How many of us use no effects?

[thumpbass1]

Bass is for people who can't play guitar.

I play lots of guitar and I've been told that I don't suck at it. Sometimes I gig as a guitar player! I happen to prefer playing bass as may fave intrument. Yeah, I'm weird that way.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I really admire alot of players who use effects extensively from Bootsy to Anthony Jackson to Will Lee to Chris Squire, but for about the last twenty or so years, I have pretty much given up on effects. The closest I come now is my Sadowsky preamp.

 

[Nyarlathotep]

LOL at least you posted this somewhere OTHER than "effects"

As for me, I'd be lost without effects. Whether its the "mojo" from my LPB or some dirt from my Muff'n, Grunge, or BSW, I gotta have something in there

 

[Honk'n_down-low]

My first ever pedal was the VT Bass Pedal from Sansamp. I just picked up a B2 to play with - just got it this week - so still learning how to use it.

I still typically like a clean sound with light compression - so Bass > Compressor > Amp. I do think some of the newer effect for Bass have come a long long way - but the pure sound of a Bass tends to always real me back in. The rest of the effect is simply where you play on the instrument the nuance of hand position and string attack and either dimeing it or rolling of some tone control.

All in all it is subjective and I just think that whatever floats your boat is cool - a lot more effects on Bass these days - I am just old fashioned.

 

[Muusers]

Wow, there's a lot of burning going on in this thread. Seriously, if someone decides to say, hey, i don't need effects to produce the sound i like, then let him be. If he doesn't want to or doesn't feel the need to use effects, so be it. On the other hand, if someone says, i need to use effects to produce the sound i like, then let him be.

The point is, you can't deny that there is a portion of the effect users (pedals, don't be anal about equalizing) that haven't fully explored the capabilities of a bass-cable-amp system. That's why i think that the "elitists" under us keep hammering on that you should try that first. This OFTEN, SO NOT ALWAYS, comes with that the players using all these effects are beginners and therefore are not the most skilled bass players out there and I think that's where the statement "effects are for bad bassists (or something similar)" comes from.

I personally choose not to use pedals because I love the sound I'm getting out of my setup, that said, I'm not excluding I'll never use pedals. So there

and before I forget, let me put on my flame retardant suit

 

[SteveC]

I use a compressor - BBE - and that's it. I don't think of it as an effect. If my amp had a compressor and tuner built in, I wouldn't need anything.

 

[Swift713]

OK, so you guys know those cave paintings at Lascaux? Those guys had it all wrong. They should have exhausted the possibilities of black and white before they moved on to color. Know what I mean?

 

[Ampeg SVT]

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...

That is true in my case, also I am too lazy to be using a lot of effects. I am only using compression and soon a Sansamp.
Some of the things done with effects are great.

 

[Tao4Now]

I've been playing for two years, and I'm still working on mastering all the different sounds to be had from my hands, my bass(es), and my amp.

Once I have those down, say in about a decade or so, I might try an effects pedal.

 

[Blues Bass 2]

No effects for me. I think they are cool but I just like the tone of my bass the way it comes out of my amp and how it fits into the music with my band. I've thought about trying some someday but I guess I'm just too lazy and like what I hear now.

 

[B-string]

After being here a short while I am amazed at how insulting some responses can be

 

[CPplaysBASS]

LOL at least you posted this somewhere OTHER than "effects"

That's the mistake I made once ... four things in my defense that got lost while I was getting BBQ'd on here though;

1) I was seeing a lot of posts from people with low quality amps who were asking which was better ... this $250 pedal or that $250 pedal.

2) I have a bass and amp that does sound beautiful "naked", without any effects.

3) I was trying to find "magic" while using a slew of Digitech pedals ... just me personally, but I just always ended up unplugging it all and going directly to the amp and concluding I'd never get pedals again.

4) Still, I was recently convinced that there was untapped magic in "compression", and there undoubtedly is for a lot of you, but the $200+ Keeley C4 Compressor I bought and re-sold was a very frustrating experience.

Still, there's a specific song I'm working on now that I knew chorus would sound awesome on. I wasn't going to get that sound from my amp. Also in a cover band I'm in, we do The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go" ... the bassline sounds fine direct to the amp, but to do it right, you need raunchy fuzz that isn't going to come from my Genz Benz GBE 600.

Last week I decided to get a EBS Unichorus and EBS Multidrive ... this time, I had specific reasons in mind instead of just a general quest for better tone. I'm overjoyed with the sounds I get from them. Absolutely ecstatic!!

The difference is, these pedals are adding to what is already an awesome tone ... simply adding an effect that contributes greatly to the feel of the bassline, without changing my fundamental tone. The pedals are the salt and pepper ... not the main meal in my setup.

So to each their own, but just wanted to share the point of view of someone who was firmly in the "no effects" camp, but is now loving the added expression I can inject in certain songs that would not be possible without pedals.

Is simply a tool to enhance what is already there, and if you're using them properly (and have the right effects for what you're trying to do), it opens a lot of doors you wouldn't be able to open otherwise. Plus ... it's a lot of fun!

 

[CPplaysBASS]

OK, so you guys know those cave paintings at Lascaux? Those guys had it all wrong. They should have exhausted the possibilities of black and white before they moved on to color. Know what I mean?

Love that analogy and I'm impressed you only took 4 sentences to get to the essence of what I was trying to say above in the "book" I wrote!

 

[Dave-in-TN]

No effects here... Maybe if I had some, it would cover up my lame playing Just kidding! I prefer straight through.

 

[Jared Lash]

I play lots of guitar and I've been told that I don't suck at it. Sometimes I gig as a guitar player! I happen to prefer playing bass as may fave intrument. Yeah, I'm weird that way.

That was just a little sarcasm. I've stopped trying to fight ignorance with rationality and just started fighting it with more ignorance. Because that's what it is. There really isn't any difference between someone telling me that effects are for bassists that can't play and someone saying that bass is just for guys who can't hack "real" guitar.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I played bass for five years before I first used effects. I've carefully made sure my board was devoid of tone suckers (or that pedals I used with a bad bypass were in a true bypass loop) and even used a splitter to compare the tone when going through my effects to my tone when running straight from bass to amp to make sure I wasn't hurting my clean tone.

So I can play with a great clean sound from my bass and amp and I can vary my attack to create different tones just as someone who doesn't use effects. But I also have a board full of options to expand my palette if that's what the music calls for. Where's the downside?

That said if the gig doesn't require effects I don't try to jam them in. It's all about serving the music. In one of my main gigs (pianist/singer, drummer and me) I initially went bass-cable-amp and have only begun using effects in the songwriter's song when she encouraged it. Another gig is a RHCP tribute where I only use a few effects (2 filters, fuzz, OD) to match what was on record. When doing hip-hop stuff with a local DJ/turntablist collective I'll use a few more. And in my dub/electronica band that is just getting off the ground I use a whole pedalboard full of them because that's what it calls for.

Really, this discussion is no different than 4 strings vs ERB, flats vs rounds, fretted vs fretless or even fingers vs pick. Use the tools you want or need to do your job and have fun doing it. Period.

 

[Brad Maestas]

I'm a straight wire kinda guy. I used to spice things up with effects every so often but I no longer use any effects unless it's specifically called for. Even then it's usually just an octave pedal.

I remember when I first started out I got an Ibanez bass multi-effects pedalboard. It was awful!! It was fun to mess around with in the basement but on a gig, I MAYBE used the chorus once. Later, I got into the ART Nightbass SE with the whole X-15 foot contoller and everything. Ridiculous waste, it was. Pretty high-tech for the time but practically useless on regular gigs. Later still, I abandoned the multi-effects units and moved on to individual pedal effects like the EBS Octabass and the Haz Labs Q-Tron II.

I still have a nice little sampling of pedals but I hardly ever use them on gigs. Last year I had a gig that called for a synth sound so I pulled out my EH Bass Synth. Other than that, I plug straight in and let my fingers do the work. It's bad enough having a wire between your instrument and the amp!

 

[fullrangebass]

There in nothing wrong with using pedals and effects. It's just that I don't use any.

 

[Jools4001]

I didn't start the thread as an anti-effects rant, I've used them before and I'm sure I'll use them again at some stage.

I don't choose to play straight into the amp because of some high and mighty purism, or the notion that I am a superior player because of it.

The music I play doesn't really need effects right now, the last time I really used an effect was an OC2 on my fretless when my band used to cover "tear your playhouse down" - so you can see how long ago it was.

To be honest, when I do use effects I don't think I use effects subtley enough to sound musical so they don't really work for me, just curious as to how many other people

 

[joegeezer]

None for me. I for one, care for them less.

 

[JimmyM]

My not wanting to use effects is not out of an snobbery or lack of respect for people that do use effects, but I get fed up with carrying the rack and pedal board around. But that the same reason, I'm now looking for a compact head - laziness!

But hey, when you've just got out of hospital from a hernia op due to lugging PA around every week, that's what seems important!

Dude, there has never been a better time in musical history for hernia patients! Solid state is finally at a level where it can compete with tubes, and transformers weigh a fraction of what they used to weigh. You still can't get big sounds out of little cab boxes but you can at least get bigger sounds than you used to and you need less of them. I know a guy who just eliminated 3 big rolling racks worth of effects with a digital board and a laptop. ANd he says his amps are next. So don't let that hernia get the best of you, my friend...just throw money at it!