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Fretless Simulator?
- Thread starter oneforyes
- Start date
Zoom pedals have a “DeFret” effect; some synth pedals have a similar effect as well—I know the Roland GR-55 does, but not sure about its successor (the new Boss pedal that doesn’t require the special pickups).
- Dec 2, 2003
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- Official artist: Eich Amplification
No. You can get a bit closer with a chorus but the buzzing of a fretless fingerboard is impossible to simulate. The EHX Bass Machine pedal has a "fretless" setting but that also isn't very convincing (and it's a guitar pedal that octaves your sound).
Jazzdogg
Less barking, more wagging!
If you include double bass, I've been playing fretless basses for about 60 years, and the sound each bassist envisions as "the fretless sound" seems to vary quite a bit.
I played a fretless five-string exclusively in one band for about a decade, and other bassists seemed to he the only folks who commented. To my band mates, it was just a bass.
Bass The World recently reviewed a fretless pedal on their YouTube channel. Perhaps it includes some of the sounds you are after.
I played a fretless five-string exclusively in one band for about a decade, and other bassists seemed to he the only folks who commented. To my band mates, it was just a bass.
Bass The World recently reviewed a fretless pedal on their YouTube channel. Perhaps it includes some of the sounds you are after.
- Dec 2, 2003
- 4,461
- 5,361
- 6,206
- Disclosures
- Official artist: Eich Amplification
That FTX pedal is not to emulate a fretless. It's called "the fretless" because it's a chorus-reverb-preamp especially designed for fretless players.
Just start with your bass out of tune, then you'll get my usual fretless sound!
I have a fairly older Boss bass processor that has a fretless feature. It sounds decent enough, but doesn’t fully replicate the fretless tone.
came here to say this
the old red boss GT-6B pedal has a fretless simulation patch, as far as I can remember.
To add to what JazzDog was saying: YEARS ago in my 1st band the guitarist bought a boss ac-2 that didn't mesh with him but he was DETERMINED to find a use for it. He snuck it into the fx loop of my amp and did made a decent chorus/verb for our ballady stuff. A few drunk guys along our run, since I changed basses for these song came up to me and said how "glorious that fretless sounded" it wasn't a fretless at all..
Is there a fret effect for fretless basses?
I spent YEARS tryna get a “fretless “ tone out of a number of nice fretted basses. There is nothing im aware of that defies the physics of what frets do.
For the cost of trial and error of a bunch of devices you could easily get a used fretless.
Learning to play fretless even a little will improve your fretted skills in ways you can’t even imagine.
And you can play absolutely any song, any genre on fretless.
Go get one.
Learning to play fretless even a little will improve your fretted skills in ways you can’t even imagine.
And you can play absolutely any song, any genre on fretless.
Go get one.
yes, that’s the one I have. I wish I was smart enough to figure out how to use it lolcame here to say this
Just get a real fretless and put in some work. It takes time, but you can do everything a fretted bass can do and a lot more.
If you really just don't want to put in the effort, get your frets replaced with the smallest "mandolin" frets you can find and work on your glissando and vibrato techniques to try to mimic the fretless feel. Put some chorus on it and you'll have a cool sound, at least.
Either, there's no free lunch (that tastes any good, at least).
If you really just don't want to put in the effort, get your frets replaced with the smallest "mandolin" frets you can find and work on your glissando and vibrato techniques to try to mimic the fretless feel. Put some chorus on it and you'll have a cool sound, at least.
Either, there's no free lunch (that tastes any good, at least).
I switched to fretless in 2009. Found an ESP fretless 5 with a 2Tek bridge at a very affordable cost. What i discovered very quickly was that if you’re playing a fretted bass and your intonation is such that you’re playing really close to the frets, theres a short learning curve. I think it possible that folks having difficulty with switching to fretless are used to playing in the middle, say halfway between the frets. The result is a flat mess. I had no trouble, and I wasn’t even remotely adept at playing when i switched. Its hard to get worse when you weren’t any good to begin with.