effects and blues guys

[Step]

I was watching a small movie of the john mayer trio yesterday, and saw that pino palladino had a few stompboxes at his feet

I thought blues was virtually effectless for bass

so, what effects do you think work in a bluessetting on bass? have you ever used effects in a blues band?

[RickenBoogie]

I don't know what that player has, but as per the thread about fx/music styles, it doesn't matter. It could've been a tuner, compressor, eq, who knows. And, none of those are effects, strictly speaking.

[bongomania]

Blues has often been associated with tube amps and dirty tone, and sometimes it's easier for a frequently-gigging bassist to manage a couple of pedals that give some of the fatness, overdrive, or even fuzz that an old tube amp would provide, rather than carrying around a fragile and heavy old tube amp.

I would certainly use an overdrive, a fuzz, and/or a good amp emulator like the VT Bass. There are a couple of blues albums I've owned with a bunch of fuzz on the bass, I'll see if I can find links to the tracks in a bit.

And +1 to RickenB.

[rzpooch]

When I was in a blues band I didn't use any effects. That was several years ago and I've seen the light (lol). I use a zoom b2 now, mostly as a tuner. I think the fretless setting would be good for blues. Actually I think many of the settings would work well. I'm not a traditionalist and figure if you want to use something, then go for it!

[Thangfish]

Originally Posted by Step

so, what effects do you think work in a bluessetting on bass? have you ever used effects in a blues band?

BBE Opto Stomp compressor, and Cream Pie OD, Peterson tuner and EB vol pedal for me. Add the occasional chorus and envelope filter and that's about it.

[bassbrad]

In Blues "2 efx or not" is really up to the bass and other players. In a larger band there may be no opportunity or need for the bass player to do more than the bassic part. OTOH I tend to work in blues trios where there is all kind of need and opportunity for effects to add color and texture.

[Mudfuzz]

For blues gigs I bring a comp, and sometimes a dirt box [fuzz or OD, it depends on how I feel] or nothing at all. I play basses with flats through tube amps so it is pretty easy for me to achieve that classic R&B sound without any FX. As for a tuner, the blues band I play with features acoustic guitar as the main instrument, and we play outdoors most of the time........................................... so tuning issues aren't ever the bass

[JmJ]

I love to use effects but never seem to need them with my Blues group. I use my Subway Guitars bass strung with flats with a Zoom B2 on factory preset B3. I never even checked to see what that program is doing. The drummer from that group is from the Charlie Watts school of drumming. He has said to me "those things (effects) don't work on bass" & on one level he's totally right. Having said all that whatever sounds good to you is what you ought to use

[fishtx]

Eric Czar used a lot of pedals when he was touring with Joe Bonamassa...IMO Eric has a great ear for Bass effects and where to use them. Check out "Had to Cry Today" and his use of Flange...very cool...

His solo stuff is freakin great too....Big time under the radar bassist....

[bongomania]

Yeah, I'm going to have to look that guy up. Some time back I was listening to the car radio and this super heavy tune came on with this massive pipe-organ-like sustained bass sound, and I believe the announcer said the track was by Joe Bonamassa, so I've been meaning to find out more.

[chicago_mike]

A lot of us younger blues cats have various influences and theres a lot of funk involved, so yeah, a filter is kinda normal. One cat has a real sick pedal board, and uses it too.

If you dont f up the groove..its usually okay. Dont get too caught up in NON-Bassists telling you about the role of the bass. They dont play it, you do.

[Kenny Allyn]

Well I do use them ... but it depends on the setting


As the sound of my band developed we found the need for something akin to the sound of a fat B3 organ being overdriven on certain tunes ... to Jack Bruce style tone on others.

After several iterations this is what works for me ...

EBS Multi Comp set to "Tube Sim" mode tube like compression

EBS Octa Bass for octave down B3 fattness

Roger Mayer Voodoo bass set for a slight overdrive usually but it's a badd azz fuzz too there is your JB tone.

Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe for the Leslie effect

Powered by a Voodoo lab Power Plus with the voltage slightly dimmed to both the Voodoo bass and the Micro Verb the board also has a Peterson Strobo Stomp on it too.

My bass of choice is a passive Jazz Bass when using the board


Now if I'm playing with a keys player which is a lot these days it's pretty much barefoot no effects but my bass choice changes, either one of my Dark Star equipped LeComptes an active Jazz or a P bass

Amp wise a Mark Bass LM II or Genz Shuttle 6.0 usually pull duty ... but I have several others including an all tube Mesa and a Mesa BB750 ... sometimes GKs

... All cabs are MOjO Sonics ... but you would have guessed that

[fishtx]

Originally Posted by bongomania

Yeah, I'm going to have to look that guy up. Some time back I was listening to the car radio and this super heavy tune came on with this massive pipe-organ-like sustained bass sound, and I believe the announcer said the track was by Joe Bonamassa, so I've been meaning to find out more.

Yea Eric is a great player...Here is a link to his page and a couple of cool YouTube clips when he was with Joe Bonamassa:

http://www.ericczar.com/

Intro to "Had to Dry today"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTIeu...eature=related

a couple more...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoJyg9HcaZw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDHqQnAVrqE


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCdNsm7gvu8

[Thangfish]

Yeah, Pain and Sorrow is killer.

This is my favorite:
If Heartaches Were Nickles

No fancy bass here, but I love this song.


Oh crap...
Didn't mean to make this a Bonamassa thread.