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Pedals or no pedals

Bass players, do you use pedals ?

  • Yes, pedals are part of my rig

    Votes: 214 73.0%

  • No, bass, cord and amp and this ashtray and that’s all I need.

    Votes: 79 27.0%
  • Total voters
    293
#41
I use pedals because the types of music include a variety of sounds I need to get somewhat close to. Also, I usually play in a 3-piece, so filling some sonic space behind guitar solos is important.

But, I have to admit - if I took a gig doing 1950's country music I'd still show up with pedals - tuner and hpf for sure, and since I'm bringing a board anyway I'd toss in a compressor. So for me "no pedals" is 3 pedals. Yeah, lame.

Oh, and do I need a DI pedal?
 
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#42
Wasnex said:
For all practical purposes, I plug straight in. The only exception is I use a pedal tuner for some gigs. I prefer a clean and fairly HiFi tone. If I were in a band that needed a different sound, I would not hesitate to use pedals.
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I kind of veer between extremes. When I'm practicing I prefer as clean as possible, about the only tweak being EQ, because I'm still finding my way around on fretless and any kind of gunge gets in the way of being able to tell if I'm getting pitchy. On the other hand when I'm tooling around I'll usually find myself deep in dirtbag frippertronics territory, finding settings in the DAW that I'm sure the engineers had hoped were safely hidden away.
 
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#44
I think it's the younger, newer players that are a large part of that 70-ish percent, especially with modulation etc effects.
I stick with the basics...comp and EQ.
I have a chorus pedal for home use but I don't use it at live gigs.
In a 3 piece band it's cool cause you can actually hear it live but in a band with guitars and keyboard etc, there's no point as it gets lost in the mix.

When I was younger, i went through the stage of trying every bass effect you can imagine.
With knowledge comes clarity!
 
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#46
FretRiff said:
View attachment 7330045

This pic is not atypical in small shows, but I can't remember the last rock show I've seen, small or large, where the bassist was completely pedal-free.

Someone on Reddit recently mused that they showed up for rehearsal with a pedalboard about as big as the lead guitarist's and they kept joking around at his expense, saying things like, "Aww he thinks he's people."
Click to expand...
I don’t know what kind of shows you’re going to where every single bass player uses pedals, I can only speak to my own experience and it’s very different.
 
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#48
My Current 80’s gig is “silent stage” so the DI pedal is required. Also a few effected sounds for the various tunes. I did a smaller gig this past Sunday with my trio, and it was a bass, wireless, and my f112 and WTX-500 head, Zero pedals. So depends on the gig. Personally I prefer no pedals, but my main gig demands it.
 
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#51
All utility stuff: HPF, comp, tuner, Swiss Army DI box, and a chorus I deploy on occasion...can't claim it's discernible in the mix, though. Also have a Zoom just in case we need something a little more over-the-top.

Just now realizing I have (3) comps in the signal chain: dedicated ($$), DI preamp, and bass amp. I really need to rotate them thru the course of a single gig just to see if anybody (...including me) notices a difference. Probably not...it's sad.

Riis
 
#52
I prefer to use a boss gx10 or gt1 into a pa. If I do use any effect other than the amp sim its compressor or wah or envelope filter. Very occasionally I’ll turn the organ effect on. But when I use an amp it’s usually straight in. I dislike bass distortion.
 
#53
TLDR but I'm sure someone has brought up already: Half of my pedals used to be rack gear. Remember when every rack had a tuner? dbx160 compressor? Some kind of preamp + eq? Old heads may also have had boost, dirt, foot-switchable eq, etc. An Acoustic 360 even had fuzz. A lot of the modern pedal thing is that new amps don't live in racks and don't have the right mix of features, if we're even using amps. That said, since I got my SW800+ I got a lot of the features that I care about in my amp so my board has shrunk, but I still need a tuner... with a mute.
 
#55
USAJO said:
On guitar forums there are occasionally threads where players almost defiantly boast they go guitar, cord, amp. They don’t need or desire no stinking pedals.

Do you use pedal(s) playing bass?

I would guess the percentage of guitarist who use pedals is in the high 90’s.

What percentage of bass players would you guess use them?

I’d guess it would be lower. Maybe 70% or less?

What do you think?

If pedals are a big part of your sound does that make the amp you use a little less significant?
Click to expand...

Throughout my decades as a professional I never used any pedals. Bass to amp and that's it.

I could still go that way and I'd be ok with it but these days I like a modest pedal set-up:
Korg PitchBlack X tuner,
MXR compressor set for just a touch and always on,
SansAmp BDDI - EQ varies according to venue and offers an alternative XLR direct to PA if necessary,
Broughton HPF setting varies according to venue.

I've done a small gig just using the board without problems but I like having my amp there.
 

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