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The Pedal Necessity

Fenderkong13

Fenderkong13

Guest
Jan 17, 2014
67
13
#1
Hey TB, So I've yet to see one. And as i build up I'm curious to hear the voice(s) of reason.
What is your must have pedals for touring/gigs or just playing at home. What must you have? From the various ones i would say at least a compressor and a tuner. What brand do you prefer? What effects do you like to have? Which are consistent in fine quality?
Thanks.
 
#5
Fenderkong13 said:
Hey TB, So I've yet to see one. And as i build up I'm curious to hear the voice(s) of reason.
What is your must have pedals for touring/gigs or just playing at home. What must you have? From the various ones i would say at least a compressor and a tuner. What brand do you prefer? What effects do you like to have? Which are consistent in fine quality?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Me personally? I think a good bass graphic EQ, a good compressor, a good overdrive, and a tuner. Oh, and an SFX Thumpinator.
 
#7
Overdrive. My philosophy is that you need at least 8-9 overdrives :) Seriously though, you need an overdrive.

An EQ can also be very useful. If you want a distortion, a fuzz, those would be nice to have in pedal form as well. Boosts are also very very useful. Depending on the type of music you play, you may absolutely need an envelope filter (not like you can recreate that sound with your fingers). Any other modulation/reverb/delay, again, you can't do those sounds with your fingers. I mean, theoretically, you could do a delay sound, with like 6 hands...
 
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#8
halfjackson said:
Hmm, well the pedal that I'm least likely to sell is my 3leaf Enabler. It's not exactly an effect, but it has a ridiculous amount of utility. After that, I like having filters, some fuzz or OD, and an octave.

The least important pedals that i have are chorus and flanger.
Click to expand...
I just got The Enabler a few days ago. I'm amazed there are more For Sale threads for them than discussion threads. I think it is terrific.
 
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#9
telecopy said:
I just got The Enabler a few days ago. I'm amazed there are more For Sale threads for them than discussion threads. I think it is terrific.
Click to expand...

I have said this many times before, so I do sound like a broken record, but the Enabler is the pedal I just cannot seem to get rid of. Every time I think, ok, I should take it off my board to free up some space, I realize I need it. It's EQ, a headphone amp, a preamp (can drive my poweramp) a DI, a clean boost, etc. If I am not using one feature, I am using another.
 
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#10
I've gone through on and off phases with pedals.

But I've always found it useful to have a tuner pedal, a graphic EQ, and an OD (for some tubey beef) in my gig bag.

My Eden WTDI pedal has also been brilliant. I always check the PA out before lugging my amp; if I can go ampless, why not?
 
#12
Only thing I have to have is an overdrive, and really, on my gigs I can get away without it, too. But that's my one essential pedal that I feel odd not bringing to my gigs, because of the material we do. Sure, it's oldies ;) but you'd be surprised how distorted a lot of that old stuff is.
 
#14
I'm finding that after going between large boards and completely dry, on gigs ranging across just about every style, I'm using octave, compressor, overdrive (or fuzz) and chorus.. depending on the gig, the overdrive might be replaced with a delay. The chorus minimal use, but it's there nonetheless.. I tune before I leave the house so I don't really need one on the gig..
 
#16
My must haves are:
Drive effect (find the flavor you like).
Preamp (of some sort, like as has been mentioned, The Enabler, SansAmp, whatever). This is great for enhancing your bass tone.
Phaser with expression control (this allows for modulation of the drive effect; essentially creating new drive sounds from one pedal).

Beyond that, it's all special effects. (I love special effects).
delay, reverb, tremolo, distortion, fuzz...

I use a headstock tuner too.
I mean, unless you're often retuning between songs (I do not), why waste the floor space (and money)?
And if your bass is going out of tune during gigs, you should probably get it checked.
 
#17
Headstock tuners can be fussy. I bring one on my fly gigs but if the background music gets a little loud, it messes with them. At least it does with my Snark, and since they all work the same way by feeling vibrations, I imagine they all get messed with to an extent. That said, I'd probably eliminate the pedal tuner and use only the Snark if I didn't double on upright.
 
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#19
Fenderkong13 said:
Hey TB, So I've yet to see one. And as i build up I'm curious to hear the voice(s) of reason.
What is your must have pedals for touring/gigs or just playing at home. What must you have? From the various ones i would say at least a compressor and a tuner. What brand do you prefer? What effects do you like to have? Which are consistent in fine quality?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
http://www.talkbass.com/forums/effects-bg.36/
 
#20
Vlad5 said:
hmmm good point Jimmy. Didn't think of that.

I have my pedal board packed, so the thought of a tuner taking up space makes me itch.
Click to expand...
Trust me...there are times I resent it using the space I could use on another cool sound. It's just usually much easier for me to use it in my doubling situation than anything else.
 

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