What pedals do I need?

[JohnnyChatter]

Conpressors do nothing to your tone if improperly set.

Haha. I know how to set one and I have tried time and time again. I know it’s not supposed to be a huge difference but it just seems like it takes away more than adds. cheap ones color my tone in a way I don’t like. No hate for them or anything. Just not me.

 

[Kelloggsy]

Di<<Preamp(optional)<<Compressor<<Bass

 

[_One//Man//Mutiny_]

I played for years with nothing now I use pedals a lot. Sometimes I don’t use any but I do have my pedal board set up to replicate non bass sounds and a plethora of effects for short passages to give the overall sound a little extra something!

 

[overit]

What music do you play and/or what kind of band are you in? For me, that dictates a lot of gear choices.

 

[ciaran_hughes]

What music do you play and/or what kind of band are you in? For me, that dictates a lot of gear choices.

Rock/blues Wolfmother, Gary Clarke Jr with a bit of The Black Keys

 

[ciaran_hughes]

Gas and Brake.
Sorry folks, I couldn't resist.

I like it! Haha

 

[jazznrick]

Ok four pages in and the true answer is you HAVE to have FUZZZZZZZZZ. bass Fuzz. Thick, gnarly, beautiful, aggressive fuzz.
Get a Smallsound/bigsound TAFM
A Spaceman Nebula
A Malekko Bassmaster
A Sovtek Deluxe Big Muff Pi

 

[Artman]

Ok four pages in and the true answer is you HAVE to have FUZZZZZZZZZ. bass Fuzz. Thick, gnarly, beautiful, aggressive fuzz.
Get a Smallsound/bigsound TAFM
A Spaceman Nebula
A Malekko Bassmaster
A Sovtek Deluxe Big Muff Pi

Especially if your band happens to cover Think For Yourself by the Beatles!

 

[el murdoque]

All you need to get the job done is a bass and a cable.
I've gigged successfully with exactly that. One end of the cable went into my bass and the other into the DI on stage, sound coming from the wedges for me and from FOH for the audience.

The rest is a matter of fun, taste and style. Your music calls for overdriven sounds? Add an amplifier that can do that, or add dirt pedals - whatever floats your boat.

If you plan on getting a pedalboard, the bare essentials for most people would be a tuner that doubles as a mute switch, a compressor and some kind of dirt.
My first board was a pedaltrain Nano rigged with Tuner, Overdrive, Distortion, Compressor.

6 months later there was a looper on my board that split the signal and sent it into fuzz and octave, mixing it with the dry sound that was running through a LPF, after it went through a low gain OD and before it went into the preamp, with modulation effects in the FX loop and I got a number from talkbasses big pedalboards breeders' club.

Nowadays I'm mostly back on the nano, with preamp, compression and reverb.
Doing pedals is a journey for most people.

 

[Two-Spirit]

Chorus and distortion are common. Equalizer are handy and you might need a compressor for a number of reasons. Everything else is on a song to song basis.

 

[Y At Earp]

I am not a huge fan of pedals either. Let me insert my big BUTt here, there is one pedal that I use and like the idea of. It's the Zoom B2.1u. Under $200. They have newer models now, I like this one the most because if the programable expression pedal. You can choose different amps and different cabinets and it works like a Direct Box with a Reverb, Delay, Tuner, Pitch Shift, etc. But since I use iem's, the only items I carry to the gig is my bass, bass pedal, iem's and a few cables. Runs on Double A's (6 hours) or A/C adapter. Built in Drum Machine, Metal Chassis, and no background hiss. Light and fast because I plug directly into the Mixing Board. You don't have to bring an amp, ever.
Also, you can download updates and share effects.
Here is a link that can show you all of the attributes: Invalid Link Removed

Work smarter, not harder.

 

[mikeswals]

If you needed effected sounds in your sound, then you would know if you need pedals.
Sounds like you don't need anything. You gotta want it.

 

[Two-Spirit]

Chorus and distortion are common. Equalizer are handy and you might need a compressor for a number of reasons. Everything else is on a song to song basis.

We should name songs and the effect. I'll start; Envelope Filter "Papa don't Preach" Chorus "Lido Shuffle" Distortion "Ace of Spades" Octave "I Wish it would rain down"

 

[Two-Spirit]

I like the scooped sound you can get from an eq

 

[Zooberwerx]

I think it is more stuff I have read about boost pedals and compressor pedals that make me wonder if there something I should be using for a nicer clean sound.

Okay, now you have my attention and I know just what you need. Pay no attention to those other naysayers. Here's my pedalboard in order:

*Wireless Receiver - Optional but a must if you like to go talk to the girls during those grueling wanker-centric guitar solos.

*Tuner - I use the Peterson but keep it out of the signal path.

*HPF / LPF - Broughton does it for me in spades.

*Compressor - Pick one, any one.

*Preamp Pedal / OD / Tube Emulator - I lumped these all together because they share some overlapping characteristics which may or may not be desirable. I like the soft break-up associated with pushing the pre & power sections of an all-tube amp. The closest I've come is a Fairfield Barbershop feeding an Ampeg SCR-DI (...which also serves as my tone stack and DI).

Riis

 

[Two-Spirit]

Shure has a wireless I'd like to try, fit on your board like a pedal about $400

 

[Ellery]

just wondering what pedals people think are a necessity for any bassist?

ALL OF THEM.

 

[Acoop]

None, no, non, nilch, nada, never, nein, nie, het, いいえ, 아니, ...
Maybe a tuner pedal, but only to tune.

 

[Two-Spirit]

You can get pedals cheap used on ebay.

 

[jazznrick]

None, no, non, nilch, nada, never, nein, nie, het, いいえ, 아니, ...
Maybe a tuner pedal, but only to tune.

Yes, don’t use your tuner pedal’s decadent Western feature set that doesn’t concern tuning.