One of the things that keeps me from buying more pedals is that I do live sound a living. For one, I don't make much $$
but the other reason is, I see so many people play who just don't get much out of huge boards. This is particularly true of bass players, but sometimes guitar players too. Just to be clear, I'm by no means saying bassists can't or don't get a lot of use out of all their pedals. I'm just saying, it seems to be harder than you might think. I can't count how many times I've seen a bassist come in with a huge board and get excited to see what they're going to do, only to hardly notice if they were actually using any of it (and I'm the sound guy! AND I'm a bass player who likes effects!!). Other times when the effects the are quite noticeable, they don't sound so hot
Seeing this has made me take a philosophy of using fewer pedals that I know are going to make a real impact in a live situation, and sound really good. Of course, song arrangement is vital to making things work as a well.
Anyhow, I always really enjoy those rare occasions where the bassist brings a bunch of effects and does cool creative stuff that not only stands out but sounds great. In a band I did sound for tonight, the bassist had a sonic maximizer and an Xotic Bass BB. I didn't notice what effect the sonic maximizer was having which is great, because usually when I can hear them at work, I hate it. The thing about the BB is, when he turned it on... you really noticed, and it sounded awesome! I know that example has very few pedals, but in contrast I've seen bassists with big boards where, if they were actually using their effects, it was killing the bass in the mix rather than sounding good (hey wait shouldn't I do something about that as the sound guy? let me just remind you of that old saying about polishing a turd
)
On a side note the guitarist in the same band was getting some awesome sounds that actually made my ears perk up (this particularly rare with guitards. I often wish they'd learn what a good clean tone is before buying four delay pedals
) Anyway, I ran up to have a better look at his board after the set and almost the whole thing was stocked with Earthquaker devices. I think the only other brand I saw was one of the eventide pedals. Anyway, those pedals sound awesome in the right hands.
That's the end of my rant. Sorry if you found it useless or even contrary to all you find to be right and true in the world.
