and it's only one. For the distortion track, I like reamping my bass DI into a guitar amp, particularly the Dual Rec model.
 
I'm not mixing two distortions. One track is lightly driven and I usually achieve this with a drive pedal, bass amp, or plug-in. The other track IS a distortion track and it's only one. For the distortion track, I like reamping my bass DI into a guitar amp, particularly the Dual Rec model.
AH, okay now I get it!
 
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