This got me interested in knowing your band, is it anywhere online?
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Is Simple The Way To Go?
- Thread starter bassicallybob
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This got me interested in knowing your band, is it anywhere online?
I play bass, Taurus pedals, sing back-up vocals & run our lights with a foot controller.
I use the same setup when we play classic rock covers as I do when we play original metal.
Unfortunately there's nothing online, as we are all old, technologically challenged Luddites.
My setups/views on this has changed over the last 23 years of playing.
The first decade or so I was very much a bass straight into amp type of guy.
The second decade or so I had a similar setup to yours with a sans amp bddi or rbi, rack wireless and different amps.
the last few years it’s gotten more complicated but not too crazy. It’s not like I’m using some wild biamped or two amps in stereo type of setup. My sans amps have been replaced with Darkglass pedals. I do play in a gigging band, I don’t have a crew to move my gear, we play a lot of shows with national acts so I have to be able to turnover the stage quickly and I sometimes play on tiny stages so there has to be some compromise between going crazy and keeping it manageable. Like one of the things I do is limit my pedals for shows to what I can fit on my pedaltrain mini and power with my Cioks dc5. I have three pedals (shure glxd, Seymour Duncan studio bass compressor, and Darkglass Alpha/omega that I use religiously and never leave my board and the other two spaces on the pedalboard are occupied by pedals I use much less often and actually rotate in and out depending on the setlist so every pedal does get used on every gig. At the moment my pedaltrain mini also has a boss bass chorus and a Darkglass Duality fuzz but it’s also had delays, reverbs, and octaves on it ar times. I do find it kind of odd when I see people carry a massive pedalboard and not use half the pedals on it depending on the setlist. I don’t use bass heads anymore. Over the years I found the cost to buy and repair bass heads was pretty high and resale value of bass heads is terrible. My pedalboard goes to an Avalon u5 from there it goes to the PA and to a power amp and cabs which i think of more as a separate stage monitor rig than part of my sound. My little 4 space rack bag with the Avalon and power amp Is as simple if not simpler than any bass amp I’ve had. For example the Avalon i run with the eq bypassed and they both turn on with one switch on the furman power strip tucked in the back. When practicing at home I use the headphone out on the Avalon or the headphone out on my zoom q8 and my cabs either stay at the rehearsal spot or in my garage depending on what’s more convenient at the time; like if I have a band rehearsal before the next gig or where the next gig is. We rehearse 45 minutes from my house. Sometimes I’ll leave my cabs at the rehearsal spot and grab them on the way to the gig, other times it’s way out of the way to get them on the way to the gig.
Ric5
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I had a sansamp and didn't like it I sold it … years later I got another one tried it and I still don't like it.
So I go with this for effects
http://www.3dentourage.com/425/effects.htm
I love effects and am not sorry.
I've looked at some schematics for Sansamps, and they don't appear to be more than an EQ with a little bit of controlled distortion. I can achieve most of this just with my amp.
I keep it simple too. Just happens that I have 8 pedals between my amp and my bass.
But some people don't seem to get that you can use effects as effects, and not necessarily as tone shapers/enhancements/emulations. That's what I do. Most of the time, the only thing on is my compressor, which is set to compress very very little, just to slightly round up the tone. I only use OD, fuzz, phaser, octaver, envelope filter, delay and combinations of those when the song calls for it. To me, it enriches the song, especially in a power trio setting.
So yea, I keep it simple.
But some people don't seem to get that you can use effects as effects, and not necessarily as tone shapers/enhancements/emulations. That's what I do. Most of the time, the only thing on is my compressor, which is set to compress very very little, just to slightly round up the tone. I only use OD, fuzz, phaser, octaver, envelope filter, delay and combinations of those when the song calls for it. To me, it enriches the song, especially in a power trio setting.
So yea, I keep it simple.
Bryan R. Tyler
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The more pieces you have, the more pieces you have that can fail. That's a fundamental principle of engineering.
Some might even consider it an implicit benefit.
Nope. Your fingers will never sound like an envelope filter. If you’re in a situation where you need an envelope filter and you don’t have one, then you’ve engineered your board wrong- your lack of one is now a hindrance instead of a benefit. There’s no implicit good or bad.
Also, if people were so worried about the potential of gear breaking down at a gig that they would eschew a pedalboard solely for that reason, they’d be walking to gigs instead of driving. Oh, but what if you get a blister.....
Bryan R. Tyler
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It’s one of my favorite songs and a perfect example of how necessary effects are for certain pieces of music so I used it. But if you think the age of a song and how long ago they produced an album is a consideration for most bands… you haven’t had to play many covers
After 35 yrs I've finally realised that the audience don't give a hoot about the tone of the bass, as long as the overall sound is meaty, ie with some low end drone, their happy. So its ....bass, lead, amp, lead, speaker.....tuner?...I listen to which ever instrument is next to me and tune..simples.
Lol, it’s a cool song, tool is one of those bands where you don’t just call em out cause of complexity in arrangement. If they do call out a song it’s almost always sober cause that still gets radio time on some stations and it’s probably thier best know ln song. I did used to play opiate with a band 20 years ago tho. Fly by Lenny Kravits however would be a more likely call out and that envelope filter runs for the whole song I think.It’s one of my favorite songs and a perfect example of how necessary effects are for certain pieces of music so I used it. But if you think the age of a song and how long ago they produced an album is a consideration for most bands… you haven’t had to play many covers
As for effects I’ve run the gambit from none to a full board. I’ve decided I just like a tuner/amp/cab setup. There is a wide enough variety of sounds I can get from my hands that at one point I was carrying a board around and setting it up and using it for maybe one song so I just got rid of it. One less thing to carry and 58 less patch cables to worry about failing.
Alright, so let me just be clear from the get-go here, while I expressed my own love of a simple setup for my personal uses early in this thread, I am in no way an effects hater of any sort. However...
Surely there is an enormous amount of wiggle room between emulating "the numerous effects the bass uses in that song" and ruining the song as you stated.
Especially if it's just a jam.
Now, if you're in a Tool tribute band, then yes, effects-up, but even for a typical cover band that maybe needs to deal with a Tool request once-in-a... never, I'm going to question whether its worth it to be that prepared for any unlikely scenario.
Users should play what makes them happy - I know for a fact that I'd still rock out to and appreciate a band/bassist killing Lateralus where the bassist had no effects engaged.
Don't take me too seriously, especially this next comment (taking this argument to the extreme), but if you want to see a truly "ruined" Lateralus performance check this out.
Somebody give this guy some effects for crying out loud!
I used to play with a guitarist who was a purist. "Fingers, guitar, amp!" he would proudly declare, and make fun of my pedalboard.
But here's the thing; he did use a tuner. Not a pedal tuner, and not a clip on either, one of those little Korg things you plug into. Between songs he would create dead air unplugging from his amp, plugging into the Korg, and back again.
Besides which, his amp had clean and dirty channels, and reverb.
And, he was embarrassed about it, but he actually did use a pedal or two. One was an autowah and I think the other was a boost. He would wrap them in black tape and put them back by his amp rather than in front of his feet so no one would see them.
So thinking in terms of CIRCUITS he was using rather than where they were housed, his actual signal chain was NOT fingers -> guitar -> amp. It was fingers -> guitar -> [tuner] -> boost -> autowah -> overdrive -> reverb -> amp. And I haven't even included EQ. If he had all those circuits housed on pedals at his feet it would have been a pedalboard of four or five stompboxes. But it was really just aesthetics not to have them there.
The fact is that EVERYONE playing an electric instrument uses circuitry between the instrument and the speaker cone to create the tone that they want. Gain, EQ, etc. I don't know anyone who just plugs an instrument straight into a power amp. You may have a lot or circuitry or a little of it, but all of us have some of it. How much of that circuitry is in the bass, in boxes at your feet, or housed inside the amp head is just convenience and aesthetics.
How much you need (or want), as many have posted, is a matter of context and preference. If you're going for Jamerson, probably not much. If you're going for Chris Squire, you'll need a lot more of it. It doesn't make you a better musician to have it, and it doesn't make you a better musician not to. It's just tools when you need them.
But here's the thing; he did use a tuner. Not a pedal tuner, and not a clip on either, one of those little Korg things you plug into. Between songs he would create dead air unplugging from his amp, plugging into the Korg, and back again.
Besides which, his amp had clean and dirty channels, and reverb.
And, he was embarrassed about it, but he actually did use a pedal or two. One was an autowah and I think the other was a boost. He would wrap them in black tape and put them back by his amp rather than in front of his feet so no one would see them.
So thinking in terms of CIRCUITS he was using rather than where they were housed, his actual signal chain was NOT fingers -> guitar -> amp. It was fingers -> guitar -> [tuner] -> boost -> autowah -> overdrive -> reverb -> amp. And I haven't even included EQ. If he had all those circuits housed on pedals at his feet it would have been a pedalboard of four or five stompboxes. But it was really just aesthetics not to have them there.
The fact is that EVERYONE playing an electric instrument uses circuitry between the instrument and the speaker cone to create the tone that they want. Gain, EQ, etc. I don't know anyone who just plugs an instrument straight into a power amp. You may have a lot or circuitry or a little of it, but all of us have some of it. How much of that circuitry is in the bass, in boxes at your feet, or housed inside the amp head is just convenience and aesthetics.
How much you need (or want), as many have posted, is a matter of context and preference. If you're going for Jamerson, probably not much. If you're going for Chris Squire, you'll need a lot more of it. It doesn't make you a better musician to have it, and it doesn't make you a better musician not to. It's just tools when you need them.
I bought a compressor but I find that I don’t use it. Maybe it’s because the style of music I play is pretty mellow - no heavy slapping or attack that might require some compression. So, for me bass into amp works best.
I think you are a troll, that's my thought.
I plug straight into my amp, but I don't understand this attitude from some people that it's BETTER to not use pedals. There are just as many crappy bass players out there plugging straight in as there are using pedals. Using pedals doesn't make you better, but neither does NOT using them.
Oh, this again.
With the usual disclaimers (IMHO, YMMV, yadda yadda yadda) :
With the usual disclaimers (IMHO, YMMV, yadda yadda yadda) :
- "As simple as possible" (rather than just "simple") is the way I go, because I like to travel as light as possible. If the sound I hear in my head for a certain solo/passage during a song has envelope filter and octaver, I'm bringing an envelope filter and an octaver. Which leads to:
- No, it's not "All in the fingers". This statement is as false as "the earth is flat". I know it, you know it, everybody knows it. It sure is a VERY IMPORTANT part of the equation, but not ALL of it.
- Overusing effects is not the only way you can ruin a performance: Overplaying is another, along with poor time and countless others. I've seen plenty of "bass-cable-amp" guys ruin an entire show. The memory of an otherwise excellent bassist slapping his way through a country/bluegrass/folk set on electric bass comes to mind.
- I don't know how the heck you guys treat your gear, but in 20 years of playing I've never had a stompbox or a pedalboard lead fail on me. In between gigs, do you hire stilettos-wearing hippopotamuses to walk over your cables while your pedals tumble in the dryer? Joking aside, I don't think the probability of a pedal failure is any higher than amp failure (my personal stats are amp failure - at rehearsal, thank God : 1, pedal failure: 0). You can bypass a dead pedal and carry on. A dead amp usually throws a much larger wrench in your overall evening plans...so the "more things that can fail" point is kinda moot, IME.
- Used tastefully, effects can add a lot to a song. I personally never needed to use more than two at once, and I don't have an "always on" effect (compression doesn't count in my book). In fact, my bandmates usually get a big grin when I step on a pedal.
- I don't get the hate about pedals and effects, really.
Actually, I am a little surprised that this thread has been allowed to live for so long before being moved to effects... though I think this thread literally might be against the rules there ("no anti effects posts" I think is a sticky or written somewhere).
I'm a big fan of using the simplest setup possible for the users needs. What that means is to not have anything superfluous, as then it's just something additional that can fail.
The simplest setup possible for one user might be just a bass and an amp. The simplest setup for another might involve 26 pedals. As long as it's elegantly implemented, and with little waste, I can absolutely appreciate a big pedal board (even though it isn't for me personally).
I do find myself reading those big pedal board threads from time to time just to see the cool stuff that users are doing with them.
I think simple is the way to go. For me:
Bass to Shure GLX-D Wireless to Tonebone direct to P. A. I'm also getting ready to switch from my active to passive bass... that's really simplifying it for me
Bass to Shure GLX-D Wireless to Tonebone direct to P. A. I'm also getting ready to switch from my active to passive bass... that's really simplifying it for me
a one string bass with 7 fret and of course no volume or tone control that goes directly into a consol or speaker.
I'm one of the many crappy bass players that plugs right in. just the cable between my amp and bass (or direct into the pa). Since I'm pretty sure putting more things in there that would require my attention isn't going to improve my skills or the audience's experience I don't bother. I really like the simplicity of my setup and since we don't take requests (unless it's something we play already anyway) not having a specific tool in my bag isn't an issue. I'm not a purist, I'd just rather focus on riding my unicycle without having to juggle bowling pins while doing it, so if having that stuff provides a tangible benefit then have at it.
