How many Bassists use no pedals?

[JohnnyChatter]

I use a tuner/mute pedal… I have tried almost everything and some sound great but as soon as I play on a band I feel like I get lost in the mix with most pedals or you can’t hear the effect with distorted guitars covering it.

 

[Rocket Queen]

...but mostly (90 percent of my gigs) I use pedals to make my bass sound like I think it should, not as "effects".

Honestly curious here, but if you build your own basses, can't more of that sound you want be baked in or put on-board when you build it?...

 

[bassliner50]

Not for traditional jazz.

 

[Blue Moose]

Another "yes and no" here. I use a VT pedal, but only to make my amps sound like I would want them to without the pedal. But in terms of effects, none.

 

[micguy]

Honestly curious here, but if you build your own basses, can't more of that sound you want be baked in or put on-board when you build it?...

If I put it in the bass, it's in there for good - it's a bear to change. If it's in a pedal, and I want a slightly different flavor, I change a pedal on the board. I also have never seen a 10 section parametric eq with a high pass and a low pass in a bass preamp. I have one on my board, and it has eq presets set up for different basses. There are a lot less limits on things if you use pedals than if you put something in a bass. And then there's the issue of having multiple basses - one pedalboard is far easier to maintain than the electronics in multiple basses.

 

[JMacBass65]

Does a Boss tuner pedal count? I think not so voted "no".

 

[Muttleybass]

No pedals at the moment, and haven't for years. I believe once you get a good tone, don't mess with it. That said, sometimes it'd be nice to fill out the sound as a trio... get that keyboard sound. If I ever did, it would be overdrive, synth, autowah and octaver.

 

[iriegnome]

43+ years playing. No pedals.. No need for them..

 

[Marko 1]

No pedals, but...

My bass head provides, of course, a Preamp, EQ, and DI,

but also Amp Modeling, Tuner, Presets, Compressor, and some Effects.

Honestly, I can use any regular bass head without all the extra features.

I do have a floorboard to match this head that controls the four presets, an expression pedal, and tuner, but I opt not to use it.

 

[Korkimann]

I only use a Sansamp preamp and on the rare occasion a Boss guitar distortion. It gets pretty toasty stacking the drives but I am usually using just the preamp.

 

[drumvsbass]

For corporate/cover gigs, not in a very VERY long time. For solo bass gigs... uhhhh....

 

[GroovyBaby]

Tuner, Keeley comp, Genzler 4 on the floor, Tech 21 Q strip. Nothing fancy, and I could live without

 

[lordradish]

I am at both extremes. I do soundscapes on a 6 string with a huge stereo board with about 15 pedals, but when I'm doing the regular bassist thing, I hardly ever use any. Maybe an occasional envelope filter pedal, but that's it.

 

[ebo]

Never used pedals until very recently. I blame you guys. Mostly always on DI and compressor, and tuner. A couple others for the occasional song. Could absolutely do without, but I could also gig with just the pedalboard and no amp so there’s that.

 

[mcrawfordmusic]

I moved away from pedals a few years ago.

I prefer a really simple rig when playing live, and pedals were a distraction on stage more than they were a benefit to my tone.

I do keep an old OC-2 and a SansAmp around for recording.

 

[juancaminos]

I haven't used anything in years. However I did try using an old Korg Tone Works AZ30B in an attempt to brighten up the sound of my Ibanez EUB. I wasn't real successful.

 

[JonathanPDX]

Every post these days is either "I don't use this thing please tell me you don't use it either" or "I love using this thing please validate me by saying you use it too."

 

[willsellout]

I use pedals and I like them. Mostly dirt pedals but I also dabble in some other effects. I find them inspiring and the dirt pedals are kind of indispensable for my sound.

 

[jdh3000]

If one likes say, the compression or eq in a particular pedal better that that in a one’s amp, why not use it? You don’t have to use a full board to get some good out of using a pedal.

Everything is an effect; the tone knobs on the amp or the bass, the type of strings we choose, etc…

I played for years without pedals, then discovered a parametric eq in the form of a pedal that ended many of my challenges of dealing with a boomy room, later came a high pass filter, preamp, and compressor. I’ve used envelope and phaser but my utility pedalboard always goes with me.

If my amp goes down during a gig, my preamp/DI will carry on through the sound system.

If you have a great amp you love that does everything you want or need it to do, then a pedal wouldn’t be appropriate. However if you find you need something the amp cannot deliver, why buy a whole new rig when one pedal could fix it?

Do what works for you!

 

[pcake]

when i gigged, i never used pedals. at home when goofing around, i occasionally do play with one or another...