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4 to 5 must have effects pedals?

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PunchLine17

May 22, 2009
63
0
Ottawa, Canada
#1
Well I recently purchased an EHX Bass Big Muff PI and I absolutely love it! I also picked up a Danelectro Fab Chorus....for $20 (in Canada of course) it is very cheap, and I have to say it sounds amazing. A real smooth lush sound. Now I'm looking to pick up 2 or 3 other pedals, but I'm not sure what I should get or what I need. I play in a 3 piece indie band and I'm looking to cut through the mix while retaining a clean and clear tone. Any recommendations? Is an Octave pedal worth looking at? Recommendations please! :P

Cheers,
 
#4
jetofuj said:
If you don't know what you need, then you don't need it ;)
Click to expand...

+1

ALL that matters is what serves the music best - it could be a giant array of pedals, or it could be just a cord from your bass to your amp.

Personally, I've used fuzz, overdrive, synth, octave, chorus, and compressor effects at one time or another for the bands I was in. I've also done gigs with exactly zero of the above.

Let the music be your guide.

That said, if you just want to experiment and see what kind of cool tones you can make with your bass, then there is NO limit. Maybe you'll find something that works with your band's music, or inspires something totally new.
 
#5
Octave pedals are cool...but for me I'm very picky about them. There are a lot out there that just sound like garbage and don't track well at all. The POG is decent...but still sounds a little too fake to me. Maybe the POG 2 is better? I like a real authentic octave sound.

Right now my favorite pedal combo is syth and fuzz. Sounds killer!
 
#8
You need it when you'll incur negative consequences for not having it, no?

I personally don't need any.
No such thing as "must have" pedals.
If you don't even know what to get...relax, save some money and buy when you see something you want.
 
#10
I like to have octave, synth, envelope filter, distortion, and modulation. The most compact way for me is Digitech Bass Synth Wah (covers octave/synth/filter), Boss BF-2 Flanger, MXR Phase 90 EVH, and SansAmp Para Driver DI.

I have a bunch of pedals I can add to these but it often just complicates things and adds noise. IME these FX sound great together and don't suck tone. I keep wanting to get a pedal tuner or delay but haven't yet.
 
#12
for my main band, the "must haves" are wah, digitech whammy, and messdrive. i use them all together for a +2 octave guitar sim. for solos.

i doubt thats a must have for anyone else on TB.

the other pedals i bring to gigs are always changing, but 90% of the time my brown dog and DOD FX25 are there.
 
#15
My suggestion is to buy a multi effects pedal with a bunch of options on it so you can experiment with different sounds and figure out what you want, then go out and get the individual pedals that are specifically designed for the effects you like.
 
#20
I think this is a really nice thread and everyone saying somethin different is a true testiment to us bassists being more individual than we are expected!

=D

But id say at an absoulte minimum i need overdrive fuzz trem and a manual wah or id go nuts.

but thats coming from a band with a "background" guitarist.. so ,you know everyones different.. theres every single genre reprezented on talkbass, =D

you will DEFINATLY know it in your bones when somethings missing!


Oh and the Dano chorus's are mint! i tried my mates in his shop the cool cat you know the big old skool one, (why cant they NOT reuse names!) and the lil milkshake one. both can get real deep i mean 80's soul chorus bass!
 

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