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Lots of pedals
- Thread starter russpurdy
- Start date
In the end I think it comes down to them being professionals- they've made it big, they've mastered the specific tone they are going for, and with that comes the ability to master that tone using less equipment, therefore more efficiently.
In my opinion, as an engineer and someone who loves studying physics, math, etc., I tend to wonder if the laws of Thermodynamics apply to the signal in music. In thermodynamics, every time energy is transferred, you lose a little bit of it- thats called entropy. Perhaps there is entropy in the signal, the more pedals and cables you run it through, and this could be another reason that pro's want to use less, to save the signal? I don't know for sure I'm just taking a guess but it's just some food for thought.
In my opinion, as an engineer and someone who loves studying physics, math, etc., I tend to wonder if the laws of Thermodynamics apply to the signal in music. In thermodynamics, every time energy is transferred, you lose a little bit of it- thats called entropy. Perhaps there is entropy in the signal, the more pedals and cables you run it through, and this could be another reason that pro's want to use less, to save the signal? I don't know for sure I'm just taking a guess but it's just some food for thought.
Haji
Supporting Member
Doug Wimbish runs so many pedals that they're arranged in sections on stage, and he uses the signal from one to get a tone out of the next. If you've heard him play, you know how wild some of the sounds he gets are. If you wanna see it, Premier Guitars does a Rig Run Down of Vernon Reid and DW's set ups. The last thing DW says though, is "I am the effect. Unplug all this stuff...You gimme a microphone and...a toothpick, and I'm gonna groove somewhere."
Its funny this topic came up; I posted this quote to my bookface page this afternoon.
Its funny this topic came up; I posted this quote to my bookface page this afternoon.
Hmm. Please post links to the photo's you've been looking at so we can see them to and know which touring bands you're referring to and etc. Oh and Discuss.
Depends on the genre... best to keep it as simple as possible. Less hassles and less things to go wrong.
That said, I've always wanted to connect up a trigger (side chain a noise gate for example) so that a 10 Hz sine wave plays with every note... at this low frequency your can't tell what the note is... but you can sure feel it! On the other hand I've heard that they use these super low frequency sound cannons for crowd control during a riot. Makes people throw up, etc. I defenitely don't want to make listeners sick when I play! Okay... don't laugh! I opened myself up for that one didn't I!?!?! Anyway, that's the new pedal I want with a couple of 19" subs to go with it.
That said, I've always wanted to connect up a trigger (side chain a noise gate for example) so that a 10 Hz sine wave plays with every note... at this low frequency your can't tell what the note is... but you can sure feel it! On the other hand I've heard that they use these super low frequency sound cannons for crowd control during a riot. Makes people throw up, etc. I defenitely don't want to make listeners sick when I play! Okay... don't laugh! I opened myself up for that one didn't I!?!?! Anyway, that's the new pedal I want with a couple of 19" subs to go with it.
SirMjac28
Patiently Waiting For The Next British Invasion
This is a great subject I just looked at my pedal board and the list of all of the pedals I owned and it's stupid the amount of money I've spent chasing God knows what tone? I just got a tube amp and the tone is just sick I have yet to hook up a single pedal to it I'm going to be dumping just about my complete board soon.
Hmmm, I think it's a matter of the music being played.... for example, Chris wolstenholme from muse, he has a rather large effects setup and his bass tech controls most it. No issues with tone degradation. Paramores bassist has a bunch of pedals live coldplays bassist. Juan alderete.,. I could keep going, but a lot of touring bands might not have bassists that are heavy effect users??? A lot of touring bands have bassists that are heavy effect users. Apple's and oranges. Plus properly setup pedalboards wouldn't have signal loss IMO.
Travel freight is ridiculous for big tours, and there is limited space in the van/trailer for smaller tours. Troubleshooting and setting up gear every night is painful. Yet still, some bands still pack huge boards when their sound is defined by such things.
I feel for you man. And I think that if we were all honest with ourselves, we could probably dump alot of our pedals and not really be missing out on much. I for one know of 4 pedals I have that I could sell right now, probly get at least $80 for each and I would not really miss them much!
I've noticed that most touring pros change their strings after every gig, yet most of us weekend warriors leave them on much longer. Hmmm..
Strictly a numbers ratio game.
The proportion of mere-mortal-bassists who have small pedalboards to those mortals with extensive pedal collections is probably roughly the same ratio for the superstars who have small boards to those high-profilers with big boards.
The very fact that the question is posted in this forum dedicated to bassists and a sub-forum dedicated to pedals will give a skewed representation of what's actually going on out there. There are lots of WW bass players that have never heard of Talkbass, they simply go about their bassness with nary a thought given to other bassists' pedal obsessions, they find and use what pedals work for them just like the pros.
The more pedals I gather, the more I realise I don't want to haul such a big board. Luckily, my pedal requirements are confined mostly to home bass. Woe is me if I'm ever in a band I can use pedals in, my back'll break. My pedal GAS, like the universe, is ever expanding.
Oh, and one last thought, the pros "seem" to have fewer pedals on their boards because they do have fewer pedals on their boards
THE REST ARE BACK STAGE IN THE RACKS!
Bwah hahhhahahahahaaa...
The proportion of mere-mortal-bassists who have small pedalboards to those mortals with extensive pedal collections is probably roughly the same ratio for the superstars who have small boards to those high-profilers with big boards.
The very fact that the question is posted in this forum dedicated to bassists and a sub-forum dedicated to pedals will give a skewed representation of what's actually going on out there. There are lots of WW bass players that have never heard of Talkbass, they simply go about their bassness with nary a thought given to other bassists' pedal obsessions, they find and use what pedals work for them just like the pros.
The more pedals I gather, the more I realise I don't want to haul such a big board. Luckily, my pedal requirements are confined mostly to home bass. Woe is me if I'm ever in a band I can use pedals in, my back'll break. My pedal GAS, like the universe, is ever expanding.
Oh, and one last thought, the pros "seem" to have fewer pedals on their boards because they do have fewer pedals on their boards
THE REST ARE BACK STAGE IN THE RACKS!
Bwah hahhhahahahahaaa...
- Jan 27, 2010
- 4,141
- 471
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Genz Benz Amplification
Some guys have their techs run their effects from offstage. Some don't need more than a few different tones for their gig, or sometimes one tone covers it all. With most big bands the set list doesn't change the whole tour because the entire show (sound cues, lights, video, choreography) is planned to the last detail. So they only bring what they need for those tunes. Whereas I have pedals on my big board that I haven't stepped on in a month that are there just in case someone calls a song that needs it.
I think its more of a contextual thing. It depends on the style of music at hand. Many, if not all, of the bass players I looked up to when starting out still tour the world with copious amounts of effects. Guys like Juan Alderate, Jon Stockman, Justin Chancellor and Troy Sanders still use an array of effects today as they did when they were just starting out with their bands. Then again, these guys play styles of music that are very effects-heavy.
I was thinking the same thing, especially having a look at this guys cool blog the other day: http://otherbandsstuff.com/
Some bands on there that are not huge, but pretty big in certain circles, Dead Meadow and Melvins to name a couple. Most bass players boards on there seem to have pedals that are dismissed by aficionados on Talkbass for various reasons, "mid scoop", "too fizzy" etc etc. In fact most big name players seem to have simple or non-existent boards. Some of the complicated are: tuner, comp, preamp/DI with maybe some sort of "effect" like fuzz, chorus or whatever. Some guys just have a tuner. Makes you think...makes me think tone should come from good bass, good amp, good cabs and good player! Not twenty different overdrive pedals to get the ultimate "warm tube breakup"
Edit: And I should mention I'm not bashing anything or anyone. I'm a huge Tool fan, seen Justin Chancellor's board? I absolutely LOVE his tone and effects.
If someday I made it big , I'll make work my tech
Until then , my goal as a weekend warrior is to get a decent tone with a minimalist rig. I play in a couple of metal bands. I one of them I use a ME50B or a MS60B depending of the size of the gig. In my Helloween tribute band I just plug my active p bass to my amp and that's all.
I guess that after several years (almost 24 in my case) playing one knows what kind of tone is looking for and what kind of gear needs to get it.
My next purchase will be a decent preamp/DI for small gigs or gigs where I must play with another amp.
Until then , my goal as a weekend warrior is to get a decent tone with a minimalist rig. I play in a couple of metal bands. I one of them I use a ME50B or a MS60B depending of the size of the gig. In my Helloween tribute band I just plug my active p bass to my amp and that's all.
I guess that after several years (almost 24 in my case) playing one knows what kind of tone is looking for and what kind of gear needs to get it.
My next purchase will be a decent preamp/DI for small gigs or gigs where I must play with another amp.
- Sep 5, 2011
- 774
- 130
- Disclosures
- Uncompensated endorsing user: fEARful
In my opinion, an EFFECT is just to achieve a certain EFFECT, which is for me a temporary thing like a fill-in, a lick, a beat-change etc.
Those pro-boards you keep talking about are made for a certain style of music with not much a variation in sound. As the sound variation grows, so does the board (usually)
My board is growing and growing, but I tend to use effects like mentioned above. I have pedals on my board that I use in only one single song and if we don't have that song in the setlist, I carry the pedal along for no purpose.
I have an overdrive that I switch on for a couple of songs to get some more dirt because it fits the song, but most of the time I run clean into my amp. Do I need two WahWahs? Yes I do, although I use one of them in just two songs, but it makes a huge difference whether it is located behind or in front of an overdrive, and in one song I WANT TO have that certain WahWah-behind-the-fuzz sound, even if it is only for 3 seconds.
Those pro-boards you keep talking about are made for a certain style of music with not much a variation in sound. As the sound variation grows, so does the board (usually)
My board is growing and growing, but I tend to use effects like mentioned above. I have pedals on my board that I use in only one single song and if we don't have that song in the setlist, I carry the pedal along for no purpose.
I have an overdrive that I switch on for a couple of songs to get some more dirt because it fits the song, but most of the time I run clean into my amp. Do I need two WahWahs? Yes I do, although I use one of them in just two songs, but it makes a huge difference whether it is located behind or in front of an overdrive, and in one song I WANT TO have that certain WahWah-behind-the-fuzz sound, even if it is only for 3 seconds.
I think there are a few answers to this question. First, bassist hired to be a side musician are not going to need much outside of compression and maybe an EQ. The same goes with a rock band gig; maybe you need an overdrive. For big touring acts who need expansive boards, most of the pedals are actually rack mounted backstage and the artist is using controllers and expression pedals onstage.
People with modest boards on here perhaps don't feel the need to post a picture of it, while people that have put in the time and effort to create a massive board post theirs regularly.
Also, if you're in a touring band you're less likely to keep messing with your setup and just keep it simple.
Also, if you're in a touring band you're less likely to keep messing with your setup and just keep it simple.
If you're talking about original acts it's likely because they know exactly what effects they need to do their songs. So they put only that on their boards. Seems like most guys run a tuner + 3-4 other pedals and then a DI of some sort. Even in genres like stoner, doom and psychedelic rock. The bassists tend to keep it pretty simple.
