Sometimes I use nothing but bass and amp. Sometimes I have an array of pedals at my feet to poke around with. Lately, the only effects I use are an octaver and occasional drive, but I keep accumulating crap.
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Does anybody just plug and play anymore?
- Thread starter MJ_Sotti
- Start date
me. I had pedals, realized my jazz > GK > 410 was the king of tones. sold pedals.
My cable is always hooked to my pedalboard, so all I have to do is plug that sucker into my bass. 
On occasion I'll plug straight in, but rarely it makes a difference. Usually I'm doing it to dissect why my board is making a hum. Now I will say I do often find myself playing without any effects pedals. Save for delay and a compressor now. Thanks a lot TB.
On occasion I'll plug straight in, but rarely it makes a difference. Usually I'm doing it to dissect why my board is making a hum. Now I will say I do often find myself playing without any effects pedals. Save for delay and a compressor now. Thanks a lot TB.
Most of my playing requires some overdrive and some fuzz, but I recently rediscovered the "one pup, tone wide open, bass in amp in cab" method. I love the woody, balanced tone my P-Bass with fresh flats produces.
sometimes.
depends on the band I am playing with, venue, FOH support, etc.
if it's my surf band, playing tourist areas, street fairs, flea markets, private parties, then yep, all the time, cable to combo amp with a clip on tuner.
but when in band playing at club or concert venue, I use a couple things between amp and bass, mostly because it is all backlined and I gotta get what I can out of whatever is being used.
depends on the band I am playing with, venue, FOH support, etc.
if it's my surf band, playing tourist areas, street fairs, flea markets, private parties, then yep, all the time, cable to combo amp with a clip on tuner.
but when in band playing at club or concert venue, I use a couple things between amp and bass, mostly because it is all backlined and I gotta get what I can out of whatever is being used.
That still leaves choices. For true plug n' play you need a simple combo amp!
Well - I suppose in my band I could theoretically play Starlight without any distortion or Sledgehammer without an octaver/compressor and maybe nobody but me would really say anything about the difference. But then again maybe they would notice because they just take it for granted that I'm going to get the right sound. If the guitar player in a band played Back in Black with clean guitar people would say it sounds like crap and lost all it's power. Why would it be any different for bass?
I was at a club the other day, my rig blew, so I just kept playing plugged into nothing - organic.
Anything in between your bass and your amp is just compensation for short comings in other places. So I have 37 pedals and a full 12U rack effects between me and my amp!
For the first 2.5 years I played bass that's how I did every practice, rehearsal, and show.
I got into a heavy psychedelic rock band and felt the sound called for some effects heavy bass. I no longer go straight from bass to head, but I know a ton of players that still do. Different strokes for different folks
I got into a heavy psychedelic rock band and felt the sound called for some effects heavy bass. I no longer go straight from bass to head, but I know a ton of players that still do. Different strokes for different folks
This beacons the larger question. If I plug and play then why am I always purchasing more and more pedals. Time to purge.
I use a pedal board 100% of the time... however, about 50% of the time I am playing clean with some compression in the signal path. The other 50% I am using some form of low gain OD devise, and of that, maybe 25% I am using some more, such as filter or filter+fuzz or a filter + sweep or just fuzz.
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