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What are your essential pedals?
- Thread starter Tottery
- Start date
A pedal combo that I love so much is a comp and a spring reverb when I play palm muting on my SG bass, so 60's.
I've always been effect-free too, but after recently trying out my friends pedal board, I just bought an MXR bass chorus. It's gonna be always on from now on.
The only 'essential' pedal I have is the Jamman Express XT to loop and sync with the guitarist in the CAN tribute.
Outside of that, pedals that are often found on my board are a limiter or dual band comp, chorus, some sort of grit/drive and maybe an EQ.
An HPF is in the cards for sure.
Outside of that, pedals that are often found on my board are a limiter or dual band comp, chorus, some sort of grit/drive and maybe an EQ.
An HPF is in the cards for sure.
At my church, it's been the "Sans-Amp" stage setup since about 2011, and usually, the first gear to go is the bass amp so I've been through trial and error since then developing what I want on a pedalboard. It's all based upon what your desired sound is and the music you are serving. For the local scene, I use an amp and I play a variety of Rock, R&B & Blues. So this has been my go-to setup for just about one year. I am able to run two channels at church so with the BB-1x having two outputs it makes that setup easy. The output direct from the BB-1x to the low-end input of the stereo DI and the line out channel output of the BB-1x through the Wampler and HOF effect to the high-end input of the stereo DI. I set the HOF to a Piano type reverb (i.e. bass strings are similar to piano strings, get it) I find that kind of reverb an excellent "always-on" choice for bass. I run this pedalboard one channel as well simply from the BB-1x output to the Wampler, etc., Anyway, this works for me and I love it! and it's very quiet as well.
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I can do without any pedals and run directly into any amp, except for one thing... I need my BBE Sonic Maximizer. I use it in line when there's no effects loop. However, in the loop, with both high and low processing turned all the way up... I can usually "flat" the amp's EQ and sound great. Because of the way a BBE works, you'll get more volume (loudness) out of your amp too.
The only other pedal I would consider putting on a pedal board permanently is my YYZ pedal. I don't use it all of the time but, when I need dirt/grit, that is my goto pedal.
The only other pedal I would consider putting on a pedal board permanently is my YYZ pedal. I don't use it all of the time but, when I need dirt/grit, that is my goto pedal.
Assuming everyone and their mothers have already mentioned the basics with tuners, blends, EQ, DI, etc. so for some less conventional answers, a customisable IR cabinet simulator, a nice overdrive, and a noise gate are my minimum to get a good metal tone. Could get away without the gate with a milder OD.
Granted, I've got a lot less experience than a lot of people on here, but I've got a few pedals that I use to play with:
- Electro-Harmonix Crying Bass fuzz and wah pedal. The interface (for lack of a better term) is a little weird (rock forward to turn on and off). "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" wouldn't be complete without it to my ears.
- Hotone Skyline TapeEKO delay pedal. Small, cheap, but does the job. Needs a power supply, though. I use it when I'm fiddling with Pink Floyd, especially "One Of These Days".
- Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner. I got lucky on this one - barely used and half the price of a new TU-3. Bought primarily because my Snark clip-on doesn't work with everything (especially my Washburn Bantam Headless that I like to play a lot).
- Electro-Harmonix Crying Bass fuzz and wah pedal. The interface (for lack of a better term) is a little weird (rock forward to turn on and off). "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" wouldn't be complete without it to my ears.
- Hotone Skyline TapeEKO delay pedal. Small, cheap, but does the job. Needs a power supply, though. I use it when I'm fiddling with Pink Floyd, especially "One Of These Days".
- Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner. I got lucky on this one - barely used and half the price of a new TU-3. Bought primarily because my Snark clip-on doesn't work with everything (especially my Washburn Bantam Headless that I like to play a lot).
First things first, I must say that there are tons of really good effect pedals with different flavors, even if they're of the same type of effect.
The only thing to do is try to understand what each effect is supposed to do, then check if it would fit your needs and, if so... Go to your preferred local store and try different types of them.
If you want to take the time to try out new effects, just buy something cheap on the used market (stuff like Behringer, etc). It's good enough to let you know if you like the type of effect or not. Then, you just have sell the pedals if it doesn't suit your needs or if you want to upgrade. It won't cost you anything and but will help you to choose the right types of effects for you.
Also, it's not necessary to have the word "bass" labelled on your pedals. Most of the pedals are developed for both bass and guitar.
There's one extra thing to keep in mind... The more pedals you'll get, the more you'll need a quality power supply that can feed them with a clean power to avoid ground loop problems. And you'll definitely need a pedal board to make your setup easy and consistent.
Now that this has been said, I'd say a good compressor is nearly essential to any bass player. The MXR M87 is already a very good place to start, but if you have the budget, try the Keeley Compressor pro or the Origin Effect Cali76 Bass Compact.
Having an EQ is also quite important for me, my choice being Source Audio's Programmable EQ for it's versatility, but MXR's M108S is also a really good choice.
Then a good bass preamp with a DI out is always handy, especially if you're a touring musician. There again, MXR's M80 or M81 are good preamps to start with. And if you want to go to studio quality preamp, just try JHS' Colour Box V2. This thing is amazing. There are also many offerings from Tech21 depending on the character you want to give to your tone...
Well, when you already sorted this, depending on the preamp you chose... I'd say, you'll probably need different types of dirty sounds : an overdrive, a distortion and a fuzz pedal at least. My tip is to always chose a pedal that offers you the ability to mix your clean sound with your dirty sound to prevent the low end to get too muddy.
An overdrive that I really like is Ashdown's Triple Shot which let's you set how much distortion you want in each frequency range.
As a distortion, I really like Okko's Basstard and on the fuzz territory, I'd recommend Darkglass' Duality.
I'd suggest you to also try a good reverb AND a good delay. And honestly, I can't recommend you enough to try tc electronic's Hall of Fame (reverb) and Flashback (delay). They both offer quality effects while still being affordable and they support stereo in and out which opens the doors of a whole new world.
You might also want to get into chorus, flanger and phaser. There again, tc electronic offers a range of pedals that have a lot of different quality effects and all of them support stereo in and out.
I just got my hand on a long time wanted MXR Phase 99 and I really love it.
I don't have any yet, but envelope filters are also handy, especially for those moments when you want to give your tone a funky style. There again, MXR's M82 is a really nice tool, but Funkzilla by Solid Gold FX has more controls if you need it.
There a really no "limit" when you get into effects for bass. I've seen bass players having not less than 15 different pedals on their board (and all of them being used at some point during the set). So be aware that, while it's great to open your horizon of creativity, it might also drain all your attention and drive you down towards the GAS route.
Hope this helps.
Cheers!
Jimbo Hart recommended this Soma 63 pre-amp pedal from Greer Amps and I love it. Plus, Greer is local to Athens and I'm happy to support a local business.
No essential pedals for me.
Throughout mybass career, it's usually been like this: Bass, cord, amp. I'll try out an effects pedal, and might really like it when I'm playing by myself, but when I use it with the band, either I can no longer hear the effect, or the bass loses its punch.
More recently, a few years back, I started using a Digitech BassSynthWah on one song. Starts off with just me on the bass, so the effect is clearly audible and doesn't need to cut through the band. Even more recently, I picked up a Digitech BP355. I use it as a tuner, and I use the compressor setting most of the time, when I use the pedal. In one band, I also use some delay on one song, and I change the amp simulator when I switch to my 5-string bass. Just yesterday, I was playing around with it, trying out some distortion, chorus and delay settings. Dunno if I'll ever use them in performance, but it's looking more likely.
So, here's where things stand for me. In one band, it's still bass, cord, amp.
In another, it's bass, BP355, amp.
In a third, it's bass, BP355, and straight into the board.
I have other fun toys. Wireless rig, which I use for most gigs. The aforementioned BassSynthWah. Boss OC-2. A chorus pedal. High pass filter. Mostly, I never use them. In practice, I find that the guitarists tend to try to fill up all of the sonic space, so that, even when I'm doing something interesting, no one can hear it but me. But there are moments here and there where I get to make a musical statement. Besides, I see my role as trying to make the band sound better, not necessarily to stand out myself. My bandmates seem to appreciate what I do, even if the audience is usually clueless.
Throughout mybass career, it's usually been like this: Bass, cord, amp. I'll try out an effects pedal, and might really like it when I'm playing by myself, but when I use it with the band, either I can no longer hear the effect, or the bass loses its punch.
More recently, a few years back, I started using a Digitech BassSynthWah on one song. Starts off with just me on the bass, so the effect is clearly audible and doesn't need to cut through the band. Even more recently, I picked up a Digitech BP355. I use it as a tuner, and I use the compressor setting most of the time, when I use the pedal. In one band, I also use some delay on one song, and I change the amp simulator when I switch to my 5-string bass. Just yesterday, I was playing around with it, trying out some distortion, chorus and delay settings. Dunno if I'll ever use them in performance, but it's looking more likely.
So, here's where things stand for me. In one band, it's still bass, cord, amp.
In another, it's bass, BP355, amp.
In a third, it's bass, BP355, and straight into the board.
I have other fun toys. Wireless rig, which I use for most gigs. The aforementioned BassSynthWah. Boss OC-2. A chorus pedal. High pass filter. Mostly, I never use them. In practice, I find that the guitarists tend to try to fill up all of the sonic space, so that, even when I'm doing something interesting, no one can hear it but me. But there are moments here and there where I get to make a musical statement. Besides, I see my role as trying to make the band sound better, not necessarily to stand out myself. My bandmates seem to appreciate what I do, even if the audience is usually clueless.
Are you punching it on with the internal trim pot turned up and the bright switch on for a lead sound?
my always on garage mess
markbass compressore>alembic f-1x>sf-2>strymon timeline>wampler reflection>wampler tumnus deluxe with a peterson strobo plus on the side.
markbass compressore>alembic f-1x>sf-2>strymon timeline>wampler reflection>wampler tumnus deluxe with a peterson strobo plus on the side.
Overdrive/distortion. Rarely, compression.
I'm fickle and like to use different tones from gig to gig. I own over a dozen distortion pedals, most of which have their own sound. When I use pedals (usually but not always), I use one to three distortion pedals. I often stack distortion pedals together to come up with new tones. It's fun.
Pic from last Saturday's gig is below: I had time to set up three distortion pedals (Darkglass B7K, Darkglass X7, Damnation Audio MBD-1; I wound up using the latter two stacked together and not the B7K). The gig before that, I was opening for another band so I only set up one pedal (Tech 21 DP-3X) and used it solo for the 30 minute set.
Thanks, but I’m all full up on dirt pedals. And I don’t consider them essential on bass.
