Tuner, essential. Compressor, will make you sound much much better. Preamp and EQ, very useful. Distortion of any kind, cool for tone variety but 90% of bassists don't find it necessary.
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Ever Gigged without effects?
- Thread starter m0ranwad
- Start date
- Feb 5, 2013
- 1,686
- 2,281
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Used Fender Lead Sleds and Hartke cabs with bent grills
No effects on bass. Straight into the head. My tuner runs thru the Tuner Out of the PV Max. Even on guitar, after trying every booteek pedal ever made I wound up with a single OD/Boost. I don't need 10 or 15 talent boosters in between me and cranked tube goodness.
YMMV, of course.
YMMV, of course.
I played for 3 years without effects and never felt hard done by, recently i've started using some distortion, fuzz, boost and tuner but I'd say I could easily do a full set of originals without any of them. They're just fun, add a few extra dynamics and with the tuner convenient.
I'd prefer not to get into the situation where I'm too reliant on them.
I'd prefer not to get into the situation where I'm too reliant on them.
I used to gig without effects when I was young, broke, and dumb. Some essentials are:
Compressor - even just a tiny bit off the edges can tighten the tone and help avoid peaks and valley's in your playing
BBE Sonic Maximizer - Great little device that I think every bass player should use. It fills your tone a bit compared to it not being on. I didn't notice it at first(its extremley subtle), but when I took it out of the chain there was alot less 'umph' in my sound.
Those I would say are neccessities, everything is really to taste. Try everything and judge for yourself.
Other suggestions: Distortion (if you just want a little distortion and not sound like a car compactor, get the Porkloin), Pre amp for modeling, (I have one [Bassbone] mainly because I DI, so it acts as my primary tone builder).
Compressor - even just a tiny bit off the edges can tighten the tone and help avoid peaks and valley's in your playing
BBE Sonic Maximizer - Great little device that I think every bass player should use. It fills your tone a bit compared to it not being on. I didn't notice it at first(its extremley subtle), but when I took it out of the chain there was alot less 'umph' in my sound.
Those I would say are neccessities, everything is really to taste. Try everything and judge for yourself.
Other suggestions: Distortion (if you just want a little distortion and not sound like a car compactor, get the Porkloin), Pre amp for modeling, (I have one [Bassbone] mainly because I DI, so it acts as my primary tone builder).
rsmith601
Commercial User
- Apr 14, 2009
- 4,461
- 8,356
- Disclosures
- CEO and Co-Founder, Source Audio
About 15 years ago I took the guitar player in my band to see blues great Ronnie Earl. The purpose was to point out to him the amazing range of tones that were possible via fingers and tubes alone.
Even the leader of an effects company must come clean and acknowledge the truth embedded his past!
Even the leader of an effects company must come clean and acknowledge the truth embedded his past!
You should be able to do your gig without any Bass effects... that's what your hands are for. There will be situations where a Chorus or other effect may be useful (ex: a small trio requiring bass solos, or very special songs with a very particular bass sound), but learn to get varied tones from your bass, your hands and your own playing style. That will serve you best in the long-run.
