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The TB "Essential" Pedalboard?

#42
If I am schlepping a pedal board out of the house... it must have an envelope filter and some kind of dirt/fuzz. I use either sparingly but if I am using an effect, someone's gonna notice. Even my big board is filled only with processors that change my sound in a way that is obvious to achieve an ambient effect aside from just tone shaping.

Not a user of any "always on" items like preamps, frequency filters or compression... those are completely non-essential to me. All of my amps have DI's and preamps that are more than adequate for any of my gigs.

That said I am just a humble weekend warrior and not trying to slag on anyone that digs stuff I don't. I understand that my opinions strictly apply to me.
 
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#43
dbsfgyd1 said:
I agree with most. A tuner, be it a pedal or a clip on is a must for any musician regardless of instrument. For those of us that play instruments that need to be amplified, XLR out of an amp or pedal board is a great idea, and should be a minimum qualification on any amp you buy.

I have a tuner pedal (Boss), and an Eden WTDI, which provide an XLR, some EQ capabilities, as well as onboard compression. )Well, as much compression as I ever need.) I pretty much play with a flat EQ setting, only a bump at 125-135hz which for the most part reduces the need for a HPC.

Good helpful OP. Thanks.
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I probably use the tuner for a mute pedal as much as a tuner.
 
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#44
MultiScaleMale said:
Most of the time I see zero pedalboard for bassists.
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matante said:
One big difference between bass and guitar is that pedals are not essential to us. Guitarists need pedals. Bassists use pedals because we want to, not because we need to.
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My experience is totally the opposite. I played guitar live for years with nothing more than a channel switch, and eventually a noise gate and a tuner. Getting what I really want out of a bass tone takes a lot more. And I can't recall the last time I saw a bass player without at least three pedals - tuner, dirt, and some kind of octave or time-based effect for flavor.
 
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#45
Seashore said:
My experience is totally the opposite. I played guitar live for years with nothing more than a channel switch, and eventually a noise gate and a tuner. Getting what I really want out of a bass tone takes a lot more. And I can't recall the last time I saw a bass player without at least three pedals - tuner, dirt, and some kind of octave or time-based effect for flavor.
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Maybe we're different genres. Mostly, it's direct into the amp or maybe a tuner pedal, generally a Boss.
 
#47
Seashore said:
My experience is totally the opposite. I played guitar live for years with nothing more than a channel switch, and eventually a noise gate and a tuner. Getting what I really want out of a bass tone takes a lot more. And I can't recall the last time I saw a bass player without at least three pedals - tuner, dirt, and some kind of octave or time-based effect for flavor.
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Depends on the style of music but there are tons more bassists going without effects than there are guitarists going without. At a minimum we can say that guitarists very rarely play without at least 2 effects (not pedals): a bit of grit and a bit of reverb from their amp. Bassist can, and often do, go without any effects at all.
 
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#49
MultiScaleMale said:
Maybe we're different genres. Mostly, it's direct into the amp or maybe a tuner pedal, generally a Boss.
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matante said:
Depends on the style of music but there are tons more bassists going without effects than there are guitarists going without. At a minimum we can say that guitarists very rarely play without at least 2 effects (not pedals): a bit of grit and a bit of reverb from their amp. Bassist can, and often do, go without any effects at all.
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For sure, genre has a lot to do with it, and also probably influenced by the venues we play -- for me, small shows where the amps carry the room, rarely with a DI for low end reinforcement. I play metal, hardcore, noise rock, etc. Effects are popular across the board in the scenes I've been a part of (although I wouldn't call natural amp distortion an "effect" for the purpose of what we're talking about here). I'd go so far as to say I've seen more bassists than guitarists with elaborate pedalboards over the past few years.
 
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#50
Back when, I went Bass to tuner to amp and was off as I was a purist(i.e. I sucked and was afraid pedals would make my suck sound even worse) But realized at one point that certain pedals could cover up some of my suck and went with some compression, chorus, dirt and tried so many more over the years. I like pedals and for me its fun trying new stuff but have also found that, as long as it doesn't sound bad, not many notice or even give a crap that I'm using a particular pedal. But yeah for me essentials would be comp and dirt.
 
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#52
You almost describe my actual set up. Keep it clean and simple.

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#54
oZZma said:
I think HPF and DIs are not statistically THAT relevant to be considered "essentials".
I don't think I have ever seen a HPF in real life (=gigs) and they seem to me a very TB-specific mania/cult.
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I'm not saying you're wrong, but that is the exact opposite of my experience as far as DIs go. I mostly play in mega-esque churches or venues that don't mic bass amps (if you even have one). A DI is more my sound than my amp is.
 
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#58
This after noon I brought my board home from church. I was not happy with. I just had 5 effects and my tc tuner a Keeley Bassist, Boss overdrive, mxr chorus Boss GEB-7 rq, I liked at first then Everytime I played something was wrong. I found out I don't like compressors. Now I am just using my Tuner and my EQ and delay. Now I am very happy with my sound.
 

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