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What effects don't work for you

#83
Every flanger could miraculously disappear by tomorrow and I wouldn't notice for decades. Every flanger I try ends up with a setting that is practically a chorus, so I have very little use for one. Never a fan of ring mod either. It's like blindly hitting an out of tune synth.

Take away my delay and overdrive however and I'll hunt you down.
 
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#86
Unless you're in a cover band that does songs that require effects to sound right (been there) or in an originals band where effects are a big part of the sound of certain songs or the band overall (been there more often) I think we all agree we can largely live without any effects on bass. Especially if you can coax dirt from your amp.

But it is still funny to see that a lot of the effects listed as ones others can live without are essentially "must haves" for me. Octave, fuzz, and filter most of all.

The effects I struggle with the most are LFO based modulation with a simple sine or triangle waveshape. Chorus, flanger, phaser, even tremolo.

I love phaser but I've come to realize that I either need one with an interesting/assymetric waveshape or else I have to set the speed very low. Or an envelope phaser. That works too.

Chorus just isn't my jam. But a detuner like the IE Polytope? One of my favorite sounds. And one of my favorite pedals.
 
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#91
I typically don't gig with pedals unless I need an effect for a specific song. Every time I've brought my pedal board with me I've felt like the effort wasn't worth it so I just stopped bringing it. My Genz Benz amp has an HPF built in and the EQ on it is awesome so I've never felt like I need anything beyond it.
 
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#94
totally depends on the project. 99% of the time I can do without any effects, but when the gig calls for it I'm happy if I have it and know how to use it. it's like playing with a pick, I don't do it that often but in certain situations it's very useful. that said, if I had to give up a compressor or reverb for bass playing that'd be fine. almost never use them live. some (most) of the pedals I have are super fun to play with and I'll keep them but I rarely use them or need them when I"m working ( bit crusher/SRR, delay, melotron, harmonizer etc). I do sometimes use an octave pedal and big muff in an indie rock type band I play with, and I do sometimes use a short delay with a rockabilly thing I sub in sometimes but really I'd be ok if I had to give them all up. Most of the time my signal chain is bass-tuner-amp.
 
#96
All depends on the music you are doing.

When I was younger, I played in a band that did a number of Wall era Pink Floyd tunes - drums, bass, lead guitar, and guitar/keys. I had to help fill space, so a chorus was important. If I'm doing modern dance rock, I'll want some kind of synth effect.
 
#97
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#98
I don't think I'd want to be without my compressor or OC-2. Mind you, those are the only pedals I have. I'm waiting on a Prunes and Custard to be made and sent my way. We'll see about that. At the end of the day, I could do without any pedal. But I wouldn't want to :D
 

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