Can you make your guitar sound like a bass..?

[iamgeorge]

Hey guys, 

 

Let me rephrase.. 

 

Rather than going out and buying a bass guitar and running it through the Helix, I'm wondering if can you make a patch within the Helix so that your electric guitar sounds like a bass?  I really only need this for basic recording purposes, not for live or anything.  

 

I would assume that you'll need pitch/detune etc plus a good amp sim + cab/IR.  Just not sure how or where to start. 

 

If anyone has anything to share, a link, or better still, if someone has a patch they'd like to share that would be a great help. 

 

Many thanks

 

 

 

[codamedia]

You would have to drop everything an octave, and IMO - pitch shifting gets really wonky at that point, especially when you need to sustain a note. 

 

That said... on days when I can't drag my Bass VI (a guitar tuned down an octave) to a gig I mimic that with the "legacy > bass octave". It's not great, but it works OK if I stick to single lines. I should take the time to try a few others... but I use it so rarely I haven't gotten around to finding a better patch.

 

As for amps... start with the "Tuck n' Go" based on the Ampeg Flip Top. It's really easy to setup and sounds great... it's also one of the most recorded bass amps in history. Studio players loved them. 

[duncann]

9 hours ago, iamgeorge said:

Hey guys, 

 

Let me rephrase.. 

 

Rather than going out and buying a bass guitar and running it through the Helix, I'm wondering if can you make a patch within the Helix so that your electric guitar sounds like a bass?  I really only need this for basic recording purposes, not for live or anything.  

 

I would assume that you'll need pitch/detune etc plus a good amp sim + cab/IR.  Just not sure how or where to start. 

 

If anyone has anything to share, a link, or better still, if someone has a patch they'd like to share that would be a great help. 

 

Many thanks

 

 

 

 

If the type of bass music is slightly greater than simple, you're probably setting yourself up for an exercise in frustration. Trying to get a good bass tone with a bass guitar is difficult enough as it is. If you're even a little serious about recording, my suggestion would be to at least get a cheap bass, and don't waste precious time with anything less.

 

[gunpointmetal]

Yes, kind of. Use the bass octave first, multi-band comp with the low end heavily compressed and boosted towards the high end, then whatever bass amp/cab model you want. It will work in a mix if it's not the featured instrument, but you're not gonna wanna record any RHCP or Primus covers with it or anything. The octave FX work better on guitars in standard tuning than anything lower, but you have to be very clean with the playing to avoid warbles and glitches.

[Roberttheprole]

I currently use a HEX Pitchfork to create my bass signal. The helix pitch shifting abilities leave much to be desired. Any polyphonic shifter will do a much better job, so until line 6 catches up to the rest of the world it's best to outsource pitch shifting.

[jbuhajla]

I've done it and it sounds decent. I use the pitch wham, set to octave below. For me, the pitch wham seems to track a little better. So I go compressor> pitch wham> bass amp >bass cab within a preset. Used strat on the neck pickup and it didn't sound too bad. 

[Triryche]

If it's just for recording and you're using a DAW, have you consider using a Bass VSTi ?

[tahiche]

As @Roberttheprole points out, Helix is not polyphonic and is quite unusable unless you play single notes. I use a SubN'Up octaver in one of the Helix loops. I do this in a dedicated bass path  that I can further process and goes into its own output to a bass amp. 

[finnctr]

On 9/20/2018 at 5:08 AM, iamgeorge said:

Hey guys, 

 

Let me rephrase.. 

 

Rather than going out and buying a bass guitar and running it through the Helix, I'm wondering if can you make a patch within the Helix so that your electric guitar sounds like a bass?  I really only need this for basic recording purposes, not for live or anything.  

 

I would assume that you'll need pitch/detune etc plus a good amp sim + cab/IR.  Just not sure how or where to start. 

 

If anyone has anything to share, a link, or better still, if someone has a patch they'd like to share that would be a great help. 

 

Many thanks

 

 

 

Hello, although a year has passed since you posted this, please consider my experience as a guitarist that was looking for similar ways to play other instruments on the guitar. In the 80s when Roland released guitar synthesizers, I was dead set of owning one. As a matter of fact one guitar/controller was so good as a guitar that the “guitar Gods” of the time, John McLaughlin-Al Di Meola-Pat Metheny, were using that controller (GR-303 & top model neck through 808), to drive the one and only Synclavier. 

I rushed to the music stores to try out the guitar synth but nothing sounded the way I imagined. A friend & keyboardist pointed out that trying to play a Hammond on the guitar will never sound like at. 

Now you can say that bass/guitar are practically identical. After playing guitar for 10 years I switched over to bass and it required a new approach, different dynamics, etc. I recently faced  a similar situation as I was toying with the idea of getting a baritone guitar. Then I was looking at octave pedals , detainers, even a Squier bass VI that someone was giving to me. Nothing worked. A baritone tuned B-B is a baritone, nothing else.

Get an Octave pedal, and experiment with that. It’s not a bass replacement by any means, but it will help you unlock different ideas and make you consider other paths while playing.

Cheers!