The Combo Club

[Michael Favata]

Gentlemen, you're both correct! You can have it one way, the other way, both ways, or neither way. I do feel a bass player can go sans pedals and be successful if that particular tone works within the framework of music they're playing. At the same time, correctly utilizing pedals, whether a few or millions, create a tonal pallet that is always within a leg's length of use. It all comes down to the individual and what they wish to use to communicate with.

I myself was a strictly no-pedals player, or use a modeling amp if I felt creative. Then I bought my model-less Terror Bass, loved its tone but felt I could bring more out with a dash of seasoning, and I was right. A bit of chorus added at the right time met what I had in my mind.

The other option you'd have is to buy an inexpensive multi-effects pedal, like a Zoom B1 Four (costs one Benjamin), you can get a decent sampling of numerous sounds without all the cords, cables, and aspirin needed to figure out how to hook it all up! run your bass into the FX pedal, run the pedal to the front end of your combo, and play...done! I have the previous Zoom pedal and use it when I want something I don't have as a separate pedal like a bass synth. Nope, it's not perfect, but fun to mess with and a hoot when I find what I wanted.

So, live in peace fellas. You can both lead productive lives as keepers of the low, whether you do it with or without pedals!

I yield my remaining time if I haven't already used them up!

Agreed @iagtrplyr Hope I didn't come off as combative. I apologize if I did. It's all good. You are spot on in what you say here. I too appreciate what a compressor or chorus can do for a bass. To each his own. But he did ask the question so..... (where are those damm smiley faces when you need one?!)

 

[WestyBassBob]

If you do a cover and really make it your own and do it well it can be a great thing.
If you do a cover and make it your own and don't do it well it can be a bad thing lol.
I think this is cool:

Not being familiar with the source material that’s a good example. Yes you have to do something different. But i was referring to playing tunes in a bar. You don’t mess with peoples Mustang Sally.
That said one of the tunes im looking to record soon is a cover of Depecge Modes a Policy of Truth. Since there’s no bass or guitar in that song there’s no chance I’ll be able to get it right or wrong.

 

[WestyBassBob]

Gentlemen, you're both correct! You can have it one way, the other way, both ways, or neither way. I do feel a bass player can go sans pedals and be successful if that particular tone works within the framework of music they're playing. At the same time, correctly utilizing pedals, whether a few or millions, create a tonal pallet that is always within a leg's length of use. It all comes down to the individual and what they wish to use to communicate with.

I myself was a strictly no-pedals player, or use a modeling amp if I felt creative. Then I bought my model-less Terror Bass, loved its tone but felt I could bring more out with a dash of seasoning, and I was right. A bit of chorus added at the right time met what I had in my mind.

The other option you'd have is to buy an inexpensive multi-effects pedal, like a Zoom B1 Four (costs one Benjamin), you can get a decent sampling of numerous sounds without all the cords, cables, and aspirin needed to figure out how to hook it all up! run your bass into the FX pedal, run the pedal to the front end of your combo, and play...done! I have the previous Zoom pedal and use it when I want something I don't have as a separate pedal like a bass synth. Nope, it's not perfect, but fun to mess with and a hoot when I find what I wanted.

So, live in peace fellas. You can both lead productive lives as keepers of the low, whether you do it with or without pedals!

I yield my remaining time if I haven't already used them up!

Oh I ain’t bothered. In fact I would say I play sans pedals probably 80% of the time. And when I do use a pedal it’s usually just for fuzz because that’s what the song demands.

 

[iagtrplyr]

Agreed @iagtrplyr Hope I didn't come off as combative. I apologize if I did. It's all good. You are spot on in what you say here. I too appreciate what a compressor or chorus can do for a bass. To each his own. But he did ask the question so..... (where are those damm smiley faces when you need one?!)

No combative vibe sensed or taken! In fact, we here at the CC enjoy a good round of friendly discourse, especially if the rest of us can add our two cents to the conversation. It's one great way to learn something you may not have known before. It's one of the tools I use at school to increase the quantity and quality of class discussions.

There's no neatly wrapped answer that says one of you is correct and the other, incorrect, but that's okay. This board would get pretty boring if all it was was a place for me to show my gear...which I do anyway!

 

[iagtrplyr]

Not being familiar with the source material that’s a good example. Yes you have to do something different. But i was referring to playing tunes in a bar. You don’t mess with peoples Mustang Sally.
That said one of the tunes im looking to record soon is a cover of Depecge Modes a Policy of Truth. Since there’s no bass or guitar in that song there’s no chance I’ll be able to get it right or wrong.

WBB, you found out my secret too. I'm loving acoustic/folk songs right now that have zero bass. I just ask the group if I can sit in with my hollow body, and they always say, sure! Still, I try my best to make it work so as not to ruin my reputation as a 'session' guy and in case I send it off to a friend or five.

 

[WestyBassBob]

WBB, you found out my secret too. I'm loving acoustic/folk songs right now that have zero bass. I just ask the group if I can sit in with my hollow body, and they always say, sure! Still, I try my best to make it work so as not to ruin my reputation as a 'session' guy and in case I send it off to a friend or five.

That’s one of the reasons I took up bass. It’s the ultimate band instrument. If you listen and stay in your lane you can play with anyone doing whatever music you like. Unfortunately I am having a hard time finding band mates right now. Between the time demand of work amd family coupled with the fact that almost anyone looking for a bassist isn’t looking for my skill set hence the renewed interest in making my own music.

 

[Doctor Intrepid]

Oh I ain’t bothered. In fact I would say I play sans pedals probably 80% of the time. And when I do use a pedal it’s usually just for fuzz because that’s what the song demands.

This is my 'always on' pedal. The Hofners are so thumpy and favor the low notes, that they have to be evened out. This pedal evens out all the notes and adds some texture. One very likely does not require a Hofner pedal for a Hofner bass, but I am a bit of a fanboy.

 

[G-Dog]

.
My first pedal experience in 1967 was sensational! The lead guitarist of my high school garage band went on vacation, leaving me, the rhythm guitarist, this flying saucer looking thing that he'd been toying around with for me to toy around with. So far, all he'd got out of it was "I Can't Get No (Satisfaction)" and that was great fun the first 1,000 times the band played it. But it seemed so limited.

I took it home and played "(Satisfaction)" a couple hundred times before messing with the higher strings and getting weider tones. Then I put on a new 45 rpm that also hit some of those high weird tones. Eureka! I set about learning our band's next fuzz song, which we rehearsed diligently.

​

When the lead player returned, at our next rehearsal, before he setup his rig we sat him down and he got this look of foreboding. We played him our best "Incense and Peppermints", which sounded just like the record to us (kudos to the organist & his Combo Compact!). After which the lead player stood up with tears welling up saying, "So you're kicking me outta the band?!? Well, that Fuzz Face is mine!!" I told him, "No, you're still the lead guitarist, I'll show you this lead. If I can do it, you can do it." And we then rehearsed other songs with him. Funny, though, I don't think he ever really got the true feel for that lead and never liked playing it!

All that to say that, over the decades, I've come to prefer my effects built-in to the amp, preferably a combo. I don't want nobody stealing my thunder! One hand carry, amp, efects & all. Hence my Fender Deluxe 90 DSP, Fender Cyber-Deluxe and Fender G-DEC 30 guitar amps and my Fender B-DEC 30 Bass and Fender Rumble Studio 40 bass amps that I currently enjoy. Things have certainly progressed! The Studio has every effect I think I could ever need, all built-in. No claim to "best in class", but way good enough for anything I'm doing.

YMMV.
.

 

[iagtrplyr]

This is my 'always on' pedal. The Hofners are so thumpy and favor the low notes, that they have to be evened out. This pedal evens out all the notes and adds some texture. One very likely does not require a Hofner pedal for a Hofner bass, but I am a bit of a fanboy.

View attachment 4368329

Doc, I wonder who they’ve got building their pedals. It sort of has a BOSS look (the knobs) to it, but not exactly. I think you are one of the the first players I’ve come across who uses Hofner pedals. Very cool distinction!

 

[WestyBassBob]

Doc, I wonder who they’ve got building their pedals. It sort of has a BOSS look (the knobs) to it, but not exactly. I think you are one of the the first players I’ve come across who uses Hofner pedals. Very cool distinction!

If we’re going to start showing off pedals then I’m gonna whip mine out too. Some of you may know that I had a bit of a catastrophe last month and fried an amp and at least one pedal in the process. (The other one may have died independent) this allowed me to look for better versions of what I already had. So my somewhat lame Aguilar Phaser was replaced with an amazing Gremlin Machine Shop Crystal Ball Phaser and a Keeley reverb was replaced by an amazing Gremin High Priestess Fuzz box. An expensive mistake. But at least I had an excuse to buy a better head and pedals.

 

[Doctor Intrepid]

Doc, I wonder who they’ve got building their pedals. It sort of has a BOSS look (the knobs) to it, but not exactly. I think you are one of the the first players I’ve come across who uses Hofner pedals. Very cool distinction!

I am not sure who made the pedals for Hofner. I do know they had distinct lines of pedals, though. The one I posted previous is from their 'Contemporary' line, and made somewhere in Asia. They also had some higher end German pedals. Neither line did very good, so they don't make them any longer. Nonetheless, I was able to grab some before they disappeared.

 

[LoveJackBruce]

View attachment 4368383
If we’re going to start showing off pedals then I’m gonna whip mine out too. Some of you may know that I had a bit of a catastrophe last month and fried an amp and at least one pedal in the process. (The other one may have died independent) this allowed me to look for better versions of what I already had. So my somewhat lame Aguilar Phaser was replaced with an amazing Gremlin Machine Shop Crystal Ball Phaser and a Keeley reverb was replaced by an amazing Gremin High Priestess Fuzz box. An expensive mistake. But at least I had an excuse to buy a better head and pedals.

Do you have any incense to go along with these pedals? Wowazzz!

 

[WestyBassBob]

That is a nice looking pedal there. I doubt they engineered it themselves but at least they put a good designer on it.

 

[LoveJackBruce]

That is a nice looking pedal there. I doubt they engineered it themselves but at least they put a good designer on it.

I'm getting high just looking at them. Is it the 60's all over again........

 

[WestyBassBob]

Do you have any incense to go along with these pedals? Wowazzz!

I know right? The best part is the crystal ball blinks in time with the settings on the phaser. Such a great pedal. I haven’t played with it much but it has such a nice subtle sound that you could use it as much as you can wanted. It can do the space sounds too but it really excels at the more subtle phase effects.

 

[Michael Favata]

We played him our best "Incense and Peppermints", which sounded just like the record to us (kudos to the organist & his Combo Compact!).

As if you couldn’t get any cooler in my book @G-Dog you tell me you played “Incense and Peppermints” in a band in front of people live! THAT is awesome! Too cool for school! Respect!

 

[GwenOnBass]

The smrtphn holder is real



so are the two combos

 

[StatesideRambler]

…two new Carol Kaye books…

Two new books?! Pray, enlighten me!

 

[GwenOnBass]

Two new books?! Pray, enlighten me!

Her two jazz standard books.

Looking at the local CL is a wee bit depressing. Two bassists looking for work. Any work. One's a function band guy, and the other's a bar rocker. That's what I gather from their posts. Posts that are still there some four to eight weeks later with no apparent bites.

What I don't see are adverts for the jazz gigs. I've got time to burn. Add this material to the material I'm working with now, no big deal. There's no end to learning, is there? Perhaps put up a couple notices at the local colleges in search of someone who'd like to cut the rug on Giant Steps j/k

The minor difficulty for me is ... do we trade vaccination cards? A fair proportion of locals are going to take umbrage. Well ... fine. Let 'em. But it's still a sticky consideration.

 

[RodRy]

I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t like pedals. It’s a great way to break out of a rut. Each one is like getting a whole new instrument. And if you don’t like it they are pretty easy to sell. In fact I just sold one today!

for the most part though I keep it pretty simple. Compressor. Fuzz and Phaser. That’s it. I may add a synth pedal as I like to play “electronic” music but I don’t see a need for anything more.

To each their own. Getting a new instrument is exactly like getting a whole new instrument.
Just sayin'.