Before setting out to design new bass effects, Daring Audio went back to our user base and talked to many serious musicians and recording engineers to get a feel for the needs of current bass players.  Our goal was to design a follow-on product that met the needs of players and provided a multitude of classic and new bass distortion sounds in a single pedal. The Laser Cannon HD is the result of these efforts.  Many thanks go out to our user base for helping to craft one of the most flexible bass distortions on the market! In general, getting a great distorted bass sound can be hard. Most bass pedals have resorted to using classic guitar pedal circuit designs, but this is not optimal for the frequency range generated by a bass guitar.   We felt it was important to start with new a design built from the ground up with the bass player in mind utilizing original circuits were created for the unique characteristics of bass guitar signals and bass playing techniques that produce them.

STATE OF THE ART BLEND CIRCUIT

Whether you are trying to emulate the classic break-up or mild distortion of older amps, or going for massive overdrive sounds popular in modern music, the challenge is to keep the low end clear and solid. Daring Audio’s “constant volume continuous blend” circuit developed for the original pedal lines is one of our breakthrough innovations for achieving this. The technique of blending clean and distorted signals has been used for years as a secret weapon in the recording studio, and all of our pedals use this technique to provide a thick, solid bass sound with maximum tonal versatility. While some pedals incorporate blend, such as the famous “Fender Blender”, and others have separate controls for clean volume and dirty volume, and those controls are very non-linear – there is not a smooth transition from clean to distorted signal, and the overall volume is also affected. Daring Audio designed a new blend circuit from the ground up, and while costlier to produce, it provides a smooth continuously variable blend control.  This is much more intuitive and faster to use in live situations.

NEW FILTERS AND SWITCHING MATRIX

When designing the new Laser Cannon HD, we also wanted to provide the capability for more modern sounds, which required new distortion circuits and a complex internal switching matrix  to combine diodes and filters in different directions.  Then, we integrated a classic state variable filter into the unit. While traditionally used in synthesizers, the state variable filter adds a new dimension to distorted bass tones due to its ability to provide low-pass, high-pass, and band-pass toggle switch modes to sculpt the signal before it goes into the distortion part of the circuit. Using these filters, one can achieve tones from classic overdrive, “clanky” distortion, to synth-like hip-hop “blown” bass sounds. This unique filter, which was specifically voiced for bass, gives this next generation pedal unlimited tone sculpting possibilities. This puts the Laser Cannon HD way beyond the realm of hand soldered DIY circuits, and eclipses older pedals with designs based on outdated circuits, playing techniques and even genres of years gone by.

NEW ALTERNATIVE DISTORTION MODES

In addition to using hand selected Silicon and Germanium diodes, we also added another distortion mode – FET based.  This provides three different distortion elements, each with their own harmonic enhancing structure.   Many payers have told us that they often switch basses, each one having distinctive output levels and tones. The flexibility provided by the Laser Cannon HD means each bass will find its own combination of settings to produce the best tones.  Replacing the traditional “tone control” with a state variable, 3-mode active EQ coupled to an optional distortion circuit selectable between three different distortion types that in turn feeds a specially voiced separate filter to cut the highs allows players much broader range of control and yields sounds not possible before in a single stomp box.

NEW POWER AND SIZE CONTROL WITH SMT INTEGRATION

Daring achieved this using a high level of integration on our circuit boards – using surface mount technology and the smallest packages; we were able to pack a rack full of electronics into a small enclosure.  We wanted to provide a portable “rack in a box” since bass players prefer more sound control with less weight.

DUAL MODE FOOT SWITCH AND NEW COMPONENTS

In talking to our user base, one recurring request we got was to add a foot switch for a volume boost that could be used for solo work or to change levels during a song. Daring Audio took that request a two steps further. We added the capability to add the boost either to the output level (clean or overall volume boost) or to the input gain stage, adding the ability to go from mild gain boost to insane overdrive at the stomp of a foot switch. In addition, the level of the boost (volume or distortion) can be adjusted using a small trim pot accessible from the top of the unit. The clean boost provides “transparent” gain boost that preserves the original signal. Using low THD audio grade op-amps and higher voltage ”rails” the preamp has excellent transient response and a flat frequency response from 10 Hz to 20K Hz.

Daring Audio is all about listening to our customers before we innovate. We feel the strongest design team is a combination of engineers and artists – and as such we listen and integrate ideas from our users. After a year of great feedback from our customers, the Laser Cannon HD represents the culmination of a design that incorporates all these features into a product that maximizes your bass sound potential.

Video Demo Composition using layers of Bass with the Laser Cannon HD.  No guitars were used.

Is Roger Waters first to use sound effects on bass guitar? Certainly not, but Roger took it to another level. Listening for the first – and God knows how many – time to the album Meddle, there is always something fresh. Is it “One of These Days” or “Echoes” in which you will find yourself as a newcomer in world of extraordinary sounds?

Waters wanted to make unique sounds for new records and started to involve sound effects that Gilmoure and Wright used on guitars and keyboards. For “One of These Days” he used a very old Italian delay; the Binson Echorec 2. As David Gilmoure said in Guitar World in 1993, in the beginning of the song you can clearly hear that they doubled the track of bass guitar, with one side with crispy sound and one bar later starts with dull sound. In the solo part Roger used that same delay with an HH Electronic IC-100 amp, setting them as preamp with tremolo/vibrato effect.

Watching Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii makes you pay attention to what they were using in live performances. In the golden days of engineering, every sound is made by experimenting; you gotta love that. For example, on the part where there is a kind of throbbing wind sound, Waters used a steel slide to vibrate on the strings, feeding the signal through Binson. According to Watersish.com, Roger also used a Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face guitar pedal for the middle section.

Without the genius and experimentation of Roger Waters, it’s fair to say that “Prog Rock” certainly couldn’t have become this colorful and transparent. It’s probably because he never classified himself as a bass player, guitar player, singer, songwriter, or producer. It was the focus and imagination to continually improve, sending each and every song to the DARK SIDE!

And because of that, I am a fan.

Jovan Lola Salacanin

Demo with directly recorded bass loop, Just a hand turning knobs, no speaking, no amps, no nonsense, direct recorded, no amps from bass loops using reamped signal path from protools and no other effects or enhancements!

EDGE ACTIVATOR: Funk preamp, harmonic exciter, new string sound

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYQeFHrTm5A

PARTICLE BEAM: overdrive

PHAT BEAM: Compressor and Limiter

LASER CANNON: Distortion and Fuzz for Bass

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“VCA Voltage Controlled Amplifier compressors are the most versatile of all and so are the greatest in number. The VCA can quickly change gain in response to many different detectors looking at the same signal. VCA compressors are for the really tough cases where you want strict control over level and dynamics. However, they can be as gentle as any other compressor or anywhere in between. I like a good VCA compressor on vocals, drums, guitars, synths, bass, mix–basically anytime I need a compressor.”

Mix Magazine Article

Download their PDF file

Our Phat Beam Bass Dynamics Processor, is really more than compressor and limiter (product page).

A detailed written review is here.

And Cyrus (the author of that review) has his FAQ  here