The Crow Hill Firm has added Icky Bass to its free Vaults assortment.
Icky Bass is greater than only a cool title for a bass instrument. It’s really named after the White Stripes album “Icky Thump.”
The instrument makes use of recordings of a uncommon Fender Rhodes Piano Bass run by means of Jack White’s signature Knife Drop fuzz pedal.
And only a pleasant reminder that, like all Vaults releases, this one is free for a restricted time. These libraries don’t keep out there completely, so obtain it now if it sounds helpful.
The Fender Rhodes Piano Bass has an attention-grabbing backstory. Harold Rhodes launched it in 1960 as a transportable keyboard designed to cowl bass strains in reside efficiency, predating the full-sized Rhodes pianos most individuals know, which arrived within the mid-Sixties.
Regardless of its capabilities, it by no means caught on broadly. Most bands most well-liked a standard electrical bassist, and as soon as the bigger Rhodes fashions matured within the Nineteen Seventies, the Piano Bass misplaced its sensible area of interest.
Surviving fashions are uncommon and collectible at the moment. Probably the most well-known use of the instrument is by Ray Manzarek of The Doorways, who performed bass strains on it along with his left hand whereas concurrently taking part in organ along with his proper.
For this library, The Crow Hill Firm ran the Rhodes Bass by means of the Eventide Knife Drop, a collaboration between Eventide and Jack White that mixes fuzz with an analog-style synth voice able to sub-octave textures and aggressive filtered tones. It was recorded at Crow Hill HQ by means of a Neve 1073 DI.
As all the time, the Vaults interface retains issues easy. The principle Knife dial blends between the clear Rhodes Bass sign and the complete Knife Drop fuzz. Zero offers you the pure electrical piano tone, and cranking it up brings within the uncooked pedal sound.
The Expression dial offers you finer management over the bass’s timbre. And at last, the entire smaller dials are results.
There’s the Autowah, which creates a sweeping wah response primarily based in your taking part in dynamics; Refrain for a thicker, wider sound; Phaser for a swirling hole modulation; and a convolution Reverb.
Should you’ve been following the Crow Hill Firm’s Vaults sequence, you know the way it really works. These libraries are free for a restricted interval after which transfer to the archive. Icky Bass is an effective one, so obtain it whereas it’s listed.
Obtain: Icky Bass (FREE)
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Final Up to date on March 6, 2026 by Tomislav Zlatic.
