What Are The "Must Have" Pedals?

[Aceman]

Greetings! I'm a hack guitar player, and even bigger bass hack.

I will say above all - learn to play the AMP. So few really invest time and effort learning how the EQ interacts, and how the gain impacts their tone, and such. A lot of amazing sound is just someone with ears and time on the knobs on the amp!

And, since the Rumble has overdrive on it, work that too! I have a Hartke TX 300 with OD and Compression, and I can make a lot of tones with just that. Enough I'd play most anything without a pedal.

But that is no fun! And, I'm a guitar player and whoever dies with the most pedals wins, so....I have to agree with all the "cheap multi-fx" suggestions. Zoom, Digitech, Boss, whoever. Get last years low end model used. It will have more effects, parameters, over-processed presets, and memory spaces than you'll know what to do with for years. And ignore the cork-sniffers. It has more power and higher fidelity than whatever studio rack-of-outboard-awesome was used to record their most favorite-tonez-evers.

And finally - it depends on if you are playing at home or playing out.

If playing out: Tuner, Compressor, EQ, OD would be my basics. I like individual pedals for staples because if a Multi-fx dies, you are done.
Tuner - because snarks are weak on stage, and they are easy to see and use as a mute usually
Compressor - to help put you in the mix properly
EQ - for a quick change of tone or lead/riff boost
OD - to add hair when needed. Or all the time. Or different from the on board OD.
No turning around and futzing with the knobs on stage!!!

If home: Snark, Multi, and whatever floats your boat

Finally - also depends on what music you are playing. You didn't say.
If you are getting Funky, a Wah or Envelope Filter
If you are doing fusion jazz, maybe Chorus
If you are going Metal, might want a tight Delay

We can go on...but that all brings us back to the cheap Multi Fx...

 

[tleeitsme]

circumstantial based on the music you play but...

compressor, preamp (i prefer to not EQ amps, mostly always at noon), fuzz, chorus/flanger, wah/envelope filter, digital delay, reverb (although i like a good amp spring reverb the best)

 

[FunkyYeti]

An OD, DI, EQ, Compressor, & Tuner. I have a couple of pedals which embrace all 5...comes in handy when I don't feel like hauling out the "big board". I also have an Zoom MS-60B which can be added to the mix when FX (modulation, delay, reverb, chorus, etc) are desired but I don't consider it an "essential".

Riis

Why do you consider an EQ essential? Are you basing this off of OP's amplifier? Shouldn't an amplifier's EQ be adequate?

 

[dmt]

Depends on what sounds you want to make.

Tuner that can mute your signal is essentially a must, though it’s not an effect.

A lot of people use a Swiss Army knife 3-in-1 box a la the old SansAmp Bass Driver DI that has what might be called "The Big 3" - EQ, overdrive and a DI (DI not being an effect, but a signal routing option). But other people get by fine without such a pedal.

Beyond that, a lot of people get use out of a compressor. But, you can play without a compressor.

Beyond that, you can get into different flavors of dirt (there’s more than one distortion sound in the world, and if you want access to them, you’re probably gonna need various overdrive, distortion and fuzz pedals). But a lot of bass uses no distortion at all, and just one pedal might cover a good distortion sound for you (if you even need it).

Then there’s filters (wah, envelope filter, etc.) modulation (chorus, flanger, phaser, etc,.) and more - they are only "must haves" if there’s a certain sound(s) one or more would give you that you must have for some particular reason.

In short, basically just a tuner with a mute function, probably a DI, very reasonably something that gives you additional EQing options, and maybe some dirt and/or compression (but only if needed/desired). And then anything else as needed or desired.

But really, only the tuner

 

[jdh3000]

If you want pedals, feel free to explore. You will hear from many purest that all you need is a bass, amp, and cable... and those fingers... Usually they'll throw in tuner...

This us essentially true, yet subjective. What your needs are depends a great deal on your desired outcome.

I feel like I need a parametric eq, which I have in the Empress ParaEq... I loathe getting in a room that causes one note to boom uncontrollably... The parametric eq somewhat controls that.
One might have such magical fingers that they can work with this, but that's not me... I have other things to think about other than which note to strike lightly tonight in which room... this takes care of that.

I've recently started working with an hpf and it seems to lighten the job of the paraeq.

If i were going to say two pedals you "need" it would be something along those lines.

Since you are juat getting into pedals, I recommend the Zoom Ms60b, it's relatively inexpensive, and gives you a chance to experiment with many different sounds and tools including the two mentioned above. It also has compressors, chorus, flangers... You name it. Some are quite good. It'll probably be q pedal that you'll keep on your board as your interest in pedals expands.

Yes, for a working bass player these are my recommendations.

 

[Lowbrow]

I have gotten away with playing for 40+ years playing very actively in bands without any pedals except for a tuner. So I'd say you don't need them, really. Your Rumble is a very good sounding, modern amp and I think it will do you fine if you don't really seek a processed tone.
Pedals can come in very handy for recording tho, and now that I'm primarily an at-home hobbyist I use then all the time!
Oh, I did play in a high-energy power trio recently and used a Darkglass VMT (overdrive) always on, which worked out very well for that particular situation.

 

[Aceman]

Why do you consider an EQ essential? Are you basing this off of OP's amplifier? Shouldn't an amplifier's EQ be adequate?

Should be an is are two different things. In a nice pristine sonic environment, sure. But again - just because the amp manufacturer chose the centers and Q don't mean you like it. Or maybe there is a pesky boom/chirp going on because of the room that you need a little more surgical control over. And - in the middle of a song - you can't stop and adjust the EQ to meet the needs of a cool little riff that you want to pop volume/and tone wise.

 

[Hand slap]

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?

I say learn to play without them, unless you have to have DISTORTION. You will be a better player, if you can play without them, then you have no where to hide.

 

[Rambazamba]

Tuner, OC-2, Big Muff would be a good start.

 

[jwr]

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?

The answer is as follows.

No and yes.


If I'm in a recording setting, depending on the effect, I don't need a stomp because I have tons of options in Abelton or if I'm at my brothers, he has all kinds of software options for recording. For me and what I'm doing the last year, a chorus is a chorus or a delay is a delay. I'm using 90% of the stuff for fun. I don't need any of it. Not for guitar or for bass but that's because of the type of music I'm playing.


As a pedal junkie I want to say "GO BUY EVERYTHING". As a guy who is getting older and can't maintain that kind of life style anymore I'm saying "well, do I really need this". I hate that. LOL. I have a ton of fun stuff to play with though, so at this point the answer is I have all I need to do about anything.

 

[ThinCrappyTone]

Are there any must have pedals? What are they?And can you get by without any pedals if you wanted to (someday) do sessions?

Are there any must-have pedals?
• no, but a DI, tuner and compressor are pretty useful to have in your kit. A lot of people also like to have some sort of dirt (overdrive/distortion)

Can you get by without any pedals if you wanted to do sessions?
• Well it depends on the situation, but in general, "Yes". might even be preferable to some engineers. The more pedal effects you add to the pure bass signal, the less control the engineer has over it during mixdown (for the most part). Meaning, if you record direct with no fx, the engineer is free to do anything they need or want to the bass recording after the fact. They can try chorus, try distortion, tweak it to fit the mix. But if you use a bunch of pedals, say; distortion and chorus, and record your bass with them, then the engineer can't adjust or remove those fx after the fact, if it turns out they're not really working. Not saying it's always got to be pure. Plenty of people "print" with fx. But it's often very useful to have a pure, unaffected bass signal to work with in post-production.

Just my opinions. Best of luck!

 

[Mr Cheese]

Thank you all for the advice!! I have a lot to consider now!!

 

[SunByrne]

Seriously though, I run a mini-rig with what I consider to be the bare esssentials *for me* in my 80's covers band:

No chorus pedal for an 80s rig? Surprising.

 

[Brassmonkey71]

The only thing you need is a compression pedal. I use a EBS Multicomp. Excellent.

 

[RedMoses]

In this order:
Pre amp pedal, tuner pedal, Compressor pedal, Octave pedal

 

[Ewo]

An adjustable high pass/low pass filter (Broughton makes one) is a seriously useful tool. It ain't sexy, and it ain't an effect, but it's great for taming boom on the bottom (the high pass section) and screech on the top (the low pass section). Way better, IME/IMHO, than the amp's low and high EQ knobs.

 

[brianrost]

For me:

1. gas pedal

2. brake pedal

3. bicycle pedals

4. Big Muff Pi

 

[Koshchei]

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?

Most studios have a good collection of pedals and plugins (and probably better than the ones you have anyway), so I wouldn't worry about pedals for session work.

That being said, buying pedals is cool, but also a rabbit hole. I'd advise having a musical need beforehand, otherwise, you'll fall into the trap of collecting solutions in search of a problem.

If you are determined to get a few pedals, a good compressor and overdrive are probably safe bets.

 

[nilorius]

The must have could be reverb, the others - you choice.

 

[cchorney]

Here is my board. Wireless receiver (currently bypassed since I don't need it in the house), tuner, delay, envelope filter, BDDI, plus the power supply and bluetooth page turner. I will occasionally swap out the delay for a chorus. The BDDI gets a lot of use, it's a powerful tone tool to capture the bass tone (and drive) of the given song.