Effects Questions (please disregard my ignorance)

[ErebusBass]

I've been playing bass for six years but for the most part I have not experimented much with effects. I am thinking about buying my first pedal. I would most likely get a single distortion/overdrive pedal.

My questions are:
1. If I put a stompbox type pedal in my signal chain, but leave it off most of the time, will this effect the clarity of my signal? I ask this because when I just started playing I bought an old used Zoom multi-effects pedal and I noticed a significant difference in my sound when I was plugged directly into the amp as opposed to running it through the pedal, even when the pedal was off.

2. Can overdrive/distortion damage your speakers? Also, does high volume distortion stress your speakers significantly more?

3. Can anyone recommend a good distortion pedal to someone who has no idea what he's looking for? I play metal, a schecter stiletto elite 5 into a Hartke HA3500 into a Hartke 2x10 XL and a Beh****** 1x15.

4. Is it better to get single effects pedals (more expensive, supposedly higher quality), or a multi-effects pedal (cheaper, but all those buttons confuse me)?

[paganjack]

1- a good pedal shouldn't add a noticeable amount of noise into your signal chain- you might want to look for pedals with a 'true bypass'
2-it shouldnt- but if you drive your amp to clipping, it will hurt them
3- search the forums/reviews
4- for a good overdrive, i'd say get a standalone pedal, multi-effects boards don't seem to do it as well IMO (digital < analog for OD), on the other hand, you get a lot more options with a processor. kind of a quantity/quality trade

[kevteop]

Originally Posted by ErebusBass

1. If I put a stompbox type pedal in my signal chain, but leave it off most of the time, will this effect the clarity of my signal?

It depends. Some pedals do, some don't. Some might not, but also not buffer your signal so if you use long cables on either side you might notice some degradation due to that. You really just have to try pedals and decide whether you can live with them when they're off.

There are of course "true bypass looper" pedals you can buy to babysit these tone-suckers, but before long all the space around you is full of utility boxes and switches to manage your three effects.

Originally Posted by ErebusBass

2. Can overdrive/distortion damage your speakers? Also, does high volume distortion stress your speakers significantly more?

Extremely high gain may not be great for your amp, but I've never had any issues so far (running two fuzzes in series sometimes). High volume anything will stress your speakers significantly more, but if they're rated for a given power output and you don't provide them with anything more than that, then you should expect your speakers to cope. If they don't, you need better speakers.

Originally Posted by ErebusBass

3. Can anyone recommend a good distortion pedal to someone who has no idea what he's looking for? I play metal, a schecter stiletto elite 5 into a Hartke HA3500 into a Hartke 2x10 XL and a Beh****** 1x15.

You're probably just going to have to go and try some. "Metal" is a pretty broad genre.

Originally Posted by ErebusBass

4. Is it better to get single effects pedals (more expensive, supposedly higher quality), or a multi-effects pedal (cheaper, but all those buttons confuse me)?

Depends how you want to use it, really. The good thing about separate pedals is you can keep your favourite sounds and swap out the ones you don't like for something else - you can't do that with a multi. I suppose you could truck a bunch of multis around to shows, but that sort-of defeats the object.

I also find it's easier to get the sounds I want from multiple pedals because I can see all the settings at once and what's wired into what, but maybe that's just me.

[Happynoj]

Originally Posted by ErebusBass

1. If I put a stompbox type pedal in my signal chain, but leave it off most of the time, will this effect the clarity of my signal? I ask this because when I just started playing I bought an old used Zoom multi-effects pedal and I noticed a significant difference in my sound when I was plugged directly into the amp as opposed to running it through the pedal, even when the pedal was off.

Some pedals will affect your tone when switched off. This is to do with the quality of the bypass. Pedals that are True Bypass will not affect your tone at all. Other pedals can do. Lots (including Boss) use buffered bypass instead of true bypass. This can create tone suck, although some buffered bypasses are better than others. If you are not sure, look for TB.

Originally Posted by ErebusBass

2. Can overdrive/distortion damage your speakers? Also, does high volume distortion stress your speakers significantly more?

AFAIK, no. I assume that they are designed and tested in such a way as to not damage speakers. Someone with more knowledge than me might be more helpful. I've never had a problem.

Originally Posted by ErebusBass

3. Can anyone recommend a good distortion pedal to someone who has no idea what he's looking for? I play metal, a schecter stiletto elite 5 into a Hartke HA3500 into a Hartke 2x10 XL and a Beh****** 1x15.

Doing a search might be more helpful. There is page in the Wiki dedicated to OD/Dist/Fuzz effects, and the Effects Pedal Clips Database in the wiki has plenty of things to listen to. If you can describe your ideal fuzz tone, or have musical examples (songs where you like the bass distortion etc) then it will be much easier to point you in the right direction.

Originally Posted by ErebusBass

4. Is it better to get single effects pedals (more expensive, supposedly higher quality), or a multi-effects pedal (cheaper, but all those buttons confuse me)?

If you don't know what you want, I would advise getting a cheap multi (one of the newer Zoom models for example), so that you can work out what kind of sounds you want. If you already know what sounds you want to achieve, then go with singles - you will get a better sound because each pedal is dedicated to a single effect, rather than trying to do 50 different ones.

[EricF]

Generally speaking, the effects freaks on this forum (myself included) tend to prefer individual pedals because each effect can be selected for exactly the sound or response preferred by the user. With a multi, you are stuck with what's in the package. Maybe the distortion sounds okay, but if the chorus sounds like @$$, you can't swap it out for a different one. Pedals of the same type (i.e. distortion) sound very different from one model/manufacturer to the next. A lot of time and money has been spent by many of us to find exactly the right sounding pedal for each type of effect we need.

That said, if you have no idea what effects you're looking for, a multi can give you a wide variety of sounds to try until you can narrow down your search.

Something to consider for metal...
If you're playing with a couple of guitars who are pumping out walls of thick distortion (as is often the case), putting heavy distortion or fuzz on your bass may make it lose definition and totally disappear. If that's an issue, a fuzz with a clean blend might be the right call for you. The clean blend will allow you to keep some note definition amongst the mayhem.

[bongomania]

Just one point to clarify: it is impossible to damage your amplifier by using distortion, even at the most extreme high volume levels. The tweeter on your speaker cab, OTOH, is at risk of damage if you use distortion at levels higher than the tweeter was designed for. This is because there's a high concentration of high-frequency content in a typical heavily-distorted signal, which results in power levels going to the tweeter which may be higher than it's rated for even when the other speakers in the box are still within their appropriate rated power range. Distortion (by itself) cannot damage mid- and low-frequency speaker cones; you'll damage those by turning up the amp too high (past their rated abilities) regardless of whether the signal is distorted.