how often do you use your effects?

[Fishbrain]

I've got quite a modest pedal board now (distortion,delay,small stone, synth pedal, compression) I use all of the effects in most of the sets I play but not for very long. I only play in a three piece so I find a lot of the time I need the clean tone to keep it fat. I would be lost if I got rid of any of my pedals but I'm just wondering, those of you with massive pedal boards do you still use mostly clean?

[Kenny Allyn]

Use mine every set also ...

Playing three piece plus a singer I find that there are times when playing more than just clean adds to the song. Using a small pedal board helps me expand the sound when the need arises to cover a keyboard like part or add some overdrive for raunchy blues. I see some of these huge boards and wonder myself sometimes how and when you would use that many effects live?


... Mine is pretty simple but very effective http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ooBoarddoc.jpg

[L.A. Moore]

I use some pedals alot while others may hardly get used.
Most Used:
Flanger
Delay
Compressor (always on except for one intro)

Used less:
chours
distortion / overdrive

As I upgrade pedalsd and get better sounds I integrate more use out of them.

L.A.

[Steve Clark]

I've got a bunch of pedals but my staples for rock/pop/blues gigs would be an compressor, a filter, overdrive and octaver which are EBS. Sometimes I'll add a CryBaby and a reverb. I don't use them all the time but they are there to add colour. I'm playing with loopers now but don't see a gig use for them at the moment based on the work I am doing.

[Fishbrain]

i want to add a looper to mine, i'm looking at the akai headrush.

my guitarist has got a giant pedal board full of filters and delays wah wammies and all kinds. He uses his a lot and i think that adds to part of the reason i need to keep my tone clean quite a lot

[bigchiefbc]

I as well play in a 3-piece + singer, and I have to say that I use an effect (or more) in just about every song. My general rule of thumb on these songs is: during choruses, heavy parts or under the guitar solo, I use (blended) OD or distortion, and on softer parts (i.e. during verses or bridges), I use some sort of modulation (chorus/phaser/flanger).

[dancehallclasher]

I use my chorus and fuzz pretty sparingly, to add a special flavor to some specific songs. I use overdrive on almost every song, but never leave it on for the entire song; it's mostly for dynamics and I think it's really effective that way. Compressor and SABDDI stay on pretty much always.

[wazzel]

Compressor every song, set real suttle (When I had a rack). Chorus quite a bit in church. My distortion from time to time, but not real deep. That is all I have for now. I'll be back to a compressor evey song when I get my pedal. Once our new church is built I will be using a Sansamp BDDI on evey song to feed the board.

[keb]

I love effects but I really don't use them that often. Just once in a while as a "special effect."

[neuromancer]

Used all the time:
Compression
Overdrive

Used quite a bit:
Chorus
Octave (for upper-register heavy passages)
Detuning (less than a semi-tone, used as a doubler)
Full-blown distortion/fuzz

Used infrequently:
Switchable EQ (for slapping)

[phatbass30]

i use bassdrive for some rock music we play, comp-cut mode for a bit of grit and use turbo rat with a VFB-2 blender for some heavy distortion needs. i use chorus for slow music, sometimes with my micro pog. i have my mxr bass DI "on" all the time for my main tone and a demeter compulator always "on" too for subtle compression of my over all sound. i use boss bass equalizer for slappping and sometimes with bottomfeeder to funkify the music more. so with all that said, i think i'm making a good use of my effects, that made all my money worth. i also have a tuner and a loop-master, made my effect changing so much easier.

[Would'e?]

Compression is always on. Chorus always on, (unless flanger is on or phaser is on or distortion is on). Basically one modulation or OD effect is always on, though I don't use distortion that often. I keep the gain pretty well-cranked on the amp so it's always a bit crunchy and if I want more distortion I'll just dime all the EQ knobs on the bass. Also, though it's not really an effect so much as a correction, BBE Sonic Maximizer is always on.

[Illbay]

What's "effects"?

[Fishbrain]

Originally Posted by Illbay

What's "effects"?

those metal things you stomp on with all them knobs and buttons on them??

[Oreomeister365]

At first I only found room to use them when the song slowed down and mellowed out, but sometimes the guitarist simply pulls back to a sort of rhythmic piece and thats when you pull out an awesome effect at the forefront. Then the guitar comes back to the lead and you go back and provide the bottom end again. Or if the guitar goes to a solo, a fuzz box helps. Then if were doing covers that maybe theres a second guitarist (which we don't have) and theres something I could easily emulate with a lead dist. I have a dist always on blended in to everything sounds fuller. Not overly saturated like two guitarists, but more than just the low end flat bass.

The delay needs a part where I'm either playing very much the lead and theres notes that stand out enough for the delay to actually make a difference, or theres parts where the guitar drops out entirely sometimes. Delay + the usual backing/supporting bass stuff = a waste usually. I imagine it's even harder to use some of these things if you have a rhythm guitarist. Effects fill gaps, gaps that another guitarist could fill, but are so much cooler with a bass with effects. But your band needs to create those gaps in the first place.

I want an auto-wah to accent certain passages/notes and make myself more funky. I'd like a whammy because well Tool sounds awesome with it, but I cannot foresee any situations where I'd actually use it...

[jpgasca]

I didn't like effects but i needed the turner pedal. So the reason i added effects was because i couldn't have a loose pedal in stage. But latter i began to discover cool things!! Took me a little time to get used to, but now i cannot play live without them.
I have a boss board with a turner, compressor, volume, octaver, chorus and delay. I use the compressor when i play in difficult acoustic situations to assure all the bass register sounds equal, the turner is a must in concerts, a little bit of delay in solo situations, and my favorite the octaver as a powerfull sound to rock lines.

Cheers!!

[Swimming Bird]

I'm doing solo ambient/experimental music, so I use pedals extensively on every non-acoustic song I have. It's all loop based in the first place, so I've written my music to be effected in some way or another.

For band situations I find myself using fewer pedals (which is good cause I have to sit down to play the ambient rig effectively) so I usually go flanger, fuzz, whammy, env. filter, compressor and delay. For this the flanger's almost always on (on the subtle side) because I love what it does to other pedals down the chain and it gives me a pretty distinctive tone. Otherwise, I'll probably use multiple effects simultaneously at least once a song.

[Luther Blissett]

also play a kind of ambient/soundscape/experimental thing. I am constantly using, tweaking and changing effects. I play with a guitarist, and he is constantly using his effects as well, and next to bass / guitar we have two microphones that we fool around with, and these also go through an effects loop. great fun.

[Swift713]

I make some crazy loop based solo music with lots of effects that make my bass sound like bubbling lava on one of Jupiter's moons or like a theramin or whatever but when I play with others so far I've used very little. A compressor, an amp model for a touch of OD, the occasional filter, maybe trem. In my last couple actual bands I used nothing at all. This new thing that's developing is likely to involve more gadgetry.

[tumpinjahosafat]

hmmm..

I've got a:

Phaser
Flanger
Distortion
Synth
Wah

i play in a 3 piece + singer, Metal band. So it can be very tricky at times to incorporate these effects. But primarily, either the flanger or phaser will get a stomp if my guitarist is doing a solo, or it the line I'm playing could use it to flow a little better. The distortion will be on a significant amount of the time and the synth and wah are on rarely.

So far these are the breakdowns for each effect and how many different lines:

11 Songs

Phaser/Flanger : 6
Distortion : 9
Wah/Synth (used in conjunction) : 2