Never used pedals: which to look into?

[MicRidley]

Hey forum-lurkers,

I am in a classic/hard rock band and am fairly new to the whole band setting.

While learning and generally being a wannabe bassist (as I still am, surely) I'd never had the urge to use a pedal of any kind as I was focusing on learning chords/scales/random stuff that I found interesting.

So, my questions are:

1) what kind of pedals are must haves?
2) which should a first timer be looking into first?
3) how do you best explore their uses?
4) exactly how important are they?
5) your usual other useful advice or biases.

Thank you all in advance. Look forward to reading your advice/collective experience.

-mic

 

[Ba55Man1ac]

Welcome to the rabbit hole Mic! Grab yourself a cheap-ish multi like a Zoom B3 or B1on to explore the wide world of fx. This may be enough for your needs or it may ignite the fire!

 

[ProfFrink]

Welcome to the rabbit hole Mic! Grab yourself a cheap-ish multi like a Zoom B3 or B1on to explore the wide world of fx. This may be enough for your needs or it may ignite the fire!

Good advice right there, but also consider a "dirt" pedal. For hard rock this is more or less a staple, and the Zoom multis don't do "dirt" very well, IME. (Although they do most everything else very well)

Here is something that you may like. I have one on order:

 

[bassbrad]

I also agree that a Zoom B3 is a great starting place, lots of great efx that you can use for a long time. You might want to add some pedals later but you may not need to as I find more and more to like on the B3 even the dirt.

Exploring the where, when, how and why is a part of the fun try and see what works and listen to how other players use efx.

 

[simplebassliner]

Welcome to the rabbit hole Mic! Grab yourself a cheap-ish multi like a Zoom B3 or B1on to explore the wide world of fx. This may be enough for your needs or it may ignite the fire!

+1 on this...
The cheapest B1on with its tuner, metronome/drum machines, headphones out, aux in are all valuable tools for learning your bass. The 100 efxs included are just added bonus

 

[blizward]

Lots of useful advices there. Have you got any example of bass sounds you believe use some effects? If you take some time listening to other bassists, you'll find the answer to all your questions. Some effects are very common, depending on the style. That will give you an idea of what you want to start with. For instance, dirt is a must for some but so is a chorus for others. Depends on your style.

 

[Bob_Ross]

1) what kind of pedals are must haves?

I'll be the first to admit there's no such thing as a "must have" pedal for bass. You don't need any of them. That being said, I've been playing bass for ~41 years and for the last 40 of them I've always had an envelope-controlled filter. I haven't always used it, and there are a lot of gigs I do where I know I won't use it so don't even bring it, but it's the one that I've always owned and if my current one dies I'll definitely replace instantly. It's way too versatile, and way too idiomatically linked to how electric bass functions sonically in popular music, for me to not have those sounds available.

2) which should a first timer be looking into first?

I would look into the music you enjoy and the music you'll be playing and figure out what sounds they call for. Then figure out what pedals are required to achieve those sounds. Then look for a reliable manufacturer with a stellar reputation for customer service and warranty support who makes those pedals.

3) how do you best explore their uses?

Know in your mind's ear what the pedal is going to do to your sound, and then step on it when it seems musically appropriate for that sound to happen. Experiment. Be brazen, but learn from every instance.

4) exactly how important are they?

See #1 above. Not At All Important. But fun...

5) your usual other useful advice or biases.

Don't text and drive.

 

[Nephilymbass]

Hey forum-lurkers,

I am in a classic/hard rock band and am fairly new to the whole band setting.

While learning and generally being a wannabe bassist (as I still am, surely) I'd never had the urge to use a pedal of any kind as I was focusing on learning chords/scales/random stuff that I found interesting.

So, my questions are:

1) what kind of pedals are must haves?
2) which should a first timer be looking into first?
3) how do you best explore their uses?
4) exactly how important are they?
5) your usual other useful advice or biases.

Thank you all in advance. Look forward to reading your advice/collective experience.

-mic

It really depends on what styles you play

IMO everyone can use a good compressor. On most amps if they have a compressor they often arent that great.

Since you're playing hard rock I would definetly recommend an overdrive or sans amp or something to get a little grit.

Tuners are always useful.

But for the styles your playing I doubt you'll want a envelope filter or a bit crusher

 

[lz4005]

What kind of amp you're using would be good to know.
If it's a tube amp, or a hybrid with a tube pre, a pedal like a boost or drive will have a very different result than if you're using a solid state amp with a lot of clean headroom.

Similarly the kind of bass. Active and passive instruments can play differently with some fuzz and envelope based effects.

 

[shinybeast]

The question I'd ask first is how do you anticipate using this pedal? Is it something you want to leave on all the time, as part of your basic tone? Is it something you want to kick on once or twice during a set to turn heads for a big intro or bass solo? Or is it somewhere in between, e.g., you want use it to thicken out the sound here and there when the guitar player stops playing chords and takes a solo?

If you want an "always on" foundational kind of pedal, I agree you probably will get the most use out of some kind of overdrive or dirty preamp and/ or a compressor (bear in mind that overdrives compress and some compressors overdrive). There are oodles of recommendations on specific pedals in oodles of threads on TB. For a more extreme "special effect" tone you use to distinguish certain parts or songs, you might consider a fuzz of some kind; there are lots of variations and fuzz is really a whole universe of effects in itself, but generally a fuzz will make more of a statement if it's off sometimes, where an overdrive can be subtle enough to be a foundational tone.

For something that can cover a lot of ground in between, a Rat-based distortion of some kind might be a good option, particularly one with a clean blend that allows you to mix in your unaffected tone. A good Rat-based distortion will have a lot of usable settings from edgy drive to all-out raunch, and they tend to have enough mids to stand out in a mix at most settings. They tend to sound more grindy, less amp-like than some of the more subtle overdrives but not as bottom-heavy, synthy, or all-out weird as some fuzzes.

In a hard rock/ classic rock context, I would wait on adding other effects until you have dirt and maybe compression if you need it (unless you already know what you're looking to get out of the other effects). An octaver can be great for filling in sparse sections of a song or getting a sub bass synth tone, but I would suggest trying to have in mind a good idea what that type of effect will add to your music before buying one. Ditto for filters, phasers, flangers, etc.-- they can open up all kinds of new creative possibilities, but they can also get in your way if you find yourself feeling the need to work them into songs just to justify the space they're taking up on the pedalboard. Most effects users (me too) have probably at some point bought and flipped pedals they never really had a clear idea why they needed in the first place.

 

[hrodbert696]

I agree that a good idea to start would be to get a multi like a zoom B3 and explore sounds. See if you like any particular kinds of effects. Whether you NEED any depends on what you're playing and what sounds you want. Classic and hard rock, the main thing you're likely to want is some overdrive, but you may be able to get enough of that just be using the gain knob on your amp. But again, it will depend on what you're playing. Chris Squire used a lot of modulation effects like chorus and flanging on various Yes tracks, for instance - if you're going to cover certain Yes tunes, you'll want those. If you go in a different direction and start playing funk, you might want an envelope filter. Compression is often handy to smooth out dynamics some. Etc.

 

[crguti]

I would suggest spending the money on lessons, then look for pedals.

 

[Feral Feline]

@crguti OP has already stated he's been focused on learning and is now ready to explore pedals.

Hey forum-lurkers,

I am in a classic/hard rock band and am fairly new to the whole band setting.

While learning and generally being a wannabe bassist (as I still am, surely) I'd never had the urge to use a pedal of any kind as I was focusing on learning chords/scales/random stuff that I found interesting.

So, my questions are:

1) what kind of pedals are must haves?
2) which should a first timer be looking into first?
3) how do you best explore their uses?
4) exactly how important are they?
5) your usual other useful advice or biases.

Thank you all in advance. Look forward to reading your advice/collective experience.

-mic

1) The only "must have" pedal(s) is (are) one(s) that achieve the sound you want. If you can get the sound you want without pedals, great.

2) As others have suggested, a multi-effect gets you into the game and lets you explore. Others mentioned Zoom options, which are all great suggestions – so I'll suggest a Line6 M5 as another possible MFX to try.

3) Play-listen, tweak, play-listen, tweak some more, play-listen then play the same phrase and see what a different effect sounds like – for example, play a lick with chorus (try a few settings) then play the same lick with Flanger, then phaser, then Octaver, then Filter... Continue READING, there is a cornucopia of info hidden in the digital pages of TB and other similar sites, stuff that will help you get the most out of an effect, or inspire you to use it in a new way for a totally new sound

4) They're completely unimportant if you can get the sound you want without them. Otherwise they're extremely important for getting "that sound", for instance you band leader requires you to cop the same line in a funk tune where the original bassline had a filter on it – you cannot get that filter sound with MTF (magic tone fingers), no matter how dexterous your digits are.

5) After monkeying with MFX and deciding you like what you hear, you can start exploring individual pedals, but don't feel the need to go all boutiquey. There are awesome pedals out there that are dirt cheap, and awesome at every other price point. The same can be said for horrible-sounding pedals, they're available at every price point; what works for you may sound terrible in someone else's signal chain and vice-versa. Sometimes you gotta just dive in only to find the water temp wasn't to your liking.

BOTTOM LINE: Trust your ears, let them and your gut decide what's right for you and don't be swayed by public opinion, trends, friends or foes.

 

[omie]

Advice: If you haven't heard a pedal in the 'band mix', you haven't heard the pedal. You'll be surprised at how something that sounds 'meh' solo'd is sweet in a band mix.

Sounding great in your bed room and in the mix.... Different things.

I agree with other posters, start with a quality Bass specific OD. And then a Zoom B3.

 

[BassikLee]

This is a GREAT time for musicians, in that some great gear is very affordable. Were I in your shoes, I'd grab the zoom B1Xon. It's got tons of effects, a tuner, a headphone amp, metronome/drum machine and looper built in, as well as an aux in. I use it for learning tunes. Playing that pedal into a passive direct box could cover most gigs. My live rig has a few more toys, but two of them are Zoom multis.

 

[Bassmike62]

I started out with a Zoom B1, which is still to this day one of my better purchases. Taught me about compression, fxs and amp sims, which was quite helpful. I still use a Zoom pedal today, although in a different manner.

You can read, research and listen as much as you want about fxs, but when it comes down to it, you have to tweak 'till Kingdom come to really learn about'em and the financially sound way to do it is with a multifx pedal, IMO. I think the B1on is the current version of what got me started.

 

[Trombassix]

Some things I've learned with my recent plung into the world of pedals:

Pedals depend on the tone and level from your bass. Some basses will not bring out the good sounds you hear in the YouTube demos.

Cheap pedals, especially overdrives, will lack in some aspect - noise floor, tone control, component quality etc. if your desired sound from the pedal is in a sweet spot that doesn't expose the floors then cool. Otherwise, invest in a quality product.

If you kick in a pedal and lose punch or lack any boost you desire from within your bands mix then you need to reevaluate things.