Am I silly for not using any pedals?

[WI Short Scaler]

Just curious. Aside from my tuner pedal I use no 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.

I've been accused of being stubborn myself.

But my entire setup is bass to wireless to tuner pedal to amp....done deal. And maybe I should mention that I'm so OCD that I don't even leave my pedal on the floor. It sits on my amp alongside the wireless, no dirty footprints on it that way.

 

[brianrost]

Sorry, I'm late, I was making the popcorn and had to go to the store for some butter.

And where do you draw the line anyway? Amps have EQ sections... Is it ok to use the amp eq, but not an eq pedal? What about amp distortion or compression? Surely, if pedals are a crutch then so are amps, and we should all plug straight into the desk?

There was a period where there was no such thing as effects for electric guitars or basses. So, the line might be drawn there if one must draw one. Historically, there was no such thing as effects pedals prior to the 1960s.

There were some effects finding their way into guitar amps, tremelo and spring reverb. I've even seen vintage Gibson amps with a one knob compressor. Outboard reverbs (some with tremelo) started showing up in the late 1950s, but they were big AC powered boxes with tubes inside. Tape echoes with tubes also became available in that era. I don't know for sure what the first effect pedal was, but the Gibson/Maestro Fuzztone was probably the first in 1962. The wah came along shortly thereafter and then it was off to the races once EH started to invent pedals that made your amp ten times louder.

We're not in the 60s any more and people are free to use whatever they like for whatever reason they might have. Or not. Whether that's pedals, flats, tort, P, J, short scale, fanned frets, headless, tubes, class D, neodymium, alnico, ceramic, in-ears, analog, digital, active, passive, blah, blah...

 

[Grizelda100]

Silly? Nah. Do what you like.

I love using pedals (on bass) but they can take up too much of your attention. I only bust them out on the weekends so that they don't interfere with my regular practice schedule.
Also I see it as a skill to have. Not a bad idea to learn how to get different sounds and tones for different needs.

 

[NoiseNinja]

There's a parallel in the photographic community which kind of fits this scenario.
There are those that need the widest-range zoom lens one can buy; say a 17mm-300mm (example). Then there are those who argue it's best to buy a nice 35mm or a 50mm and learn to be a photographer by concentrating on your composition skills.

Yes, and generally people should start out buying their shoes 2 sizes too small and learn how to walk properly in those before they up it a nudge buying a pair just 1 size too small, then only after having walked at very least a 1000 miles in those and having mastered the art of walking in too small shoes completely should they dare taking the ultimate final leap it would be buying a pair of shoes that actually fit them.

Why?, you might ask...

Well, don't you get nosy on me young man, you do realize that you are talking to the wisest man in the whole wide world and that I possess the gift of the ultimate only absolute one truth about the universe, existence and everything as such, so how about you show a little gratitude when I generously bother to lower myself to share a glimpse of it with you.

 

[retslock]

Who wrote the rules? Did I miss something?

 

[bumperbass]

Who wrote the rules? Did I miss something?

Apparently you're not the only one!

 

[fhm555]

The more components in your signal chain the more complicated it becomes. It also increases the odds of random failures. I pretty much live by the KISS principle so i use a stomp box tuner because it does two things for me, helps me stay in tune quickly and serves as a standby switch. I’ve got standby on my amp but it’s better and easier to just do a quick toe tap rather than turn and hunt for a toggle switch.

 

[cnltb]

I like that. Besides. Most players don't.....

Yes, a 'no pedal' default' sounds sensible to me and one can always add things as needed or desired.

 

[vivaknoxvegas]

Yes.

 

[bumperbass]

Yes, and generally people should start out buying their shoes 2 sizes too small and learn how to walk properly in those before they up it a nudge buying a pair just 1 size too small, then only after having walked at very least a 1000 miles in those and having mastered the art of walking in too small shoes completely should they dare taking the ultimate final leap it would be buying a pair of shoes that actually fit them.

Why?, you might ask...

Well, don't you get nosy on me young man, you do realize that you are talking to the wisest man in the whole wide world and that I possess the gift of the ultimate only absolute one truth about the universe, existence and everything as such, so how about you show a little gratitude when I generously bother to lower myself to share a glimpse of it with you.

Uh, I'm really not sure, your majesty, whether you're kicking me in the head or patting me on the back.

 

[vvvmmm]

I knew I had a problem when my bass pedal collection began to catch up to my guitar pedal collection ...

 

[impulsv]

I wish I was less obsessed with pedals. I've trimmed down from a PedalTrain Classic Jr to a Voodoo Dingbat Small, so I'm making progress.

 

[Johnny Fingers]

I put an empty match box on the stage and stomp on it.

 

[cosmicevan]

Pedals are a lot of fun. It’s great to be able to control your sounds in all sorts of ways, I highly recommend them!

 

[Fuzzbass]

Who wrote the rules? Did I miss something?

It's adorable when someone insists that their personal rules should apply to everyone else.

 

[DTRN]

If you want to use a pedal for something, use it
If you don't want to use a pedal, don't use any

This didn't need to be a thread <shrug>

I was bored. Sorry.

 

[DTRN]

All you need is HPF. HPF is all you need.

I never knew the benefits of HPF until I got the TT800. I like it well!

 

[DTRN]

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.

I knew I had a problem when my bass pedal collection began to catch up to my guitar pedal collection ...

Exactly where I don't want to go.

 

[DTRN]

This is more of an identity crisis than a real question. What is the bass sound you're trying to achieve?

My own "clean" tone usually has significant amount of drive and I also like massive walls of fuzz tones as well. I would be silly if I didn't utilize pedals to better replicate that sound/tonality I hear in my head. Saying the "traditional role of the bass" is like saying the "traditional role of the left hand" when playing piano. Seems rather limiting but I understand it's contextual application.

Golly, I never thought of it as an "identity crisis" but you may be right. I'm thinking I'm gonna stay pedal free until I know if and what pedal I should incorporate into my sound.

 

[Tigerpig]

I fixed that for you :





Your personal preferences and opinions are in fact not universal absolute truths, so please be careful about pretending that they are and acting as if they were.

Do what though will.

This also means don't try to prevent others from doing so as well, which again implicates not at the expense of other people.

Follow your passion!

Live and let die!

Live and let live!

And do it out of love, out of will, the will of love, the love of will...

E.t.c...

E.t.c...

Just do it!

But whatever it is don't let Nike dictate how to do it...

Do the do thing - whatever you must.

'Fixes it for me' then goes on a rant about allowing people their opinions...