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What Are The "Must Have" Pedals?

For me, the only must-have is a little mild overdrive. But my must-haves vary from project to project otherwise.
JimmyM - you’ll be proud. I flipped the V-Mod pickup halves so the Alnico 5’s are under the E and A and the Alnico 2’s are under the D and G. That change coupled with DryBell Unit 67, and its mids in all their glory. You would love the DryBell.
 
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It's a hot thread, and I tell mine.
I don't like to occupy a slot with a tuner, there are nice clip alternatives.
It also depends on if you have an active or passive bass; in first case, you may not need an EQ at once, otherwise I find it essential to sculpt your own sound (I have a Boss Bass EQ).
Then, a comp is almost mandatory (I have an EBS Multicomp and it's a boom).
About other slots, depends on what you want to play, or which colour you want to add to your sound: I've got a Bass Muff, a Nether octaver and a Corona chorus.
A multieffect could be a choice, but good ones are really expensive. I started with a Zoom B1on (maybe the best quality/price ratio in the market), which is good to have an idea of what you want to go on, and it's nice to take away and practice through headphones, but after one year I felt the need to improve the sound.
Finally, to give you a couple of suggestions:
- don't go on cheap stomps, better look in the second hand market: often you get bargains.
- be sure to get "true bypass" or buffered stomps.
 
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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 went three decades and this is sad really , but the way the world is looking , those three decade were the most successful and i NEVER even had tuner out front (pedal) i fondly refered to the attitude and method as "PLUG N CHUG" bass player or playing .im sure your wondering ... why sad? because i relized only 3 year ago that bass players can and should use them and the reasons are simple versatility abd ease or assitance to ones techniquw period
 
Tuner, Compressor, Overdrive/Pre/DI

Basically why the Helix Stomp is so popular. Same price, includes multiples of each and tons more. But limited enough to keep you away from tone creep where the preset just grows because it can ;)
 
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I'm not much of a bass player...but, ignoring a tuner:

A compressor of some sort
An EQ pedal
An OD/Fuzz depending on your preference
Some sort of swirl...Chorus or Phaser or such

And really, a DI option of some sort for going straight in.

After that I think they really start to specialize based on specific styles/genres, but you'd never go wrong with those.
 
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Love that!

Hey - one person loves Chorus, hates Phaser (me...)
Another loves Phaser, hates Flanger.
Yet another is all about Flanger, but can't stand Chorus.
Then someone joins the conversations and asks "Why no Tremolo love?"
And the person beside them says "Because Univibe is where it is at!"
And the next guy says "Isn't that just a Phaser?"
While another says "No, but a Leslie is way better than a tremolo."

So - whatever swirl you dig in your cone of tone....