Pedals, effects and the like...

[NKBassman]

If it weren't for TalkBass, I'll I would really need is a tuner pedal...

The way I see it, if I need to bring a pedal tuner (and I do), then I might as well bring a whole board with a few other goodies. Better to have it and not need it than need/want it and not have it... and if you don't want to use any of them, turn them off.

 

[Fuzzbass]

I've often wondered if the pursuit of one's own sound (specific to bass) is a task that may be dissipated on the general audience (but not on fellow musicians).

Oh, absolutely. With few exceptions, the audience won't care if I'm playing a Hofner strung with flats, or Spector with steel rounds. Heck, it's true for many of my bandmates: with them, the point is how well I play, and not how the bass looks or sounds.

The audience generally won't care what effects I use, but for hard rock I dial in an aggressive sound, and that's been remarked on at times: at least twice, someone has said "hey, you get a cool Yes sound out of your bass". My tone goal is closer to live Entwistle, but I appreciated the compliments nonetheless! OTOH, bandmates often do notice my effects, which are limited to overdrive/distortion, and occasionally compression to achieve a "cranked SVT rig" tone at low volume.

 

[Fuzzbass]

As said many times there's no right or wrong with FX, just personal preference... which may well include the preferences of your bandmates/bandleaders!

I can play gigs totally clean, but my ears prefer at least a bit of overdrive for any musical genre. If you surf isolated bass tracks on YouTube or wherever (IMPORTANT: genuine isolated tracks, as opposed to AI-generated guesswork that usually sounds like poop thru a sewer pipe), you'll be amazed at how dirty many of them are, even though they might sound clean in the mix.

After overdrive, I sometimes use parallel compression: meaning, a compressor with a clean (uncompressed) blend knob. The cool thing about compression is that it simulates a speaker cab being pushed really hard, and also the sustain-bordering-on-feedback than can occur from standing in front a loud stage amp. For my heaviest tones I stack multiple dirt pedals into each other -- doesn't always work well, but sounds amazing with compatible dirt pedals.



I don't use any FX besides comp and dirt... with one exception: a couple/few years ago I joined a Cheap Trick tribute band just for fun. With them, my tone goal is the sound of Tom Petersson's distorted 12-string bass. 12-string basses are way cool but I have no intention of owning one, so I built a pedalboard with compressor, octaver, bass chorus (because octave strings aren't perfectly in tune), and a couple of distortion pedals. The resulting tone is not an exact match for Tom's, but I'm extremely happy with the result and so are my bandmates.

 

[Meaculpa]

I can play without an amp, but I can’t play without my preamp/multi-FX, since I got a Sansamp about 15 years ago.

My main sound is on whatever device I’m using at the moment, I can’t rely on amps anymore. I just show up and play knowing that FOH has my sound, and the onstage amp is only for how I hear myself. Sometimes I even play ampless gigs, but never without ‘my sound.’

And since I mostly use multi-FX units nowadays, if I ever need a specific effect, I have it ready to go. But most of the time, it’s just compression and preamp.

 

[Kerem Koseoglu]

Paraphrasing Michael League; I use pedals only when it's musically inappropriate not to.

 

[micguy]

I never used Compression. After over 35 years of playing, i started using it. A revelation.

I never used compression until about....45 years in. I don't need a compressor to control dynamics - I can do that just fine, I think working without a compressor for a decent length of time is good for teaching you that.

If applied sparingly, it's the same general reaction has having a bass with better sustain - which is never a bad thing in my book. For some of the gigs I do (this weekend, it's a church gig with a power trio backing band), having a bass where you can have notes "hang" for a longer time....just the ticket. There are tunes where I will turn it off, as having a quicker decay fits the vibe better.

All my gigs are now ampless. Any bass (my opinion) can be improved by a bit of EQ, and for some songs, a bit of compression. An amp does that kind of stuff naturally for you, so....if you're doing ampless gigs, you need to do some of that processing elsewhere to have the best sound you can get going to FOH. Your pedalboard is your "amp".

Signal modification (whether you do it in an amp, or at FOH, or on a pedalboard) is part of the art form - we play an electric instrument, which needs amplification (and at least enough modification so you don't sene infrasonic stuff to the speakers). If you find you don't need pedals, that's fine. If you avoid them because you think it's not a "purist" approach, that's just willful ignorance of what they might do for you.

 

[vvvmmm]

FWIW, one thing to keep in mind when recording is that compression and/or limiting is almost always applied to the bass in mixdown (and pretty much everything else, to some degree).

If the mixer only uses those methods (as opposed to gain-rides) to adjust levels, then it's possible some sections get over-compressed in order to get the low-level stuff [more] audible.

If that's what is done, then when the higher level stuff gets more compressed, that often changes the player's sound.

IMO, I'd rather get my sound myself, adjusting and playing to the compressor in real time.

I always say I play the axe and the amp (altho' much more so on guitar, much less on keys) - to which I think mebbe should be added that the FX are also played. A good example is anything called " dynamic" (e.g.., some phasers, some trems), many (most?) filters, certainly dirt pedals based on the Fuzz Face (an FF is more a guitar thing) but others and, yes, compressors themselves.

I love me some optical compression, and a given setting can be subtle or distorted depending on how hard it is played to.

 

[Wfrance3]

I don't have anything I don't need.
CHAIN - Thumpinator (It's a HPF) - Compressor with wet-dry - Zoom MS70+ CDR - Tube DI
It's a tiny little board and is very useful for getting sounds in my head to be real. My default tone is cleaned up by the HPF. run through the compressor for a little clean boost, but also a little support to the trebely stuff that makes ghost notes and that kind of stuff sound more present. - I usually play with a little bit of Spring reverb. I leave that at unity and wet-dry all but about 30 or 40% of that thru. I can add other stuff that pedal has in it if that's appropriate, but usually just use the zoom pedal for the touch of verb it provides. The tube in my DI does the rest. Very warm and vintage feeling. Sounds especially nice with flats. Am sure I could do all that with the right amp and the right technique etc, but this is the stuff I got and it works well/does the job.

 

[_One//Man//Mutiny_]

I’m lucky enough to play with a guitar player who’s just as into effects as I am, so I get to geek out with him, I think we would both argue that they definitely become part of the sound. Especially utility type pedals like a compressor, noise suppressor and a preamp.
My drummer just started getting into effects and bought a bass and was asking me if a compressor even does anything and I had the joy of turning mine off and watch his jaw drop as the rest of my pedal board fell apart, my envelope filter struggled to engage like it normally does, my octave and synth pedals started tracking much worse, my fuzz was more dynamic but my noise suppressor started clamping down on it pre maturely and my time based effects didn’t trail as long and those along with my chorus pedal started to sound muddy. Then I clicked my Diamond Bass Compressor back on and everything came to life not only did my bass spring back to life and was consistent and noise free but all my effects went back to sounding perfect and all played well with each other again, same thing with a preamp pedal, I use it to add frequencies back into my signal chain that other pedals before it take away. So my pedalboard ends up being closer to flat going to my amp, so I can just fine tune the EQ of the amp if I have to and everything on the board is locked in, this is also beneficial since I like to use the headphone amp on my preamp pedal to play silently and it’s set up to have the complete picture of my tone. I can also just record out of the DI on the preamp pedal without having to involve an amp at all.
My point is, when used right using certain pedals to the best of their ability, most people don’t pickup that you’re even using pedals.

 

[vvvmmm]

I like to work exactly that way sometimes except I kinda of have a rule to never need a noise suppressor ...

... well, hardly ever.

Then I use gates when recording and the pedal switch and/or vol knob live.

 

[Balog]

I like pedals, and think they're fun. Some are replicable with playing skill and technique, some are not. I have a Hizumitas, and I love playing with it. If your bass>amp>speaker signal chain sounds like a Hizumitas, you should immediately turn off the power and see a repair shop.

 

[Bassdirty]

I can use a hammer to drive a screw into a drywall. The result will not exactly be pretty, but the screw will be "in".

It will likely also be quite "screwed"..

 

[M-Mittlesteadt]

I find that the oft used phrase, "The audience won't notice" to be self-defeating. Typically the audience doesn't notice the bass itself either...until it drops out. Heck, unless the band itself is the reason for anyone in the audience being there in the first place, they often don't think of the band as anything other than background noise or something to dance to, like a jukebox or DJ.

Does anyone other than you care if you use effects? It doesn't really matter. All that matters is if you like to use them and it inspires you to play. An inspired bass player will typically play better simply because they are into their sound and how it makes them feel. Effects don't make you a better player...just one that enjoys it more if those effects give you that "mojo".

I get my tone from a multi-effects pedal and pretty much sound the same whether it's through headphones, an amp, monitors or FOH mix. In my studio (especially on my 6 string bass) when I'm writing and recording my own music, I'm always experiment with sound, and there is no audience anyway.

Which is really my whole point when I say, "The audience won't notice" is self-defeating. If they more than likely don't even notice the bass at all, why do we chase a certain tone? Certainly because we notice and that's all that matters. Do what you want/need regardless of the audience.

 

[lug]

If it weren't for TalkBass, I'll I would really need is a tuner pedal

My amp has a built in tuner...Hah!

 

[Zbysek]

I prefer to think of the whole signal chain, from bass to speaker, as a single instrument. Changing any component alters the nature of the instrument.

This

 

[Zbysek]

Threads like these presume that the bass player always uses an amp and a cab.

That is not the case nowadays for many of us. For some of my gigs, there is no amp on stage at all. I still want my bass to sound certain way. I use pedals to achieve that.

 

[Zbysek]

I find that the oft used phrase, "The audience won't notice" to be self-defeating.

I agree. TBH, I am tired of the discussion whether the audience will notice. I am sure the audience won't notice whether or not I wear underwear. Still, I wear it...

 

[ph0rk]

If the audience doesn't notice that means the fuzz needs to be turned up more.

 

[ardgedee]

I agree. TBH, I am tired of the discussion whether the audience will notice. I am sure the audience won't notice whether or not I wear underwear. Still, I wear it...

They won't be able to tell if you're wearing underwear, but they'll notice how uncomfortable you look if you're chafing.

 

[JazznFunk]

I agree. TBH, I am tired of the discussion whether the audience will notice. I am sure the audience won't notice whether or not I wear underwear. Still, I wear it...

If you're wearing those David Lee Roth chaps, they'll notice. Oh they'll notice.