Pedal board... or not? That is the Question.

[Wasnex]

I’ve been playing bass for about 25 years. Rock, R&B, Jazz, funk, reggae, fusion...

I usually play going from bass straight into amp, no effects. Once in a while, I’ll use a MuTron III or octave pedal, but that’s about it. Looking through the pages of Talkbass, and more importantly, seeing other players on gigs, it appears I’m in the minority. Is it true most players use some sort of effects board?

It seems Bass players’ pedal boards often are as large and diverse as guitarists...

What say you, Talkbass?

The only pedal I ever used for a gig was a Boss TU3. I usually run a DI after the tuner then straight to the amp, so the muting is nice for silent tuning in the middle of a set or during the interlude of a song.

I do have a huge Pedal Train Pro that I bought it for guitar. I have more pedals than will fit on the board and many of them sound great with bass. If I started running effects on bass I would put together a board that is about half the size of the Pro.

 

[Jakeman]

I've been playing and gigging out for over 20 years, and always played a PBass directly into the amp (as is the norm down here in New Orleans). I had a tuner I'd pull out before the gig and return to my gig bag right after using it. I was vehemently against the use of effects - I prided myself on my clear, simple tone and adhered to the idea that anything else was useless and took away from the music. I considered even using a compressor "cheating". Eventually, around two years ago, I joined a project that required a little dirt. Fuzz on my bass? You kidding me? I relented and got a couple fuzzes to work with and... fell in love. I wish I could go back in time and slap my old self across the face - why hadn't I done this before?? I practice waay more than I used to (real practice, not twiddling). My band members absolutely love it. Soundmen scowl at my board before the gig, and high-five me afterwards. As you can see, I now have what some would consider a gigantic board. Do I use all of these at my gigs? Yes, every single one. Do I crank each one and lose my core bass sound? Nope. Most of them are set to a "barely-on" level, so that they color my tone juuust right. Would I suggest that someone new to the bass go out and buy a bunch of pedals? No, that's a horrible idea. Learn the fundamentals, develop your core tone, learn theory, etc... But after a couple decades (lol) maybe consider having a little fun. Now don't even get me started on my switch to tube amps...

 

[Rojd]

I've been playing and gigging out for over 20 years, and always played a PBass directly into the amp (as is the norm down here in New Orleans). I had a tuner I'd pull out before the gig and return to my gig bag right after using it. I was vehemently against the use of effects - I prided myself on my clear, simple tone and adhered to the idea that anything else was useless and took away from the music. I considered even using a compressor "cheating". Eventually, around two years ago, I joined a project that required a little dirt. Fuzz on my bass? You kidding me? I relented and got a couple fuzzes to work with and... fell in love. I wish I could go back in time and slap my old self across the face - why hadn't I done this before?? I practice waay more than I used to (real practice, not twiddling). My band members absolutely love it. Soundmen scowl at my board before the gig, and high-five me afterwards. As you can see, I now have what some would consider a gigantic board. Do I use all of these at my gigs? Yes, every single one. Do I crank each one and lose my core bass sound? Nope. Most of them are set to a "barely-on" level, so that they color my tone juuust right. Would I suggest that someone new to the bass go out and buy a bunch of pedals? No, that's a horrible idea. Learn the fundamentals, develop your core tone, learn theory, etc... But after a couple decades (lol) maybe consider having a little fun. Now don't even get me started on my switch to tube amps...

View attachment 3150082

That's quite a nice set up you have there.

 

[dave64o]

I have WAY more pedals than I need for the situations I'm playing in and I only mess with them at home. I do have a pedal board, but I haven't yet installed the power supply or put pedals on it. For the two start ups I'm playing with now, I've just been going straight to the amp.

That being said, once one of them gets close to having enough material ready to start playing out, there are some songs that I think could use some dirt. At that point, I'll pick two different overdrive pedals and put my pedal tuner and compressor on the board and that should be plenty for my needs.

But different bassists in different bands could certainly have a need for a lot more than that. And other bassists have no need for pedals at all. There's no right answer as long as you do what's right for the music you play.

 

[mrcbass]

I've been playing and gigging out for over 20 years, and always played a PBass directly into the amp (as is the norm down here in New Orleans). I had a tuner I'd pull out before the gig and return to my gig bag right after using it. I was vehemently against the use of effects - I prided myself on my clear, simple tone and adhered to the idea that anything else was useless and took away from the music. I considered even using a compressor "cheating". Eventually, around two years ago, I joined a project that required a little dirt. Fuzz on my bass? You kidding me? I relented and got a couple fuzzes to work with and... fell in love. I wish I could go back in time and slap my old self across the face - why hadn't I done this before?? I practice waay more than I used to (real practice, not twiddling). My band members absolutely love it. Soundmen scowl at my board before the gig, and high-five me afterwards. As you can see, I now have what some would consider a gigantic board. Do I use all of these at my gigs? Yes, every single one. Do I crank each one and lose my core bass sound? Nope. Most of them are set to a "barely-on" level, so that they color my tone juuust right. Would I suggest that someone new to the bass go out and buy a bunch of pedals? No, that's a horrible idea. Learn the fundamentals, develop your core tone, learn theory, etc... But after a couple decades (lol) maybe consider having a little fun. Now don't even get me started on my switch to tube amps...

View attachment 3150082

OMG, my head hurts! I can't keep up with my half dozen pedals!

But I do love the pegboard/zip-tie approach - the Velcro thing really doesn't cut it very well for me. I see a little project in my near future.....

 

[Rojd]

I have about 2/3 of that on gator xl and I play solo stuff at home, I'm not in a band or anything.

 

[kesslari]

@Admiral Akbar I don't think you're in the minority, though you're probably in the minority for those who post on the effects forum.
I've generally been a "bass-cord-amp" guy except when playing in funk bands where effects were necessary. I had the notion that my tone had to come from me, my bass, and my amp.
But then I realized that I'm already electronically shaping my tone - the only way it could be "just me and the bass" would be to play upright.
Now I usually play with a compressor (Doc Lloyd - love that thing!) and HPF, and keep those plus an envelope filter and an octaver on a tiny board that I almost always bring.
I'd kind of like to explore playing with more effects/sounds but I just never get 'round to it. I've barely scratched the surface with what I've got.

 

[Rojd]

I recently acquired a Little Mark 250. I love it.

 

[Admiral Akbar]

@Admiral Akbar I don't think you're in the minority, though you're probably in the minority for those who post on the effects forum.
I've generally been a "bass-cord-amp" guy except when playing in funk bands where effects were necessary. I had the notion that my tone had to come from me, my bass, and my amp.
But then I realized that I'm already electronically shaping my tone - the only way it could be "just me and the bass" would be to play upright.
Now I usually play with a compressor (Doc Lloyd - love that thing!) and HPF, and keep those plus an envelope filter and an octaver on a tiny board that I almost always bring.
I'd kind of like to explore playing with more effects/sounds but I just never get 'round to it. I've barely scratched the surface with what I've got.

Funny — I’m toying with the idea of an effects board, and the effects you’ve mentioned: the compressor, HPF, and filter are exactly what I would put on my hypothetical board!

 

[rodv66]

Dark glass B7K, Trace Elliot compressor, Ibanez Chorus

 

[kesslari]

Funny — I’m toying with the idea of an effects board, and the effects you’ve mentioned: the compressor, HPF, and filter are exactly what I would put on my hypothetical board!

You could fly out to catch my gig tomorrow and try it out

 

[lfmn16]

If you feel you are missing something, you should use pedals. If not, don't.

I've never used them live although I like to play with them at home. I play guitar in a band and the bass player uses them very tastefully. No one knows if you need pedals except you.

If you think you need pedals, or you think you don't, either way you are right.

 

[MyMusic]

To me having pedals is no different than a keyboard player having electric piano and organ voices. Play em' if you got em. Buy em' if you don't have em'.

 

[glocke1]

I’ve been playing bass for about 25 years. Rock, R&B, Jazz, funk, reggae, fusion...

I usually play going from bass straight into amp, no effects. Once in a while, I’ll use a MuTron III or octave pedal, but that’s about it. Looking through the pages of Talkbass, and more importantly, seeing other players on gigs, it appears I’m in the minority. Is it true most players use some sort of effects board?

It seems Bass players’ pedal boards often are as large and diverse as guitarists...

What say you, Talkbass?

I just started using effects on a more regular basis after decades of not. I don't use all of them, but i like to have them in case there is an opportunity .

EBS Valvedrive
Echolution
Iron Ether Nimbus
Aguilar Filter Twin
Theres a loop pedal on there as well, i forget what it is at the moment.

The Reverb is on all the time, I add just a touch to get a "shimmery" bass tone...Valvedrive is used maybe once per set if there is a chance for a bass solo

Fitler twin hardly gets used...Im just not finding a tone there I like.

 

[Medicine Man]

mine is pretty utilitarian

 

[Wfrance3]

Tuner Comp DI. In that order.... I leave everything flat, and then add as needed, with 3 bands of freq tun-age on the DI and a clean boost/comp on the compressor pedal, I can make any clean to somewhat over driven tone I need...

 

[socialleper]

At the very least I need a tuner. If I am going to bother with that, I might as well have a compression pedal, chorus\flange pedal, and 5 different dirt pedals. Of course you need a blend loop for the dirt, so there's that. With that many pedals, some @ 18v, you need a good sized power supply, and the most logical place for that is on\under the board.
Logic.

 

[Turbo Sparky]

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't. I've used pedals and received compliments on tone/sound, and other times I have not used pedals and received similar compliments. Depends on set list/venue. Bad acoustics? Compressor for example. Covering Tool? You betcha, the whole kit-n-kaboodle.

 

[micguy]

I have a tuner, often a preamp or a bit of eq, most weekends Il use a bit of subtle overdrive on a song or two, and sometimes I'l have an octaver or phaser or chorus (usually one of the 3) - whatever the set that weekend needs. I;'m ampless, so the bass and pedalboard are it in terms of making my sound. I sometimes get comments on how good the pedalboard makes me sound - many times, the compliments come when the pedal board has nothing but a buffer on. I say "thanks".

 

[fasterpussycat]

Once you have more than one pedal (a tuner) it makes sense to put them together on a board, together with a power supply so as you are not sending batteries off to landfill.

The LPF/HPF is always on. The DGVU is only used if I am obliged to plug into a solid state amp. I save the flanger for when I want to annoy people. There's a Cioks DC5 hiding under the board.