A sad realization

[fishtx]

for live situations...the only true "effect" I really ever use is a chorus. I have a compressor thats on all the time as well, and a couple of other boxes on the board...but hardly ever use them.

 

[Swimming Bird]

I'm happy with my board. Every pedal gets used almost every song.

GR-20 >> Whammy IV >> BSW >> Bass Grunge >> PH-3 >> FAB Flange >> DD-6 >> RC-20xl

Then again, this is my downsized school board. At home I have a couple more things to throw in, but it still all gets used. Even the loop station.

I dunno, does it make you question whether or not you're an "effects player" if you're not in a situation where you don't get to use effects? It's all about the song, always, which I know you know and the songs you're playing now just aren't needing the synth bass and whatnot. If you want to use more effects, you have to be in a situation where other people in the band are using effects. So long as you aren't being put down or stiffled creatively by your band members, and you're having a good time with it, it's alright. You'll get back to the effects playing at some point.

 

[Mudfuzz]

It's kinda funny but I've gone through this whole subject a few times: had a "cool" board then started getting hired for blues gigs so I never used any of my pedals for two + years even for the stuff I normally used pedals for, pulled out my board again later and didn't like any of my sounds, ripped it apart, sold off some of the pedals, bought more pedals, put together a new board. This time though I'm actually happy with 80% of the new setup, I going to fiddle with my FX 25 a little more but it's looking like it'll get demoted to setup #2, it's just not cutting it in a band context so far. Anyway.... I keep ending up with boards with 8-10 pedals every time and more because of a need for the songs then just being a FX junky; my main band is pop-classic-rockish and a three piece so I use effects to fill out the sound a bit, it's fun. Then there is the whole doing your own thing, I've been doing avant-garde solo bass stuff since I started playing and I use FX a lot of the time for this. Boy..... am I rambling, sorry

 

[Sean S]

i'm glad i'm in 2 bands...both are equally open to pedal use, but one is more strict in terms of song arrangement and such (i.e. "You can use that pedal, but only at this point in the song") whereas the other band has given me the moniker "the sound scientist" and TELLS me to make weird (but cool) noises...

 

[Baryonyx]

When I'm playing live I only use a delay pedal and an overdrive/distortion unit...but I really need to pick up a chorus box!

 

[Joe P]

now just have a rack mount tuner and a Tech21 RBI preamp going into my GK 1001RB-II. I can switch between pure GK sound, a blended sound or pure RBI sound pretty quickly. So far this set up is giving me all the range of sounds that I need...

Don't those 'RBIIs sound great?! ..And that Gate Induced Valve Effect Distortion should just be considered a 'gold standard' of overdrive tone, huh?

I read that the GK Diesel Dawg (my pedal OD) is the same circuit as the distortion channel on their 2001 head. I love the 'Dawg, but I can't get the tone like from the 700RBII's G.I.V.E.-designed 'boost' OD!

Joe

 

[JanusZarate]

Don't those 'RBIIs sound great?! ..And that Gate Induced Valve Effect Distortion should just be considered a 'gold standard' of overdrive tone, huh?

+1

I'm looking forward to the Fusion 550... tube preamp plus a poweramp with G.I.V.E. ... that'll be interesting!

I read that the GK Diesel Dawg (my pedal OD) is the same circuit as the distortion channel on their 2001 head. I love the 'Dawg, but I can't get the tone like from the 700RBII's G.I.V.E.-designed 'boost' OD!

That's because the Boost feature isn't in the preamp - it's post-preamp, pre-poweramp. The distortion channel of the 2001RB is in the preamp section. It's a very different tone, that's for sure!

 

[MichaelPatrick]

WWBD? What Would Bootsy Do?

I'm guessing he'd get funky, like he always does and that's been my mentality for my ever growing pedal board. I play with a keyboardist and drummer and the keyboard player is constantly drifting off into effects land, so why not accompany him.

I love effects and songs I write on the bass are typically centered around a type of effect and what I can do with it, rather than just coloring my tone.

Besides with so many drum/bass combo groups out there, who needs the others?

 

[EricF]

I dunno, does it make you question whether or not you're an "effects player" if you're not in a situation where you don't get to use effects? It's all about the song, always, which I know you know and the songs you're playing now just aren't needing the synth bass and whatnot. If you want to use more effects, you have to be in a situation where other people in the band are using effects. So long as you aren't being put down or stiffled creatively by your band members, and you're having a good time with it, it's alright. You'll get back to the effects playing at some point.

I consider myself an "effects player" as far as that I believe that effects are absolutely valid tools for a bass player, and I definitely enjoy making weird noises while I'm playing solo. Justin Meldal-Johnson (as bass effects master if there ever was one) is one of my biggest current influences.

For the music I'm playing right now (indie rock), my guitar player is spending a fair amount of time playing with his noise-toys, and since we don't have a 2nd guitar to keep the music moving, I need to provide the foundation for the song. With the exception of OD and fuzz, I haven't found a place for other effects that help the song AND keep the drive going.

 

[anonymous_111514]

aha I've came to that conclusion a little while ago too! but I guess not completely because I keep my bassballs on hand (tehehe) for the ocassional insane sounding fill!

 

[Geddyfleaharris]

Don't those 'RBIIs sound great?! ..And that Gate Induced Valve Effect Distortion should just be considered a 'gold standard' of overdrive tone, huh?

2 thumbs up to the RBI's sounding great! I am not a tube lover trapped in a solid state body. I love the GK growl. But there is something wonderful about the Drive control on the RBI for sure. Plus the added versatility is very cool.

 

[Joe P]

...I'm looking forward to the Fusion 550... tube preamp plus a poweramp with G.I.V.E. ... that'll be interesting!

Ohh.. really? (I guess I haven't been keeping-up with GK)

I'm kind of dissapointed; I always thought that GK always made the point "you don't have to have tubes to get those great things tubes are known for".

So they're finally folding under the pressure, and throwing a valve in there, huh?

(sigh) Well I'm glad they're keeping the G.I.V.E. driver, though.

Joe

 

[JanusZarate]

Ohh.. really? (I guess I haven't been keeping-up with GK)

I'm kind of dissapointed; I always thought that GK always made the point "you don't have to have tubes to get those great things tubes are known for".

So they're finally folding under the pressure, and throwing a valve in there, huh?

(sigh) Well I'm glad they're keeping the G.I.V.E. driver, though.

Joe

Nevermind... it seems that there's no Boost knob on the Fusion 550!

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3749568&highlight=fusion#post3749568

They're using the basic GK poweramp, from what I've read, but it doesn't seem like they're carrying over the Boost circuit... there's no knob for it.

Hmm... that's making me skeptical of what to expect from it. Tombowlus liked it at clean and overdriven tones at NAMM when he tested and photographed it, but based on his collection of gear, he seems to like a lot of things.

 

[Nyarlathotep]

have I started something?

 

[KromaatiKlauun]

In my band part of our way of thinking that currently we have a lot(and I repeat A LOT) of machines, circuits, watchamacallits and whatevertheyares to get a lot of sound/noises; so why sound like 20, 50, 100 or 500 years ago?? So we try to get different sound textures to what would be plain good ol' punk rock

For the music I'm playing right now (indie rock), my guitar player is spending a fair amount of time playing with his noise-toys, and since we don't have a 2nd guitar to keep the music moving, I need to provide the foundation for the song. With the exception of OD and fuzz, I haven't found a place for other effects that help the song AND keep the drive going.

I almost got to the same conclusion, that's one of the things why I love OD/Dist/Fuzz so much!!!(I use a Blue Box, TZ-2, Big Muff and ODB-3) But I also use chorus, octave and reverb to have something different. And a little phaser here and there doesn't hurt.

And I'm getting a BD-2 and a DELAY!!!

 

[Willem]

Some what same here. I love effects and playing around with them. And sometimes I do find parts in songs where I could use a pedal. But I'm just a terrible pedal player... Half the time I forget kicking the pedal on, other half I miss the first note of the effected part because I'm so concentrated on putting the right pedal on right on time. Only upside of this: it proves I'm a real man, I can't do two things at a time .

 

[tombowlus]

Tombowlus liked it at clean and overdriven tones at NAMM when he tested and photographed it, but based on his collection of gear, he seems to like a lot of things.

That is a very valid point! And keep in mind, it was at NAMM, which is not the best listening environment. But, if I were to buy a GK head right now, it'd be the Fusion 550. For my preferences, it was the most compelling GK head I have tried.

I do like the idea of a head with an overdrive option, but most of the time, I either like the OD tone, but not the clean tone, or vice versa. The Fusion 550 and Aguilar AG500 are notable exceptions (again, just in relation to my preferences) - for solid state heads, I find more ability to do great clean AND OD with all tube heads, in general. I can get a better clean tone than either with other gear, and I can get a better OD tone than either with other gear, but again, for reasonably compact solid state heads, I think they both do pretty well in this dual role.

Tom.

 

[JanusZarate]

Tom, you've only posted... [runs a search]... 78 times in the Effects thread since 2003! You're pretty much never in here...

Do you search for people mentioning you?

 

[tombowlus]

Tom, you've only posted... [runs a search]... 78 times in the Effects thread since 2003! You're pretty much never in here...

Do you search for people mentioning you?

But of course! It seems, of late, this is more of how I post than by just cruising through and picking the interesting topics. See, they are all interesting, and I end up having much less time than I would like, so, search it is!

 

[JanusZarate]

2 thumbs up to the RBI's sounding great! I am not a tube lover trapped in a solid state body. I love the GK growl. But there is something wonderful about the Drive control on the RBI for sure. Plus the added versatility is very cool.

I just noticed this, but... Joe wasn't talking about the SansAmp RBI...

He was talking about the GK's RB-II heads.