What effects don't work for you

[gary mitchell]

I am not a bid fan of phaser, or flanger or synth, and tremolo.

 

[bholder]

I am.

I tend not to use much distortion, whether on bass or guitar or whatever...

 

[220_Hz]

Hot take: reverb does not work on bass at all

 

[Zymba]

All of them. Easily. I like 'em too much, though. That said, **** phasers. Whenever I think of phaser on bass I inevitably think of "Stranglehold". Which is cool cause it's a good song. By extension, however, I think of Ted Nugent. That is NOT cool.

 

[Michedelic]

Hot take: reverb does not work on bass at all

Yeah, pretty much everything except reverb is good for me. At least in a band situation. If you’re doing trippy slow ambient stuff solo, maybe. Even if you use delay, you have to give it space, like Roger Waters on “One Of These Days” or Peter Hook on “Everything’s Gone Green”.

 

[Inara]

I use reverb, and wouldn't want to do without it, but that's in my solo fretless playing. It sounds very good in that context, and would be one of the last effects I would give up. As for what I would give up ... Phaser, flanger, vibrato, tremolo, ring mods, probably synths.

I'm happy so long as I could keep looper, reverb, compressor, HPF, octave (up and down), wah, and maybe distortion (I don't use that too much, though). I'm on the fence about delay ... I used to use it in a subtle way in my solo work, but I've found that reverb works much better for what I need. It's fun to use a long, single-repeat delay to play duets with myself in a different way than with my looper, though.

 

[catcauphonic]

Answers are going to vary depending on what kind of music you predominantly make.

I haven't really found any good use for several of the octave pedals I've tried to add to my board, but plenty of folks sure do rave about em and consider em quite necessary. Ditto for reverb.

Personally, I dig phasers, pitch shifters, phase shifters, Flangers, and delays. I also prefer to blend in my parallel clean signal alongside em most of the time so the bass doesn't get too out of sync or drop out momentarily.

I also love fuzz, some distortion, and other light dirt.

My new funnest pedals to provide a dose of the unexpected, going from standard bass sounds and back to again, is using synthesizer/synthesis pedals, ideally combined with an expression pedal.

But hey, I current play in a pych/prog/punk originals band that's still finding our sound(s), so nothing is really off limits at this point. No covers to keep the dance floor packed, and no church gigs on the horizon either

 

[Zbysek]

Any.

I am using several pedals but would be able to do a gig without them.

The one I would miss the most is HPF.

 

[farmertom]

I plug into an amp and play, never had any.

 

[Plectrum72]

Compressor, reverb, ring mod, and fuzz I can do without. I thoroughly enjoy choruses, phasers, envelope filters, pitch shifters/octaves, and mild overdrives. If I could have only one effect it would be a chorus pedal.

 

[Zooberwerx]

Just about everything with the exception of compressor, HPF, and OD. Maybe my chorus.

That being said, I still keep my Zoom MS-60B close by for those rare instances that require something out-of-the-norm.

Riis

 

[Seashore]

So far, I've never had much use for envelope filters. But who knows?

 

[HolmeBass]

I could live without all of them. A dull, gray, monotoníc soundscape. I did for years.

Thank goodness I don’t have to!

 

[Bunk McNulty]

As posted elsewhere: For years, I never went out on a gig without a compressor, a BBE Sonic Stomp, and a clean boost. At minimum! I've used octavers and envelope filters and overdrives at various times. And then, at my last gig, in September, I decided to just plug straight into the amp. My sound guy came up to me at the end of the first set and said, "Sounds great! Lotta presence, lotta punch! What did you do?"

 

[Bushrod Johnson]

I’ve never been interested in “effects”.

 

[Kijuer]

Reverbs, choruses, octaves, detuners, vibratos, ring mods, distortions (overdrives are ok though )...

 

[bassicmike]

I don't use any pedals when gigging.

To answer the question, I've never had much use for compression.

 

[Mantis Tobaggan]

I use effects on guitar but prefer a clean bass signal. Otherwise it seems to get lost in the mix.

 

[Bob_Ross]

View attachment 4016169

LOL! Coincidentally, the only stompbox I have ever said, "gosh, I literally have no use for this thing!" and got rid of was that purple BOSS BF-2 flanger! Found one in a dumpster many years ago, used it for a couple months, just didn't do anything I wanted or needed or even really enjoyed, gave it away.

 

[GodPlayedBass]

Wah wah pedals , fuzz (unpopular opinion i know) that weird thing that makes bass sound like bubbles popping or whatever haha