Church effects

[1stnamebassist]

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

I hear you! I just bought a zoom m60b to give the effect thing a try and I'm kind of liking the amp models however!

 

[Nate Plays Bass]

I pretty much only use pedals for drive. I have a big muff but use it subtly for low end gain not so much fuzz. I have a VT bass DI that I use for mid and high end gain. I'm getting an Aguilar Compressor. I also have a VP Jr and Polytune Noir but those don't really count in my opinion. I'm going to try slight reverb to fatten the tone a little. I would like to try the B3k to replace the VT bass and use the VT bass as a DI when not using my amp. I am also also going to try a latch pedal for subtle sustain in certain songs when there's not a large backup in the keys to do that.
I definitely don't see the use flangers and envelope filters and loop stations and all that. They just wouldn't sonically fit into a normal worship setting. But it is nice to have a variance in the amount of drive. Some songs want a driving bass line, especially a lot of Bethel and Jesus Culture. But some songs, the bass is meant to sit low and just back up the keys or whatever else.

 

[Anthonyfranklin9000]

I play bass in my church and I recently started using a Mooer Slow Engine micro pedal for moderate volume swell effect. It's helpful for certain passages where I want to soften my attack and the bass notes to just fade in subtly. I purchased it after another recent thread here on TB discussing getting that "bowed bass" type tone actually. I think a good reverb will help me get closer so thats my next purchase.
We do a lot of Matt Redman, Hillsong, Chris Tomlin, not the urban gospel stuff. That I might want a good compressor for to get a tighter sound. I would like to experiment more but can't get too crazy with effects; I'm currently on the lookout for the songs with a driving bassline that could use a bit of of fuzz / dirt / OD on it though.
*oops just realized how old this thread was, did not mean to resurrect*

 

[MikroKev]

On nearly all the time:- Xotic SP compressor mainly for the extra sustain, sfx big beautiful bass - deepens tone. That gives me the basic sound.

Occasional use:- Octaver MXR BoD (the more natural sounding Girth tone) to restore depth when the key means playing further up the fretboard. Chorus (Mooer Ensemble King). sfx Micro Red Dragon for a warm hint of drive without too much break up. All these are used with subtlety - trying to 'stand out' isn't appropriate in worship.

I'll only take the pedals I know I'll need - usually 3 +PolyTune Mini. Apart from the MXR they're all mini sized, so it's a very compact set-up. A huge board with lots of LEDs can be visually distracting, but this doesn't matter if it's out of sight.

Here in the UK where many churches are historic buildings with a lot of natural reverb, delay or reverb pedals on bass puts you down a well.