Hello all, Maybe need is a strong word, as I`ve gotten along fine so far. I`m currently playing blues, leaning towards the harder rock side of things. In the past I`ve played rock, jazz, metal, even a little country and gospel. I`ve decided it`s time to get some pedals together instead of buying another bass. Any suggestions on a basic compliment of effects? And some mid priced pedals to try out? I`m not certain I will even use these so I don`t want to spend a small fortune. I also think a volume pedal would help with my amp(two channels always on with no master volume). As of now, the list: Volume pedal - ? Tuner - Korg Pitchblack Fuzz - Idiotbox Ron Swanson Super Fuzz Overdrive - Mr. Black Bass OD Chorus - T-Rex The Sweeper Octave - Mooer Tender Octaver MkII It would help if all the links in the must read post weren`t broken Thanks, Jake
If I were playing your styles, I’d get these items: Tuner -> OD -> Fuzz -> compressor -> amp Also a power brick of some kind to power it all. And I’d call it a day. But your final needs may call for chorus or octave. Up to the music. I own these from that list. Korg Pitchblack (tuner) COG Knightfall 66 (2 ODs in the unit) Vick Audio Black Russian (Fuzz) Keeley Bassist (comp) Hot stone Deluxe (pedal power brick)
You need this and it will save you a ton of time & money trying 100 different drive pedals. MBD-1 MOSFET BASS Distortion
^This. Edit: The MBD-1 is such a versatile drive pedal, that you can definitely use it in a variety of musical styles, including rock, metal and country.
Personally, I'd pick: Dunlop Volume X Mini Boss TU-3W SGFX Beta Deluxe (or maybe the Way Huge Pork Loin?) MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe MXR Bass Octave Deluxe (or the 3Leaf Octabvre but the MXR is more budget friendly) I've had issues in the past so I won't buy an EHX pedal so I'd go with the Way Huge Russian Pickle. You could skip the overdrive and fuzz and get the new Way Huge Pork & Pickle instead.
Depends on if you're getting any overdrive from your amp. If not, then for just regular overdrive/distortion, I'd go with a Dunwich Olde Dirty Bass. I've never used octave or chorus. The fuzz you have listed is a good one. I use it for Yesterday's News, which depending on the kind of venue we're playing, is anything from folk to old school rock. As far as tuners go, D'Addario has one now that's smaller, but I use the Boss Tu-3. The other effect I use a lot of is wah, partly just to make fills stand out more in a rock mix. I use a Morley Dual Bass Wah, but there are other good ones out there.
Thanks for the suggestions everybody. No overdrive through my amp(solid state). It does have the nice feature of two independent preamps running simultaneously, so I could blend a clean and effects channels together eq-ed different if needed more clean bass/treble, etc. That MBD1 looks like it would be very nice. I don't think I can justify spending $200 on a single pedal though, especially since I'm hoping to get multiple pedals in a relatively short span of time. I haven't had a chance to check out the other suggestions yet. -Jake
I either have in hand or ordered the pedals on the updated list in the first post. I bought them because of a combination of availability/price and sounds that I liked on various demos. Everything other than the octaver are used. I can post up how I like them once I receive everything if anybody is curious. Still looking at volume pedals. Alternatively I'm checking into modding my amp to have a master volume, which makes more sense to me as long as it's straightforward.