Bass Pedal

[Wfrance3]

For the win - At least as far as the criteria; 1 pedal only.
Sansamp Para Driver. Here's why:
Tone shaping. You have 3 obvious avenues; bass, mid, treble. It goes a little deeper than that tho. You also a sweep-able mid range. This is very useful.
There are also 2 push button switches; air and rumble. These amount to being fixed point high pass and low pass filters.
Still not enough, well another nice feature is there is a drive section that will get you some dirt into your signal. I'm a clean player, but what I like to do is add just enough drive to get some break-up if I dig in, but in a band mix it sounds clean is clean when playing with less dig, which is my usual. This also scores you some natural compression btw....
There are also a some nice utility features like ground lift if you are going direct, and there are also some cut and boost for output so you have a few bases covered that way as well.
It's nice a small, takes phantom power if you got 'em. Built like a tank. If it was me and I only got one, this would be the one. If I can have a floor tuner too that would be nice. You said one, so head stock tuner it is...
Hope this helps!

 

[JimmyM]

Hey guys, @Mike Fillion is a very old friend of mine from way back when I was a kid, and one of the best drummers you will ever hear. We've already discussed it, and my feeling is he'd be best served by trying a different amp EQ with more bass and maybe more mids dialed in. He says the bassist isn't currently using any pedals, either, so that might be a sticking point with him to use them. He's using a Yorkville 12" combo and small combos can often benefit from a bass/mid boost. Did not find out what kind of bass he's using, but my feeling is the same regardless. Whoever's running sound might want to try that in the PA as well. But I did suggest a tiny bit of mild overdrive as well, as I find it helps me for certain things, although I still feel the answer isn't in throwing money at the problem, but EQing.

 

[TheLowDown33]

Line 6 HX effects/stomp or a full Helix.

Yup. You could have all the time in the world and not reach the bottom of that thing.

It does sound like it's not a pedal problem though, more likely a rig issue (bass/amp/cab). Also, why isn't your bassist posting? It's his sound, he should take some pride in it.

 

[ThinCrappyTone]

Clearly this is a situation for a DOD Gonkulator

 

[FugaziBomb]

I am writing this for our bass player at our church---

Why, what's he doing?

If you were playing a gig that had all types of music (nothing wild or screaming)

What do you consider "wild"?

and could use ONLY 1 pedal--
WHAT IS THE 1 PEDAL THAT YOU WOULD USE?

For what? What are you trying to achieve?

* (Music is wide variety--smooth jazz--swing--easy rock--latin--etc...)

Wow... very diverse.

From reading a few forums, it looks like most players would prefer a mild overdrive and a chorus.

I 100% agree with this; most players looking for a mild overdrive and chorus totally prefer a mild overdrive and chorus.

Does that make sense to you?

None of this has made any sense to me.

So the bass sounds OK in the house, but the sound on and around the stage is on the thin side--his amp has only 1 single 12 in it.
So that is why we were thinking of some kind of pedal.

A pedal isn't going to make his bass amp louder - which is the solution you're looking for. It sounds like your bassist needs more amp. Without more information, you're not going to get good advice here - though I'm sure a few forumites will try.

What kind of amp does your bassist have (make and model)? Can he turn it up? Is he cutting any frequencies on his EQ? Is he boosting any? What kind of bass is he playing (though I'd venture it has nothing to do with the problem)? Post as much technical info as you can about the situation and you'll get better advice around here. Good luck.

 

[SmokinJoe992]

I love how half the responses didn't even read OP's post fully, and instead just started sharing gear they like.

OP, Sounds like you want a preamp for your bassist. There's a whole world of them. You can get a Sansamp BDDI V1 for a very good price. That was considered part of a "professional" bass sound back in the 2000s.

Check Youtube demos with headphones, there's A LOT to choose from.

Folks around here like the Sansamp, Mesa Boogie Subway, DP-3x, Aguilar Tone Hammer, etc.

Good luck!

I was going to suggest the Tech 21 Sansamp VT Deluxe, but all of the above are great also. I would have suggested the Keeley bassist pedal, but you said compression was already taken care of.

 

[Chrisk-K]

Why is a non-bass player of the band trying to handle the bass tone?

 

[Robscott]

I thought that there were pedals that had more than 1 function---
Compression is on his channel from our digital mixer.
Wireless in not needed--he stays in 1 place (next to his amp) and in front of the music stand.

From reading a few forums, it looks like most players would prefer a mild overdrive and a chorus.

Does that make sense to you?

Is there a single pedal that does both of those?
--

He doesn't need a pedal. If he needed one he would know which one he needed

 

[Janforth]

ISP Beta Bass Preamp pedal

 

[nilorius]

Just 1 pedal to use could be drive, compressor or reverb.

 

[Kombo]

Surprised that no one mentioned the Tech 21 Bass Flyrig. IIRC, Tuner + Comp + Chorus + OD + Preamp all in one housing.

However if I only could use one pedal, Darkglass AOU all day.

 

[bherman]

Hey guys, @Mike Fillion is a very old friend of mine from way back when I was a kid, and one of the best drummers you will ever hear. We've already discussed it, and my feeling is he'd be best served by trying a different amp EQ with more bass and maybe more mids dialed in. He says the bassist isn't currently using any pedals, either, so that might be a sticking point with him to use them. He's using a Yorkville 12" combo and small combos can often benefit from a bass/mid boost. Did not find out what kind of bass he's using, but my feeling is the same regardless. Whoever's running sound might want to try that in the PA as well. But I did suggest a tiny bit of mild overdrive as well, as I find it helps me for certain things, although I still feel the answer isn't in throwing money at the problem, but EQing.

You've totally got this one nailed. He doesn't need effects, just a bit beefier sound on stage. Sounds like no monitors? That would be the first step if there are, just fatten up the bass a bit in the monitors. If not, fatten up sound in combo. I don't see why you would need more than a combo w/ 1-12" in church, especially with a small band. Now the rest of you can get back to snarkiness if that is what you prefer.

 

[laklandplayer]

As I said---there is already compression on the bass channel through our digital mixer.
So the bass sounds OK in the house, but the sound on and around the stage is on the thin side--his amp has only 1 single 12 in it.
So that is why we were thinking of some kind of pedal.

The compression circuit on a digital mixer is 100% crap. It’s essentially a non musical sounding peak limiter. Essential pedals for bass are a good compressor pedal, like a Keeley Bassist, a chorus pedal (ebs) and a volume pedal.

 

[JimmyM]

Why are you guys busting my friend's balls?

 

[dab12ax7ef]

+1 for a version of a SansAmp. I run one always on at churches. It has grit, warmth, tone shaping for passive instruments.
I see the other player plugging direct into a passive DI, or taking a line out of an amps DI, and don’t understand why they don’t run something like a BDDI.

 

[MDBass]

The compression circuit on a digital mixer is 100% crap. It’s essentially a non musical sounding peak limiter. Essential pedals for bass are a good compressor pedal, like a Keeley Bassist, a chorus pedal (ebs) and a volume pedal.

You're not reading the OP's posts very carefully: the problem is with the stage sound, not the FOH sound.

Digital mixers allow you to use very sophisticated software plugins these days, emulations of studio classics like an 1176 or LA2A similar to what you'd use in DAW, so that generalization is simply uninformed and incorrect.

 

[Stranger Danger]

I am writing this for our bass player at our church---
If you were playing a gig that had all types of music (nothing wild or screaming) and could use ONLY 1 pedal--
WHAT IS THE 1 PEDAL THAT YOU WOULD USE?

* (Music is wide variety--smooth jazz--swing--easy rock--latin--etc...)

The group is a trio (for now) keyboards--bass and drums.

TC Electronic SpectraDrive Bass Preamp/Overdrive Pedal

 

[MDBass]

I thought that there were pedals that had more than 1 function---
Compression is on his channel from our digital mixer.
Wireless in not needed--he stays in 1 place (next to his amp) and in front of the music stand.

From reading a few forums, it looks like most players would prefer a mild overdrive and a chorus.

Does that make sense to you?

Is there a single pedal that does both of those?
--

The @tech21nyc Bass FlyRig does

 

[laklandplayer]

You're not reading the OP's posts very carefully: the problem is with the stage sound, not the FOH sound.

Digital mixers allow you to use very sophisticated software plugins these days, emulations of studio classics like an 1176 or LA2A similar to what you'd use in DAW, so that generalization is simply uninformed and incorrect.

If he had a good compressor in his signal chain he’d control the house and monitor feed at the same time and be able to control his own sound and not leave it up to the sound engineer.

 

[MDBass]

If he had a good compressor in his signal chain he’d control the house and monitor feed at the same time and be able to control his own sound and not leave it up to the sound engineer.

Sorry, that’s not really how that works: how you sound in the house is ALWAYS up to the FOH engineer, even if you’re sending them a highly colored signal.

A great engineer who knows the venue and the band well can make everyone shine, a novice who doesn’t can make everyone sound like mud.

I always have a compressor on my board, but the compressor plugins on the modern digital boards are excellent.