Anyone playing bass clean with no effects?

[Stranger Danger]

What is a clean bass sound? If you're using any sort of an amp with EQ, is that EQ not an effect?

Cables, strings etc. It's all affecting the sound.

 

[bound'n'blocked]

If you mean chorus or flange or fuzz, then no, I dont use any effects. I do use a Sansamp BDDI pedal, for the drive and presence and EQ it provides.

BnB

 

[Fumble Fingers]

The only effect I feel I really need is an EQ pedal........and I only need it for a few seconds in 2 songs where I engage it to do a bit of slapping. That and sometimes a little compression to even things out.

 

[skwee]

Often without effects, but sometimes with.

 

[glocke1]

I stayed away from effects for years/decades, but when I got back into playing a lot more just around this time last year I decided to change that around and bought a bunch of effects over a 2-3 month period.

Aguilar Filter Twin
Iron Ether Nimbus
Pigtronix Echolution
EBS Valve Drive (had already owned this for many years)

Put together a board and power supply for all of these and started using them on gigs.

I really liked a dry bass signal, but it was fun having some of these effects at my disposal. Comments on some of them below.

Aguilar Filter Twin: never really found a good tone for this one to be honest, Im still playing with settings but this one might be going away.

Iron Ether Nimbus: To me adding a touch of reverb just opens up the sound of the bass a great deal, and gives it a nice "shimmery" sound.

Pigtronix Echolution: Honestly far too many options on this one, I found one delay setting that I like, and during some of the spacier sections of a set I'll use this. If I had a do over on this I'd get something far simpler to use.

EBS Valve Drive (had already owned this for many years): This by far got the most use. Adds a nice bit of overdrive on some songs...

Past few months I've left the effects at home and have been playing with a clean signal as I've frankly just been too lazy to bring them out.

 

[robthebassplaye]

Holy crap! Ever see how much they cost???

Yup, because I had to buy it !!! But, thats the only thing between my bass and my amp, in response to the OP.

 

[bigswifty1]

My signal chain:

 

[Creeper2]

I've played clean for 25 years and with then last couple years I've been playing with compression and added a fuzz and wah pedal to my rig. But I use the effects sparingly except for my compression. That's become a part of my clean sound now

 

[fingerguy]

I don't have time to fiddle with effects. Plug in and play.

 

[Clyde_Simpleton]

I've got a distortion pedal and chorus pedal that I fool around with at home but haven't used them live. Never had a need too

 

[Joshua Pickenpaugh]

Only recently started using a volume pedal; was tired of frequently replacing my volume pot.

I may use a phaser once in a blue moon.

 

[BergerHead]

Only recently started using a volume pedal; was tired of frequently replacing my volume pot.

I may use a phaser once in a blue moon.

So you'll frequently replace the pedal's poti then? (Poti: European slang; same as Alu, btw ...

 

[Joshua Pickenpaugh]

So you'll frequently replace the pedal's poti then? (Poti: European slang; same as Alu, btw ...

No. I've not had a problem with a volume pedal wearing out, like I had with the volume pot on my bass. I like to do volume swells to emulate a bowed bass, and that was always much more action than the poor volume pots ever were built, hence my move to using an actual volume pedal. Hope that answers your question!

 

[Thornton Davis]

No effects allowed (unless absolutely necessary) in my rig.

TD

 

[Badwater]

Not surprising to see most people play the bass clean. Nevertheless, there are times when FX can be used.

 

[etherealme]

I just love the sound of my bass with no effects at all. ( I haven't ever used them live but tried a couple in a shop and it wasn't that I didn't like the effect ( envelope filter ), I didn't like what they took out of my sound, whether on or off. But in reality I have no need for them.

I wonder if the desire to play clean through a clean bass rig is popular these days as most gigs I go to the bass player has one or more effects pedals in their board.

I don't have any axe to grind with anyone using effects, as where I've heard them being used they work bang on with the music.

I'll just add here that, one of the worst god-awful live bass tones I have heard in recent years was Tool's Justin Chancellor because it was so heavily processed and/or effects laden he didn't even sound like his instrument was plugged in. This was not a sound that didn't just sit in the mix poorly but one that couldn't even begin to be deciphered while no other musicians were playing. The kicker - it definitely wasn't the room or problems with FOH equipment as Primus had just left the stage after the most sweet sounding electric bass guitar tones anyone could ever dream up had flowed out of speakers into the crowd.

So, yeah. You can have a tens of thousands of dollars rig and screw it to hell up with gobs of poorly thought out effects pedals. Thinking to myself, "Just play the damn bass lines like you did when you got this gig in 1996, man...."

I have used less and less effects as I get older and am down to just a simple signal chain with a looper pedal and occasional delay peppered in.

 

[JimmyM]

I'll just add here that, one of the worst god-awful live bass tones I have heard in recent years was Tool's Justin Chancellor because it was so heavily processed and/or effects laden he didn't even sound like his instrument was plugged in. This was not a sound that didn't just sit in the mix poorly but one that couldn't even begin to be deciphered while no other musicians were playing. The kicker - it definitely wasn't the room or problems with FOH equipment as Primus had just left the stage after the most sweet sounding electric bass guitar tones anyone could ever dream up had flowed out of speakers into the crowd.

Les uses effects.

 

[SteveC]

I do have an OCSD to give a little "presence" to my IEM sound, but otherwise it's tuner to board.
When I use an amp it's just to the amp. I use a tuner out on my amp.

 

[etherealme]

Les uses effects.

True and maybe for the purposes of this thread I shouldn't have made the comparison but I wanted to clarify that there are good signal chains with tons of effects too. The bad way to do it can end up with some of the worst slop I have ever laid ears on and there I was with the opportunity to compare two heavily pedal boarded out chains with two very different results for the same audience. Les always has a good sound live. His single P bass pachyderm basses lately have just been gut wrenchingly heavy in the mid-lows.

 

[knuckleduster]

I don't even own a bass amp!

No, seriously. I play almost entirely plugged into either my laptop or my PS3 with Rocksmith.