Anyone playing bass clean with no effects?

[Kevin Lynch]

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.

Most of the time I play clean, with no effects. The only exception to that is if I'm either playing some Funk, then I'll use a little Phaser or Envelope Filter, or when I'm playing some of Mark King's 80's bass lines where I'll use a good amount of Chorus.
I have a TC Electronic rig and one of the things that I love the most about it is that there's nothing baked in to color the tone of my bass. So playing my basses clean through it is an absolute pleasure.

 

[bobba66]

I had a Cry Baby wah back around 1980. With my hollow body Teisco cranked to 11 it was awesome.

 

[RNG1]

I used to only have an octave divider that I'd use for about 30 seconds a night. Basically if there was a bass solo breakdown, you hit that for the climax of the solo and it worked like an applause button. Lately I don't even bring that out although it's always in my gig bag.

 

[lat]

I play with no effect, unless of course the song requires it... 99% of my songs are played 'clean'.

 

[lfmn16]

I don't use them myself, but the judgmental attitudes of some of the pedal haters really gets old. If you need them to create the sound you want, then you need them. I don't know how some people have the gall to decide what other people need.

 

[Chris Szatny]

I have tried various FX pedals in the past but none in the past 15 years or so. All of my tone comes from my instrument, strings, style, amp EQ, etc. No pedals at all. Pure Lakland to Ampeg signal and it's pure heaven.

 

[bassdude51]

Only clean and natural. Hell, I prefer to hear the electric guitar the same way (Fender Tele or Strat full twang).

 

[dramatwist]

...lately, I've been going into the PA with a Radial Pro DI... no amp to lug around...

 

[Brad Johnson]

Technically, while I DON'T play without effects, I feel that a good compressor is a must for every player- Hey, if it's gonna be compressed (or at least, limited) in the studio, then WHY does everyone get bent out of shape for a live rig?

The root of my tone starts with the bass through a Keeley Bassist . I simply like the way it gives the sound a "studio-tan" before anything else in my rig.

That being said- the core of the tone I go for is simple- try to mimic an SVT just on the edge of "grind".

So, the basics for me- Bass into the Keeley Bassist, then an Ampeg SC-DI, Quilter Bass Block 800 (which does its own, tubey goodness ad warmth without the tubes voodoo), and finally, driving into SVT810 cab.

I sub in a Tronographics Rusty Box for a different colored preamp (the SCR-DI does have tones of SVT mojo in it).

For every player?


It's not... and the immediately justification has a gigantic gaping logic hole. Studio? That's another assumption.

The "I might as well use it..." thing is fairly popular around here.

 

[Brad Johnson]

I don't use them myself, but the judgmental attitudes of some of the pedal haters really gets old. If you need them to create the sound you want, then you need them. I don't know how some people have the gall to decide what other people need.

It works from both sides. Look at who's talking about what everyone should do.

 

[Element Zero]

Back in 2001-2002 I was in a sort of Christian 311 meets Deadsy type band and I had an original Dan Electro Fabtone pedal and a DOD or Digitech Envelope Filter pedal. Through various moves for a few years after that, I lost those pedals somewhere in the shuffle. Then in 2009 (?) I had a brief stint with an SWR MO' Bass head but quickly realized it was just a flash in the pan. Been a clean player ever since.

 

[JimmyM]

It works from both sides. Look at who's talking about what everyone should do.

Brad, I can't think of a single time where anyone who likes effects suggested someone should use them, but I can name a number of times where effects haters have made disparaging comments about effects users in the realm of "Effects are for musicians who can't play," or "I play bass, and nobody who plays bass should need effects." It's so bad in the effects forum that they had to institute a new rule a few years ago (that effects haters routinely break). Now, will effects users sometimes suggest that someone use a utility pedal like a compressor, EQ or high pass filter? Absolutely. But that's about the extent of it.

 

[superheavyfunk]

I didn't answer the poll because I'm not sure which side I'd fall on.

I always have a compressor, HPF and a cab sim running, plus my basses are active and have onboard EQ. If those (as some around here would claim) count as "effects," then I'm in the camp that always runs effects. If you'd describe effects as things that significantly alter the sound of your clean tone (chorus, phaser, distortion, etc), then I'd fall into the camp that usually runs their rig clean.

That said, I own a ton of effect pedals and I love using them! If it were reasonable to do so, I'd run so many pedals all the time that my instrument would be unrecognizable as a bass... but that would be ridiculous and I'd quickly lose all the gigs that I get. lol

 

[Brad Johnson]

Brad, I can't think of a single time where anyone who likes effects suggested someone should use them, but I can name a number of times where effects haters have made disparaging comments about effects users in the realm of "Effects are for musicians who can't play," or "I play bass, and nobody who plays bass should need effects." It's so bad in the effects forum that they had to institute a new rule a few years ago (that effects haters routinely break). Now, will effects users sometimes suggest that someone use a utility pedal like a compressor, EQ or high pass filter? Absolutely. But that's about the extent of it.

Fortunately for us there's post #270.


And that's far from the first time I've seen that here.

 

[JimmyM]

Fortunately for us there's post #270.


And that's far from the first time I've seen that here.

Ok ok! Compressor crowd is very intense, I'll give you that. Doesn't sway my thinking about it though. I think it's just as ridiculous to insist that everybody uses a compressor as I do people insisting that they plug in straight. But there's a lot more of the latter. I'd name specific Posts in this thread but there's too many.

 

[InnerBass]

Brad, I can't think of a single time where anyone who likes effects suggested someone should use them, but I can name a number of times where effects haters have made disparaging comments about effects users in the realm of "Effects are for musicians who can't play," or "I play bass, and nobody who plays bass should need effects." It's so bad in the effects forum that they had to institute a new rule a few years ago (that effects haters routinely break). Now, will effects users sometimes suggest that someone use a utility pedal like a compressor, EQ or high pass filter? Absolutely. But that's about the extent of it.

Now I know why I got that warning from a mod in one of those threads.
And here I thought my little poem was rather funny - some people apparently didn't.
Must have been the snow.......

 

[Brad Johnson]

Ok ok! Compressor crowd is very intense, I'll give you that. Doesn't sway my thinking about it though. I think it's just as ridiculous to insist that everybody uses a compressor as I do people insisting that they plug in straight. But there's a lot more of the latter. I'd name specific Posts in this thread but there's too many.

Who insists that anyone ELSE plug in straight?


My compressor example was easy to find. I wonder if yours will be? This person clearly states that everyone should use compression. Which is frankly silly. Studio and live performance can happen without it.


It seems to piss people off that others say they play without compression... not that they're being told not to. It's the old misguided inference that if I don't need a compressor I'm saying you're a lesser player if you do. "Need" being the key word.

"You shouldn't use effects"... said by who, when? I couldn't care less what anyone else uses. I will address questions on the subject.

 

[Tazziedevil]

I have a few pedals I mess around with or do some home recording with.

delay, chorus and a distortion, but that's it. If recording in a controlled studio type environment (not just making rough sketches of my ideas) I'll use a very low ratio compressor (4:1 or so).

 

[Gothic]

I like a tame, soft overdrive but things get real muddy with two distorted guitars, even with what little OD I like. So, clean it is.

 

[vanderbe]

I play mostly traditional jazz...swing and Latin. To borrow an old Peter Sellers line...effects pedals are "like television on a honeymoon...not necessary."