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Never used effects before!

Z

Zachthebassplyr

Jan 19, 2010
64
0
52
Oceanside, San Diego, CA
#1
Howdy TalkBass,

I have always been a "plug and play" bass player.
No effects whatsoever...ever! Lately though I have thought it
would be cool to have one of those Octave Pedals and maybe something else, but I am not sure what. I guess I have 2 questions for you all.

1. Is there a "Standard" amount, or type, of effects pedals
for a gigging/working bassist to have? Or expected to have?

2. If you could only have one or two of them(before GAS sets in)
what would they be?
 
#2
My advice would be to get a Line 6 M9. Currently Guitar Center has a $50 off coupon which would put it at $349. It's not cheap, but it gives you a very good emulation of seventy some effects. There isn't much ou can't do with the M9 provided it's three effects or less. Then you can play around and find out what you really like. Maybe you'll be happy or maybe you'll want individual pedals. $349 or the full $399 isn't exactly cheap, but it's a bargain compared to buying and flipping a bunch of pedals. Buy one for $349 and flip it easily for $299 if you find you're really not an effects guy. Plus it isn't that big so it won't diminish your guitar player's desire for effects supremacy.
 
#3
theres no standard amount (if you look at the photos of peoples pedal boards on this site they range between one pedal to people having two or three separate pedal boards. octave pedals are great :) most people use a boss oc3 (or oc2 if they can get there hands on one), i personally use a digitech bass synth wah for my octave pedal. if there was a "standard pedal" it would have to be a dirt pedal of some kind. depending on if you want a little overdrive, normal distortion, or big fuzz. i personally play like fuzz, gives me a nice fat sound and helps me fill out my (3 piece) bands sound. i personally use the (now discontinued) russian big muff for my fuzz. it just really depends on what music you play but most importantly your personal taste. if i could offer just one more thought...IMO dont ever go near a boss bass overdive (OBD-3) IMHO there no good
 
#4
+1 for M9 or any other multieffect pedal. Use the modeled effects to find out what you like and get the real ones if you want to. I've been totally cool for years with multieffects, though (the only single pedal I have is Korg Pitchblack tuner, it ROCKS). I used to have Line6 Bass POD XT Live but swapped it to Korg AX3000B because I needes more effects and less amp/cab models.
 
#6
the only real standard effect these days is distortion. i think it's pretty much necessary if you want to play modern music, especially rock and hip hop. of course, there are still many rock and hip hop bassists who don't even use that. but i think it's definitely the place to start.
 
#8
atheos said:
+1 for M9 or any other multieffect pedal. Use the modeled effects to find out what you like and get the real ones if you want to. I've been totally cool for years with multieffects, though (the only single pedal I have is Korg Pitchblack tuner, it ROCKS). I used to have Line6 Bass POD XT Live but swapped it to Korg AX3000B because I needs more effects and less amp/cab models.
Click to expand...

+1 No need for amp modeler at all. I want my thunderfunk
doing the work as intended.

waleross said:
I have a lot of stuff that I don't use all of the time. One that I do use on a daily basis is the Digitech BP200. For me it gives me enough from one pedal (with a tuner ) and doesn't take over completly.
Click to expand...
Nice

JimmyM said:
the only real standard effect these days is distortion. i think it's pretty much necessary if you want to play modern music, especially rock and hip hop. of course, there are still many rock and hip hop bassists who don't even use that. but i think it's definitely the place to start.
Click to expand...

Do you all think an octave effect would be a second choice
along with distortion/fuzz if you could only pick 2?
 
#9
If you can afford it, I'd first buy a cheap multi effects pedal. My first pedal was a Digitech BP80. Think of it like the starter packs you may have started playing bass on. Sure, the amp and bass were mediocre, and you would never gig with them, and upgrading either made your tone 5x better, but it gave you a feel for the instrument and helped you figure out where to go from there gear wise. While I can't speak for the quality of other multi effects, the thing about them is that they always sound great until you actually own the effect they're trying to emulate. NEVER gig with one under $500. And I wouldn't even recommend one then because you lose a lot of flexibility with each individual effect.

After that, as others have said, go for a dirt pedal. This depends a lot on the player and genre. http://bassfuzz.com/ is a good place to start for this, but here's some of my suggestions:

Catalinbread SFT- fantastic low- or medium-gain overdrive, which definitely lives up to the hype. The thing about Catalinbread is that they offer the best of both worlds between boutique and large pedal makers. They are boutique quality, all the pedals are handmade in the US, and you know that your money is going to a smaller company. But, at $160, they rival the big companies in terms of price. Plus, their pedals are all very professional looking. They also have great customer service, and a TB account.

Music ElectroniX Messdrive Hybrid Plus- Jack of all trades sort of pedal. Most of what I said about the SFT applies here as well. While I don't own any of their pedals, I have dealt with the company before, and Os answered my questions promptly and politely. Review on bassfuzz, along with a number of other Electronix pedals, BTW

Tech21 VTBass- Similar to the SFT. No personal experience, but receives a lot of love on this board.

ElectroHarmonix Bass Big Muff- It's as versatile as it is cheap. The tone is decent as well. Muff are all very high gain, BTW, so if you don't want anything too extreme, stay away.


As for the second pedal, there is no "standard" for what it should be. It's really a matter of personal choice. But for most, it's some kind of modulation (chorus, phaser, flanger, etc), a wah, or an envelope filter. I've never heard of it being an octaver, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't. If you want an octaver, I can't give you much help from first hand experience, as I'm looking into getting one myself. But here's some suggestions:

MXR Bass Octave Deluxe and Aguilar Octamizer- Like the VTBass and the SFT, similar pedals which both receive lots of love here. both are fantastic, and are some of the best tracking analog octavers around
EHX POG (and its varients)- I don't like these much, but they're worth mentioning. They're digital, so they sound too harsh for some people (myself included) but the tracking is fantastic (although both the BOD and the Octamizer come close). I'd only get them if you need octave up as well as down. Also, they cost quite a bit more the the other 2, other than the Micro POG.
 
#11
My top two pedals are overdrive (BJFE Blueberry) and compression (Maxon CP-9). Along with that I have a tuner and a delay. The next pedal I want is another envelope filter. I'd like to get an octave again but I really don't want more than 5 pedals. I find the fewer pedals I have the more I appreciate each one. I may look into the M9 for everything other than OD, Comp, and Filter.
 
#14
i think the electro harmonix pog is cool octave pedal u can always buy it and if u dont like it take it right on back which is what i though i was gonna do with the pog but i liked it too much .......especially that organ type sound it can get.
 
#15
Richard G said:
i think the electro harmonix pog is cool octave pedal u can always buy it and if u dont like it take it right on back which is what i though i was gonna do with the pog but i liked it too much .......especially that organ type sound it can get.
Click to expand...
ya, i'm using a micro pog myself because i don't need the organ sound. i don't care much for the octave down and i'm considering getting an octamizer or bass octave deluxe (or even a venerable oc-2), but i probably won't ;) however, for octave up, i love the micro pog. sounds so much like my dean 8-string that i traded the dean for a 70's precision neck.
 
#17
Having only two pedals would be very very difficult... But if I had to, My tentacle love superfuz and electronix gemini drive would make the cut... two dirt pedals I know but the gemini is on almost all the time.
Ive been looking for an octave pedal recently too and have heard nothing but good things about the micro pog.
 
#19
IMO, you should try out a good little multifx pedal to 'taste' individual effects and see which ones suit your musical needs. Then take it from there and get better individual pedals for the effects of choice.

There's just one pedal that comes to mind when I try to think of something ALL bassists could and should use- an equalizer. A good equalizer can provide you with a plethora of options with regards to tonal variation.
 

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