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"must have" effects

#21
tlrsn said:
Based on the type of music you're playing, you may want reverb and delay pedals. I play a lot of ambient/post-rock music, and I use a Source Audio Dimension Reverb, Source Audio Phaser/Flanger, and TC Electronic Flashback. Along with a volume pedal, I can make some pretty awesome ambient swells, which would probably be useful for worship music. If you can spend a bit more, the Strymon El Capistan is probably the coolest delay pedal for bass (it's a dTape echo) and the Neunaber Wet Stereo Reverb is a phenomenal reverb pedal. I'm seriously GASing for both of those.
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El Capistan may be good, but my board is almost full...
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Overdrive, Distortion, Fuzz.
1 Fulltone Bass Drive Mosfet Overdrive

2 Fulltone OCD

3 Markbass Mini Dist


Preamp.
4 Darkglass Electronics Microtubes B7K Analog Bass Preamp

Wah.

5 Plutoneium Chi Wah Wah Bass Wah

6 Snarling Dogs Bootzilla Fuzz Wah

Synth.

7 Markbass Super Synth

Delay & Reverberator.
8 Strymon Timeline Digital Multidelay

9 Neunaber Wet Stereo Reverb

Exciter.
10 Aphex 1402 Bass Xciter

Modulation.
11 EBS Dphaser

12 MXR F-117 Flanger

13 DLS RotoSim

14 DLS Versa Vibe

15 MXR Micro Chorus

Loop.
16 EHX Chill Switch Momentary Line Selector

17 Radial Engineering BigShot MIX Effects Loop Mixer

Destruction
18 Dwarfcraft Has

Channel Selector
19 Morley Tripler

E-Bow Plus

Pedaltrain Pro
MXR DC Power Brick, Volcano Power
George L's

Fender Marcus Miller Jazz Bass
Trace Elliot 715 Combo
 
#25
It's funny reading all of these responses because they vary so greatly. Like the OP, I've been playing bass for a relatively short time (6 yrs) and have been pondering getting a pedal. I really love my tone but would like to add a little grit once in a while. After doing a ton of research (many thanks to JohnK for the awesome sound samples and reviews!), I settled on a Timmy pedal. Now if only my order weren't back ordered, I'd let you know what I think about it! ;)
 
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#30
For me, the only must haves are compression, chorus, and eq (for a different setting, usually bass rolled out to use with the chorus).

There are a bajillion options in the world of effects, and for someone in your shoes, I'd recommend getting a decent multi effect pedal.

Play with it until you get a good idea of what kind of effects you'd like to plonk down some cash for.

I've been using the Zoom B2.1, and can't recommend it enough. It sucks at amp modeling, but you already havean amp, right? It has a whole slough of decent effects, and you can get a solid feel for which ones are "fun to play with" vs which ones are keepers.
 
#38
overdrive/distortion/fuzz or curtain kinds of songs. compressor, i don't have one and don't plan to get one, but it can sustain your notes longer.

octave was my first pedal. i went into the store to order a fuzz, could n't, and walked out ordering an octave. i wanted to get an octave after the fuzz. fo my surprise, the way it went was for the better. since the octave was my first and only pedal made me spend more time with the pedal that i feel i wouldn't if i got it after the fuzz. now that i have the fuzz, fuzz is pretty straight forward. fuzz is enjoyable but simple. the octave, at first, i didn't know what to with it.
 
#39
I was going to say nothing is truly "must-have" but then I realized that whenever I don't bother busting out my pedal board (which includes a volume pedal, tuner, drive, comp, wah, and "phrase sampler" looper for practice which doubles as delay, but I don't really use the delay) I still end up using a bit of drive and sometimes a little compression on the amp itself. It's rare I use NOTHING, but that's just taste and of course even the term "must-have" really depends on the song/style and your own taste.

Here are the makes/models of my pedals if you're curious:

Volume: Hilton Pro Guitar
Tuner: Monoprice ($20! works great)
Drive: Fulltone OCD
Comp: OvniFX Smoothie
Wah: Morley Bass Wah
Looper/delay: TC Electronic Flashback

I threw them all on a PedalTrain Jr and I have room for one or two more small ones if I ever figure what else I'd like to add, but probably won't. Maybe a TC Electronic mini chorus? I LOVE having the pedal board... got a Godlyke Power-All from Amazon and all the 8" right-angle TS cables from Monoprice. It's so easy to zip it up and put it away when not in use, also keeping them dust-free.
 

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