Essential Effect Pedals

Bilby · #1 03-19-2013, 09:47 AM

What pedals do you guys think every bass player should have?
And whats your opinion on Bass players using Guitar Pedals

gregmon79 · #2 03-19-2013, 10:09 AM

Ive heard a lot of people say, "bass players shouldnt use pedals" and so forth. Different strokes for different folks. In my opinion, I think, depending on what youre trying to go for, distortion/OD/fuzz, depending on your amp, a preamp/DI pedal like a SansAmp VT Bass or the BDDI, an octaver, delay and a chorus/flanger or both. I personally have all these. And a wha wha and or envelope filter.

As for the use of guitqr pedals used for bass, it really varies. Some guitar pedals actually react better to a bass frequency while others sound like crapola. I have a Boss bass chorus and I am actually thinking of replacing it for a Boss guitar chorus. Ive heard it "rings" a lot more. Honestly I dont dig the one I have that is designed FOR bass. Again, differetn strokes, different folks. I would like to see the feedback you get here.

gregmon79 · #3 03-19-2013, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregmon79

Ive heard a lot of people say, "bass players shouldnt use pedals" and so forth. Different strokes for different folks. In my opinion, I think, depending on what youre trying to go for, distortion/OD/fuzz, depending on your amp, a preamp/DI pedal like a SansAmp VT Bass or the BDDI, an octaver, delay and a chorus/flanger or both. I personally have all these. And a wha wha and or envelope filter.

As for the use of guitqr pedals used for bass, it really varies. Some guitar pedals actually react better to a bass frequency while others sound like crapola. I have a Boss bass chorus and I am actually thinking of replacing it for a Boss guitar chorus. Ive heard it "rings" a lot more. Honestly I dont dig the one I have that is designed FOR bass. Again, differetn strokes, different folks. I would like to see the feedback you get here.

BTW, I happen to NOT be in that club that think bass players shouldnt use pedals obviously. I LOVE EFFECTS AND PEDALS!!!

MADChuudoku · #4 03-19-2013, 10:11 AM

whether the pedal was designed for bass or not, usually has little to no bearing on my interest in it

lijazz · #5 03-19-2013, 10:12 AM

I think bass players should use whatever pedals they want o, just so long they do not OVERuse them. Everything has its place and time,pedals included.

HolmeBass · #6 03-19-2013, 10:14 AM

I don't think there is a pedal every bass player should have, unless you're going to count a tuner as an "effect pedal".

It's a completely personal artistic choice, there are no rules about when or when not to use effects. Personally I play in some bands where a boost pedal is all I would ever consider, and other bands would be difficult without my full board.

As for guitar pedals, I use some. If they sound good, they are good. Again, no real rules here, it depends much more on what you're looking to get out of using a pedal that determines whether it's right for you.

necropain · #7 03-19-2013, 11:08 AM

so ima say screw all these guys and their moral ambiguity/political correctness lol

honestly in my opinion i think every bassist should have some sort of modulation. although i love reverb and delay and they are my bread and butter, Rvrb/delay wont be that great for everyone. personally i think on a grand scale of usefulness i think every bassist should have atleast chorus i think it should be essential.

also i don't think i have a single pedal designed for bass soooooooooooo yeah.

whitedk57 · #8 03-19-2013, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bilby

What pedals do you guys think every bass player should have?
And whats your opinion on Bass players using Guitar Pedals

Tuner

Twocan · #9 03-19-2013, 11:11 AM

Essentials IMO:

Tuner
Compressor
DI w/EQ

BawanaRik · #10 03-19-2013, 11:12 AM

A good cable and a good tuner.

gregmon79 · #11 03-19-2013, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twocan

Essentials IMO:

Tuner
Compressor
DI w/EQ

What's the "best" compressor out there. Or one that is heavily used by a lot of people out there I'm thinking of picking one up eventually. And how is it utilized in your chain? I think I need a bigger board. GAS!!!

DagoMaino · #12 03-19-2013, 11:30 AM

Great place to start (after a tuner) with something that you will use the most is one of the following Preamp/dirt boxes: Sans Amp Tech 21, MXR M-80, Xotic Preamp...

Next step chose the modulation that you want: Chorus, phaser, flanger.... tip: Don't waste your time and money on really cheap modulation, if you are going to do it then do it to a respectable degree to really TRY modulation. It's better to stick with step one then to try to get into modulation with a chincy budget. Not all good pedals cost a lot, but you don't want to make your decisions subject to a $40 budget either.

Maybe check out a Strymon Mobius as a good multi-effect for less cost than accumulating individual pedals...

DiabolusInMusic · #13 03-19-2013, 11:36 AM

The essentials? A tuner, but that doesn't have to be a pedal.

A great help and a big use to many players (especially tappers and slappers) would be the compressor.

Everything else is personal choice, and most are just lost in the mix anyways.

cybersnyder · #14 03-19-2013, 11:44 AM

This is what I'd purchase in order:

Turbotuner
Digitech BSW
OneSpot
MXR Phase 90
Pedaltrain Mini
OC-2 / EBS Octabass
Some kind of OD / Dirt
A DI, SansAmp or MXR M-80

From there, the world is your oyster. Whatever that means.

Bakkster_Man · #15 03-19-2013, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregmon79

What's the "best" compressor out there. Or one that is heavily used by a lot of people out there I'm thinking of picking one up eventually. And how is it utilized in your chain? I think I need a bigger board. GAS!!!

You want to go here.
http://www.ovnilab.com/

gregmon79 · #16 03-19-2013, 12:20 PM

I have the SansAmp BDDI and the VT bass. Those are compressors of sorts right??

**Ric5** · #17 03-19-2013, 12:28 PM

I am a die hard tone freak. I have certain tones in my head that I want my bass/effect/rig to reproduce. The tones I like to get are like what these famous players get:

- Jack Bruce
- Chris Squire
- John Entwistle
- John Wetton
- Paul McCartney
- Tony Levin

That is a lot of different tones to get from the bass/effects/rig combination.

Well I have finally settled on this pedal board. Every time I swap out a pedal from this board it no longer sounds as good.

1 - First I run into an equalizer

2 - Then I split the signal into 4 parallel signals with a rolls mixer.

3 - I run one of the parallel lines into the Line6 bass pod where I model an acoustic 360 with a rat or big muff distortion pedal. I use this to get a retro growlly distorted sound. Or I also model an Ampeg fliptop with the Rat Distortion pedal. And I also Model an old Marshall amp. With the bass pod I can get a wide range of clean or dirty sounds and various effects and model different amps and speaker cabinets.

4 - The second parallel signal goes into a MXR bass di+. I use this pedal to get a clean modern sound. It also has a distortion button that can give a moderate to extreme amount of modern distortion.

5 - The third parallel signal goes into a Marshall Guv'nor. This gives me an old 60s marshall stack sound. This can go from a small amount of distortion to an over the top marshall sound. This effect can give you a the classic Jack Bruce Cream tone.

6 - The fourth parallel signal goes into a Tech21 VT Bass pedal. With this effect I get a slightly dirty Ampeg SVT bass amp sound with a tube like growl.

7 - Then I remix the 4 signals back together and run it into a bass amp, or pa, or studio mixer. Because the signals are parallel I can mix clean and overdriven sounds together and still get effect and a sound that punches through the mix.

gregmon79 · #18 03-19-2013, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ric5

I am a die hard tone freak. I have certain tones in my head that I want my bass/effect/rig to reproduce. The tones I like to get are like what these famous players get:

- Jack Bruce
- Chris Squire
- John Entwistle
- John Wetton
- Paul McCartney
- Tony Levin

That is a lot of different tones to get from the bass/effects/rig combination.

Well I have finally settled on this pedal board. Every time I swap out a pedal from this board it no longer sounds as good.

1 - First I run into an equalizer

2 - Then I split the signal into 4 parallel signals with a rolls mixer.

3 - I run one of the parallel lines into the Line6 bass pod where I model an acoustic 360 with a rat or big muff distortion pedal. I use this to get a retro growlly distorted sound. Or I also model an Ampeg fliptop with the Rat Distortion pedal. And I also Model an old Marshall amp. With the bass pod I can get a wide range of clean or dirty sounds and various effects and model different amps and speaker cabinets.

4 - The second parallel signal goes into a MXR bass di+. I use this pedal to get a clean modern sound. It also has a distortion button that can give a moderate to extreme amount of modern distortion.

5 - The third parallel signal goes into a Marshall Guv'nor. This gives me an old 60s marshall stack sound. This can go from a small amount of distortion to an over the top marshall sound. This effect can give you a the classic Jack Bruce Cream tone.

6 - The fourth parallel signal goes into a Tech21 VT Bass pedal. With this effect I get a slightly dirty Ampeg SVT bass amp sound with a tube like growl.

7 - Then I remix the 4 signals back together and run it into a bass amp, or pa, or studio mixer. Because the signals are parallel I can mix clean and overdriven sounds together and still get effect and a sound that punches through the mix.

I would like to do this but with only 2 parallels. How do you do this again?? Is this what they mean by A/B chains?

PimasterPearson · #19 03-19-2013, 12:34 PM

I don't think any pedals are really necessary, but it largely depends on what style of music you play and if you have any tricks that require effects. I usually run through a tuner, a volume pedal, delay/echo, chorus, and a Sansamp DI. I might add a fuzz or overdrive, and I'm toying with the idea of putting together a dubstep effects chain. But in most situations, I'm fine with just the tuner.

superHEAVYfunk · #20 03-19-2013, 12:34 PM

I'm a no-effects guy generally, but I'd say that if there was ONE bass effect that was the most useful across genres, I'd say some kind of modulation, most likely a chorus. I've heard chorus used on a bass guitar in funk, country, various rock, modern jazz and probably more that I can't think of at the moment. Second to a chorus, I'd probably say some kind of overdrive or a light fuzz. Probably a compressor too, depending on your style and what you're playing.