How many Bassists use no pedals?

[edervjo]

I'm avoiding my wider-neck 5ers now because my wrist starts to hurt, my pinky finger and the next one on my fretting hand are always numb (sometimes my whole hand/arm), one finger locks up regularly and another occasionally...

I have my little stage groove moves, but both feet stay on the floor at all times.

May i suggest a Torzal bass? i had very similar issues. Not any more....

 

[prndltech]

May i suggest a Torzal bass? i had very similar issues. Not any more....

wow… I had never heard of or seen anything like that before

 

[DaveDeVille]

... plugging straight into amp works for me .

 

[Katoosie]

The split seems to be pretty even.
I used to not use pedals but that has changed. I can see myself on the both ends of the spectrum.

 

[brianrost]

many people voted "NO" because they believe their compressor pedal, DI pedal, etc didnt count. They're still using pedals.

OK, I'm busted.

I use a Zoom B3 when busking as a preamp for my Street Cube amp which otherwise really can't handle bass...no HPF or limiter to protect the speakers. I use an fdeck HPF as a buffer when I'm playing DB with amps with less than 1 megohm input impedance, but it's not a pedal anyway, just a metal box with two jacks and two knobs.

So why did I vote No? Because those are not used as effects.

If you insist on counting DI boxes as pedals (they're not) then I'd have to vote Yes

Disclaimer:

I do have a drawer full of pedals (most are for sale right here) that have never seen a gig and two that have, an A/B box and an LPB-1 (which is also not a pedal). Last time I used the A/B was 16 years ago and the LPB-1 probably 30 years ago. A couple of pedals I no longer own (EH Bass Microsynth, DOD Chorus) I stopped using over 35 years ago when I quit a top 40 band.

 

[ELG60]

I have some, but I've never used them on stage. That being said, I recognize the advantages of a good compressor and have built-in HPF on several of my Mesa amps, which I find useful.

 

[PhatBottomBass1]

For myself, my first purchase ever after my Bass and amp was a Mu-Tron III and a Fuzz Face...

Fast-forward to 2019 and I started experimenting with all kinds of pedals. When the Boss SY-1 came out I had it and three days later sold it to a guitarist. But, the Night Owl Edison I got I a put a super nice NOS Mullard into it and it's not going anywhere.

I've come to having two Nano's now in a modular concept. Edison - Carl Martin Honey-Comp - BSRI Ashmaker - Fortin Zuul (mini) - Micro THUMPINATOR.

Tuner - A/B - Switches on the edge of the board, if needed.

Those things just make everything sound better! It really refined the signal for the amp.

The second Nano has the EFX section. I am working with the Xotic X-BLENDER (aux insert) with DOD Meat Box (Dry/Sub) - SA Ultra Wave Bass - Keeley Seafoam Plus. (The Seafoam Plus is out getting a mod for two (2) toggles to access both sides of the pedal) Having the power of that Ultra Wave Bass is just insane. I have a separate SUB line available with separate processing in the Ultra Wave Bass from the Meat Box then to a DI. I haven't tried this out yet with a suitable FOH PA, but looking forward to it.

I chose the Seafoam Plus due to its consolidated versatility.

I'm creating the tool set for some aggressive hard rock tones, slamming sub and various ambient textures on tap. I don't do covers unless giving them new sound textures. I love having options beyond a bomb Bass clean tone!

 

[msb]

It was after buying a Squier Bass VI , oh in the beginning I thought a little TreVerb pedal would be nice , and then somebody suggested some gain … next thing I knew my board was full. Just goofing at home , on gigs I play bass and go right into the amp.
But I love to goof around with the pedal board.
Now after a couple of days playing around with the Exponent amp I’m simply gobsmacked , it’s got about twenty pedals available in the Suite available to program it. And you can set and adjust just about anything. You can store and load five presets at a time. And quickly toggle between them. It’s also a nice clean transparent amp , if you like that.
Not going to sell the pedalboard just yet , but it might be considered. We’ll see …

 

[InkCow]

For 30 years I played without any pedals, except the occasional tuner. That said, I was using a rack rig, BBE 383 pre into a power amp. The BBE had eq, compressor (which sucked, but still a compressor) and the BBE process, so what was the functional distinction between that and corresponding pedals? Eventually it dawned on me that it was a crapshoot as to whether or not I could even use my amp at any particular gig and it was a lot to haul around for there to be no guarantee that it would have any part of my tone.
I’ve since done a 180: I can always at the very least bring my preamp pedal(s) and have given up the rack for a pedal board. I don’t generally use effects, but there are times and places: the band I’m in now leans pretty heavily on just me and the drummer filling in a lot of space, so it can help certain situations. I was always opposed to overdrive on bass, but having moved to pedals, I have found places it adds something.
I used to have a lot of purity tests around playing, but now if there’s something that could make the song better, I’m more than happy to try something new.

 

[BQFS]

It's pretty easy to get judgmental. To me, lots of pedals entices too many players down the rabbit hole. Used injudiciously you end up with tasteless noise. Depending upon what type of music I am playing, I might use a compressor, applied very lightly. Personally, I pick my basses for the tone they deliver. It makes no sense to me to buy a bass for its tone, and then change that tone beyond all recognition by the use of pedals. If you like pedals, that's fine. They're just not for me. Tone, for me, comes from the bass, the amp, and my technique. To each their own.

 

[oddeotek]

I have a Zoom B1 Four but I just use it as a headphone amp when I rehearse new material. It’s great for that! I also picked up a Darkglass B7KUltra V2 but I find that I get all the sounds I want out of my TC Electronic RH750 live so, though I’ve tried, I don’t use any pedals on stage.

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

I answered "no" but to clarify - usually nothing but on my EUB an optical compressor and bass EQ. A couple of my lower output basses like an LPB-1 (Talk about old school! The original foot pedal!) to just goose the input level a smidge but it also adds air in the hf.

 

[Cadillac_Mike]

I never use any on bass guitar cause I generally like organic bass tones plus guitar players usually add more than enough chrous, delay, phaser, etc. to the mix lol. But even though I don't own any bass pedals I still have plenty of "other" sorts of bass sounds at my disposal. Yes, sometimes I switch to the dark side of the force....

 

[Planetguitar]

No pedals used for my bass. However, I would use this setup at home with my guitar, but it was too heavy to bring to gigs. I got a Fractal FM3 and sold all of them. I use the Fractal at home for bass, but do not use anything live for bass.

 

[Matt Dean]

Depends on the band… I play in a relatively clean band and a relatively dirty band… but I use effects pedals in each.

And the rest of the gear I use - synth and looper are for the dirty band.

 

[bottomzone]

The only pedal that I use is my Phil Jones Bass preamp/DI. I have other pedals, i.e. flanger, envelope filter, and multi-effects, but I don't have the desire to use them anymore.

 

[amper]

I've played most of my nearly 30 years of bass playing with only a tuner pedal. A few years ago, I decided to start using pedals. I don't need the pedals, but they are nice to have, as problem solvers and for sonic depth/variety.

 

[Oddly]

Back in my gigging days (mid-80's, pre-internet) I never used pedals...that was guitarist territory to me.
Since returning to bass...and discovering TalkBass, I briefly flirted with them...I've a pedalboard set up with a nice collection of Electro-Harmonix pedals...gathering dust under my bed. Decided I just prefer hassle-free simplicity. Right now, I use a Korg Pitchblack for tuning, and that's about it.
If my current band decides to cover some tunes that need it, obviously I'll try and accommodate it...We're thinking about doing Paul Young's 'Wherever I Lay My Hat', with Pino's awesome bass line, so that'd need some sort of echo/chorus.

 

[groovaholic]

I've been using pedals since Y2K, possibly a little longer.
Funny thing is that when I plug in at home, it's almost always straight into the amp (admittedly, plugged in via a Radial ABY so that I can play into both my amps at once...

 

[Doug P]

I’ll say no. Now on the albums I’ve played on yes. Mostly a chorus. I didn’t want some parts to be louder just a different “sound”. One song had a little bass “solo” as the song faded. It needed something I thought and ……. The other would be compression, used by the engineer / producer or anything else I might not remember. I’m not counting the items in my rack for live playing. Tuner, Tech 21 RPM, wireless system, Whirlwind Multi - Switcher, Power Conditioner.