Effect Pedals Every Bassist Should Own?

[Smokey999]

Hey talkbass! I recently bought a most awesome Squier bass and I started looking at pedals today to go with it. I currently own no pedals but I've tried my girlfriends distortion pedal and liked the sound. What pedals do you have and what pedals did you start with? I'm looking for something relatively cheap, under $80

[TussinBot.]

used muff

[Joe Gress]

tuner

[kaputsport]

Boss OC-2
Used Black Russian Muff
DOD FX25
Digitech Bass Synth Wah

Just those 4, in that order will give you octave, fuzz, envelope, synth and mixtures of them will open more doors. I would add a Boss DD-3 (Digital Delay), Boss BF-2 (Flanger) and an MXR Phase 90 (Phaser) to the list and you have a very awesome board.

If you get to that point, you will find yourself wanting better versions of all of them, and ultimately go broke, and live on the streets with your pedal board as a shelter, getting handouts for you awesome playing and tonal abilities.

And you can power all of these with a Onespot and some adapters.

[NoiseNinja]

I would go for a muff too to start with.

[joe vegas]

a chorus, a delay/reverb, and a distortion will give you many color options. a digitech whammy is an excellent poly-timbral addition as well.
i also never leave the house without my flanger. without my bass sometimes, yes, but never without my flanger.

[kevteop]

Boss OC-2
Some sort of Muff
Tuner
Envelope filter (my pick for a beginner would be an EHX Enigma or Q-Tron)

[Bassmike62]

Boss CEB-3
SansAmp PBDDI
EHX Small Stone
EHX Bassballs
EHX BBM

[BassMonstrum]

Originally Posted by Joe Gress

tuner

+1

I myself am an effect-nut, but it's not for everyone. One of my best friends is also a bassplayer and never uses effects, except for a pedaltuner and his Ampeg 100watt head. I love his tone!

[NewLaw83]

What type of music do you want to play? You might not need any effects depending on that. It would be more if you want to use effects. If you play rock then you don't need any effects if you have a good setup. Just my opinion.

[HotelX]

Definitely a good tuner. I used to have a bunch of effects and now have none. I'm looking at getting a compressor though.

[SteveC]

Everyone should be able to tune in silence. Ater that, there is no should own. I've gone for years without and people seem to love my tone.

[waveman]

Tuner
Boss ODB3
Digitech Synth Wah

You can all of that used fairly cheap, and close to that $80
I got all of that for @$100


Or a zoom or digitech multi-effects

[Kraken]

I would always suggest a good pedal Tuner as a first pedal,

then next for a Drive/DI either a SansAmp BDDI or the MXR M80

then we get into the realm of Octave, Chorus and Delay pedals

[MEKer]

Originally Posted by TussinBot.

used muff

He's already got that...he's looking for pedals.

I know....I know.....sorry

[bassman1185]

If you're just starting with bass, I wouldn't worry much about effects for a while. Get a tuner, and learn the basics. After you have a good foundation in actually playing the bass (as opposed to playing the effects) you might be well-served to get a good quality multi-effects pedal. The Boss ME-50B is a good starter, and you can usually get them for about $150 if you go used.

[Smokin' Toaster]

Originally Posted by SteveC

Everyone should be able to tune in silence. Ater that, there is no should own. I've gone for years without and people seem to love my tone.

+1

My effects are my fingers and my monster cable.
IMHO, effects are a crutch. My opinion, feel free to disagree.

[Toastfuzz]

Originally Posted by Smokin' Toaster

+1

My effects are my fingers and my monster cable.
IMHO, effects are a crutch. My opinion, feel free to disagree.

Effects can be a crutch. I'll admit, I have been guilty of not properly learning a song before a gig, and cranking up the gain and distortion to cover up my mistakes. But properly used, effects just add expression. You'll find in most quality effects, they are sensitive enough to react to your touch, so playing a bass through the effect is as dynamic and has as many tonal possibilities as playing clean.

By far my most used effects are:
Boss Tuner: if you have a pedal board, you can't afford NOT to have a tuner. They're cheap and they work.
Black Russian Muff: for varying levels of distortion / fuzz
VT Bass: pre-amp / tone shaping pedal, not 100% necessary, but for me my tone is dependent on it.

Effects I own that are fun / take up space but aren't getting much use these days:
Dunlop wah
DoD FX25 envelope filter
Boss DD-7 delay
some cheap chorus
Digitech Hyper-Phase
Ibanez PD-7 distortion / overdrive

[ItsMichaelYeah]

Originally Posted by Smokin' Toaster

+1

My effects are my fingers and my monster cable.
IMHO, effects are a crutch. My opinion, feel free to disagree.

I agree that you should get a tuner first.


I don't agree that Effects are a crutch. Learning how to play good and Technique are very important. but I don't see how using a fuzz pedal or any effect is a "Crutch."

[NKBassman]

I can't tell you how many bands I've watched that have ruined their own sound by either (a) playing out of tune, or (b) trying to tune by ear in between songs.

Get a pedal tuner before you even think about anything else.