"cut-off" effect for bass?

[Hexer]

my bassist wanted to know if there is any kind of effect (pedal or something) that kinda "cuts off" the notes after lets say about a second or so. you know: you hit the note, it rings for about a second and then it goes silent.
his problem is, that fast things (he likes playing fast) get kinda muddy wenn the notes ring out to long.

can you tell me of any effect or something else that does this or something else that helps with this prob?

 

[-Gavin-]

dunno, but he's gonna have to learn to mute properly

 

[NAD]

Definitely needs to work on the muting.

Fuck me, this thread is giving me a headache.

 

[noisefan]

It's called a GATE. When a signal is strong enough it will pass through the gate normally but when it falls below a certain threshold the gate shuts and the sound stops. I haven't seen a pedal version for many years but to be honest I haven't been looking. They are standard rackmount gear in almost all studios.

For your particular problem this will not work - if you are constant playing the signal should be strong enough so that gate will always be open.

So I'll have to agree and say work on palm-muting. Keep practicing.

 

[Hexer]

I thought about a noise-gate, too, but I also thought that it wouldnt really help with this problem

do you think a bit of EQing would help a bit? I mean something like removing a bit of low-end to get more clarity?

 

[sumairetsu]

Tell him to try backing off the volume or change his EQ settings. If he's using a preamp, he may need to back off the levels. If the sound is distorted, it might be that he's overloading his speakers.

The "gate" or "noise gate," as it's commonly called, will only bring the volume down when your signal goes below a certain level. This is to prevent noise (i.e. hum, distortion hiss, etc.) from coming from through your amp when you're not playing.

There's also the possiblity that it could be the pickups or EQ on the bass itself. If he's using an active system, it may be overloading the preamp section or the amp. If his bass does have active electronics, tell him to make sure that he is hooked up to the correct input.