Like any other form of art, music encourages experimentation. For example, feedback and distortion were originally seen as flaws due to the limitations of amp design. Today, it is as commonplace as it gets. Effects pedals are also handy tools begging to be put to new uses. With that said, we’d like to share with you a handy little tip regarding modulation effects such as chorus and octave pedals – they are the perfect tools to fatten up your bass tone.
The trick is to maintain the bass signal as dry as possible using either the help of the chorus effect’s blend control or by running the dry signal in parallel with the chorus. It is however important that while you do all this that you maintain the depth and the wet amount lower by about 30%. This is to ensure that the signal remains mostly dry. It is also important that you add just enough or make sufficient adjustments that are required to improve the depth and thickness of the bass without any worry or chance of the effect taking over.
The location you’re in — such as a small venue or you garage — will also determine the sweet spot for each setting. There is, however, another trick you can also use. It is possible to use a crossover for splitting the bass signal before the chorus. Once this is done, you can next feed the lows straight through to the amp while the highs simultaneously get a bit of chorus. By doing all this, it is possible to maintain a solid bottom end while at the same time, thickening the highs and mids of your music.
Final Thoughts …
There you have it, how to use a chorus or octave pedal to thicken up your bass sound. Not too difficult, right?
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