That's one thing that has improved hugely: Lightweight amps and cabs. Really no advantage, IMO to hauling heavy tube amps and cabs around. If I was still playing out, I'd get a Meas D800 and (2) 1x12 cabs. Done.
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Anybody else feel a bit overwhelmed?
- Thread starter ClaytonCroft
- Start date
Yep. Lightweight has been a massive quality of life improvement for my 2-3 nights weekly gigging.
Even for home woodshedding, I have a stationary PA speaker and powered mixer behind the curtain at head level in my office I use for playing source material with an XLR cable run behind furniture to plug in my 4-lb Aggie TH 500 head's line-out set to post-EQ. No having to position and plug in bass speakers, which can be left staged and ready to go out the door.
"sparingly" is a good word to describe effects use. Even when I had a raft of pedals, it was in my mind that my playing shouldn't depend on them -- which came in handy for the gig where they wouldn't work at all.*
I've excerpted my own previous posting above to amend the final line:
what a compressor does for you, might be accomplished with PRACTICE alone.
-- however, I see in other people's postings that compressors are desired for coloring tone, which I have never experienced. So -- as usual with any question put to the internet -- YMMV. Which is to say: you now have a dozen answers, and you'll still have to find out for yourself. But at least you now have some idea what other people found.
* it was weird: everything powered up fine, but if I stepped on any one pedal, the entire chain would light up a few seconds (freezing out any sound signal), and then all go dead: no signal or sound. The only cure was to disconnect power, then reconnect -- which totally worked, but the same group-light-and-die happened if any pedal were attempted. It was an outdoor park and we were on concrete, so my guess is some grounding issue, but with the above issue I simply plugged straight into the amp and got through the gig.
Back in the '80s used a small pedal board in an originals band with a compressor, chorus, flanger, and distortion. One by one just started throwing them out - starting with the compressor. I don't even like compression in the studio, but engineers seem to always insist - I really don't feel my touch is all that out of whack when I hear raw tracks.
Borrowed a Q-Tron from a guitar buddy and that's pretty fun, but it's a pretty passe sound to my ears.
One thing I've noticed these days is everybody brings a pedal board = guitar and bass players. Even for multi player gigs like tributes and get togethers with old band parties, a lot of time is taken while guys hook up and dial in their boards. Doesn't bother me as I'm never BL and no one is paying attention to me ('til I start playin'
), but there is substantial down time.
Also when playing with younger guys they always ask "where's your effects?" Makes me feel a little ancient, but hell, I AM a lil' ancient!! Just answer what is it in particular you wish to hear?
Thanks for letting me share! ROCK ON!!
[edit] ps> always enjoy Adam Neely's jaunts through his effects board!
Borrowed a Q-Tron from a guitar buddy and that's pretty fun, but it's a pretty passe sound to my ears.
One thing I've noticed these days is everybody brings a pedal board = guitar and bass players. Even for multi player gigs like tributes and get togethers with old band parties, a lot of time is taken while guys hook up and dial in their boards. Doesn't bother me as I'm never BL and no one is paying attention to me ('til I start playin'
), but there is substantial down time.Also when playing with younger guys they always ask "where's your effects?" Makes me feel a little ancient, but hell, I AM a lil' ancient!! Just answer what is it in particular you wish to hear?
Thanks for letting me share! ROCK ON!!
[edit] ps> always enjoy Adam Neely's jaunts through his effects board!
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It's also easy to get caught up in over researching gear where you're chaisng minute differences.
Say you want to try a fuzz pedal. You could buy whichever one is at your local shop and immediately start playing around with it, but it's so addicting to instead spend too many hours watching videos and reading reviews. Maybe the one you settle on is really great, but were the hours spent making that decision worth it versus picking one at random?
I had rehearsal last night and brought my Tech 21 Bass Fly Rig v2. I use compression always on and the Sansamp section for EQ with some occasional chorus and fuzz. And as I was fiddling around trying to get a good tone, I was thinking how simple it was when I just plugged right into the amp and eq'ed from there.
2 hours from now: BFR plugged into front-end of a BBE BMax. Sometimes I just bypass the BFR and use the BBE's EQ, comp, and SONIC MAXIMIZER (...embellished to piss-off the nay-sayers).
Depends on the mood of the day.
Riis
Others have touched on it, but my advice is to stick to what's tried and true.
YouTubers need to sell new products as the greatest thing otherwise manufacturers won't send them anymore gear to "review."
Regular folks need to justify spending over $1k on the Darkglass Anagram, so of course it's the best thing since the HX Stomp.
The way Broughton, 3 Leaf and others release new pedals, whether intentional or not, generates FOMO. I've had nothing but issues with 3 Leaf, and I was never really all that impressed with Broughton, except for the Subsonic.
Take a break. Invalid Link Removed.
YouTubers need to sell new products as the greatest thing otherwise manufacturers won't send them anymore gear to "review."
Regular folks need to justify spending over $1k on the Darkglass Anagram, so of course it's the best thing since the HX Stomp.
The way Broughton, 3 Leaf and others release new pedals, whether intentional or not, generates FOMO. I've had nothing but issues with 3 Leaf, and I was never really all that impressed with Broughton, except for the Subsonic.
Take a break. Invalid Link Removed.
I totally hear you and I would suggest that most of us here (myself included) get gear obsessed on Talkbass. It's contagious.
I just read a thread on an old Dod Bi FET preamp pedal that I absolutely do not need, but now I'm curious about it and want to try it.
That said, one of my favorite saying that I read on Talkbass is, "Less EBay, more Mel Bay."
If you have a decent bass with a good setup and decent strings and a decent way to amplify your signal, that's probably all you really need to play for a long time.
IThe key for me has been to try different brands of gear and listen with your ears rather than your eyes and choose the gear that sounds good to you.
We played last night and I had some post show thoughts about this thread.
It doesn't matter what "the SansAmp sound" or "the Darkglass sound" are. You don't need every effect in the known universe. If you don't think you need something, then stop wasting time on it. I think that's the biggest thing about gear forums. It's easy to get caught up in minutia and forget what's important, using what works for you.
I've been obsessing over getting the sound of my amp when I'm using a backlined amp. I play a Mesa D350 and I spent hours convincing myself that my Para Driver wasn't good enough and I needed to find a Mesa Subway DI. I have searches saved on Reverb and I'm following listings for price drops. And we get to the gig and I dial in the Para Driver and I got my sound. There's a reason people say "less gear forums, more playing". If only we actually listened to that advice.
It doesn't matter what "the SansAmp sound" or "the Darkglass sound" are. You don't need every effect in the known universe. If you don't think you need something, then stop wasting time on it. I think that's the biggest thing about gear forums. It's easy to get caught up in minutia and forget what's important, using what works for you.
I've been obsessing over getting the sound of my amp when I'm using a backlined amp. I play a Mesa D350 and I spent hours convincing myself that my Para Driver wasn't good enough and I needed to find a Mesa Subway DI. I have searches saved on Reverb and I'm following listings for price drops. And we get to the gig and I dial in the Para Driver and I got my sound. There's a reason people say "less gear forums, more playing". If only we actually listened to that advice.
I discovered pedals about 5 years ago and since then ive owned a fair lot. Was in a similar boat where I didn't really know enough and there's so much to choose from.
I thoroughly loved trying it out though and experimenting with stuff, learned a lot about what I did and didn't like. If you're happy with where you're at or dont really get pleasure out of trying new stuff, dont feel you have to!
I thoroughly loved trying it out though and experimenting with stuff, learned a lot about what I did and didn't like. If you're happy with where you're at or dont really get pleasure out of trying new stuff, dont feel you have to!
well, some people cannot differentiate a 500hz tone from a 1khz, and those people are the one who write reviews and give their 'opinion' about pedals on forums.
The one thing we don't hear enough. Your bass effects sound completely different when playing with a band then when practicing alone at home.
You must take the time during rehearsal to dial in the sound you want.
You must take the time during rehearsal to dial in the sound you want.
This is very true! And I think that is why I got a little discouraged with the Bass Fly rig during band rehearsal. It sounds great at home and for recording but at rehearsal I had a difficult time dialing in what I wanted.
Yeh its best to be thorough in your search without driving yaself crazy...I dont use pedals, but if i were i'd pick the top 3 or 5 based on reviews and go from there.
Jazzdogg
Less barking, more wagging!
For me, the primary goal has always been for my band mates to hear me clearly when playing double bass. When using amplification to pursue that goal, the quest has been MBOL, the native sound of my double bass, only louder.
When auditioning loudspeakers for my home stereo, I have typically used live recordings of acoustic jazz because that's my wheelhouse; I have no basis for meaningful comparison when listening to distorted guitars or electronic music.
I suspect that many on TB may be attempting to achieve sounds that may exist only on recordings or in their imaginations. That's perfectly OK, but can make discourse difficult.
