Am I silly for not using any pedals?

[Kipp Harrington]

Just curious. Aside from my tuner pedal I use no pedals. I play the 6 string as well and was once a pedal junky. I divorced myself of the pedals and learned to play a Telecaster straight up into a clean amp (Fender blackface). It was a huge learning opportunity and became more accurate by using only the volume and tone controls on the guitar and all that's available on the amp. I was actually quite surprised on what I was missing, both in my technique (or lack there of) and available tones with just my guitar and amp alone. So naturally moving on to playing bass I found no need for pedals. Am I right or just stubborn. Is there some pedals I should look into? Incidentally, my favorite pedal for guitar was a compressor of all things.

Only if you're not using a HPF (assuming you will be playing live or jamming with people).

 

[SLPimp]

Just curious. Aside from my tuner pedal I use no pedals. I play the 6 string as well and was once a pedal junky. I divorced myself of the pedals and learned to play a Telecaster straight up into a clean amp (Fender blackface). It was a huge learning opportunity and became more accurate by using only the volume and tone controls on the guitar and all that's available on the amp. I was actually quite surprised on what I was missing, both in my technique (or lack there of) and available tones with just my guitar and amp alone. So naturally moving on to playing bass I found no need for pedals. Am I right or just stubborn. Is there some pedals I should look into? Incidentally, my favorite pedal for guitar was a compressor of all things.

Nope. I only use pedals on long gigs, or when I'm being paid well.

 

[neddyrow]

who says you can't do both?

most of my gigs, i can plug in to my amp and play with no effects and be happy.

sometimes we play weird private parties and get into some spacey jams late night. Those gigs, i bring the pedals.

 

[oldskoolskatedad]

Indeed. I have always like tube amps over SS that is until I got the Mesa TT800. Kind of the reason I ditched the pedals with guitar. It forced me to understand what my amp could do all by it's lonesome. As I said, I ditched the humbuckers (compressed) for singles on the Tele (clean and twangy) and blackface amps (headroom galore). I'm just now understanding pups on basses. My tools of destruction are a Fender PJ and Fender SB300. But man, does the TT800 sounds fantabulous.

With an SB300 you already have what a great many pedals are striving for, a footswitchable clean tube channel (vintage) & a dirt tube channel (active) so unless one would like a specialty pedal the SB300 is perfect by itself for many peoples tonal desires.

 

[LuckyScott]

I don't use any pedals at all. I run a GK fusion amp with a tube preamp and class D power amp. It sounds great and has a wonderful warm round tube tone. I feel that tone fits everything I do.
I can roll a little more treble in if I need it, or add some bass if the room is harsh and sterile, but it fits fine in every situation. It cuts thru the mix, provides lots of bottom, and makes me smile.
Granted, I play Rock so don't need a lot of different sounds.

 

[sotua]

Just curious. Aside from my tuner pedal I use no pedals. I play the 6 string as well and was once a pedal junky. I divorced myself of the pedals and learned to play a Telecaster straight up into a clean amp (Fender blackface). It was a huge learning opportunity and became more accurate by using only the volume and tone controls on the guitar and all that's available on the amp. I was actually quite surprised on what I was missing, both in my technique (or lack there of) and available tones with just my guitar and amp alone. So naturally moving on to playing bass I found no need for pedals. Am I right or just stubborn. Is there some pedals I should look into? Incidentally, my favorite pedal for guitar was a compressor of all things.

Do you sound the way you like? If yes, then no need for pedals. I've been pedal-less for over twenty years (except for the occasional tuner pedal, but I mostly used a tuner into the amp tuner out, so I've been a 1-cable man for most of my bass playing career).

For guitar, well, that's something completely different

 

[furym]

Church setting, the only control I have over my tone is through pedals on a silent stage. I prefer the sound of my bass straight into an amp but that’s not an option, so I explore tonal possibilities through pedals.

 

[bass12]

Does the compressor have to be bass specific or will a guitar compressor work? I have plenty. The Yellow Squash "Iron Fist" being my fav.

If there’s any pedal you don’t need it’s a compressor. You might want a compressor, but that’s an entirely different thing.

 

[Freight Train]

Your experience petty much mirrors mine. It all started when I realized the more pedals I added, the more displeased with my sound I became. Then in a fit of frustration during a gig I ripped my cord out of the pedalboard, plugged it straight into the amp and... well what do you know? There was the sound I'd been missing. Since then I've gone to low power tube amps and flat wound strings for gigging and I've been in tone heaven. The only 'effect' I use is distortion/overdrive, which my Bassman 100T has a switchable channel dedicated for that, and a tuner, which the 100T has a tuner output. So with that rig I can go straight-wire in with no crap between bass and amp. When I use my Ampeg PF-50T rig I have been using a distortion pedal for a handful of songs, but I'm more and more learning how to 'play' the amp for distortion so I feel like I'll eventually be able to nuke the pedal. I've built a cable to use the balanced DI on the Ampeg for the tuner which works great as I always use the power xformer balanced output for FOH. Nothing beats the sound of a good bass plugged directly into a good amp.
Not dissing anyone who loves and thrives on pedals. No prob with that. Just my own personal preference.

 

[dave64o]

Nope, not silly at all. Effects pedals are just tools. If you don't need the tool for what you're playing and/or don't feel any interest in trying them to see what you can do with them, then there's no reason to use them.

Lots of great players use them and lots of great players don't. No reason us mere mortals can't decide to use or not use them as we see fit, either.

FWIW, I've never played with effects pedals outside of my basement and did just fine without them. But since I had lots of them sitting in my practice area and have no rehearsals or gigs because of the pandemic, I used our time off to put a pedalboard together. Since I did that, I'm looking forward to taking it out and seeing if it adds some spice. If it doesn't work, I'm fine continuing without it.

 

[Space Pickle]

very silly

i recommend you get all the pedals immediately

 

[nonohmic]

I've dabbled. Realized all I want is some kind of preamp to shape the tone, and some mild dirt. If I need something in the future I'll buy it as I need it.

Done with multi FX and fiddling.

 

[juancaminos]

You will get many different opinions. IMHO the answer is NO. I stopped using pedals long, long ago. I am after a more organic piano like tone and getting restless when I can't find it.

 

[bassdude51]

I know that "The Edge" of U2 is not a bassist but I saw the doc called, It Might Get Loud and The Edge actually makes fun of himself and his ridiculous collection of pedals that he tours with. He even admits that he doesn't even know what some of them do and that some pedals are only used one time for one song for a 2 hour show.

For a bassist, maybe a few pedals (not me) but not too many. Can be like a snack table with 50 different snacks to choose from.

YMMV. To each his own.

 

[vvvmmm]

I only intend to be supportive when I say, it's not the only reason.

 

[Ostie]

I don’t use any pedals. Back in the eighties when I started on bass, I used a comp and a chorus. That was a thing back then. I’ve been playing acoustic music for the last ten+ years. I also play mandolin and acoustic guitar. When I choose a mandolin, mandola, guitar, or baritone guitar, I choose it based solely on how it sounds unplugged, purely acoustic. Because if it doesn’t sound good that way, it’s never going to sound good, and plugging it into all the pedals or big amps in the world ain’t gonna make it better. It’s similar with a bass. If it doesn’t sound good to me without a pedal or effects on an amp, it ain’t going to get any better with. I either get that sound with the wood and the wire and the fingers, or I find another one. The amp is only there to increase the volume of the intrinsic sound of the bass.

I realize others play different kinds of music, and that’s fine, I’m not judging, I’m only relating what works for me.

 

[Laurent]

James Jamerson, Carol Kaye or Donald Duck Dunn did not use pedals yet their musical legacy is immense.

 

[lermgalieu]

It's music. No one is right or wrong as far as decisions on what to use or not use. I use pedals for Rock, but I could get by without them just fine. Mainly just dirt and compression. Fancier effects never last on my pedalboard.

 

[lermgalieu]

James Jamerson, Carol Kaye or Donald Duck Dunn did not use pedals yet their musical legacy is immense.

And they played styles of music that as a rule didn't have effected bass so.....

 

[Horseflesh]

... but if someone just loaded a random dish with all the random spices he could possibly get hands of without any consideration for how they harmonized with each other and the actual dish he was cooking it would be bound to end up tasting awful.

Oh, you've apparently listened to me playing with my Helix.