Now I remember why I quit using effects 10 years ago

[JimmyM]

Man, you can drag the bassline down from 60 to 0 with an ill-timed effect! I programmed some new patches for my Zoom B2 that I thought were fantastic at home. 5 different distortions, a new octaver, envelope with crunch...at home they sound amazing and blend perfectly with my clean sound.

I get to the gig and try them out, and the distortions were all midrangey and way too quiet, the crunchy envelope nearly took my head off with treble, and only the new octave sound worked like it did at home. Not only that, but even patches that were working just fine for the last 3-4 weeks were misbehaving and needing tweaks. Turned out that I accidentally had the threshold on my compressor too low and it wasn't compressing at all. So pedals apparently can go bananas based on the other pedals in the chain. ARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!

I like to just get up and play, but I do like effects. Always have. But I just got so fed up with them that I just quit using everything but my VT pedal. The guys in my band are all behind me using effects, but after a month or two, I'm seriously considering ditching it all again.

I have to keep the Microbass, though. That's my switcher/preamp for doubling on upright. And I do like the compressor for leveling out my peaks when I get a little too involved in watching the hot 20-year-old in the see-thru t-shirt doing the hula hoop while her grandma clumsily hits on our sax player. And I have to have a wireless for both the electric and upright so I don't kill myself while doing upright stunts and quick switches between it and the electric. And that VT pedal sure comes in handy for some of our heavier late 60's-70's tunes. And doesn't a little phase or chorus sound sweet on a ballad? Or a little envelope on occasion when you give up the funk Bootsy-style?

ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!

[madbassplaya]

I've never really liked the pedal thing. The only pedal i'm currently using is a Tuner pedal. I like that natural bass sound. Plus, i just like to plug in and play!

[bongomania]

*groan, not again*

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by bongomania

*groan, not again*

Heh, sorry for living Bongo, but it's something we can all relate to. I'm not trying to take a poll on whether we should be allowed to play with effects or not. I'm just saying that they can be really frustrating when you're trying to put on a show and I was trying to get people to talk about their own frustrations. Maybe share some specific instances.

And don't everyone out there try to pretend that everything is just rosy with all your effects. If you haven't been extremely frustrated onstage with effects, you haven't used them. So don't get all defensive. Nobody has to justify what they do. And I'll ask those of you who just want to chime in on one side or the other to not do that in this thread, please.

[Unrepresented]

So far in my performance career I've been more frustated with bass strings than with effects pedals.

[mrokern]

Heh...didn't screw up the FX, but the first gig back with my BP XT Live I thought I'd switched the tuner / mute out when I hadn't. Nothing is as loud as silence when you're expecting booty-shaking bass...

-Mark

[bongomania]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Heh, sorry for living Bongo

My post wasn't 'aimed' at you it was aimed at the other guy who responded before me. I have low tolerance for people who come into the fx forum just to proclaim that they don't use effects. Which is very different from your post, earnestly describing frustration with the good and bad of effects.

[bikeplate]

HI

Ive been back and forth with effects all my playing career. At a young age I loved them. Later on, I used nothing. Not even a compressor. I tried an multi programmable deal, like you Jimmie, and had the same issues. Great at home, horrible live. Gave up again. The last 5 years, Ive gotten back into them. I now have a Pedaltrain Jr. with a tuner, compressor, and 4 cool effects. I did alot of trial and error to find boxes that had good sound and presence live. The toughest one to find was a good overdrive. I finally settled on a voodoo lab distortion. Has a blend knob. Dials in great overdrive without losing bass and tone. Then a Micropog for octave and suboctave. A analogman chorus with a deepswitch. Best chorus Ive owned. Ive had em all. Lastly, just got a 3leaf envelope follower. Its tremendous.

Well, thats my rant. Try some pedals, J. Im sure you can put together a small board with some good sounding boxes that hold up in a band setting

Rob

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by bongomania

My post wasn't 'aimed' at you it was aimed at the other guy who responded before me. I have low tolerance for people who come into the fx forum just to proclaim that they don't use effects. Which is very different from your post, earnestly describing frustration with the good and bad of effects.

Ah...IC. That wasn't an especially obnoxious off-topic response, but still, not what this thread is about and not needed.

I'm a little disappointed in the other responses. Mrokern at least had a story...wasn't a very good one, but he was trying I want to hear about the sterility-causing feedback stories, or the speaker-blowing gain staging mistakes. I almost did that one night when I first got my Microbass. I wanted to add a little distortion to the end of our last song of the set, so I turned up the drive knob on my Microbass to get distortion out of my amp, not realizing that the drive also gets sent to the PA through its DI. Well the signal ended up being so hot that distorted bass shot screaming loud out of the PA. I scared all the old folks, the soundman nearly had a heart attack, and the drummer throws his sticks down in frustration and says, "Way to ruin the set." I informed him that I didn't ruin the set...I merely ruined the end of the set. He wasn't any happier.

[agnikrock]

Never used a pedal.
I believe the bass offers plenty sounds and effects off the freatboard,body and pick ups.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by bikeplate

Well, thats my rant. Try some pedals, J. Im sure you can put together a small board with some good sounding boxes that hold up in a band setting

I hear ya, Rob, but I'm trying very hard not to let my pedalboard get out of control like the last one was, and if I use pedals, I'm afraid that'll happen again. 4 pedals will be 8 in 6 months with me. I fly a lot and if I want to use any effects on the road, they have to be small. And unlike most multis, I actually like almost all of the effects in this Zoom.

It's a clear case of operator failure. I'll get it all tweaked in time. Maybe I just shouldn't add so many new presets all at once. Just concentrate on improving the ones I have now and work new ones in one at a time.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by agnikrock

Never used a pedal.
I believe the bass offers plenty sounds and effects off the freatboard,body and pick ups.

Now that was obnoxious. Even after we asked you not to do it, you went and did it. Now you've ruined it for everyone. Thanks a lot, Mr. Perfect!

[Jared Lash]

Originally Posted by agnikrock

Never used a pedal.
I believe the bass offers plenty sounds and effects off the freatboard,body and pick ups.

I'll go one further than that. I think the bass is just a useless instrument in today's music. Why even have a bass when you can play all the bass parts with one hand on a keyboard?

See what you started Jimmy?

I don't have any really interesting stories to tell. Most are just cable or power failures where I had to go straight into my amp for the rest of the night which really isn't a big deal.

Two gigs ago I had an unfortunate incident. My current (though perhaps not for much longer) phaser is the Maxon PH-350. Great sounding unit, though a bit subtle on some settings because it has a buit-in 50/50 wet/dry mix. Anyway, if the feedback knob goes to either extreme it self oscillates. It must have gotten bumped in transit because as I'm getting ready to soundcheck I turn on my amp and this ear piercing "whooop, whooop, whooop" comes out. Not a good way to start the night.

[icarussmicarus]

I see it this way. The more gear you have onstage the more chances there are something can go wrong. Effects are no different to using multiple amps or differents basses or any other gear.

The more technology you have onstage, the bigger the chance that something could shizzle up. It just means spending more time practicing and getting used to stuff.

It took me ages to get remotely happy with just how my bass and amp sounded live as opposed to the bedroom. Adding effects is just another thing you have to get used to.

[Mr. voodoobass]

Oyeah, I´ve been down this path. Playing with two amps and a halfcircle of pedals infront of me because it´s so fun and i liked the sound. Then strippinng everything down to just bass-amp-cab and being even happier.
Right now I´m trying to scale everything down to a minimal again because I´m getting that anoying feeling of overdoing things again.
Taking it down from one fuzz and two od´s to just one od and then just keeping stagetuner, crybaby and tremolo.
But i do need some chorus on one or two songs...and some fuzz is great sometimes and how about that ringmodulator...Grrraaah

I can´t play without some distortion from time to time so that is a keeper, must say i admier bassplayers using just one or no pedals and being ever-happy.
Never been for me thoe.

[dannybuoy]

Jimmy, seems like you need to give up the B2, not effects in general!

I had one, and it sounded great at home, but was too fiddly to tweak live, and whilst the amp models were great, the distortions sucked and so did the compressor. Maybe you'd be better off with a few dedicated bare essential pedals.

[fightthepower]

Originally Posted by agnikrock

Never used a pedal.
I believe the bass offers plenty sounds and effects off the freatboard,body and pick ups.

Never used a (bass) guitar, but I'm with you on the body offering plenty of effects. I bypass the guitar completely and plug the 1/4incher directly into my @ss. I'm almost always performing with a dirty signal, and when I do get a clean one (with only a little hiss) it is way too hot (silent but deadly!). If I try play too fast... things can get muddy..

[René_Julien]

I can't see why we can't have a discussion about not using effects.

As long as the no-effects-users don't go bashing people that use effects.

It can bring some good insights from both parties.


It seems to me that the effect users (I am also an effect user) get to offensive about this issue.

And there are different classes of effect users: from people that just want some toneshapers to people that constant use insane noisemakers. And everything in between.


But whatever, who am I to tell how the people posting in this subforum should behave.


My worthless €.02 that I had the urge of throwing in here.

[atheos]

I did many fancy presets on my AX3000B and they all sounded crap when I played through my Hartke. So I had to reprogram them all. Lesson learned: never make live presets while plugged to anything but your own live rig. Now my effects are pure perfection

[gm jack]

I think you need to remember to set your effects preferably in a band setting, or so that you account for it being a band setting. Other than that, nothing wrong with effects if you use them at the correct time. That means, a lot of the time, they will just be sitting there.