www.tonebone.com ® True to the Music BASS GUITAR OVERDRIVE USER GUIDE Radial Engineering Ltd. 1588 Kebet Way, Port Coquitlam BC V3C 5M5 Tel: 604-942-1001 • Fax: 604-942-1010 Email: info@radialeng.
Table of Contents Page Introduction .............................................................................................1 Overview .................................................................................................2 Features ..................................................................................................3 Making connections ................................................................................5 Channel EQ controls .........................................
True to the Music ® OVERVIEW The Bassbone OD is a powerful two channel instrument preamp that is able to handle all types of instruments, depending on how it is configured. Some examples include: • Two channel preamp with one bass • Selecting between two electric basses • Switching between upright bass and electric bass • Using it with a violin (piezo pickup) and an acoustic guitar (active pickup) • Mixing two pickups from one instrument together Using the Bassbone OD is fairly straight forward.
True to the Music ® FEATURE SET 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 22 13 21 14 20 15 19 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 18 17 5 16 DRIVE: Used to set the desired level of overdrive that will be applied to the signal. MIX: Sets the relative ‘dry-wet’ mix between the original bass tone and the overdrive, effects loop or both. TONE: Adjusts the sonic character of the overdrive circuit.
True to the Music ® FEATURE SET 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 17. A/B FOOTSWITCH: Used to toggle between channel-A and channel-B. 18. EFX ASSIGN: Three position switch sets the overdrive footswitch function for overdrive, effects loop or both. 19. OVERDRIVE FOOTSWITCH: Activates the overdrive. Works in conjunction with the EFX assign switch to turn on and off the overdrive, effects loop or both. The LED illuminates when on. 20. OUTPUT: ¼” jack used to feed the artist’s on-stage bass amplifier. 21.
True to the Music ® Start by setting the controls on your bass amp so that they are flat and the controls on the Bassbone OD to the ‘start’ position as shown below. Set all the recessed function switches on the sides to their outward position. Outward positions 7 o’clock position (minimum) Outward position Outward position 12 o’clock position (50%) Outward position Set the controls as shown and check that all seven recessed switches on the sides are set to their outward position.
True to the Music ® USING THE CHANNEL EQ CONTROLS Now that you have sound, adjust the three-band EQ controls on channel-A. You will find them to be very powerful! The passive-interactive EQ works a lot like a vintage guitar amp whereby when you turn the EQ down, you will reduce the output level significantly. This of course is easily made up by increasing the sensitivity on your bass amp. Each channel has two 3-position switches. The MID switch allows you to choose between three center frequencies.
True to the Music ® OPTIMIZING THE INPUT IMPEDANCE Over the past 20 years, Radial has been investigating the effects of varying the impedance when applied to different pickup types. For instance, we discovered that traditional magnetic pickups as found on a Fender Jazz bass tend to sound warmer with an input impedance around 220k Ohms while the input impedance has very little effect on active basses as they are already buffered inside the bass.
True to the Music ® TYPICAL SETUPS Using one bass: Plugging your bass into INPUT-A lets you use the A/B select footswitch to toggle between channel-A and channel-B as if playing through a two channel amp. This is because INPUT-B is equipped with a special switching jack that, when unused, routes the signal from the INPUT-A jack to channel-B.
True to the Music ® USING THE EFFECTS LOOP When using pedals with the Bassbone OD, they can be positioned in a number of locations within the signal path depending on what you are attempting to do. For example, you could have some effects dedicated to one bass by inserting them between the instrument and the Bassbone OD input. PA SYSTEM You could also introduce a series of pedals between the Bassbone OD’s ¼” output and your amp.
True to the Music ® To use the effects loop, connect the SEND jack to the input of your pedal chain and the output from your pedals to the RECV (receive) jack using standard ¼” coaxial guitar cables. 180° POLARITY FOR LOOP You can activate the effects loop in one of two ways; you can assign it to the OVERDRIVE footswitch or it can be active all the time. The 3-position EFX switch lets you assign the effects loops to the left OVERDRIVE footswitch by setting the switch to LOOP.
True to the Music ® USING THE OVERDRIVE The Bassbone OD is equipped with a great sounding overdrive circuit that can be used to add a slight bit of grit to a signal or be pushed hard to create excessive distortion and harmonics. What few realize is that by adding distortion, you can do a lot more than simply ‘freak out’ for soloing... adding distortion is actually a form of compression that can even out the peaks of a signal without overbearing the audio system.
True to the Music ® THE BALANCED XLR DI OUTPUT Whether you are recording or playing live, capturing a direct feed before the sound hits a ‘live bass amp’ can be very beneficial. For starters, each and every room sounds different as the acoustic space is different. This means that when using a mic in front of a speaker cabinet, the audio engineer must equalize the tone to compensate both for the room acoustics and the position of the mic relative to the speaker. Another problem is resonance.
True to the Music ® The balanced XLR out is wired to the AES standard with pin-1 ground, pin-2 hot (+) and pin-3 cold (-). Use a standard balanced XLR cable to connect to the microphone input of a mixing console. This lo-Z output can drive balanced cables 100 meters (300’) without signal degradation or appreciable noise. The ground LIFT helps eliminate hum and buzz caused by ground loops. If you hear noise try pushing the ground LIFT switch inward.
True to the Music ® THE HEADPHONE AMP Last but not least, the Bassbone OD is equipped with a headphone amplifier for practicing. The 3.5mm headphone jack outputs the same signal as the ¼” amp output so you can use all of the controls, overdrive, effects and listen to it all in complete privacy! 3.5mm HEADPHONE OUT HEADPHONE LEVEL A standard 3.5 mm (1/8”) mini TRS connector sends the instrument signal to both ears.
THREE YEAR TRANSFERABLE LIMITED WARRANTY RADIAL ENGINEERING LTD. (“Radial”) warrants this product to be free from defects in material and workmanship and will remedy any such defects free of charge according to the terms of this warranty. Radial will repair or replace (at its option) any defective component(s) of this product (excluding finish and wear and tear on components under normal use) for a period of three (3) years from the original date of purchase.
