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Just one effect... which one?

if you're playing direct, I'd get a good DI, but the definition of "good" would depend on your budget. A Tech21 NYC BDDI is the classic choice. If you're doing worship music, that might be all you need, but I would add a tuner. I would recommend a Sonic Research Turbo Tuner. A few bucks more, but fast, stable tuning even on the B string. After that the options become nearly infinite as it would really depend on what songs you're playing, if there are any signature bass sounds in those songs, etc. I would also recommend a compressor if your sound person isn't compressing the bass. If they are, maybe a limiter to keep any nasty spikes from hitting the PA.
 
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if you're playing direct, I'd get a good DI, but the definition of "good" would depend on your budget. A Tech21 NYC BDDI is the classic choice. If you're doing worship music, that might be all you need, but I would add a tuner. I would recommend a Sonic Research Turbo Tuner. A few bucks more, but fast, stable tuning even on the B string. After that the options become nearly infinite as it would really depend on what songs you're playing, if there are any signature bass sounds in those songs, etc. I would also recommend a compressor if your sound person isn't compressing the bass. If they are, maybe a limiter to keep any nasty spikes from hitting the PA.
Thanks for the tip
 
I’ve lost track of all the individual pedals that have come and gone. That was my big pedal take away, they come and go.

Buy used, and recycle through the TB classifieds. Catch and release.

The one pedal I keep, and I’ve auditioned five or six other compressors, is the Ovnilab Smoothie. It’s won it’s position time after time going head to head with the latest and greatest.

Otherwise, I use a Zoom B3 or the Line6 HD500x as my practice station.

I’ll pile on with the suggestion that a decent multi effect will let you do all the fx exploration you can stand and then some.

The Zoom B3 wins our for ease of use and a very nice looper and beats. The looper on the B3 can count you into a rhythm pattern. Very cool feature.

The HD500x is more powerful but much more complicated, often to frustration.

One last keeper is my Beat Buddy, kind of a hybrid pedal drum machine. Excellent fun.

A used B3 or B3n should run around $150.
 
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...A carrot. No but seriously, probably my Seymour Duncan Studio Bass Compressor would be my only choice if I had to pick just one from my collection. However, if it's an actual "effect" I would probably say either a chorus or octave. Too many good ones to list with those.
 
I also bought a...TC Electronic BH550, the beauty of which means that through the Toneprints I have been able to experiment with different effects...

I did this same thing. Besides the built-in effects (Toneprints) on the BH550 amp, I have separate compressor and HPF pedals. I find those and the footswitch to mute the amp and turn amp Toneprints on/off has been enough for now. There are compressor Toneprints, but having a seperate compressor pedal let's me use the Toneprints for OD, phaser, octave, chorus, or one of the other many Toneprints. Not only that... less to carry. :thumbsup:
 
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Does the C4 have a tuner built in

It does not. But an inexpensive headstock tuner would do you just fine if you don't want to add a tuner pedal.

Are we talking about the Source Audio C4 synth pedal?

Indeed.

thanks....i've been on the fence about getting a C4 and now after 5 people recommended it as their "one" pedal, i bought one just now.

Something to keep in mind about the C4 is that it can also load the Source Audio Spectrum patches from the Neuro Community as well. So think of it as a synth pedal with lots of other candy.

5sg.
 
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Something to keep in mind about the C4 is that it can also load the Source Audio Spectrum patches from the Neuro Community as well. So think of it as a synth pedal with lots of other candy.

is there another pedal you can attach to the C4 to select all the patches and switch tones while playing? looked like it in the video i watched.
 
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Other than a tuner, I only have 3 other pedals. My compressor is on 100% of the time, my light overdrive pedal is on about 25% of the time, and my octave pedal gets used about 5% of the time. There’s no other type of effect that I really want.
 
yes...i have yet to find a synth or envelope filter i like and have heard good things about the C4 synth, so i pulled the trigger.

Ah, cool, that's a pedal that I would have very little use for and wondering if there was something else that I was missing. Different strokes/folks. I guess the best single pedal for me would be an Eventide H9. A lot of versatility, but its age has me hesitant.
 
Most important is a tuner. Next most important is an eq pedal - in my case, I have 2 boards; one has a Bass RC booster, the other an Orange two stroke (a couple parametric bands).

Next up is a low pass filter - it lops off a bit of the top so a treble boost doesn't bite so much. You can also think of it as a vairiable cab sim - it helps a lot if you add the next category of pedal, which is an overdrive. Which overdrive? That depends entirely on what the sound is in your head.

Lastly, real "effects" - on one of my boards, I have a Boss Oc-5 octaver. The other board has a TC mini corona chorus.

I laso have Radial Pro DI's on both my boards - makes hooking up to the PA a consistent thing. Is that a "pedal"?
 
is there another pedal you can attach to the C4 to select all the patches and switch tones while playing? looked like it in the video i watched.

There are a number of MIDI controller options that let you access all 128 presets... Something as simple as a [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] would work, but you'd need some form of USB host adapter (like their [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]). The Morningstar MC6 has been on my list for a while for a small board (Stomp, C4, DI), and that does NOT need a USB host adapter, it can do it natively. They also introduced the MC3 recently as well. The Morningstars are much more capable... you can send up to 16 commands per switch, and you can even program them to send when you press and/or release the switch.

I'm currently using my iPad to control my board, connected to my board via USB/Apple Camera Adapter (iPad > HX Effects or HX Stomp via USB > MIDI cable to Source Audio Hub > Hub cables to C4)... I use ForScore for charts, so I can program in MIDI commands there to automatically change my board when I bring up a chart, or I also use MIDIPad to control things "manually."

They're big threads, but you could hit up the Source Audio Sorcerers and Source Audio C4 threads for more info. TONS of info/discussion there.

5sg.
 
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Ah, cool, that's a pedal that I would have very little use for and wondering if there was something else that I was missing. Different strokes/folks. I guess the best single pedal for me would be an Eventide H9. A lot of versatility, but its age has me hesitant.

It's older, but it's still a gold standard. There's a reason people have two on their boards. But if I were shelling out that kind of $, I'd get a(nother) Stomp instead. Like you said though... different strokes for different folks!

5sg.
 
It's older, but it's still a gold standard. There's a reason people have two on their boards. But if I were shelling out that kind of $, I'd get a(nother) Stomp instead. Like you said though... different strokes for different folks!

5sg.

I wish there were an M5 style Stomp. I really only want one effect, but I know that the power requirements wouldn't allow for a small enclosure for any of the Helix series. I have a Stomp, but it doesn't get a lot of use. I probably should just suck it up and get the full blown Helix.
 
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