Adding to the board

[Adam Maloney]

So Christmas is coming up and I want to treat myself to a pedal or two. I play in a band that does everything from acoustic with me on upright to more southern rock and then some two door cinema club style indie music. I currently run a sansamp bass driver and a boss limited enhancer into a switcher for upright and electric, and everything out into a boss tuner.

What do you guys think would be most beneficial to add to my board?

[Adam Maloney]

Considering a chorus, envelope filter, and a
Volume pedal. Any thoughts on those? I'm also still a little confused on the uses of the first two, so I really don't know why I'm considering them. I'm still fairly new to pedals, so if anyone could fill me in on some of this stuff, it's appreciated.

[RickenBoogie]

I think you're going about this backwards. First, decide what it is that you'd like to add to your sound, then decide what pedals would best suit those needs.

[Adam Maloney]

You see I'm in the midst of doing research. Prior to this I was a jazz and classical double bass player with some modern electric jazz every once in a while. Now I'm transitioning to rock and indie, but I don't necessarily know what I want myself nor the possibilities.

[Gadgetjunky]

are you wanting fx for upright, guitar or both?

[HolmeBass]

So, not sure what you mean by "confusion" re: envelope filter and chorus, but envelope filter is the sound that Bootsy made famous, it provides vowel-like filter sweeps where the volume of your note (the envelope) controls the position of the cutoff frequency of the filter. There is usually a volume boost right below the cutoff frequency of the filter to make the filter's motion more noticeable, this is usually called resonance, but different filters have different naming and control schemes.

Chorus is the watery, shimery sound of 80's pop, but I can't think of a song with an obviously chorused bass right now. I think Jaco used some chorus on some things (or was that a flanger?), so if you remember his bass sounding a bit more dimensional with some liquid movement in the tone, that was a chorus on bass.

[Adam Maloney]

Thanks guys, and effects for electric. Unless you can think of some cool way to use them on upright! Now that I'm set in my playing electric, I'm looking to the new ways I can mold my sound.

[Gadgetjunky]

chorus would work nice on both. Good starter fx, but I've found 'chorus' pedals too shimmery, what sounds thicker and more lush for bass is a modulated delay, TC flashback delay on MOD setting with Rate turned all the way down gets a pleaaing chorus fx to me. And bonus, it's also a delay and a looper. Like a tiny multi fx. Delay isn't a widely used fx, but you can do neat stuff.

[Veldar]

Zoom B3 so you have every effect

[Gadgetjunky]

Veldar has a good point. Even if you only use 2-3 of the zoom fx, still a good deal.

[scottfeldstein]

I never was an effects guy. Just didn't use any. For years. Now, though, I'm intrigued by the synthy sounds I hear in my favorite electronic music. This, along with classic rock sounds, jazz fusion sounds and funk sounds has led me to items like the SansAmp, a good compressor, and an envelope filter and a distortion unit which are both so flexible as to be considered multi-effect units. (Source Audio.)

But basically, compression, dirt and envelope. With the right products you can cover a lot of ground just with those basic sounds.

Choruses are ok. Never could warm up to delays. Reverbs on bass make me recoil in horror, except when used in a solo performance. Synths are either too flawed or too expensive or too out of production--or all three.