Cello Overdrive advice?

[Joe Stone]

I have a friend that has asked me to build an overdrive for her electric cello and it sounds fun.   Anyone have advice on a clone that might be good for the job.  My concerns are the wide freq range, but maybe something normally suited for bass would do the trick.   I was thinking I'd protoboard a TubeScreamer and experiment with some bass mods before soldering up anything.

Thoughts?  Other OD Recommendations?

thanks,
Joe

[Paul Marossy]

I'm not sure exactly what circuit might be good for that, but I would think that you want a very good EQ built into it because of that wide frequency range.

[Joe Stone]

thanks, paul.  i'll look into the EQ circuits forum and see what soaks in.

[Wasted_Bassist]

As a cellist (I'm a hack, but a cellist none the less) I can tell you that the range of the cello is fairly similar to that of a guitar, albeit a guitar tuned to drop C. When you amplify the cello is often has far too much high end though. So be careful about your choice of circtuit.

[newperson]

i have amplified a cello for some time and fully agree about the high end issue.  with putting dirt boxes on mine, using an eq and tone controls to rid of the high end is always used.

[Joe Stone]

thanks Klayton and newperson!   I haven't explored EQ territory too far.  Glad I made that ProtoBoard, haha.

Joe

[DC9V]

One of my friend plays electrified cello and violin in a band. She uses ordinary guitar pedals (mostly Boss if I remember correctly) but she uses a high-end graphic EQ to carefully balance the tone. She says it's the most important effect in her rig.
Also, I'd try to avoid effects that sound too muddy. Bowed strings have totally different dynamics than electric guitars and tend to sound less sharp, and some of the less precise effects (like fuzz, I suppose) could pose a problem.

[WGTP]

Sockets.  By socketing the input cap, you can control the bass content and most designs have caps in the feedback loop and/or to ground with the clipping diodes that can be used to control the treble content.  With all the mods available for the Boss DS-1 or Tube Screamer, Rat, etc. you should be able to get there.  Same with a Fuzz Face.   

[Paul Marossy]

As a cellist (I'm a hack, but a cellist none the less) I can tell you that the range of the cello is fairly similar to that of a guitar, albeit a guitar tuned to drop C. When you amplify the cello is often has far too much high end though. So be careful about your choice of circtuit.

Yeah, there is a LOT of overtones in the upper registers. I suppose any guitar circuit that tones down the treble a bit might work. Or maybe a good EQ would be in order, then you could just use regular guitar effects.

One of my friend plays electrified cello and violin in a band. She uses ordinary guitar pedals (mostly Boss if I remember correctly) but she uses a high-end graphic EQ to carefully balance the tone. She says it's the most important effect in her rig.
Also, I'd try to avoid effects that sound too muddy. Bowed strings have totally different dynamics than electric guitars and tend to sound less sharp, and some of the less precise effects (like fuzz, I suppose) could pose a problem.

Maybe the good old Tube Screamer would actually be a good choice. And then use a good EQ in conjunction with it.

[petemoore]

12v might be a good starting voltage.
  Cellos/basses...low notes have a way of using up some swing room, starting the 'frame' with a higher ceiling...less chance of running into it.

[Güero]

A DOD Bass Overdrive just for te BLEND control. Take off the tone section and put a BBE Sonic Maximizer in place.

[R.G.]

Remember that a cello sound is different from what the strings do. The body of an acoustic cello is too small to couple notes in its lower octave to the air around it, so all you hear from the lowest notes are the harmonics.

It might be good for cello specific stuff to put a substantial high pass filter about 200Hz to cut the lower string vibration and let the harmonics and such through. I don't remember but acoustic cello probably has a high cut characteristic too. A lot depends on how the electric cello transduces the signal. If it's piezo, then yes, it will be very bright indeed.

[Paul Marossy]

Remember that a cello sound is different from what the strings do. The body of an acoustic cello is too small to couple notes in its lower octave to the air around it, so all you hear from the lowest notes are the harmonics.

It might be good for cello specific stuff to put a substantial high pass filter about 200Hz to cut the lower string vibration and let the harmonics and such through. I don't remember but acoustic cello probably has a high cut characteristic too. A lot depends on how the electric cello transduces the signal. If it's piezo, then yes, it will be very bright indeed.

Having pointed that out, I would think that it comes down to how it's actually amplified. If it's strictly piezo, which seems doubtful, then it will be quite bright sounding. To get a more true to life sound, I would imagine that it would have a small microphone inside the body, possibly in conjunction with a piezo pickup. And if there is two different types of pickups involved, then I imagine there would be a blend control to control how much of each type of pickup is going to the amplifier. I've seen this sort of arrangement on some classical guitars.

[PRR]

I knew a guy did cool Jazz on cello with magnetic bridge-vibration pickup (then common for jazz upright bass) through a stock Fender Twin. He found a musical range of tones just by tickling the tubes. I recall his tone-stack settings were a bit extreme for guitar; partly the pickup, partly a very different instrument and technique. Sorry, I can not recall "how" extreme.

> high pass filter

Very likely. Note that an open-back Twin has a declining bottom octave, unlike many sealed boxes. Around 6dB/8ve below 140Hz. Also an interesting directivity, which in smaller (30-300 seat) spaces makes a difference.

[Droogie]

I recently had a chance to try a bunch of OD/Distortion pedals with an electric cello and found that a Big Muff (∆ Specs), Dr. Boogie, Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret, and Blackstone Mosfet Overdrive were all really useful.

Others that were not as good: OCD, Rat w/clipping mods, Red LLama, Tube Screamer.

We found it important to tweak the amp so that the midrange was not too prominent, and also to adjust the cello's EQ to find the best clean sound first.

Also interesting to note the difference in the way the bowed string is affected by the pedals vs plucked guitar string; it's way more subtle.

[Paul Marossy]

Also interesting to note the difference in the way the bowed string is affected by the pedals vs plucked guitar string; it's way more subtle.

Makes sense. You don't have that big attack when you play a string with a bow like you get using a pick. Kind of like playing legato with mostly hammer ons and pull offs vs. picking every note, there is a difference in sound between those two techniques.