'Practical Pedals' Lovers.

anthowl · #1 05-25-2009, 09:35 AM

anybody out there with a penchant for practical pedals?
i'm the kind that arent realy special effects, like mild overdrives, compressors, eq pedals, etc.

i myself am a huge compressor fan and cant see the point of a lot of effects like delays for bass.

anybody in the same boat?

smo · #2 05-25-2009, 09:45 AM

By practical you mean live show/gig worthy right?

If so - then the Sansamp is hard to beat. And tuner.

Spacelordmother · #3 05-25-2009, 09:54 AM

"practical" is HUGELY subjective.

Are you playing 4/4 roots rock?

Are you in a Industrial-Glam-Dance band?

I think you should get a FreqBox.

Happynoj · #4 05-25-2009, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spacelordmother

Are you in a Industrial Glam Dance band?

I wish!

anthowl · #5 05-25-2009, 09:55 AM

anything gig worthy/required/vastly transparent or that just helps in a moderate way,
so yeah, tuners and noise gates and the like

i know it's subjective, but this is about what you find is an essential for all kinds of music.
nothing that colours your sound too much.

warwick.hoy · #6 05-25-2009, 10:13 AM

I appreciate pedals that help tighten up my tone. I think they are referred to as "utility" pedals. I would like a more musical sounding compressor over the LMB-3.

One such pedal that I love is the Electronix Submarine. I've seen people exclaim that its "just a volume and tone knob". For me; it's an extra tool that gives me the ability to use more of my settings across the board...from the preamp on my bass to the preamp on my amp. With this guy on I seriously can not find a setting that doesn't sound good.

I'm beginning to find that some of those types of effects are better in rackmount versions (tuners, noise gates, maximizers), because as pedals...they are just taking up real estate on your pedalboard. This will only become an issue for me as I acquire more FX.

Valerus · #7 05-25-2009, 11:12 AM

Warwick, my Cream Pie basically does the job of your Submarine.
I don't use it as a 'boost' but rather as an enhancer.

That and my tuner...those are my two essentials.

warwick.hoy · #8 05-25-2009, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valerus

Warwick, my Cream Pie basically does the job of your Submarine.
I don't use it as a 'boost' but rather as an enhancer.

That and my tuner...those are my two essentials.

Oh Cool...I didn't really jump on the Cream Pie deal...it was slightly before my full fledged FX time that they discontinued it.

I watched the grygrx review and see what you mean. Way to get some multitasking out of one pedal!!!

FWIW I keep my Sub around unity gain (the right term?)..but it is my go to volume knob when I need to turn it up followed by the master volume on my bass amp.

Valerus · #9 05-25-2009, 11:41 AM

I see. With the CP, I leave enough headroom on my amp volume in case I want to turn up the CP volume. But then it's slight overdrive nature comes out. Pretty cool though

RCCollins · #10 05-25-2009, 11:45 AM

Not a huge compression freak but I definitely prefer compact, utilitarian effects.

bigchiefbc · #11 05-25-2009, 11:48 AM

My "utility" pedals are a Submarine and an LMB-3, and I love them both. The submarine I keep the tone at about 1:30, and it brightens up my highs nicely; really makes my bass sing. The LMB-3 is always set to max ratio, and it keeps the door slammed shut on any of my other effects boosting volume, and it doesn't mess with my tone otherwise.

I also have a BDI-21 that I keep in my gig bag just in case I need a DI.

As for practical, I would also include my electric mistress in there, since I use it on almost every song.

Stickk · #12 05-25-2009, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spacelordmother

"practical" is HUGELY subjective.

Are you playing 4/4 roots rock?

Are you in a Industrial-Glam-Dance band?

I think you should get a FreqBox.

Mudfuzz · #13 05-25-2009, 12:03 PM

I'm not sure if I would say compression is always practical depending on the situation. I use to have my comp on all the time when I was using a SVT CL but when I switch to a Mesa 400+ I found that I didn't need compression to get a more focused sound and now use it as a effect.

One practical type of pedal I love are loopers: true bypass loops and blendable bypass loops. They can really help organize your setup in a sensical fashion and or let use use pedals that arn't very practical in a way that can be use in a practical way.

warwick.hoy · #14 05-25-2009, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigchiefbc

My "utility" pedals are a Submarine and an LMB-3, and I love them both. The submarine I keep the tone at about 1:30, and it brightens up my highs nicely; really makes my bass sing. The LMB-3 is always set to max ratio, and it keeps the door slammed shut on any of my other effects boosting volume, and it doesn't mess with my tone otherwise.

I also have a BDI-21 that I keep in my gig bag just in case I need a DI.

As for practical, I would also include my electric mistress in there, since I use it on almost every song.

That Sounds like the top end of my board....the signal chain starts at the bottom with the LMB-3 second to last and the Sub last, there is a TU-2 between the utility pedals and the "actual" effects (the bottom of my board).

I love the Sub...it is my must have. It really does help brighten things up across the board and I mean my FX as well....I love how I can get a little use out of the Enhance knob on the LMB-3 which otherwise is usually a Suck Knob....(no innuendo intended

).

Valerus...what kind of amp are you using. I use SS and like it to be as clean as possible so the gain stays really really low and the master up a bit...I like to keep the volume on my bass in check being mindful of the signal going into the LMB-3. This also is why I go to the Sub for gain adjustments since it is after Limiter.

XephonXIII · #15 05-25-2009, 12:12 PM

The only "pedal" I actually own is a SansAmp Bass Driver, and it's one of the most useful pedals ever.

I'd say that anything with some tone settings, an on/off stomp switch, and a solid XLR out deserves to be called practical.

TheRockinRoadie · #16 05-25-2009, 12:27 PM

Im concidering this debate myself at the moment,

do i want a pedalboard i can give with regularly and use to its full potential?

or do i want a pedalboard for jamming and for pure messing around?

I think im going to find a healthy blend of both

burno70 · #17 05-25-2009, 12:30 PM

Boss LS-2, definately the most practical pedal I ever bought.

RickenBoogie · #18 05-25-2009, 04:59 PM

I might qualify, somewhat. I'm using 2 boards, and one is my utility board. Tuner, compressor, equalizer, clean boost, overdrive, noise reduction, and a preamp/DI. This board goes a gigging with me. But, otoh, I have a much larger board full of filters, phasers, delay, chorus, more overdrive, fuzz, more filters, and a tuner. Atm, this one stays home, but I'm working on a project that just might eventually also gig, so naturally, I'd bring both.

newbold · #19 05-25-2009, 05:06 PM

EQ is the most useful pedal I don't have.
I find that envelope followers are very useful. Most people have no idea what that sound is while grit, phase, and delay are defintely effect sounds.

anthowl · #20 05-25-2009, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickenBoogie

I might qualify, somewhat. I'm using 2 boards, and one is my utility board. Tuner, compressor, equalizer, clean boost, overdrive, noise reduction, and a preamp/DI. This board goes a gigging with me. But, otoh, I have a much larger board full of filters, phasers, delay, chorus, more overdrive, fuzz, more filters, and a tuner. Atm, this one stays home, but I'm working on a project that just might eventually also gig, so naturally, I'd bring both.

see that first board is exactly what i'm talking about. call it utility if you like.
i have two compressors and two overdrives on my board, one of each is suposed to be a guitar pedal but i like the sound of it for bass, which combined with my 'bass or guitar' functional wah (impractical effect) makes the board work for both instruments...

but mostly bass

plus theres a DI and a noise gate