Combined guitar and bass fx board

[bas_anton]

Hi! My namen is Anton and i´m a bassplayer. But two weeks ago I bought an electric guitar. And I found out that playing guitar was´nt so bad after all. But know I have realised that i wan´t some fx.

And i´m thinking that this board should be used to both my bass needs and my guitar needs. So I'm looking for suggestions of pedals that works both for guitars and basses.

I have an EBS octabass and a BassIQ. But I would really like to have som overdrive or fuzz pedal, a delay, wah-wah, and a chorus/phaser thing.

HAve anyone tried the T-rex Mudhoney with a bass?

[JanusZarate]

Originally Posted by bas_anton

Hi! My namen is Anton and i´m a bassplayer. But two weeks ago I bought an electric guitar. And I found out that playing guitar was´nt so bad after all.

Traitor!

Originally Posted by bas_anton

And i´m thinking that this board should be used to both my bass needs and my guitar needs. So I'm looking for suggestions of pedals that works both for guitars and basses.

...think about that statement for a moment. You realize that TONS of pedals exist that work for both, right?

Originally Posted by bas_anton

I have an EBS octabass and a BassIQ. But I would really like to have som overdrive or fuzz pedal, a delay, wah-wah, and a chorus/phaser thing.

Generally speaking, delay, chorus, and phase shifter pedals tend to work perfectly fine on both guitar and bass. What it narrows down to is what you're looking for. Forget the idea of getting a pedal that works with both for a moment... because what really matters are two things:

- What can the pedal do? What are its features?
- Does the pedal deliver the sound you're looking for?

Finding a phaser, chorus, or delay pedal that works on both is the easy part. So what are you really looking for in your pedals? A bright chorus sound? A mellow phaser? A slapback echo tone? A crazy digital delay that can self-oscillate?

As you might figure, you've got a lot of questions to ask yourself before we can even begin to provide suggestions... there's honestly no real starting point if you don't at least know what you want out of the pedals besides the "works with guitar and bass" part.

It's the same deal with distortion and wah pedals. The big difference, however, is that there are a LOT of pedals in these two groups that don't hold the low end well, which could make them problematic for bass. But, some people love them anyway. For example, the ProCo RAT is notorious for low end loss, but some bassists love its menacing high-gain "metal" distortion and will try to work around it somehow. They might use blend loop pedals, try to modify the circuit, or even use two rigs - one dedicated for the RAT. At the same time, it's perfectly fine on guitar for an aggressive metal tone.

The RAT just one example of a pedal that could be terrible on bass for some, and great for others. It's all about personal preference!

So, again... what are you looking for in your wah and distortion? What kinds of tones? How important (or not important) is preserving the low end?

The Effects forum exists because there are thousands of pedals to choose from - and I can't tell you which ones you might like or want to try without knowing what you really want out of those pedals.

[Slater]

If I had to play bass and guitar through the same FX "board", I think I would have to consider the Line 6 POD X3 Live...

[assboglin]

Like Mystic Boo said, the delay and the modulation pedals usually will work just fine for both bass and guitar. If you don't know specifically what you're looking for, I would recommend some simple pedals that you can't go wrong with, like an MXR Phase 90 Phase Shifter and a Boss DD-3 Delay.

Picking Wah and Distortion pedals that work well on both bass and guitar is more of a challenge. Most guitar wah pedals will cut out all of your low end when used on bass, and most bass wahs will sound crappy on guitar. Some Morley wah pedals are supposed to work well on both guitar and bass though, so check those out. For distortions, many guitar distortions will cut out your bottom end on bass, and many bass distortions sound crappy on guitar. Still I can make a few suggestions that are supposed to get good results on both, here are a few:

EHX Big Muffs
EHX English Muff'n
Fulltone Bass Drive
Proco Turbo Rat
Ibanez TS9DX Turbo Tube Screamer

Even out of a small list of suggestions like that you really need to know more about what you want before you are able to pick a distortion pedal that you'll be happy with. What kind of music do you want to play and how much gain do you think you'll need? I can't guarantee there's a box listed above that you'll be happy with, so unless you really don't know what you want, I would urge you not to limit yourself so much by trying to use the same distortion box on bass and guitar.

[CopperheadLXXIX]

Originally Posted by bas_anton

Hi! My namen is Anton and i´m a bassplayer. But two weeks ago I bought an electric guitar. And I found out that playing guitar was´nt so bad after all. But know I have realised that i wan´t some fx.

And i´m thinking that this board should be used to both my bass needs and my guitar needs. So I'm looking for suggestions of pedals that works both for guitars and basses.

I have an EBS octabass and a BassIQ. But I would really like to have som overdrive or fuzz pedal, a delay, wah-wah, and a chorus/phaser thing.

HAve anyone tried the T-rex Mudhoney with a bass?

I have an effects board I use for both bass and electric guitar. As a general rule, I find effects tailored specifically towards bass tend to also sound wonderful on guitar, but not always so vice versa.
I also use my amp, a Traynor YBA200 for both instruments--it's a passive eq all tube head.

[Timi]

FYI, when I use my Octabass (older version without the 3way switch) on guitar it works great on lower notes but once you get into any note you can play on the high E you really can't hear the octave, it just slowly gets fainter as you play higher.

[JanusZarate]

Originally Posted by Slater

If I had to play bass and guitar through the same FX "board", I think I would have to consider the Line 6 POD X3 Live...

That's not a bad idea, either. Line 6 POD products are really good multi-effects units for the money, and you could easily customize patches of effects, amp simulations, and more for both instruments.

The X3 Live is built with features that work well for guitar, bass, AND vocals. It's a significant step above previous POD products which tended to be tailored to either guitar or bass (among other reasons why the X3 is an improvement).

[bass-shy]

Originally Posted by bas_anton

HAve anyone tried the T-rex Mudhoney with a bass?

Hi Anton. I have owned a T-Rex Mudhoney for a little over a year and I really like the range of sounds I can get out of it. I usually keep the Gain and Tone knobs maxxed out and I get a nasty, spitty fuzz that doesn't drop low end. However, I only play four string basses in standard tuning so I can't comment on whether or not it will stand up to a low B or tuning down. Anyway, I love the Mudhoney. If you can get one from a place with a decent return policy, you should check it out for yourself. Good luck.