Bass FX Hot Takes

[WG Plum]

Indeed - Bootsy, for example, would definitely disagree!

But it's a "hot take", see, which by definition is quick and inaccurate, no?

Hot take - Wikipedia

Very true!

 

[vivaknoxvegas]

Not sure if it qualifies, but my hot take would be "no pedals".
I prefer just plugging directly into my amp. I've tried just about any kind of bass pedal out there, from modulators to dirt to compressors, but always end up getting rid of them.
Granted my main basses have relatively complicated and unusual onboard circuits (active filters and/or passive switching options of a wide variety).
Of course, there's no right or wrong though. Everybody has to find their own groove.

Agree with you having this take, but I always wonder why "no pedal guy" is lurking and posting here in this corner of talkbass.

 

[vvvmmm]

Agree with you having this take, but I always wonder why "no pedal guy" is lurking and posting here in this corner of talkbass.

I think mebbe he has big feet, see.

Because you know what big feet means, right?

No pedals.

(How's that for a "hot take"? )

 

[datasmog]

There aren’t enough little flashing lights on guitar pedals. Flashing lights are cool.
Aren’t they?

 

[mellowgerman]

Agree with you having this take, but I always wonder why "no pedal guy" is lurking and posting here in this corner of talkbass.

Always open to new arguments/developments that may sway me back toward buying another pedal of course! Even if I'll likely end up selling it again later...

EDIT: Also, this thread popped up on my TB homepage while I was killing some downtime at the office. I rarely click on the pedal subforum, unless it's to investigate a new-to-me device that I heard about in a pedal thread that popped up on my homepage while I was killing some downtime at the office.

 

[Fuzzbass]

As for FX specifically: my TB handle is Fuzzbass, but after close to two decades I realized that I don't care for fuzz! Yeah, it's amazing in the right situation (bass break in Dance to the Music), or genre, but for my ears specifically it's too compressed, and too much. Turns out I get the results I want from overdrive and/or distortion. That includes stacking OD/dist pedals, or using multi-band (crossover) distortions for lots of high end 'clang' without farty lows.

Nothing against farty lows... I love the "tuba tones" on vintage Cream, GFRR, Hendrix, Mountain (especially the live recordings)... but it's not what I'm looking for (I"m more of an Entwistle/Squire guy).

 

[gh0st42]

Dip switches belong on motherboards, not pedals!

 

[Altitude]

Multi effects units have gotten pretty good, but the delivered patches are stupid. They're all way over the top and set far away from unity gain. They're like commercials on TV.

 

[J-Mags]

My hot take: Darkglass has made every metal bassist in the last decade sound exactly the same, because Darkglass actually makes the metal bassist audible.
I would rather people complain about all bassists sounding the same, than not even being able to hear the bassist.
And why rip on bassists for sounding the same? All guitarists, drummers, and growlers sound pretty much the same too!

Metal was seldom really about everyone sounding different anyway.

 

[2112]

Wellshuxley already said it but,
Top jack pedals waste pedalboard space. They are too close together to step on the footswitches, defeating the whole purpose of the foot pedal format. They have to be spread out anyways, leaving empty wasted gaps inbetween while also taking up extra space on top.

Yeah, but a powered locking rail system would cover both options... those with little birdie feet can cram all their pedals together, and those with fire-stopping clodhoppers can space them out.

Yes to all of this but the last. Having played too many outdoor daytime shows where I could not tell the bypass status of a pedal without playing a note to see whether or not it is on, i think the aircraft landing lights should be a requirement.

Fair enough... how about instead we say "pedal manufacturers shall install aircraft landing lights as indicators with user-selectable dimming. Any surface mounted controls shall conform to the inset push-lock knobs and switches specification noted above."

 

[MultiScaleMale]

If I could stop playing with settings, I would probably go with a Helix or a Quad Cortex when it gains some software maturity and general availability.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Wellshuxley already said it but,
Top jack pedals waste pedalboard space. They are too close together to step on the footswitches, defeating the whole purpose of the foot pedal format. They have to be spread out anyways, leaving empty wasted gaps inbetween while also taking up extra space on top.

What I dislike with top jacks is that it can be difficult to connect them with normal patch cables unless you want the tops of the cable sticking up in the air or you can hang the pedal on the very edge of the pedalboard. I've had patch cables push each other out of the jack with top mount next to top mount. What I truly dislike is power and In/Out jacks on the side like MXR. I/O on the side, power on top for me, please.

 

[J-Mags]

1. Menu diving sucks and I hate it. Either it’s dumb or I am, and I can’t say I know which it is.

2. Effects are largely for our own gratification and are often unnoticed by everyone except the bassist

3. Darkglass has made every metal bassist in the last decade sound exactly the same (I’m exaggerating here but their stuff is so pervasive in heavy music that I have an aversion to it now)

Could not agree more on #1. Menu connectivity is a disincentive for me to buy anything. There are several TC Electronics pedals I'm never buying because I ain't touching the "tone print" techology. I almost didn't get my errrr... Darkglass amp because it had a website for IRs. Then I realized that this only applies to the DI output, and I determined that I'd ignore it.

#2 is often true for guitarists as well, and overall, I couldn't agree more. Most musicians use pedals too "tastefully" to be noticed. Certainly no one cares if I use a compressor or an overdrive, although that doesn't keep my from using them.

As for #3, I don't play metal, but the appeal of playing distorted and still being heard overrides the inclination to sound unique. I feel like a traitor, because I'm a weird fuzz guy at heart, but I'm loving my A/O amp and my Vintage Microtubes pedal. TBH I don't always care whether I can be heard or not, but the drummer complains when I'm inaudible.

Paradoxical FX hot take, given my Darkglass disquisition above: clarity and audibility are overrated when it comes to FX. Step on a dimed Super Fuzz or Hyperfuzz on the scooped setting to see how little you care about being heard when you can be felt and perceived. Sure they can't hear you, but they know they're hearing something! To paraphrase Neil Young, you could be heard BEFORE you stepped on the pedal. If that's your goal, you were probably already there.

What I dislike with top jacks is that it can be difficult to connect them with normal patch cables unless you want the tops of the cable sticking up in the air or you can hang the pedal on the very edge of the pedalboard. I've had patch cables push each other out of the jack with top mount next to top mount. What I truly dislike is power and In/Out jacks on the side like MXR. I/O on the side, power on top for me, please.

Flat patch cables are the greatest invention ever for this reason. They're compact and flexible for both top mount and side mount jacks.

 

[MustangWally]

Why do they call it a SansAmp when you need an amp to actually use it

Well no - you can just DI out of mine, XLR straight into the board. Which has an amp somewhere in back of it, so - dang, you are right!!

 

[Jantelagen]

 

[cosmicevan]

Hot take…

much like everyone else in your life, we don’t actually care about your detailed signal chain and trying to explain it to us is a fools errand.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Flat patch cables are the greatest invention ever for this reason. They're compact and flexible for both top mount and side mount jacks.

I mostly use the flat cables from Tour Gear Design, but their shortest cable is 3". On a lot of top jack pedals placed side to side, you need something like a 1-1.5" which doesn't exist. I can do the solderless cables, but they always seem to fail. Soldering my own is a pain because I can't find small jacks.

 

[J-Mags]

Hot take…

much like everyone else in your life, we don’t actually care about your detailed signal chain and trying to explain it to us is a fools errand.

People only care when you don't tell them. Then they ask, and you're saying blah, blah, blah, and whoever asked you immediately loses interest, or else fixates on the first thing you say.

 

[Hasty]

Top jacks should be standard on all pedals in existence...no reason to have wasted pedalboard space to the left and right of each pedal in this day and age.

I do prefer top jacks... but could go either way.

More importantly... Why do they place power jacks on the side and always 2mm away from the 1/4" jack? I could potentially get the perfect pedal position with a side jack if the power jack wasn't right there making the 1/4" jack stick up at some wonky angle.

 

[Teryup]

I will never voluntarily purchase a pedal that I know has a blue LED on it. I understand wanting brightness for visibility on brightly lit stages, (although in ~15 years of gigging I can't think of a time I have had that issue) but blue lights are absolutely stupid. More energetic wavelengths like blue specifically mess up how well a person's eyes are adjusted to the dark, there should never be a blue light shining toward the face of anyone who has to see in the dark.

I have the same issue with cars that have blue dashboard lights.