Let's make a list: Magic tone sweetener pedals.

[pfschim]

for the past 6 years or so this is my sweetness signal chain:

Cali76CB => Phat Phuk B (light boost, below OD level) => VT Bass (with pretty mild drive and EQ settings) => Noble DI (very modest EQ use) => Mesa Walkabout (EQ pretty flat)

I used to use (and still own) a VT Deluxe. Loved that pedal, but when I was assembling the current board, I kind of realized I just didn't use the multi-input features of that box and I really needed the board real estate back. So thats where the std VT fits in.

my pedal board does have room for 2 other FX and currently I have a Mooer Tender Octave and an MXR Bass Envelope Filter but these are only used sparingly and not Always On.

I'm a very happy bass player with no tone shaping GAS at all since I put this board together.

 

[avi]

A Mogami or Bayou Cables cable: If it's not right at the output of the axe, no pedal is going to make things right for me.

I would expand on this a little. I would say your bass and amp should really put you in the ball park if not at the doorstep. Then cables etc. I have played everything I've been able to get my hands on for the last 30+ yrs and came back to the bass that did it for me when I was 17. Just snagged another one. So I'm good!
That all being said not everybody can afford a Boogie et AL. And everybody has differant demons in thier heads telling them what sounds good and what you could mix with cough syrup when your out of Bourban. (Whoops. Maybe that's just me)
So in the past I had a GK mb500 that I kind of loathed. I used a Tube MP (dirt cheap, just replace the tube with a boogie/gt) to try and warm it up. It helped. But ultimately it got sold. I like the Boogie Subway DI. In the past I also tried the Yamaha NE-1 bc I love parametric eq but it was just ok. I've alo tried the Aguilar DB 924 without much luck. I might try the DB again for my bass with Agi HC's though. Doesn't really need it. Maybe. The Spector preamps are known for that little bit of Grind. I like it but I also like the cleaner EMG BTS. I'm pretty no frills.

 

[bass12]

Xotic RC Bass Booster.

 

[DDXdesign]

Many of these are compressors and mine is as well, but the DOD Milk Box! It barely edges out the Accountant for my favorite compressor tone - just the right sweetening in just the right place.

 

[Bruiser Stone]

It’s not a pedal…courtesy my neighbor across the street: Deluxe Amplification Vitamin B-15 Bass Preamp DI

 

[johnk_10]

Had to check it out. Just ordered the 1970s' grey era. Looking forward to its arrival.

i think that you'll love it.

 

[ThinCrappyTone2]

I like the wampler ego mini comp as an always-on enhancer. Addsjust tge right amount of punch, and helps the bass sit nice in the mix.

 

[XXL]

Electronix Submarine MK2!

 

[MisticoRitualista]

Miura M2 Compressor/Limiter

 

[BarfanyShart]

My whole deal now is that I use a crossover to split frequencies at around 240 hz and send the high side through the DSM Humboldt Simplifier guitar amp sim. Then I can guitar-amp-like-tone-magic stuff to the upper frequencies, and sum the low frequencies back into the signal uncorrupted.

 

[CatOnTheBass]

Lightning Boy Audio 2020s

 

[Iristone]

One Control 360 preamp.
Theoretically should be a mid-scooper, but in practice it's more like expanding the bass and treble frequencies

 

[GwenOnBass]

VT Deluxe these days, mostly for the convenience of an all in one unit with speaker sim, clean + 2 types of dirt, and DI. And a second channel for doubling gigs.

+1
Your [singular personal pronoun] posts turned me on to this pedal years ago, and couldn't be happier with it. The VT Bass (plus a Broughton HPF) is truly all I need, and possibly a bit more than I need

 

[Jxff]

It's not a simple pedal, but I use Source Audio Ultrawave as this sort of thing.
It has a compressor (or two in stereo), hpf, lpf, 3 band EQ and another 10 band EQ. (And a bunch of other stuff)
I like to use all of the above for clean, but for "sweetening", I'll add one of the distortions to the preset and get just enough dirt to make some magic. (And usually add some lpf)
Another feature is using the expression pedal to add more dirt/fuzz/whatever is in the second channel.

I have had one for a while, but recently started using it more, it does a lot.

 

[tb-player]

I’ve now done 2 shows with nothing but a passive bass into Keeley Bassist Compressor into a Khan VTDI into
The PA
The Khan has no adjustments, just a magic box

I do the same, except I use an Empress Comp. The Khan is a magic box indeed!

 

[40Hz]

The Dry Bell Unit 67 - a pedalboard in a pedal.

The Supro Harmonic Tremolo - flip the switch to harmonic and set the rate to zero and use it as a simple sweetener.

The Barber Linden EQ as was mentioned by someone an earlier post.

The Southampton Fifth Gear v2 and the Ictineo.

The Aphex Bass Xciter - a real oldie sleeper pedal.

The Ovnifx Smoothie and Doc Lloyd Photon Death Ray - two excellent compressors that each add their own secret sauce to the mix.

The One Control Crimson Red, Silver Peg, and Blue 360 bass preamps.

Lounsberry Rupert preamp/overdrive.

Dunlop EP101 - or any one of a half dozen other preamp/boost pedals based on or duplicating the Echoplex tape echo preamp circuit. Putting your bass or guitar through an Echoplex with no repeats to get just its preamp vibe was a mainstay back in the mid 70s rock and progrock era.

 

[ImTheOnlyOne]

Kind of second your comment on the Drybell Unit67.

I would have sacrificed 30% of the tone and boost sweep for finer control to make it an "awesome at any setting" pedal. Then it could be more a sweetener than a shaper.

Magic box for guitar.

 

[J Wilson]

I would expand on this a little. I would say your bass and amp should really put you in the ball park if not at the doorstep. Then cables etc. I have played everything I've been able to get my hands on for the last 30+ yrs and came back to the bass that did it for me when I was 17. Just snagged another one. So I'm good!
That all being said not everybody can afford a Boogie et AL. And everybody has differant demons in thier heads telling them what sounds good and what you could mix with cough syrup when your out of Bourban. (Whoops. Maybe that's just me)
So in the past I had a GK mb500 that I kind of loathed. I used a Tube MP (dirt cheap, just replace the tube with a boogie/gt) to try and warm it up. It helped. But ultimately it got sold. I like the Boogie Subway DI. In the past I also tried the Yamaha NE-1 bc I love parametric eq but it was just ok. I've alo tried the Aguilar DB 924 without much luck. I might try the DB again for my bass with Agi HC's though. Doesn't really need it. Maybe. The Spector preamps are known for that little bit of Grind. I like it but I also like the cleaner EMG BTS. I'm pretty no frills.

For me, if a good bass through a good cable into a good amp ain't gettin' it, one or the other needs changing. Bass, good cable, plus good amp IS the ballpark for me.

To me, adding pedal(s) is even more opportunity to snowball into a train wreck I don't need. I will on occasion key in a chorus or flange for a certain color on a certain song, but personally I fail to see the point in bass combos or heads with lots of EQ that somehow need a preamp pedal or something else: In my experience I see guys EQ'ing their EQ, mixing in all kind of stacking problems between the bass and the amp. For me, the less, the better.

As always, I'm in favor of whatever you think it takes to help you make your best music. But I often see these posts with some guy with an active bass with 3-band EQ into a bass head I know has a ton of tone control(s) with a whole pedalboard in between, and they complain they can't get the tone out of all that, then wonder if different strings are the answer. Really?

Often it seems it's way too easy to go down a rabbit hole with all this. I prefer to skip it, and use the occasional color sparingly. It's not my experience that the new XYZ Wonder PreAmp pedal is going to suddenly fix everything, especially in line with more pedals. Just not me, but all I'm after is a big, strong, clean tone. Play enough crappy amps as I did early on, well, I've had all the distortion I never wanted already.

 

[JimmyM]

+1
Your [singular personal pronoun] posts turned me on to this pedal years ago, and couldn't be happier with it. The VT Bass (plus a Broughton HPF) is truly all I need, and possibly a bit more than I need

Darn shame they discontinued it. It really raised the bar for tube amp emulation.

 

[avi]

It’s not a pedal…courtesy my neighbor across the street: Deluxe Amplification Vitamin B-15 Bass Preamp DI
View attachment 4967445

This looks amazing! The 6sl7's were getting hard to find I thought.