In my punk band I have an always on fuzz pedal In normal situations I use preamps as always on pedals, but also occasionally will add an always on comp first in line to tailor the response of my bass to the rest of the board. EDIT: the punk board. They’re all always on.
i like the grit that it adds to the tone, and it helps sit in the mix really well. I use it with other basses as well just not necessarily always on.
My typical "always on" pedals: First spot in chain = Peterson Strobostomp HD Tuner Second spot in chain =Rothwell Love Squeeze (FET compressor) Mid spot in chain = SpaceMan Saturn VI Harmonic Booster (after Octron 3/Micro POG and before Sunray) Penultimate spot in chain = Shift Line Olympic MKIIIs (tube preamp) Last spot in chain = Sushi Box FX Deep Dish (tube compressor)
2nd in the chain, after tuner. Next is (in order); envelope, double dist, 'verb and a Lester G for a finisher. So, nothing other than the compressor to interfere either.. But A compressor does what it sounds like, it compresses the audio, right? So it kinda makes sense that pedals that react to the intensity and neuances of your playing will be affected by a more "tidy" signal, no? Or is it just me and every single envelope/distortion/fuzz/overdrive/compressor I've ever owned or tried?
HPF, and the wee Becos MiniQ ONE set to mild compression. The "always there" slight presence of dirt comes from either the SCR-DI or the PF50T.
On stage, my Barber Tone Press compressor is the only pedal I run and it is indeed always on, just like my shoes.
On this board the always on pedals are [sfx]microThumpinator2 (under board) ; Boss LS2 for loop switch and blend ; @Sushi Box FX Handwired Underground Accelerator clean-ish tube preamp; Zoom MS60B always on room reverb, also used for modulation, delay and reverb.
On the big board, and not in this order: Smoothie Compressor HPF One of these three: Sushi Box Particle Accelerator mini, Slampegg Bee, Broughton SV-PRE The mini board is essentially an always-on board. Has the above plus Way Huge Pork & Pickle.
My DSM Noisemaker OmniCab Sim is the final sauce in the chain and the only one that is "always" on. Tames the dry "DI box" tendencies of straight bass signals and makes any application sound more unified and pleasant.
Same for my B6 But in all seriousness, Zoom's ZNR noise reduction is really good, and I EQ out the extreme sub bass frequencies, in every preset just about.