Cave Passive Pedal "RFF Tour" begins!

[jps]

I have been giving serious thought to getting one of these so I can record with a stereo mic pair into the Mac. The PHA-1 is a nice bass preamp into the computer (for mono) but I really would like to record the Martin and not use the built-in Fishman pickup system.

I haven't done the Cave recordings, yet, I am picking out some drum loops so it the recording will have something to give it more "real world" context. I have not done this much so I am in training mode, right now.

[cjj]

I have been giving serious thought to getting one of these...

Looks like a nice unit, at $850, I guess it should be!

What do you use for your drum loops?

[jps]

$850? Hmm, last I looked they were available for considerably less; if this is really the case, I may look into other options.

I am just using the loops built in to GarageBand. There are quite a few drum kits and trying a bunch at different tempos is become a bit time consuming, although it is really fun to try different bass lines with them; this could be good for my musical development and easier than figuring out how to use a drum machine!

Hmm...I just went to Sweetwater to check the price on the USBPre2...............they went up $200 since before the end of 2012. Bummer.

[jps]

I did some recording tonight to get a good idea of the various sounds I can get from the B-Drive.

However........................I don't do "cloud" type sites so I have no way to post it.

This recording was made with the 4001 with both pickup up full, fingerstyle, into the B-Drive through a Raven Labs PHA-1 preamp into GarageBand. I have TI Jazz Rounds that are about three years old on the bass so they sound wonderful.

What you will (eventually, hopefully ) hear is:

Straight bass tone (B-Drive bypassed)
B-Drive with DRV and LVL controls fully CW
B-Drive with DRV fully CW and LVL fully CCW
B-Drive with DRV fully CCW and LVL fully CW
B-Drive with DRV fully CCW and LVL fully CCW

Remember, the controls work backwards (like Macca's 4001S, maybe) so fully CW is minimum effect and fully CCW is maximum effect.

The recording levels were set to produce as close to the same level with each setting to hear the tonal differences; tomorrow I hope to do a short recording, without changing levels, to show the gain changes with each of these settings.

So, if any one can host this I can send you an mp3 of the recording I have.

[johnallg]

Jeff's clip is here:

http://files.rickresource.com/Jeff%20Sc ... 20Test.mp3

[woodyng]

Nice playing,and tone,there,Jeffrey!

[jps]

I just sent John the recording I made this evening showing the differences in the gain of the B-Drive depending on the settings. This test used the same setting as the above recording in the same order except I set the level in GarageBand for the loudest signal and then played the same passage at each different setting so you can hear the effect of the pedal on gain.

[johnallg]

I just sent John the recording I made this evening showing the differences in the gain of the B-Drive depending on the settings. This test used the same setting as the above recording in the same order except I set the level in GarageBand for the loudest signal and then played the same passage at each different setting so you can hear the effect of the pedal on gain.

The file is here:

http://files.rickresource.com/Jeff%20Sc ... 20Test.mp3

I hear it as a tone change rather than a volume change.

[jps]

I hear it as a tone change rather than a volume change.

Really? The tonality does change but there are some dramatic shifts in volume, too. Are you running your sound through a compressor?

[johnallg]

I hear it as a tone change rather than a volume change.

Really? The tonality does change but there are some dramatic shifts in volume, too. Are you running your sound through a compressor?

No, I hear more of a tone change than a volume change. Yes the volume changes, ut the tone changes more. Play just your bass into an amp and progressively turn down the volume. The tone will not change.

[cassius987]

First off, Jeff is getting way more dramatic results with this pedal than I ever did so good for him. It was probably related to the lack of buffering in my rig into my laptop at the time as that seems to be the most obvious contrast (knowing it was a passive pedal I really shouldn't have bothered running it without a buffer). Wish I'd had my Apogee Jam when this pedal was around too as my interface has really improved.

Second, I definitely hear both a volume and a tone change on Jeff's second clip but only a tone change on his first one. Oddly as the distortion increases in the second clip I hear the volume effect becoming minimized...? The pedal really seems to have a wide range of voices inside that are gain-dependent but don't always seem to effect the output volume based on those clips.

Play just your bass into an amp and progressively turn down the volume. The tone will not change.

Well, that's arguable actually... Perhaps it's just the limits of human hearing but I feel many speakers come more and more to life as you pump more power into them until they are saturated. Supposedly the preamp stage, where the bass tone "lives", isn't changing when you adjust the master level so you are right about that.

[jps]

Play just your bass into an amp and progressively turn down the volume. The tone will not change.

The tone should change, if nothing else, due to the Fletcher-Munson curve.

http://zesoundsuite.blogspot.com/2010/0 ... hould.html

[johnallg]

Play just your bass into an amp and progressively turn down the volume. The tone will not change.

The tone should change, if nothing else, due to the Fletcher-Munson curve.

http://zesoundsuite.blogspot.com/2010/0 ... hould.html

Well, yeah, but not as dramatically as you were experiencing with the Cave....

[jps]

The level control does act like a tone control in step with the volume change you get with it which is why the darker overdriven sound is lower in level.

[woodyng]

Hi,Jeff,was the 2nd recording also made with the 4001?