Must have bass pedals? Go!

[hintz]

After a number of recent incidents we have to post this reminder that really shouldn't need posting.

This is a forum for discussing the usage of Effects on bass. By definition the people posting here use and love effects. Coming into here and saying that effects are useless or unneeded is as dictionary a definition of trolling as there is and will be dealt with as such.

Note, this is different from explaining in an intelligent manner why you don't use effects in response to a question: "I can't really find a use for a ring modulator in my church band" for example. But statements in the spirit such as: "effects suck", "they are for guitar only", "I only need my fingers" will be considered as trolling and subject to warning / infractions.

Any threads started with titles such as "why do you use effects?" will be closed as even if started with good intent, which is hard to discern, they always attract the trolls and go downhill.

If you must start a "what effects do I need?" thread, the title is a red flag to trolls, name it better such as "what effects would work well for my bhangra / death metal / reggae band?"

Fingers or a pick that's it. imo not even 9 v batteries anywhere in the line, no horn, a good cable, a good passive bass an amp head- that you know how to use, whatever speaker size you like. When a guitar player shows up with a huge pedal board, it's time to think about how much you are getting paid, because it sounds always like Guitar Center- real kraft cheese. All those stupid cheap pedals, everyone sounds the same, only needing to be louder... the guitar or bass is just a controller, or trigger, really, isn't it? Or maybe use them for a movie sound track for a really scary movie if that is your thing. Why even play. Get a DJ, play your mac on the cloud. Bass is bass. What about drums with effects, a huge effects chain?
Maybe in post production, when your not even there, they might enhance to make the playing sit right in the mix.
Ween is a bit different altogether,if it's concept, well ok I 'm just a stupid bass player.
Pedals are bad news, they sound cheap.

Geez!! Another troll huh?! Thanks for warning the OP on the dangers of "pedals are bad news, they sound cheap", completely irrelevant and a useless waste of space and the forum's definition of "trolling", you fit the bill so congrats!

To OP, the most essential to me would be a good dedicated DI preamp such as a Darkglass or even a Tech21 to help get *your* sound across to FOH, that and a Tuner like the Polytune or a Boss tu2 that mutes your signal for silent tuning!

Beyond that, it'd depend on style: I dig envelope filters and synth pedals for funky stuff, modulation like chorus or flanger, I dig a few different layers of dirt so light overdrive, distortion or medium gain overdrive and fuzz for different sounds!! I really love my Empress compressor, but you may or may not like compression...i use mine almost like a limiter at the end of my chain!! And I have the BOSS OC2 as an "octaver" pedal, sounds great for synthy stuff(why let keyboardists hog all those cool sounds), here's my current board(awaiting the Darkglass VMTD aas my DI preamp)

I might split this up into 2 boards still, one would be essentials for me which is my top row, the other would be the icing on the cake!!

Good luck!

 

[RickyT]

Darkglass B7K, B3K & Super Symmetry. Micro POG. Boss TU3

 

[hrodbert696]

You may want to review this sticky:

'no effects' trolling in the Effects forum

I'll quote the relevant information from it here.

The OP didn't start the thread to troll "no effects," he asked what we thought were indispensable, and @Humbled answered "none," which is true. I wouldn't call that trolling.

To the OP himself, it depends a lot on what you're doing. It's been observed that cover band bassists, on average, tend to have more pedals than originals bassists, because they have a wider palette of sounds to recreate, whereas the originals bassist often just has "his sound" and probably sticks to it more. One guy may build his sound around a fuzz, another features a lot of envelope filter, another uses chorus most of the time, but the cover bassist with all of their songs in the setlist needs fuzz, filter, AND chorus to do it all.

The core of my board, and my vote for the "essential" pedal, would be a preamp/eq/DI, preferably with distortion or overdrive in it. I started with an MXR M80, which was great, but these days I'm using the VT Bass Deluxe. I can go from Motown to chainsaw with one stomp and switch between two basses if I want without unplugging and replugging anything.

 

[Growlmonkee]

Must have? for me BDDI, tuner

 

[Basdyret]

While everybody can probably agree that a tuner is an important live gig tool, it rarely qualifies as a must have effect to expand one's sound.
I don't own a tuner (ha!), never got to terms with compressors, make do with EQ's on my basses and my amp, and only use a DI for recording or live gigs.

But, it would take a lot of the fun away from playing for me if I didn't have an overdrive, a distortion, an envelope filter, a phaser, a delay, and some sort of synth.
And an evil fuzz. Depends very much on the style of music you're playing, and what your band members/audience agree makes the music better or more inspired.
I'm sure a lot of people here actually use their huge boards around 5 % of the time when playing live, as is the case for me - but man, those few seconds are so much fun, aren't they?

That being said, certain styles of music just work better if you have something to add more grit or thunder to your tone.

 

[mc900ftj]

Must-haves on my little board vary depending on the material:
Band #1 (originals: americana/rock):

1. Wireless receiver
2. Tuner
3. Bass Envelope Filter
4. Compressor
5. Octave divider

Band #2 (covers: 80's/90's rock/metal):

1. Wireless receiver
2. Tuner
3. Bass Envelope Filter
4. Chorus
5. Overdrive
6. Compressor

 

[Helix]

Fingers or a pick that's it. imo not even 9 v batteries anywhere in the line, no horn, a good cable, a good passive bass an amp head- that you know how to use, whatever speaker size you like. When a guitar player shows up with a huge pedal board, it's time to think about how much you are getting paid, because it sounds always like Guitar Center- real kraft cheese. All those stupid cheap pedals, everyone sounds the same, only needing to be louder... the guitar or bass is just a controller, or trigger, really, isn't it? Or maybe use them for a movie sound track for a really scary movie if that is your thing. Why even play. Get a DJ, play your mac on the cloud. Bass is bass. What about drums with effects, a huge effects chain?
Maybe in post production, when your not even there, they might enhance to make the playing sit right in the mix.
Ween is a bit different altogether,if it's concept, well ok I 'm just a stupid bass player.
Pedals are bad news, they sound cheap.

Come on man, you don't want to say that kinda stuff around here.

OP is looking for some advice, and your post is anything but

Its like saying "I want to play the bass" and someone saying " play the drums instead, the bass sucks"

 

[DwaynieAD]

Before I got rid of my pedals I had a korg pitch-black, bbe optostomp, bass big muff, ebs octabass, and vt bass... Not in that order, I loved the board but it never got used. Still have the comp and tuner. Had a boss chorus, I love chorus but not that one. Had a wash wah, fun in the practice room but that's about it.

 

[Winterglo]

A Tuner is a Pedal. Then, if you want Dist. find a Fulltone Bass Driver-the newest incarnation. It's the one Distortion Pedal I have ever liked. I have not tried many new pedals recently however. Now I use a Boss GT50B Multi Effects pedal. I am not real picky, but when I was in a cover band, it was nice because it could do a lot of things, and it was reasonably priced.

 

[Dug2]

a reverb is also good to have. i didnt see much mention of one

 

[vlsndgrdn]

tunner, a nice preamp, mild overdrive/distortion

Then you can add fun
Octavers
Chorus
Fuzz
Etc.

 

[4001]

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

On my small pedalboard, I got a tuner, octave, overdrive, envelope filter, and a compressor in that order.

 

[Lowbrow]

Low OD like a VMT or Porkloin, etc

Tuner

Anything else is probably band/song specific, but these are a solid basis.

 

[ColonelZulu]

Where would I start???

• Compressor/DI
• Overdrive/distortion
• Multi-effect

I have to preach on the benefits of my Tech21 VT-Bass Deluxe. Sure, there may be "better" distorted sounds. But the utility of one pedal that can give me 6 preset drive, eq, volumes can't be underestimated. It's essentially an emulator for classic Ampeg drive and character. Works fine as an EQ and DI.

Multi effects (too many to mention) with good parameter controls and presets are a great place to start for everything else. Phaser, chorus, reverb, delay, etc...in many cases are very usable from one unit. Save money...see what you like to use. Then you can try stand alone effect types of you become a flanger lover.

Or, get an Eventide H9, spend a lot of money, but have amazing control (even with your handheld decice), and a bazillion effect variations in one box. It's also a fantastic compressor. Amazing.

I'd love to have a REDDI if I were touring or recording more. I'd want to get a sponsor first!

 

[MatronMother]

Boost/Overdrive

 

[kcole4001]

In the spirit of 4001's post:

Any grit I want I get with the preamp gain set fairly high.

Really my essential pedal has been my trusty old flanger, it was my first pedal and I've used that for years to add some dimension and thickness when needed.
A wide sweep, speed set fairly slow to accentuate the effect produces a very obvious low end boost and shimmering high end.
This puppy's not subtle, which is why I like it so much.
If I could only have one, this would be it.

 

[Nephilymbass]

I'm looking to expand my sound. What pedals do you absolutely love or think everyone should have?

I'll just show what I ended up with. Keep in mind I do have a sans amp RBI in the rack and my normal tone always has some drive going to help the bass cut through.

The shure glxd doubles as my wireless and tuner. The tuner is fantastic and the wireless works flawlessly, the rechargeable battery in the transmitter is a major plus. It last forever (like 15-17 hours) and I can recharge it with a USB to mini USB cable anywhere even in the car on the way to the gig. No more 9v batteries.

The compressor is pretty self explanitory. The boss cs-2 just happened to be the one I like. Famous players like Juan from Mars Volta/pedal and effects love it also. Probably not the best if you want a super clean hi fi tone, but for rock, and metal they are great.

The big muff is a big muff, the deluxe version just gives you some of the features a lot of the great muff clones inspired. It's a very usable fuzz.

Tc flashback mini. This ones a bit more complicated. I use this for my soloing tone. Look up Janeks sausage and beer toneprint to see what I mean . It's not a very drastic delay, more like using a delay for combination of very subtle delay and reverb.

The sonic stomp is a pedal a lot of people bash, but I miss it when I don't have it so whatever.

Sans amp RBI. Classic sans amp bass driver with more features including mid control, a lot more ins and outs, variable input switch, more output to drive power amps better.

Now what do I feel is missing? Nothing id use on a regular basis. This is what get used. But if I had a bit more room I'd probably throw the mxr bass octave deluxe and a ditto looper on it. Both are fun and sound good, but I wouldn't say they are as usable.

 

[ColonelZulu]

Where would I start???

• Compressor/DI
• Overdrive/distortion
• Multi-effect

I have to preach on the benefits of my Tech21 VT-Bass Deluxe. Sure, there may be "better" distorted sounds. But the utility of one pedal that can give me 6 preset drive, eq, volumes can't be underestimated. It's essentially an emulator for classic Ampeg drive and character. Works fine as an EQ and DI.

Multi effects (too many to mention) with good parameter controls and presets are a great place to start for everything else. Phaser, chorus, reverb, delay, etc...in many cases are very usable from one unit. Save money...see what you like to use. Then you can try stand alone effect types of you become a flanger lover.

Or, get an Eventide H9, spend a lot of money, but have amazing control (even with your handheld decice), and a bazillion effect variations in one box. It's also a fantastic compressor. Amazing.

I'd love to have a REDDI if I were touring or recording more. I'd want to get a sponsor first!

Butttt....I also use:

• Line 6 Bass Pod XT
• TC Electronicas Ditto Looper
• Electro-Harmonic Micro Pog octaver

 

[pacojas]

i play reggae, yet i generally show up with an EQ pedal, an Octave Divider, and some Delay! most bassists are on my jock after we finish playing. asking, "how the F is your sound so massive".
i tell them, " it's in the finger's"!
(btw, the pedals are hidden so my sound stays mystical, lol)