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Most useful effects live

sethlow3

sethlow3

Jun 19, 2003
2,384
1,016
Nashville, Tennessee
#1
I was wondering what are the most useful effects that you have stuck with live? This is for players who have used effects for at least 5 years. What have you stuck with and used a lot live, regardless of style, band etc...?

For me so far it's Chorus and Fuzz. I am debating on going with compression, phasers, freeze, loopers, octavers, etc... but can't quite settle on what I would use the most. I am very much leaning on a boomerang III for home use and maybe even getting creative live. Any suggestions or stories welcome!
 
#5
The only thing I'd be worried about with octavers and filters is that they can totally blow speakers. I had a 3leaf and it had too many loud peaks for my liking no matter what setting I put it on. I would think an accidental low B through an octaver would destroy a set of speakers. So would a comp be a must to pair with em?

It seems more and more I hear about most bass players using comp its' not just for slappers, it's for peaks. Keeleys look nice!
 
#12
sethlow3 said:
The only thing I'd be worried about with octavers and filters is that they can totally blow speakers. I had a 3leaf and it had too many loud peaks for my liking no matter what setting I put it on. I would think an accidental low B through an octaver would destroy a set of speakers. So would a comp be a must to pair with em?

It seems more and more I hear about most bass players using comp its' not just for slappers, it's for peaks. Keeleys look nice!
Click to expand...

Flip the feedback switch down!
 
#16
sethlow3 said:
I am debating on goin with compression, phasers, freeze, loopers, octavers, etc... but can't quite settle on what I would use the most. I am very much leaning on a boomerang III for home use and maybe even getting creative live. Any suggestions or stories welcome!
Click to expand...


I would say Compression is more of a "tool", than an effect.
If that makes any sense.
I have mine (on my head) set it and forget it.

Now that I re-read that ..it looks like im wearing a compressor pedal on my head, which I assure you is not the case.
I meant on my amp head. ;)
 
#18
Comp/sustainer and overdrive as the two essentials for the last 30 plus yrs. Eq section as add to this for the last 25 plus yrs. Ring mod as 4th esential tone tweak for the last 6 plus yrs. But thats just me. I have enjoyhed occassional use of phaser, echo/delay, or chorus once in awhile for the past 30 plus yrs to. But theyre not a constant like the others are. A little bit of room reverb for room ambience for the past ten or so yrs also. But this a result of switching to procesor to recorder or Pa system for voice thats fully ready for recording without need for micing anything.
 
#19
Jacob J said:
Chorus and Synth. I had EHX Bass Micro Synth, but using 2 or more sounds live is difficult, so now I´m saving funds for MarkBass Super Synth (programable, and also has an octaver). For my electro-pop band are these 2 types of effects the most usefull ones. Also I´d like to try delay...
Click to expand...

that's funny bc the whole reason I got into effects is that I was told I NEEDED a synth pedal for some 80s synth pop. I read on here to try a cheap mix of chorus, fuzz, and octave. I have a digitech bass chorus, bass muff, and have yet to get an octaver. This was after a ton of research I did on synth pedals. It came down to 3. The Octavius Squeezer looked cool, but got mixed reviews and was EXPENSIVE! I love EHX so far, why did they make everything programmable in it's price range except the bass MS? I'd have to put the pedal on a table and tweek it all the time live. The markbass one also caught my eye, but there are mixed reviews on here, there are quite a few used ones on guitar center etc.. (returns), and it's a little pricey. It looks cool though.

It seems more and more to me that a synth maybe is done best on an actual synth like a microkorg or alesis mico synth. It's just a matter of learning. What do you guys think?
 
#20
in order of most to least used:

- tuner
- 'mild' dirt (BDDI deluxe in my case)
- octaver
- modulation: chorus/phase
- ambience/note-length-altering-device: delay/reverb
- compression (to lengthen longer notes or for finger vs slap volume differences)
- filter
- 'heavier' dirt (bddi to a more extreme setting, fuzzes)
- have-you-heard-me fx: wah, whammy, synths, extremer settings on misc fx


all this in all kinds of bands, in all kinds of styles.



Herwig
 

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