Essentials for a gigging bassist's pedal board?

[scottfeldstein]

I would rather define "my sound" with a pedal board and then plug it into a power amp or PA, knowing that "my sound" will be the same either way. Consistent.

This. It goes into my amp, the PA, the recording mixer or my headphones--but I always sound the same.

With a pedal board, I can pick and choose each piece to my personal satisfaction.

And this.

 

[caeman]

And with pedals, it is cheaper to change my mind.

 

[newbold]

What effects are the most common for a bassist to have?

No effects.

Tuner, DI, backlit digital alarm clock with battery backup, and *maybe* a peak limiting compressor would get you farther than a pedalboard full of cool pedalz.

That being said, anything that will get you a great useful tone is exactly what you need.

You might get more use out of a chorus pedal than I would for example.

 

[BabyGriz]

+1
Tuner is all a bass player really needs imo .....unless you're doing specific music that requires an effect.

Don't need a compressor imo. Nice to have but not essential
Don't need overdrive if your amp has a bit - unless your playing metal and then just a little is enuf.

An octaver can be fun if you have a specific need for one.

The best sounding bass effect by far are envelope filters imo but they're only useful if you play funky stuff.

But how would you fill up a board with 6 bass pedals.
Effects don't change the tone much on bass imo - nowhere near what they do on guitars.

Everytime I see a bass player gig with lots of pedals I see him hit the switch and then I wait to hear a tone difference and then.... I wait &...... wait some more..... hear nothing and then he turns it off hehehe
Some bass players stuff around all night with their pedals tweaking this & that and I can never actually hear any of them.
I've played in bands with bass players that do that too - always funny to watch hehe

I hear ya, I personally play with about 6 pedals, but each are very different, plus my direct signal. Like some other people have said, let the music/song direct what sound is needed. I could wank on bass with a bunch of crazy noise, but is it really what the song calls for?

What I could get away with bare bones
EHX Big Muff Pi
Decent tuner

 

[chief redcok]

Well all I need me is my Moog MF101, BDDI, and an OC-2 on board.. And oh yea! I need me a compressor, how do you like your PWNZOR cybersnyder?

 

[caeman]

A bassist doesn't even need an amp. Depending on the type of gigging you do, you may simply never need it. In that case, just an EQ pedal, to a direct box and go.

 

[lemongrenades]

it all depends on what you wanna hear and what works for your band/project. You only need a tuner. Pre-amps are useful if your head/combo doesn't allow for much eq. Overdrive is common. chorus is too, but kinda tacky, unless your coppin a peter hook thing. Find out what your favorite players use and go from there. Eventually you will know what works for you. You can get a used line6 M5 for like $140 ish. It's a swiss army pedal for sure. 100+ effects and they sound pretty good. I'd start there and find out what works for ya

 

[Jazzdogg]

Over the years I've acquired several effects pedals & DB preamps, but the ones I always have with me are a Sonic Research ST-200 tuner, and an FDeck HPF/Pre.

 

[Eric!]

fuzz and feedback loop

 

[El_Ohso]

Fore the genre (IMO) I would consider a tuner, a compressor, overdrive, flanger, delay and maybe a fuzz (or just a good distortion)