"Pedals...? I Don't Need No Stinking Pedals!!"

[KevInDaBassment]

Here we go again...

Nice job putting this in Miscellaneous so it doesn't get flagged and deleted from the Effects forum...as per the forum rules.

 

[Thumper19605]

No pedals, I do own a bass choirs and have a sub harmonic in my amp that I do use on occasion.
As long as it fits the tune.

 

[40Hz]

Nope. One person. Not a bassist, however.

Wow! That's comforting! (kidding!)

 

[swarfrat]

But but ... how do you play AC/DC without pedals?

 

[TerribleLiar23]

This is a "rebel without a cause" thread. Don't want pedals? Don't use them.

More like rebel without a point.

 

[Phildevoid]

These days it seems more and more bassists are building huge pedal boards with daisy chains of expensive gizmos that would make even the most obnoxious skinny-jean wearing lead guitarist blush...

It often makes me wonder if I'm the only one who is playing live straight into an amp-- well not completely straight in; I do have a PolyTune and a direct box to feed the house-- but that's it!

Now please don't misunderstand-- I'm not at all knocking those folks who enjoy tweaking their tone via a cornucopia of gadgets, but it does make me wonder how far into the margins us simple folk are being nudged.

Who's with me? Anyone...?

I am right there with you. I only use an L.R. Baggs Para DI if i need any tweaking before I send to the amp or a board. I usually just have it set to zero across the board on the pedal when I put it on the floor. Best part is that it is my DI as well and my sound guys like working with it. I am not knocking modifying sound with gizmos either,but it is just not my cup of tea and the music I play and listen to is mostly clean bass. I am sure my sound guys throw compression on me. High five to you. Fear not there are more of us out there.

 

[Nephilymbass]

makes sense...if my band ever plays in alternate tuning, I will have to recant my posts here and try a Digitech Drop or something..

I had a newer bass whammy which had a full step down. Tried using it that way but wasn't good enough. I'd say it's ok if you're briefly going to use it for a couple seconds sure, but I wouldn't do that for an entire song.

 

[basslicks]

I keep my signal pretty clean (Tuner > Compressor > DI) but I definitely appreciate the huge palette of sounds that pedals can offer, it's just that the style of music I find myself playing doesn't utilize them so much.

I find a compressor fairly essential for me, both live and recording. I use a pretty large range of attack because I like the different tones that can come out from that but without using a compressor it just doesn't mix very well because maybe through a particular bar/passage I want a more smoother sound, but later on I want more attack and grit. At the same time, I both want to be heard and I don't want to be over the mix, so a compressor definitely helps to keep me in the range I like.

In the end, we're all having fun with strings and electrons and I think it's absolutely awesome how pedals harness these electrons and really shape tone in interesting ways. I'll likely build an experimental board in the future when my funds allow for it.

 

[DiMarco]

Stating a bassist does not need effects is kinda like stating a band does not need a bassist.
Yes it is still a band but options are just more limited.

I am having tons of fun running my P bass through a bass wah + overdrive. It makes me play way way different lines, licks, fills, solos. Very inspiring stuff.

 

[MVE]

I don't use pedals.
It's not that I don't like them, I do.
It's just that I'm pretty lazy and don't want to carry and extra stuff.

 

[Gaolee]

Got some. Don't use 'em except for the tuner that works with the wireless and an fDeck HPF when I play the upright. That's pretty much it.

It would be fun to learn to use a bass wah one of these days, but it's languishing in the closet.

 

[bassdude51]

It's all good.

TalkBass is a microcosm of the bass playing world, I'm pretty certain that, aside from tuners and DI boxes, the vast majority of bass players don't use any pedals at all.

EXACTLY!

 

[madbass6]

These days it seems more and more bassists are building huge pedal boards with daisy chains of expensive gizmos that would make even the most obnoxious skinny-jean wearing lead guitarist blush...

It often makes me wonder if I'm the only one who is playing live straight into an amp-- well not completely straight in; I do have a PolyTune and a direct box to feed the house-- but that's it!

Now please don't misunderstand-- I'm not at all knocking those folks who enjoy tweaking their tone via a cornucopia of gadgets, but it does make me wonder how far into the margins us simple folk are being nudged.

Who's with me? Anyone...?

With you 110%!! Sometimes less is more!!

 

[JimmyM]

With you 110%!! Sometimes less is more!!

And sometimes less is just less.

 

[Cowboy in Latvia]

Mostly I run without pedals but I don't think that pushes me to the fringes. I just think pedals or no, we are all just different flavors of awesome.

 

[swarfrat]

After years of no pedals ON GUITAR, I broke down and bought first a tuner, then a sans amp clone.... only to be disappointed. Then I got an eleven rack, which I love the amp models. And I will now play with some 1/4 note delay,and reverb. But the minute I find myself reaching for any of the chorus/flanger type effects I find myself sorely disappointed at the loss of attack. They're fine sounding as far as those effects go, I just don't like ANY of em.

On bass, it's apparently against forum rules to say how I feel about the proliferation. But since this is OT and _I'm_ talking about guitar - I'll say even on guitar the loss of punch is disappointing. I've been pondering how it would sound, but I'm curious if you can play AC/DC kinda hard rock with clean guitar (and leave the bass to your imagination so I don't anger the forum mods.)
If you wanna tear someone's face off, fuzz and time delay only dull your edge.

 

[nshuman]

And sometimes less is just less.

Technically, less is always less. Less is never more.

 

[swarfrat]

The biggest questions is - who's actually pulling the band's weight while you're pretending to be a guitar player? The higher up the spectrum your fundamental goes, the less critical your job and the more room for wanking without things grinding to a halt. Nobody cares what the picolos are playing - or when they lay out.

 

[the_Ryan]

The biggest questions is - who's actually pulling the band's weight while you're pretending to be a guitar player? The higher up the spectrum your fundamental goes, the less critical your job and the more room for wanking without things grinding to a halt. Nobody cares what the picolos are playing - or when they lay out.

In the interest of trying to not start an argument, usually when I use pedals it's not to sound like a guitar. When I use overdrive it still keeps the basic tone of the instrument (my pickup settings, EQ, pick attack, etc.) but it makes the sound crunchier. When I use my octave pedal, it's primarily either to add an octave below what I'm playing to add more to texture and dynamics without changing my basic tone, or it's to use only the octave below to cop a synth bass sound because it provides primarily the fundamental in a way that is not unlike an analog synthesizer, though it is its own thing. Fuzz adds intensity to a mix in a way that I find musically pleasing, plus my fuzz pedal still retains low end so that the bottom doesn't drop out. My compressor is very integral to my clean tone; I use it less as a way to compress dynamics (I think I have pretty good dynamic control) but more to add a musical "pop" to the front end of each note (particularly with a pick) that I find makes my lines cut through a mix better without changing my EQ.

I think it's fine to not like using effects on bass, but please don't make the assumption that when bass players use them it's to sound like guitarists, plus they can completely change the texture of a song. The ending "Exit Music (For a Film)" by Radiohead would sound completely different if Colin didn't use his fuzz pedal, many classic Jamerson basslines have a noticeable warm clipping/overdrive caused by pushing a tube preamp, and Thundercat does amazing things using an envelope filter (my favorites being "Wesley's Theory" by Kendrick Lamar or his work with Flying Lotus).

 

[Bryan R. Tyler]

The biggest questions is - who's actually pulling the band's weight while you're pretending to be a guitar player? The higher up the spectrum your fundamental goes, the less critical your job and the more room for wanking without things grinding to a halt. Nobody cares what the picolos are playing - or when they lay out.

There's a bunch of problems with this frame of thinking.
1. You are a guitar player. That ain't a bass trombone you're holding.
2. By saying "pretending to be," you're implying using effects or soloing is something a bass is not meant to do but a guitar is. This is simply a bias; while no one may ask you to solo in a rock band, they'll look at you funny if you don't know how to take one in jazz,
3. You're assuming effects are increasing your lowest fundamentals. This is not the case with tons of effects- lots of them make it even lower.
4. Even when using effects were taking a solo that raises the range of your instrument for a time, the only way the song or the band would fall apart is if the song or the band as a whole fail at making solid music. Otherwise, no groups or musics without bass players would have songs that held together. And the vast majority of music throughout history has had no bass guitar and got by just fine.

It's pretty simple- if you use an effect or go for a solo in an appropriate place and the song falls apart, then either you're doing something wrong, the rest of the band is doing something wrong, or you both are, because there's other players and bands out there that can do it.