How many Bassists use no pedals?

[Bass4Brkfast]

I have pedals to play with and experiment at home.
At a gig, I would not be opposed to using pedals if they are essential to the song. Otherwise, my preference is to keep it as minimal as possible: bass - cable - amp or di box.

 

[BassikLee]

Six

 

[bassfran]

A tuner and a high pass filter, no effects boxes.

 

[JimmyM]

I love effects pedals but the only ones I can usually find a use for are dirt and octaver.

 

[John Webb]

No Pedals.
I think my sound capabilities are superb.
Hot Rod P bass
Mesa D800+
2 Cabinets:
1-1260
1-2460

 

[darwin-bass]

I use pedals but no effects. Compression and EQ with maybe a HPF. Oh, and a tuner.

In my case they are all in my multi effects unit.

 

[micguy]

I've never used a pedal. . . . except for my Pitchblack tuner.
I really have no need for any of the things that pedals do.

I'm not arguing with you, but I think this approach, out of necessity, morphs in my world - I play all ampless gigs, so.... to get the sounds that most folks get out of an amp, I kinda have to use pedals - things like eq and a hint of drive here and there.

I also have a bigger pedalboard, for those rare gigs when I need things like an octaver or chorus, but mostly (90 percent of my gigs) I use pedals to make my bass sound like I think it should, not as "effects".

I never use a compressor - I think thats a borderline pedal - is it an effect or not? I'd bet we could argue about that for a good long time, but...let's not. ;-)

And yes, we all need a tuner.

 

[prndltech]

Yes. I run ampless everywhere now, so it’s a tuner, a compressor and a preamp on a nano board.

 

[WG Plum]

Oh yes, yes I do.

 

[lbbc]

I voted no....but I use a Shure GLDX16 wireless...if that counts, then yes!

 

[bigthemat]

yes but not a ton. I do have a preamp that's always on, but the rest are just for some color depending on the song, esp. when playing in cover bands

 

[ThinCrappyTone2]

I noticed when reading the amp setting thread that not many contributors mentioned pedals in the response which is interesting, as that is part of many signal chains when settings are discussed.

I recognize I am a dinosaur and can't comprehend the why of any pedals at all and have reported having younger players asking about my tones because they can't see any pedals on stage, but I am not sure the frequency question has been asked before.

It would also not surprise me to see pedals are age related meaning people who grew up in the 80's on wards? I saw my first pedal (apart from Wah pedals) in the 70's. it was a Boss Phase 90, (Guitarist pedal - Think Keep Yourself Alive/Queen) the orange one, but never saw any bass pedals until much later.

I like pedals. A lot

For live...

A few utility
• High/Low pass filter
• Compressor

Some are for fun
• Envelope filter
• Fuzz
• Reverb/Chorus

And a few pedals that don't influence the bass tone:
• USB/light pedal
• Clock pedal
• Tuner

I won't get into studio pedals. They're mostly for guitar and run the gamut.

 

[Lostgallifreyan]

No pedals for me, but I use an Oberheim/Viscount GM-400 so that just makes me a low down dirty cheating b'stard...

That said, I use it only to emulate a Hiwatt valve amp as best possible, with some EQ, and a bit of compression early in the chain. It can do a few things people might buy pedals for, but I don't use special effects, except maybe when I want to play the Doctor Who theme bass part, that calls for a stereo delay.

 

[Smith357]

Bass runs straight to the amp. I have a floor unit for my guitars but rarely use it. Right now it's powered up, but set as a tuner. I started playing in the mid 70s.

 

[Zbysek]

I usually use pedals these days

 

[Killing Floor]

I saw the title and threw up in my mouth but then I realized it’s just an honest expression of an opinion. Whew. Don’t want to live in a world without pedals.

 

[biobass]

How many bassists use no pedals? Thirteen hundred fifty-two.


Wait, no, that’s how many guitar-pickers there are in Nashville.


I have a pretty full complement of pedals. Honestly, I hardly ever use them for bass.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Effects usually get lost in the mix. I use a DI, a tuner and most of the time, a compressor. Occasionally I'll use my octave and I have a fuzz onboard, mostly because there was a space where a mini pedal could fit and the JHS Mini Fuzz Foot filled the space.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Depends on lots of factors, including my mood. I never always use them, and I don't always never use them.

 

[Pings Bass]

I have a doubling rig that has a line switcher and a tuner. I also have an always-on HPF and an EQ for the standup. But no "effects" to speak of.