I don't have any pedals right now, I only own 1 bass and 1 amp. My questions are: Are there any must have pedals? What are they?And can you get by without any pedals if you wanted to (someday) do sessions?
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What Are The "Must Have" Pedals?
- Thread starter Mr Cheese
- Start date
The answer you’re gonna get is “it’s all in the hands”
It depends on what sounds you have in your head that you want to get out of your bass, hands and fingers, and amp with extra help. Do you want funky filtering? Do you want phasing? Flanging? An inexpensive multieffects pedal can help you get a grounding in sounds you like, and whether they work for your bass. If you end up liking an effect enough to then commit to wanting to spend more money on a single pedal that specializes in that sound, or three or ten more.
Common effects: tuner; compressor; fuzz, overdrive, distortion; modulation: chorus, flanger, phaser, or ring modulation for the more adventurous; reverb and/or delay; envelope filter; octave up and/or down and pitch shifting; and synth pedals. A decent used multieffect will let you get almost all these sounds and more. I started my journey with a DigiTech BP80.
Common effects: tuner; compressor; fuzz, overdrive, distortion; modulation: chorus, flanger, phaser, or ring modulation for the more adventurous; reverb and/or delay; envelope filter; octave up and/or down and pitch shifting; and synth pedals. A decent used multieffect will let you get almost all these sounds and more. I started my journey with a DigiTech BP80.
You can most certainly get by without using any pedals. Many of the most famous bass players from the 60s and 70s didn’t use them at all.
I would say start with what sounds good to you first and disregard all the buzz about hpf and compression for now, because it matters to be able to dial in a good tone from your amp and main toneshapers first. Utility pedals are helpful for fine tuning your sound but it’s easy to get lost when you first begin to use them. There’s a lot of helpful guides on the forum here!
Hope that helped
I would say start with what sounds good to you first and disregard all the buzz about hpf and compression for now, because it matters to be able to dial in a good tone from your amp and main toneshapers first. Utility pedals are helpful for fine tuning your sound but it’s easy to get lost when you first begin to use them. There’s a lot of helpful guides on the forum here!
Hope that helped
HPF and Compressor/Limiter at the very minimum for me.
Without them, I feel like 1/3 of my rig is missing.
Without them, I feel like 1/3 of my rig is missing.
I hope to play in many different genres, but mainly rock and all of its sub-genres right now.
You could pull off most of your favorite rock tones right there. P basses are a lot more versatile than you’d expect, and they respond to EQ well. A good rule of thumb for your amp EQ is that it’s better to start low on the knob and roll it up to taste than it is to start with every knob at 5. If you can find where the EQ becomes “flat”, that would also be a great place to start
Good gear! The rumble 100 has an overdrive circuit, so you are covered for a warm/angry sound.
You could add so much to your sound, but if you are playing rock with two guitars - you probably wont have to. 2+ instruments typically results in a crowded mix when playing in rock-land.
Otherwise, you may like to look at one of these (fairly inexpensive multi effects) to try out different sounds:
Line 6 M3
Zoom ms-60b
When I only have the split coils on, my EQ is Bass and Treble at 12 o'clock, and High and Low mids at 6. When I turn on the bridge pickup, I lay off the high mid a bit, and boost the bass. I have no idea if those are good EQ settings, but its what sounds good to me.
As mentioned above: get a decent used Multi-effect and figure out what the different effect sounds are, and then what you like.
JeezyMcNuggles
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- Feb 23, 2018
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You can go a long way without using pedals of any sort, especially if you have a good amp and know how to use it.
HOWEVER...
This is the Effects forum, so if you are going to use pedals, and if you play rock, you may wish to have a decent overdrive pedal. There are a million to choose from, so you have to decide what sound you're going for and what your budget is.
Also, if you're going to use pedals at all, you can't go wrong with a decent tuner pedal. They are not expensive (some of them are) and make your life a lot easier, especially on stage. Not only can you tune easier and not have to fiddle with a clip-on tuner or whatever, they also usually double as a mute switch when turned on.
Don't feel pressured into blowing money on this stuff though. When I started out I used no pedals for a long time.
HOWEVER...
This is the Effects forum, so if you are going to use pedals, and if you play rock, you may wish to have a decent overdrive pedal. There are a million to choose from, so you have to decide what sound you're going for and what your budget is.
Also, if you're going to use pedals at all, you can't go wrong with a decent tuner pedal. They are not expensive (some of them are) and make your life a lot easier, especially on stage. Not only can you tune easier and not have to fiddle with a clip-on tuner or whatever, they also usually double as a mute switch when turned on.
Don't feel pressured into blowing money on this stuff though. When I started out I used no pedals for a long time.
Start with a cheap dirt pedal, with a power supply.
Joyo Ultimate Drive, EHX Green Russian or Bass Soul Food or Hot Tubes - all are fairly cheap and very, ahem, effective.
Joyo Ultimate Drive, EHX Green Russian or Bass Soul Food or Hot Tubes - all are fairly cheap and very, ahem, effective.
