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How many of us use no effects?

#62
I experimented with a wah and a couple synth pedals in the heyday of the funk band. Very rarely got the kind of results I wanted.

These days I'm more preoccupied with digital effects, as in the kind you get with your fingers. If I ever get that down, I might once again turn to external units.

In the meantime, I'm kind of enjoying the simplicity of running straight in to the amp. For the most part, I'm just too lazy to set up all that extra stuff on every job. :D
 
#63
For the band I'm in, effects are called for. I usually use heavy chorus, sometimes delay and reverb, and occasionally even tremolo for a couple of very brief moments. The bass role I play in the band isn't solely the traditional role.

But outside the context of the sort of music this band does, I prefer to use no effects.
 
#64
5-lowb said:
Effects are for people how can't play bass :)
Click to expand...

Of course, the other way to look at it is that plugging straight in is for people who can't figure out how to play with effects...

Aside from a 2-day flirtation with a chorus pedal when I was 16 (it was the '80s, OK?) I've never played with any modulation or time-based effects. I've always used a dirt pedal though, which I figure is fair enough since guitarists can use their amp gain to switch between clean and dirty, and I can't.
 
#69
It all depends on the type of music.

If I was playing boring I-IV-V white-guy blues music, I wouldn't need effects either. Some many styles of music don't require effects, others do.

One band I play with is just bass/drums/vocals. My bass needs to cover a lot of ground. Can't do that with a straight up bass sound.
 
#70
I started palying bass at 13 (29 years ago). I really wanted to be Chris Squire when I grew up, so I saved up for a few years and bought a Ric. I never had any money to buy effects! Besides, I love the sound of a bass played clean.
 
#71
Jaco who? said:
The "real bass players don't need effects" attitude gets old, but I can see how you could get that way after looking at so many 16 year olds with Fender rumble combo amps and huge pedal boards. It kind of makes me wonder how you can ever perfect your tone if you never learn what fingers can or can't do?
Click to expand...

I was a no effects guy up until recently... about the same time I started using TB :ninja:, and I still can't get my fingers to sound like an envelope filter. Can you help me?


dmusic148 said:
Effects are not 'for' people who can't play. But there's no doubt that an awful lot of folks who can't play do use them. I don't currently use any.
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There are allot of people that can't play that don't use them- i.e. Every kid who got a starter pack and then just shoved it into a corner and forgot about it. It would seem to me that buying and using pedals shows a definite interest in playing.


Beyer160 said:
Of course, the other way to look at it is that plugging straight in is for people who can't figure out how to play with effects...
Click to expand...

Win.

I have a friend who will only play acoustic guitar, because acoustics don't hide poor technique, they amplify it. So, by that impenetrable logic, everyone who doesn't play DB sucks and is just hiding that fact through amplification.
 
#75
Lefty Geek said:
It all depends on the type of music.

If I was playing boring I-IV-V white-guy blues music, I wouldn't need effects either. Some many styles of music don't require effects, others do.

One band I play with is just bass/drums/vocals. My bass needs to cover a lot of ground. Can't do that with a straight up bass sound.
Click to expand...

I have played I-IV- V music all my life and have not found it boring at all. I don't know what being white has to do with it.
 
#76
Considering adding a Digitech for some chorus and reverb, and volume pedal but haven't had the nerve to try it live yet. At a rehearsal I kept stepping on the fricking pedal inadvertently changing the sound and it was annoying, so IF I am going to use one eventually I am going to have to work out some stage placement.

-richard
 

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