Only two, you choose...

[GrapeBass]

Many here seem to have a love of multiple effects pedals and that's great, but personally I'm in the camp of minimalism and simplicity.

What two bass guitar effects would you choose if you were limited to only two? Explain why and how you would use them.

Personally, I see very little use for most of effects, especially 'spacial' effects. They seem to get lost in the aural excitement of the sound of the whole 'band.' Overdrive or distortion can help cut through but effects like reverb 'seem' fruitless unless you're the only one playing.

EDIT
DIs and tuners don't count! I'm talking about specific effects. I'm on the fence to say whether PreAmps count.

EDIT
Let's NOT include multi effects pedals in this discussion, I'm more interested in the individual effects that are most useful.

 

[Jebberz]

Overdrive, It expands my palette of sounds, ans Enveloppe Follower, for that funky wah soundd

 

[DDXdesign]

Fuzz and Phaser seem to be the two I keep going back to. They seem to be just versatile enough: Some fuzzes are nicely overdrivey at lower gain settings, and phaser can yield both the chewy funkiness of an envelope filter and the doubletracking type sound of a chorus, too.

EDIT I'm not counting things like compressors and preamps here, which to me are part of the base tone and not really 'effects' - I never turn things like that off.

 

[Bo0tsy]

If i had to I could get by with an octave pedal and an envelope filter. Octave must have octave down, do a decent sub octave, and octave up, (for a synthy fuzz like effect), whilst the Envelope Filter must have up and down sweeps, hi and low range, which would give me lots of funky options, and then paired together for more synthy sounds.

 

[petrus61]

Comp and OD.

 

[Somnambulance]

Comp and either OD or Octave.

 

[J_Bass]

Reverb and Envelope Filter.

 

[Bassbeater]

Compressor and preamp with DI
That's my minimalist setup.

 

[Being and Bass]

OD and Freeze Pedal.

 

[Swimming Bird]

Octave/sub and a delay.

 

[GMC]

A pair of Eventide H9's should cover my FX's needs

 

[bassbrad]

Not playing your cruel game, only two effects, no I simply refuse.

 

[adamaarts]

Meatbox and B7K

 

[neal davis]

Boss oc2 octave, dod fx 25

Dod used as lpf and envelope

 

[saabfender]

I don't classify my DI as an effect. Your game, my rules.

Ashly SC-50 compressor and Ibanez TD-9DX fuzzbox.

 

[CapnSev]

Compressor and chorus for me. Fuzz would be a close third I think.

 

[Al T.]

Smoothie and Beta Overdrive for me.

 

[bass4more]

OD and OC2

 

[Wasnex]

Many here seem to have a love of multiple effects pedals and that's great, but personally I'm in the camp of minimalism and simplicity.

What two bass guitar effects would you choose if you were limited to only two? Explain why and how you would use them.

Personally, I see very little use for most of effects, especially 'spacial' effects. They seem to get lost in the aural excitement of the sound of the whole 'band.' Overdrive or distortion can help cut through but effects like reverb 'seem' fruitless unless you're the only one playing.

If you limit me to two pedals it would be tuner and compressor or tuner and EQ. Some of my amps have built in compressors and OD capabilities, so that would be a factor to consider.

If I had a specific sound I needed to duplicate, I would get whatever pedals are required: distortion, envelope filter, octave doubler, phaser, flanger, chorus, bit crusher, wah, reverb, delay, etc. Some pedals can be stacked to create new effects.

IMHO, The pedals you require are really a function of the music, so impossible to simply say, "these two are best," without context.

 

[Drucifer]

Compressor and overdrive. DI and tuner don't count as effects. Neither do volume pedal or wireless. Also, HPF doesn't count. Switchers and blenders don't count either. So comp and OD. I could live without fuzz, octave, synth, envelope filter, and chorus. If I had to.