More than 4 effects for Bass?

[Lo Ki]

I've always played Hard Rock/Metal and I usually play with some kind of OD pedal (currently Sansamp) & sometimes maybe an MXR Smartgate noise gate. We only play originals and I like to keep my sound simple. I've got a Zoom ms60b on the way as a 1 pedal replacement for both(we'll see?). When I read reviews, one of the main beefs was that it can only do 4 effects per patch which is actually a bonus for me, lol! To each their own, but it made me wonder how many effects do you use on average per gig?

 

[el murdoque]

Depends on the gig. In my current band, I have 4 pedals. Synth (C4), preamp with different presets (PBDDI), always on comp and reverb with two settings.
In a rock trio I'd have two dirt pedals (one for grind and one for full on) on top of the Sansamp and maybe some kind of modulation.

 

[bassbrad]

I play in several styles, most often in trios so that leaves me plenty of space to cover. Effects and sound design is a big part of my playing so folks expect me to bring the goods. Since I started on guitar and cello that is always an element of my bass playing. I also like to have a mix of sounds to keep things interesting for the listener, other players and to challenge myself. I also like the surprise factor that some effects can bring.
My plain sound is already two effects ( fender baseman & room reverb) feeding to my amp and any effects are usually a combination for example if using an envelope filter or octaver I'll follow that with a limiter or EQ to tame any peaks OR pitch shifter will add delay or doubler or distortion. The possibilities are really up to you as each combination is its own unique result.
For example below is my current jam board that has been going to a funk jazz thing. The 3 dirt pedals stack up necely OD > Fuzz > Saturated OD with filter pedals between and two very odd noise makers. That old Zoom is my anchor full of 40 tones that I have spent years designing from my basis sound to full madness and mayhem.

 

[warrplayer]

Long time B2 user... No offense Bassbrad, but you need to get you an MS-60b and reprogram all your sounds. Sure it might be a little scary, but the quality jump from the B2 is enormous.

 

[Lo Ki]

I play in several styles, most often in trios so that leaves me plenty of space to cover. Effects and sound design is a big part of my playing so folks expect me to bring the goods. Since I started on guitar and cello that is always an element of my bass playing. I also like to have a mix of sounds to keep things interesting for the listener, other players and to challenge myself. I also like the surprise factor that some effects can bring.
My plain sound is already two effects ( fender baseman & room reverb) feeding to my amp and any effects are usually a combination for example if using an envelope filter or octaver I'll follow that with a limiter or EQ to tame any peaks OR pitch shifter will add delay or doubler or distortion. The possibilities are really up to you as each combination is its own unique result.
For example below is my current jam board that has been going to a funk jazz thing. The 3 dirt pedals stack up necely OD > Fuzz > Saturated OD with filter pedals between and two very odd noise makers. That old Zoom is my anchor full of 40 tones that I have spent years designing from my basis sound to full madness and mayhem.
View attachment 4240845

I know it's not a Helix but I think I'm going to have a lot of fun messing around at home going through all those effects in the ms-60. Sweet pedal board btw!​

 

[Lo Ki]

Long time B2 user... No offense Bassbrad, but you need to get you an MS-60b and reprogram all your sounds. Sure it might be a little scary, but the quality jump from the B2 is enormous.

I actually came across the mb60 searching for a cheap buffered ABY box or stereo pedal so I could multi amp if I had to(sometimes we play outdoor/street fests)? I like the dual mono 'wet' outputs on the mb60. Since it already had the Sansamp/MXR 80 di models & the ZNR, I thought I'd give it a try especially at that price! Was looking at the B1 Four due to good reviews but it only has a single output...I think?

 

[Wasnex]

I generally don't use effects when I gig, other than EQ that is built into the amp or bass. I do enjoy playing around with effects and have a Pedal Train Pro that I put together in 2008. I have more pedal than will fit on the Pro.

EQ, compression, OD, Modulation based effect such as phase, flanger, or chorus. There's four. I would be careful about layering more than four; for example using two of the modulation based effects at the same time.

I often like to stack two or more drive pedals. In fact typically only use one of my OD pedals for stacking with other drive pedals. I prefer to stack multiple pedals at low gain, rather the use one pedal at high gain. IMHO this produces a more complex distortion with less fizziness.

I am also a big fan of dual channel processing, where you split the signal, process the two channels seperately and then blend them back into a composite signal. This is great for retaining the lows with heavier distortion sounds. Instead of running a pure clean channel, try a light OD and compression on one channel and heavier distortion the other channel.

 

[Afc70]

I recently put together my first pedalboard for several Iem gigs coming up- pretty minimalistic, but sounds amazing.. Korg tuner> Cali76 compressor>Phil Jones Pe-5> Khan tube Di. Incidentally, it sounds amazing with an amp too!

 

[vvvmmm]

Compressor + 2 dirts + a modulation (ex., envelope filter) + a modulation (ex., phaser) = 5.

Except I usually use the Pigtronix Envelope Phaser for that, so it's 4.

So, compressor + 2 dirts + a modulation (ex., flanger or phaser) + a chorus = 5.

So, mebbe I should try compressor + 2 dirts + Pigtronix Envelope Phaser + a chorus = 6.

And then add delay and reverb ...

 

[G On Bass]

4 plus a wireless receiver on the board.
3 OD - Ampeg Scrambler, TC Spark, Caline Wine Cellar. All very different sounds. Ampeg+WineCellar is a prety cool tone.
1 rarely used multi-mod pedal (Nux Mod-Core that has chorus/phaser/flanger plus a bunch of others stuff I'll ne'er use)

 

[cheapbasslovin]

The most I throw together for any single sound in my gig is 5 - volume into distortion into phaser into delay into a preamp for a volume swell pad- but mostly I use 3 or less. If I'm feeling experimental I'll throw a bunch together in a variety of series and parallel signals, but that stuff doesn't usually sit well in the context of an arrangement.

 

[kleinenenten]

When I had a band, I regularly used at least 5 - 3 types of dirt, a compressor, and an envelope filter. This doesn't count my tuner. I have 15 various boxes on my board - some are utilities and not effects, but it's been consistently in the 15 pedal range for years.

 

[Lo Ki]

I generally don't use effects when I gig, other than EQ that is built into the amp or bass. I do enjoy playing around with effects and have a Pedal Train Pro that I put together in 2008. I have more pedal than will fit on the Pro.

EQ, compression, OD, Modulation based effect such as phase, flanger, or chorus. There's four. I would be careful about layering more than four; for example using two of the modulation based effects at the same time.

I often like to stack two or more drive pedals. In fact typically only use one of my OD pedals for stacking with other drive pedals. I prefer to stack multiple pedals at low gain, rather the use one pedal at high gain. IMHO this produces a more complex distortion with less fizziness.

I am also a big fan of dual channel processing, where you split the signal, process the two channels seperately and then blend them back into a composite signal. This is great for retaining the lows with heavier distortion sounds. Instead of running a pure clean channel, try a light OD and compression on one channel and heavier distortion the other channel.

Yeah, I like to keep my sound bare minimum. I don't even like using a chorus and I'm lucky cuz the band I'm in wants a straight up sound with a little dirt. Still, it'll be fun to mess around and do my own research on the mb60

 

[Jeff Hughes]

Octave and volume swell sparingly. I have had delays and distortions, but I found that I was looking for times to use them rather than actually assessing whether the song needed the effect.

 

[Lo Ki]

4 plus a wireless receiver on the board.
3 OD - Ampeg Scrambler, TC Spark, Caline Wine Cellar. All very different sounds. Ampeg+WineCellar is a prety cool tone.
1 rarely used multi-mod pedal (Nux Mod-Core that has chorus/phaser/flanger plus a bunch of others stuff I'll ne'er use)

Yeah the guitarist and I always go wireless. We like to go into the crowd at certain times and rockout with the audience. Ive only been using an AKG wms40 I got used for $69. Despite the knocks on it, I've used it over 100+ gigs(seriously) large and small since 2014 & I've NEVER had a problem with it. That's why I never upgraded, 'if it ain't broke...'

 

[M0ses]

I bought a B3 a month ago and I am absolutely in love with it. It only does 3 effects at once but it has the feature set, including XLR output, that I needed to have. 3 FX is not that many when your\re using an amp model. But they have so much built in digital gain that you don't *need* to use one of the preamp models even if you're going direct. Great tones are not difficult to make even with two processors.

Things can get especially tricky if you're going for synthy sounds!
I have a patch that goes octave > filter > markbass and I definitely wish I could have a compressor in that chain. i could maybe get away with replacing the amp with a compressor. If I also wanted dirt/overdrive, no luck except for the opto comp...which is kind of a favorite, that'd probably be great, actually...

Wait, what are the downsides again? Nah I mean they even have the couple combined FX like distortion/comp, there's a signal processor in these units for every conceivable need I swear.

 

[BioDriver]

Depending on your definition of "effect," my baseline board would meet that criteria. I play ampless, so just running tuner -> compressor -> preamp -> monitor would put me on the line

 

[amper]

This many.

 

[Lo Ki]

This many.

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Hey gang, just wanted to let you know I'm not knocking the use of pedals, to each their own! When I play the 6 string I still use an old Digitech GNX3, lol! Nice Bass btw!

 

[thabassmon]

I can go from none to 8 {not including expression pedals or sequencer), depends on what I feel like playing. Pedals aren't necessary for me but they sure are fun.