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effects?

JWP

JWP

Aug 19, 2012
148
0
#1
thought i would ask your favorite cant do without effect. Tried so many over the years and i gotta tell you...never found one that i could not live without. Just play straight through my amp but wondering if i am missing something...
 
#2
JWP said:
thought i would ask your favorite cant do without effect. Tried so many over the years and i gotta tell you...never found one that i could not live without. Just play straight through my amp but wondering if i am missing something...
Click to expand...

So...your favorite effect is your amp's pre-amp (gain & EQ) stage. That is the same thing that many of us get from a pedal instead, because we maybe play straight to PA.

I believe the only thing you are missing is that effects are a tool. Nothing more, nothing less. You are asking the equivalent of which flat-head screw driver can I not live without -- craftsman or some knock-off brand.

As a test, plug straight into a power amp and let me know if you can live without any and all effects.
 
#10
Totally depends on the song / genre.

Sometimes extra effects really don't help, in which case not using them is the right thing to do.

Sometimes the song would benefit from a bit of something or other, but you can get by without if you can't be bothered to work on that side of things.

Other times a song really does need a sound that the bass can't do on its own, so you're not really doing your job if you don't have an appropriate effect.

And finally, there are things that bass guitar + effects can't do, and you need to roll in some synth or something.
 
#13
fleizenkruz said:
I love effects, but I don't use many of them in my band.
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This was my situation for a long time. For my funk band I still play clean, but I'm finally getting a chance to break out some effects... in my gospel band of all places. Lol Octaver and Envelope specifically. I had been messing around with my EP2 during a rehearsal, and the drummer/main keys player loved it, so I brought it to the next gig. At rehearsal last Friday, the leader requested it, saying "What effect were you using? It was nice!"

If I had to pick only one pedal, it'd definitely be my EP2, hands down. I'm such a filter junkie... Owned or played 22 and the Pigtronix is my favorite by far.

5sg.
 
#14
Thanks for the feedback all. We play classic rock, some r&b, motown..i like a nice warm tone. I have a fender jazz...flats and play through a pf 500 and have dialed in a pretty solid tone. But will check out some of the recommendations in this post. Thanks again all for weighing in!
 
#15
JWP said:
Thanks for the feedback all. We play classic rock, some r&b, motown..i like a nice warm tone. I have a fender jazz...flats and play through a pf 500 and have dialed in a pretty solid tone. But will check out some of the recommendations in this post. Thanks again all for weighing in!
Click to expand...

Ahhh, Motown. :) Sounds like you've got a great setup for what you play. The PF500 is great for that... Dial down the treble a bit, bump some mids and add a good bit of bass and Motown stuff sounds great!

The gain section of the 500 sounds good, but since you might not want a touch of dirt on your sound ALL the time, I might suggest a Catalinbread SFT. It's a great warm drive, and PERFECT for adding just a touch of grit (like "barely there") for a great Motown sound. You could dial in your rock tone on the 500, and then kick on the SFT for the r&b/Motown stuff.

This video is what sold me on the SFT!

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5sg.
 
#16
JWP said:
Thanks for the feedback all. We play classic rock, some r&b, motown..i like a nice warm tone. I have a fender jazz...flats and play through a pf 500 and have dialed in a pretty solid tone. But will check out some of the recommendations in this post. Thanks again all for weighing in!
Click to expand...
If you listen to isolated Jamerson recordings, he's got a pretty overdriven tone going on. Most of the amps during those days weren't capable of having the headroom or the wattage to stay clean at stage levels.
 
#17
topo morto said:
Totally depends on the song / genre.

Sometimes extra effects really don't help, in which case not using them is the right thing to do.

Sometimes the song would benefit from a bit of something or other, but you can get by without if you can't be bothered to work on that side of things.

Other times a song really does need a sound that the bass can't do on its own, so you're not really doing your job if you don't have an appropriate effect.

And finally, there are things that bass guitar + effects can't do, and you need to roll in some synth or something.
Click to expand...

+1
I ran a dry signal for years and it was appropriate for the type of music I was playing. You can use effects more if you're being creative (not doing covers) or if you're coming up with creative arrangements of familiar songs. I sometimes put reverb on ballads and have worked up a unique intro to a cover song using delay. And as you can see by other responses, there is a whole genre of mega distortion. Something for everyone.
 

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