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How many Bassists use no pedals?

Do you use bass pedals?

  • Yes:

    Votes: 443 47.3%

  • No:

    Votes: 494 52.7%
  • Total voters
    937
#121
Context matters. I play in an original rock trio. Everything on the board is there to make the sound more expansive, as there's a lot of sonic ground to cover. In the end, it's about what works for you and the song. I'm certainly not a purist. But I'm not gonna cram effects into a song because I have them.

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The BC-1x and BDDI are always on. These make up my base tone and are just as important to the signal chain as the instrument, amp, and cab.
The Aria only gets used with my Mustang, so the compressor sees a hotter, more middy signal like what comes from my Reverend.
Multiwave gets used in a few songs as an octave fuzz
DD6 is only in one song right now
LS2 is a clean boost for a bass solo in one song (yikes!)
Not sure if the SuperEgo will stay. We'll see how new material develops.
 
#122
WayneP said:
Pedals are a big “no” for me. With a rack I can make any needed adjustments while standing, not squatting. I'm 6" tall so it's a long way to the ground.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Pedulla Club #45 Unique Arrangements of Hymns, P&W Standards, and Original Tunes
Administrator, Official Tobias Club #133
Administrator, Fretless Club #943
Big Cabs Club #23
My Basses
My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly
Pedulla Club #45
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At 6” tall, I would think all you could reach is a pedal!
 
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#123
Other than preamps and a tuner the only type I’ve ever bonded with has been octave pedals, mostly to get low notes without going to five strings (I’m an upright player primarily.) Love my Aguilar Octamizer, but the 80s boss OC-2 I had was also excellent. I’ve messed around a lot with fuzz, ODs, envelope filters, reverbs and synth multi effect units but nothing has really stuck on the gig.
 
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#124
JimB52 said:
I can barely get my hands to do what I want them to. Adding feet into the equation could just cause problems
Click to expand...
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. :D
 
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#126
For the purpose of this question, are you asking about effects? Or are you asking about any pedals at all?

I went wireless a couple years ago, and my wireless receiver is in the form of a pedal. Last year I started using a HPF/LPF, which is also a pedal. Having two pedals made it worthwhile to get a tiny pedal board, even though almost half of it is empty, just for the convenience of setting up at gigs. But I don't use any effect pedals. (Not yet, anyway.)

Unless by "bass pedals" you mean something like Taurus Pedals. In which case, No, I don't use them, but I really wish I had a set.
 
#128
I have a small pedal board for bass, but the only pedals that I always use are the tuning pedal at the beginning of the chain (for tuning and muting) and the noise reduction pedal at the end of the chain (always on). The rest are just used for instances where they are called for, which is highly dependent on genre, specific song, etc. But in my current bands, 95% of the time it's just the noise reduction pedal that is switched on while I'm playing, and nothing else.
 
#130
I play heavy metal
So yes i do need some sort of effect pedal to have my bass tone stand out in the mix and add more nasty tones to the already filthy guitar distortions
However i now plug straight into a Darkglass amp and done, even before that i only use preamp pedals with build in distortion
I still don't really understand the need for bassist to have a huge pedal board, i mean, the bass itself is heavy enough to travel with isn't it
 
#133
I can bring a pedalboard to make most guitarists cry into their pillows when they get home.
I can bring a tiny pedalboard with the barest essentials.
I can bring an amp and a cab.

At the end of the day, it's about what the gig calls for.

Therefore, I view myself as vastly superior to those who only do bass + amp.
These poor people will have to pass on the job when the Band Leader says "I want you to bring your big pedal board and totally go nuts all night. I want different synths, I want shimmery reverbs, decaying tape echos, all kinds of overdrive, I want face melting fuzz sounds and modulation, lots of it!"
 
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#137
I typically use a tuner, comp and hpf into a di. My last gig the soundguy was rearrainging stuff and dropped the drum wedge on my pedalboard, smashing my di 5 minutes before curtain, so i ended up running direct to my head and using the di off the back. I was plenty capable of running that way, but honestly, I didnt have the usual stream of people asking how I get my sound, so the pedals certainly do make a difference.
 
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#138
I have all the toys in the form of a Zoom B6. Beautiful piece of equipment. However, it spends it's life on my desk as a practice interface. Granted that's only because I'm not doing anything these days that require any extra. But if I need chorus, flange etc...it's all right there.
 

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