Country Cats: What's on Your Pedal Boards?

[LiquidMidnight]

Wow, I never thought I'd ever ask that question, as I've always thought that country is more "plug-n-play." But I've seen that a lot of the modern country players have some nice pedal boards, and it's obviously more than just a tuner and compressor mounted on there. Here's a shot of Tully Kennedy and his board:



I'm currently in the transition phase, going from a modern rock project to a country project. My current board is laid out...

Bass -> Micro Thumpinator -> Korg Pitchblack -> Two Channel Truebypass Loop

• Loop 1: Wilson Wah -> EBS Unichorus
• Loop 2: Wounded Paw Blender -> Fishman Fission -> Bass Muff Pi -> Boss ODB-3
  

Two Channel Truebypass Loop -> VT Deluxe -> ISP Noise Decimator -> Amp

With the country project, I'm going to be ripping a lot of these pedals off. As is probably evident, the second loop was created to approxmiate a rythmn guitar. I'm not going to need that anymore, as a). the singer of this project plays rythmn, and b). that sound just doesn't fit well in country, even the country that's more rock than country.

I'm thinking that my pedal board is going to be:

Bass -> Thumpinator -> Chorus* -> VT Deluxe** -> ISP*** -> Amp

*While I can't think of a country tune off the hand with chorus I can reasonably forsee using chorus somewhere down the line
**For when I want to replicate a B-15 and for a quick DI solution if I ever need one
***Not for high gain, but for those times I have to deal with electrical interference with my pickups and crap power

[JonnyAngle]

If you have a 4 string, you may need a pitch shifter to change your tuning to BEAD. In fact, you may need 1 step down, 1/2 step down, etc. In my experience w/ country, the guitar player gets time to tune, but the bass does not.

I'm a little out of touch now, but I've pretty much used every type of effect. When we did "Living on a Prayer," I would add an envelope filter for the intro since nobody had a talk-box. I find that we, as bass players, can add a lot where the guitar players don't have to carry the whole tune. The bottom line is you need to find places where different effects are important.

[spector_boogie]

When I played country, I ran (IIRC)-
EB volume pedal->
Tuner out to tuner
EBS MultiComp
Analogman TS9 Deluxe
Analogman BiChorus
HBE Psylocybe phaser

Worked pretty well for me. I used the phaser for little throw in spice pieces. I really liked that gig. Paid well, had an incredible PA and IEM/monitor (complete with dedicated soundman!) setup, wimmenz were always hawt, etc.. Just got to be too busy for me.

[Marial]

I don't play modern country, so, for what it's worth:

Hwy One Jazz --> tuner --> Aguilar Tone Hammer DI --> amp.

I'm going to pick up an Aggy Octamizer and an IE Nimbus soon, however, though they're going to be more for noodling around on my fretless.

[Aaron_D]

Can someone identify all those pedals on Tully's board?

[spector_boogie]

Originally Posted by Aaron_D

Can someone identify all those pedals on Tully's board?

That looks old to me (Lakland bass, CRT monitor?? lol) but:
Keeley compressor
Boss bass EQ
EB VP
Dunlop bass wah
Boss bass chorus or possibly chorus ensemble
Fulltone Bass Drive
Aguilar DB900 DI

I can't tell if that's a Radial ABY box or similar on the top right.
Could be wrong on that gray one too, sorry...

[shoot-r]

LOVE that black and tort Lakland!!!!

Never used any pedals, only a cord between bass and amp.

[bassbrad]

I play 2 modern C&W gigs from time to time one bands prefers I play with no efx and pretty much the same tone all nite. The other band is much more open and actually expects me to mix things up so I usually take me regular board that is more rock fusion oriented.

[robbotbass]

I have a Tube blower (guitar pedal)
A limiter
A bass course
And a mute switcher.....

If and when I play country I only use the course.
That is all.

[Jim Carr]

tuner, compressor, DI.

[MikeBass]

Demeter compressor, Tech 21 Dual Drive overdrive (which I rarely use), chorus pedal, tuner, Radial BassBone, octave pedal.

[Aaron_D]

My board:

Markbass Compressore, Tech 21 VT Bass, EB Volume, Nova Delay, Boss Flanger, Sadowsky DI.

[hennessybass]

Checking in from Austin, TX. On a country gig, I would use a bass and an amp. But I think I just have a different definition of what country music is. I like to make a distinction between country music, and pop music that is produced in Nashville

Ever heard of The Bass Player Book? There is a chapter in there called "Country Bass: The Song Is King." Can't remember who wrote it. I think some famous Nashville session guy. Check it out. It's a good article about songwriting, and the role of bass in country music.

Maybe I'm just stuck in an old paradigm when it comes to country... but that's ok with me, and I think I'll stay there. There is just something about mediocre rock guitar players with frosted tips that doesn't really say country to me.

[Dignan81]

we cover country, blues and classic rock. i usually run the following.

fender jazz bass > ernie ball vp jr vol pedal > boss tu3 tuner > crybaby bass wah > fuzzrocious grey stache > fuzzrocious BDPG > TC electronics tremolo shaker > 3 leaf audio PWNZOR compressor > MXR M80 Bass DI > out


the tremolo shaker is a must have for the intro to Country Girl (Shake It) and that's pretty much the only thing I use it for.

[LiquidMidnight]

Originally Posted by JonnyAngle

If you have a 4 string, you may need a pitch shifter to change your tuning to BEAD. In fact, you may need 1 step down, 1/2 step down, etc. In my experience w/ country, the guitar player gets time to tune, but the bass does not.

I've been an exclusive 5-string player for about the past 10 years, and when I joined this project, it became quickly evident that that wasn't going to change. I haven't used the open B yet, but I've already used the low C.

hennessy, I'm also more old school when it comes to my country (luckily, we do some Johnny, Waylon, and David Allan...and I'm petitioning for some Dwight) but I do enjoy some of the songwriting that's happening right now. Joining this project has hipped me to Jeffery Steel, who's somewhat of a Nashville John Hiatt with the amount of hit songs he's penned. Also, I've been hipped to Dierks Bentely, who's quickly becoming a favorite.

That's definitely an older pic of Tully. He has more tattoos nowadays. I believe he's on the boards, so maybe he'll chime in.

[CElton]

Line6 Wireless Receiver, Tuner, Demeter Compulator, Boss CEB-3.

I'm thinking about adding an MXR BOD...

[FromTheBassMent]

What a great thread. My band plays "Americana," so our covers and originals span everything from newgrass to TexMex to Wilco-esque oddness. My current lineup is:

EBMM Sterling 5 HH --> Source Audio Bass Envelope Filter --> Xotic Bass BB Preamp --> DMB Bumble Bass Fuzz --> EBS UniChorus --> Tech21 VT Bass --> MarkBass rig.

The VT Bass is on all the time, with the drive and character set very low (it just adds some shine and character to my sound, no grind). Everything else is used SPARSELY. I kick in the Xotic BB to get a little hair on rockin tunes, the envelope on a couple of New Orleans funk tunes we do, and everything else is dedicated to super-specific applications (the Bumble adds its own amazing atmosphere to a couple of tunes we do that are kinda in the Mazzy Star zone).

For straight-up Nashville pop country, I imagine a compressor and some kind of a low-gain drive would be all that you would ever need.

[hennessybass]

Originally Posted by LiquidMidnight

hennessy, I'm also more old school when it comes to my country (luckily, we do some Johnny, Waylon, and David Allan...and I'm petitioning for some Dwight) but I do enjoy some of the songwriting that's happening right now. Joining this project has hipped me to Jeffery Steel, who's somewhat of a Nashville John Hiatt with the amount of hit songs he's penned. Also, I've been hipped to Dierks Bentely, who's quickly becoming a favorite.

Thanks, man. I dig good songwriting too,,, it's a lot of the production I don't like, and I have heard more than a few great songs ruined by production that could have been great otherwise. I just got on a little rant there. I'll check out some of the dudes you mentioned.

[JonnyAngle]

I was pretty quick to respond earlier, but I consider country to include Waylon, Willie, a few Allman brothers, Lynyrd, etc. With my country group, we also sneak some zz top, bon jovi, etc in there

[Wookieonbass]

Don't do a lot of country but the only pedal I've used besides a tuner is a chorus pedal with the rate set really slow sort of a faux fretless feel. I've only used that very rarely though.