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Suggest a pedal/effect for the last spot on my board

forrestlaw

forrestlaw

Jun 25, 2018
609
998
Houston
#1
I play in a band that's got elements of surf punk and power pop for its sound. My Nano+ has space for one more pedal and I've tried several options and never been quite happy with any of the ones I've tried. I'm up for any suggestions that are useful, but fun/interesting. Bass is either a Rickenbacker 4003 or a P-Bass through a Bergantino B|Amp or Mesa TT800.

Mainstays on current board:
Boss TU-2
Empress Bass Compressor (finally found a compressor I REALLY like after trying a few others)
Fairfield Barbershop
Earthquaker Blumes

I'm pretty set on those four and am completely satisfied with them. The compressor and one of the drive pedals are always on, and there are even a couple of songs where I run both drives on. Ultimately the pedalboard has room for one more pedal, and I don't NEED one, but it would be nice to have something else fun since there is room.

What I've tried that didn't work:
Various flavors of fuzzes and Muffs... They always seem to disappear as soon as engaged
Boss DD-3 delay... got a weird "What the hell was that, don't ever do it again" look from the band leader when I tried it out
Mr. Black Fwonkbeta... liked it in my previous band, but filters wouldn't really fit in this band

What I'm considering, but would be open to thoughts/suggestions:
Flanger... could be subtle or obvious... got a few specific spots it might be really cool
JHS Pulp n Peel... additional option for drive and would give me a DI in case I need to go ampless
JHS color box... same reason

Thoughts/comments/suggestions?
 
#2
If you are into fun, dirt & potentially out of the ordinary...
productpagecarousel-c4front_orig.png

There is a phase shifter in there and much more...
 
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#3
Practically I think you should have a DI. More and more venues want to control from FOH. If you want to record off the end of your board it's good to have as well.

Something as simple as a Walrus Canvas mono, or something with more of a preamp built in like the Colorbox.

If you want fun I'd say a Doom2, get some fuzz with harmonic overtones for added flavor.
 
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#4
BGroovy said:
Practically I think you should have a DI. More and more venues want to control from FOH. If you want to record off the end of your board it's good to have as well.

Something as simple as a Walrus Canvas mono, or something with more of a preamp built in like the Colorbox.

If you want fun I'd say a Doom2, get some fuzz with harmonic overtones for added flavor.
Click to expand...
To be fair I do have a Radial JDI, too... just not physically mounted to the board.
 
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#5
So I don't think in terms of board space. I think in terms of what I'd want for bass. I'm okay with leaving space.

My bass board is really a tuner and compressor and a bass fuzz. It's for rock mostly. The amp can do gritty or clean bass- but if it didn't with a footswitch, I'd probably have an additional dirt pedal. The only thing that drifts on and off my board is modulation- it's usually my old TC SCF (stereo chorus flanger). Some things want a flange or chorus on the bass.

Surf and power pop? If the other instruments are wet or modulated, might be better if you stay with the dirt. But if they aren't:

Bass clone?

or

Boss BF3?


The other thing that sometimes hits the board instead of modulation is filter. But I don't think that is a surf/power pop thing. If it is- it's moog style or mu-tron style for me.
 
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#9
The only fuzzes I've tried that I've liked in the mix were the Green Russian reissue and a DOD Bass Grunge. I feel like between the Barbershop and the Blumes, another drive would be redundant. I'd probably go flanger, but I think you should consider a chorus too, maybe something like the Bass Clone? If the DD-3 caused a look of disapproval from the band leader, I feel like I nice, tasteful chorus might have the opposite effect.
 
#11
If you are using a DI to FOH then maybe an amp emulation pedal. Something in the SVT range. Could go with a brought on SV-pre or something fancy like a two notes opus ( which can cover both amp and speaker emulation).

if amp emulation is not needed and a filter is too much.
Then
I'd go with the MxR PolyBlue octave. It has +- 1 and 2 octave. You can blend each as much as you want. Super tracking polyphonic mode, glitch vintage synthy octave mode, an aggressive fuzz and a rotating speaker modulation effect or a phaser depending on which octave mode it is in. Does a lot of great stuff for a small footprint.
 
#19
An A/B-Y box like the little one from mooer can be a handy utility pedal. I have a mooer ABY on each end of my pedalboard. That way, I can have two instruments hooked up going in into the pedalboard, either one ready to go at a moment's notice, and then with the other ABY (going out of the pedalboard) I have two outs. I'm actually not taking advantage of the outbound ABY at the moment, but the signal can be routed to two seperate amps, either going simultaneously or selecting just one or the other of the two. Alternatively, you could turn the outbound ABY around and have a second bass running into it that would bypass the pedalboard and go directly to the amp's input (so, you'd have a second but straight-in bass tuned up and ready to go), etc. All sorts of routing possibilities with a couple of these guys.

Tremolo is uncommon on bass but can be interesting.

Any of phaser, flanger or chorus could of course have a place, but, regarding each… if you don't have a song that incorporates it, I'd classify these under "No need" (ymmv).

IME, the Pulp 'n Peel isn't the dream mini multi-tool it might seem to be. The dirt is one dimensional sound-wise and not smoothly accessed (at least in my version, you have to bend down and flip a mini toggle switch), and speaking of access, a compressor is generally early in a signal change, which makes accessing the DI out of the Pulp 'n Peel problematic.

An amp sim with DI out could be useful, especially if you could switch the amp sim on or off.

If you also run through your same pedalboard for solo practicing, a drum machine could be convenient to have on there, as could a looper if you also play guitar and want to lay down chords to practice over. Those two aren't needed for live band performance, of course, but you said you have extra space…
 
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#20
Unless you really NEED a specific pedal/effect, the best thing you can do for your tone is probably to leave that space empty. Less potential noise/tone degradation, less stuff that can fail during a gig and less stuff to carry around.

Stuffing your pedalboard with effects/pedals you don't really need is not a good idea IMO. Wait until you actually know what type of effect/pedal you actually need (which may turn out to be nothing at all).

My advice: Save your money for something you actually need.
 
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