Church effects

[ItsMattIThink]

So I've been lurking these forums for a while yet only posting recently, but I have always wondered...

Some of you fine folks are using the craziest/most epic pedal boards I've ever seen for use in a church service and I'm incredibly curious how some of you guys are incorporating effects (especially like some of the wild and crazy fuzz pedals around here) in such a setting.

Would love a link to some audio or something or a brief description is probably enough to assuage my curiosity.

 

[zontar]

I do play bass in a church service from time to time-but I've never used effects--although I am considering using a volume pedal next-potentially as an effect to fade in & out, and maybe one day I'll use an EQ pedal.

It depends on what songs, styles, setting, etc you have in a service--for some congregations a bunch of effects will work--for others, none would work--or maybe just a compressor or limiter.

 

[PortlandBass77]

I met a "guitarist" in a church band once who claimed to build the ultimate metal rig by connecting 10 Boss DS1 distortion pedals together for a church show.....

 

[billgwx]

I play bass regularly on Sundays, through a Boss GT-10B multi-effects pedal direct to the PA. I use its Ampeg SVT amp modeling and some light compression, and have set up a number of patches with different EQ settings (super low, flat, and Jaco-ish midrange) and a variety of effects: octave, fretless emulation, overdrive (comes in handy for either a volume boost or to add an edge when needed), and either chorus or phaser for modulation. Have even used it to emulate a cello to play a classical piece at a wedding. Don't really need fuzz for the music we play, but I guess the overdriven sound I sometimes use comes close...

 

[Daniel Piper]

For me the biggest time I use my effects (delay, verb, fuzz, phase, swells etc etc) is during reflective worship sections. The focus is still on being melodic, worshipful, and serving the song/experience - but if I can add texture and points of interest in my tone - I take the opportunity.

It also helps that a lot of the time at my church it might be myself on bass, one guitarist (who is pretty good), a drummer and a loop.

It is an uncomplicated mix, with no keyboard that allows interesting/different tones shine.

 

[SGT. BAKER]

So I've been lurking these forums for a while yet only posting recently, but I have always wondered...

Some of you fine folks are using the craziest/most epic pedal boards I've ever seen for use in a church service and I'm incredibly curious how some of you guys are incorporating effects (especially like some of the wild and crazy fuzz pedals around here) in such a setting.

Would love a link to some audio or something or a brief description is probably enough to assuage my curiosity.

Well. I´m not an usual bassist player thought sometimes I´ve played in some churchs for special events (like a wedding, baptism, or whatever). The mostly times I´ve need no using efects, so I´d say you that it really works for sure playing the bass clean with a good tone.

But if you take a look to some write singers like Marcos Witt or more, fairly in 80´s era you´ll hear easily some chorus effects in their bass lines, specially when ussing fretless. Probably it was mandatory for how it fits really good in the mix. Sometimes a tad of drive can fatten your tone or simply adding another subtle color/texture to the sound bass. I can say that the choosen songs that I´m use to play they move so close in music generes like ballads and gospel (mainly), going to pop, soft rock and even latin. So I´m so intrigued like you about fuzzes, ´cause for the common christian praise music it seems to go so extreme. Probably in some church when they sing some disco/funk songs it wil fit well in the bass lines, but still I´m trying to imagine it.

 

[Daniel Piper]

I use an IE Oxide with the gate almost closed. It allows me to create short 'blips' of synth sound that trigger my reverb.

You won't find toooo many people riffin' out on their fuzzes mid-song.

 

[friendlybass]

Using them to make weird noises for reflective times. Other than that, clean tube preamp pedal, tube compressor, tube rack preamp as a di to the board and to my in ear. That's bout it

 

[furym]

I set one up mostly to tame the spikes on my B. Tuner->Compressor (Aguilar TLC)->Pre-amp/DI (Aguilar TonehammerDI). I had tried an octave pedal and could not envision a use for it until last Sunday. During Hark The Herald Angels Sing/King of Heaven I played and octave up with the octave pedal on and got a cool kind of drone through the song. I am waiting for an Agro to stick in the chain but I am not sure how/when I will use it. I have tried the AGS (Sort of an overdrive on the Tonehammer) on some faster rock style stuff and it seemed to go well. I think the key is subtle with the effects most of the time for Church settings.

 

[GMC]

Last sunday we were a just a guitarist, me the bassist and two vocalist...I can sing but the mics tend to pickup my bass amp too much so I don't get to sing much. So from sound stage point of view, it was time to expand my tone as much as possbile. Most of the worship was in "A" so I played around the 8th fret, across the board and let my effects fill out my low end, while the higher notes filled out my top end. My Joyo American Sound added warmth and a touch of grit. My Corona Chorus added some top end sparkle too. The week previous, it was a "full-on" band with 2 electrics guitars, an acoustic, drummer, keys etc....so it was time to compress my tone and play low down (using a 5 string).
My effects are there for specific purposes. Tuner > MXR bass EQ > EBS multi compressor > Blacksheep Outlaw Overdrive > Way Huge Swollen Pickle > Joyo American Sound > MXR El Grande Fuzz > TC Electronics Corona Chorus > Zoom MS-70CDR.
Usually I have just one or two pedals engaged. A bit of overdrive, maybe compression, a tad of EQ and the tuner. But most of my board is for ambient stuff, which is astonishingly easy to do with an OD, fuzz and some specific delays and reverbs on my Zoom MS-70CDR. It's a seriously underated piece of kit. The ambient stuff is just chordal sound space swells / filling. I've just picked up a second hand ebow to see how that goes

 

[mtb777]

I use at one church my full rig with my board and that is usually going Into the Board first is my always on Source Audio Programmable EQ into my CMatmods Compressor then it goes to my OC Blender with buffer. From there it goes to THE OC Looper with 5 loops. 1-SA Manta (envelope filter/dirt with HH3). 2-SA Dimension Reverb (almost always on). 3- SA Orbital Modulator(chorus/phazer/Oct/trem/flang). 4- SA OFD(dirt) to SA MWBD(synthy dirt). 5- POG2 to Stereo Chorus. That loops through the Blender so I can blend any or all of the 5 Loops with clean signal. I play a lot of Fretless so there could be some chorus mixed in or even some light distortion for some presence. Sometimes I'll mix in loop 5 for some added strong chorus or some octave from the POG2. All the SA SoundBlock2 run through the MIDI SA HUB and OC Gecko and are usable/controlled with either the HH3 or the SA Dual Exp Pedal. I'm running a TC Electronics RH450 head so I have the 3 EQ presets on that set mostly for fretless, fretted and upright. I using the TC RS210 and RS212 cabs and that goes into the house post EQ from the head's DI.
At the other church I play at we go ampless on the stage with IEM's so I'll just go into my board and use the RH450 as my preamp into the system. I'm using 1964 Ears Quads for IEM's.

 

[CRich0205]

This is my board though slightly rearranged. Stuff for ambient quiet times and such. Right now we have some new guys that are basically learning so I help create some texture with the delay nand reverb. I use fuzz quite a bit an want to swap the looper for a blower box or something. Typically it's acoustic guitars but we okay contemporary stuff full of overdriven electrics. So I blend in some fuzz and it makes it seem like we have an electric and a bass. And fuzz is awesome

 

[Daniel Piper]

Some lovely boards here fellas!

I think the main thing for people new to effects is...

...to not force it.

Use an effect when it feels like the natural thing/tone to be incorporating. Don't go out and buy a Strymon Bigsky just because you see someone here using one - and then crowbar it into a song, just because you have it.

 

[GMC]

I agree with the less is more statement in regards to worship. Some times we are called to be a mood changer, but generally we are there to point and lead folkes to the worship of God. From Praise in to Worship. If the bass is too showy and distincive it can cause the congregation to watch and listen to the bassist and not God. It's not a rock concert but humble worship of the creator of all things. While I rock up with quite a lot of effects, their use must be carefully judged and quite subtle. Ambient in the right places, smooth in others, lively at some times.

 

[SGT. BAKER]

I agree with the less is more statement in regards to worship. Some times we are called to be a mood changer, but generally we are there to point and lead folkes to the worship of God. From Praise in to Worship. If the bass is too showy and distincive it can cause the congregation to watch and listen to the bassist and not God. It's not a rock concert but humble worship of the creator of all things. While I rock up with quite a lot of effects, their use must be carefully judged and quite subtle. Ambient in the right places, smooth in others, lively at some times.

I agree in the most words you said. But I´d say that it deppends of what kind of bass effects we are using and mainly what´s the musical context.

It seems that they are some effects that the audience are more permissive or tolerate better that another ones, so it´s posible using of a tad strong way instead subtle. For instance, I heard some songs with stronger chorus in their bass lines (better if it´s a fretless bass) and it seems that it doesn´t ´cause some kind of anoyance, but the oppossite. They liked too much this new texture for this song. As the same way some hards setting of compressors can give to the bass a new sound for how it affects the attack times to the fingering and better if we´re slapping. Maybe these are the two bass effects that we can go a tad far away of subtle because they are a bunch of tunes, and the audience they don´t feel theses kind of bass effects so strange when they listen a song´,cause of somehow they had "trainned" their ears.

I think that maybe this was the big difference with another kind of bass effects, like for instance saturations, flangers and delays. Here we must take care, and keep in mind that with subtle settings it´s gonna be the key for using them with no annoyances to the church audience.

 

[basslayer]

EQ, compression, amp modelling, and noise gate from my zoom ms60b are standard for me when I play fretted. I will also use my digitech drop if I am playing in e flat or d flat which I set to drop my bass to b flat tuning.

 

[p0k]

I always have my Diamond Compressor on (mainly to fatten my tone a bit), almost always have slight grit from my B7k, kick in my 3Leaf LBB clean boost on choruses or big parts (adds some more grit on the b7K too), and then I have a little synth section with an Iron Ether Xerograph deluxe, 3Laf You're Doom, and 3Leaf Octabvre for more dancy songs (don't use those three as much, but I do use them). I also use the octave for the occasional low note since I play a 4 string.

 

[adamsmatthewj]

Oh man, can of worms for me!
99% of my playing currently takes place at my church, and I've gone through about 100 different pedals in the last year finding different useful sounds, and some not so useful sounds!

We do a lot of Hillsong, United, some Elevation, some Bethel, and some gospel too

Some of my must-haves are an octaver (I have 3 on my board, all set differently), an overdrive (set to unity volume with just some dirt and a little extra cutting crunch), a volume pedal, a delay (set somewhat subtly but definitely audible) and a reverb (with a relatively long verb, usually used in conjunction with the volume pedal for swells, sometimes just used for low reflective moments of worship)

I have also really gotten good results from thick bassy chorus, a Meatbox sub, and even one time successfully used a bit crusher in the bridge of a Planet Shakers song

I think effects in worship are all about using them tastefully to elevate the song. They HAVE to fit or they will distract. And distracting bass in a worship service is probably the worst offense in all of music.

 

[Daniel Piper]

+100

 

[jeffbrewer]

I guess I don't understand the effects thing. I've never used them. I even unplug my tuner after I tune. I'm a staff musician at a very large church. We do the hillsong, Tomlin, planet shakers, etc, etc, and I just can't bring myself to use them. The guitarists have pedal boards that look like aircraft carriers, make their guitars sound like organs, choirs, and everything else other than a guitar. It's almost like they've learned to play their gear and know nothing about the craft of making music or doing a gig. Maybe I'm old. I dunno. Sorry for the rant lol