Ive only seen and heard it on youtube, sounds great, I like the fact that it has a blend to add more clean ottom end to it, for Chris Wolstenholme type tones...the blending is an option I see on more expensive dirt pedals, I personally cant wait to have a little extra scratch to buy one.
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What would be your first pedal?
- Thread starter Caleb Mills
- Start date
Not a huge fan of pedals BUT I do recommend the Sadowski DI/pre-amp. It will make any bass come to life.
Or the MXR phase (ever-so-slightly).
Or, IF you can get your hands on an old green DOD Auto-wah.
This is a funky church, right?
Or the MXR phase (ever-so-slightly).
Or, IF you can get your hands on an old green DOD Auto-wah.
This is a funky church, right?
I'm a compressor fan as a staple, myself. I understand that tube amps can give some natural compression, but my tube amp experience is more guitar oriented - nevertheless, point being, if your amp can give you certain things, then aim for a pedal that gives you something else, that either your amp can't do, or that you prefer to trigger with your feet. (if you're limited as to what you can get now, that is).
As a church player, it was mentioned above to get delay/reverb and volume. Hmmmm, my only thought on that is, as most churches are halls of some size, unless you're in a very dry or balanced acoustic space, or a really small church, delay is ok for the rare special fx, but reverb might mud you up considering that the hall is already giving its natural ambience. Worship & Praise won't likely benefit from a muddy rhythm section. Just my 2¢ as having been a church pianist/keyboardist for many years. A volume pedal for worship can come in handy, if your hands aren't, at controlling your dynamics. I have subbed on bass in church as well, never really needed much except comp. But for your alt & punky stuff, a good flexible dirt box is a must, imho. So distortion, plus whatever edge you like to push your amp to.
side note: I know a lot of "modern" worship is fairly middle-of-the-road rock, slightly cosmic alt anthem, and all sorts of stuff for the "kids" as the older church dudes say. In that genre, whatever the tracks they give you to learn use might be a helpful guide, if you're into that sort of thang
Probably not much fuzz bass there, usually a bit straight forward, (with the occasional exception of material with Abraham Laboriel, who does get slappy and funky); but I've been out of that game for a while as a player.
But if the main heart/core of your playing is not church music, as well as your greater personal aim being music in the big wide world (as opposed to ministry in a finite church/subculture space), then aim your choice toward what most inspires your personal music toward growth and progress as a musician - one points toward a music oriented aim (which allows for a lot more pedals), while the other is ministry oriented, where your pedals mustn't be a distraction to your and the congregation's worship.
In short, playing music and playing as ministry are 2 different things with different aims. You can be a musician who occasionally worships, and/or you can be a worship musician (operative word being "worship" over "musician"). Both are ok paths, just don't either over play the music and tech side in context of church, nor should you short change your music and tech side in general because of church, if your defining identity is "musician" instead of "minister".
As a church player, it was mentioned above to get delay/reverb and volume. Hmmmm, my only thought on that is, as most churches are halls of some size, unless you're in a very dry or balanced acoustic space, or a really small church, delay is ok for the rare special fx, but reverb might mud you up considering that the hall is already giving its natural ambience. Worship & Praise won't likely benefit from a muddy rhythm section. Just my 2¢ as having been a church pianist/keyboardist for many years. A volume pedal for worship can come in handy, if your hands aren't, at controlling your dynamics. I have subbed on bass in church as well, never really needed much except comp. But for your alt & punky stuff, a good flexible dirt box is a must, imho. So distortion, plus whatever edge you like to push your amp to.
side note: I know a lot of "modern" worship is fairly middle-of-the-road rock, slightly cosmic alt anthem, and all sorts of stuff for the "kids" as the older church dudes say. In that genre, whatever the tracks they give you to learn use might be a helpful guide, if you're into that sort of thang
Probably not much fuzz bass there, usually a bit straight forward, (with the occasional exception of material with Abraham Laboriel, who does get slappy and funky); but I've been out of that game for a while as a player.But if the main heart/core of your playing is not church music, as well as your greater personal aim being music in the big wide world (as opposed to ministry in a finite church/subculture space), then aim your choice toward what most inspires your personal music toward growth and progress as a musician - one points toward a music oriented aim (which allows for a lot more pedals), while the other is ministry oriented, where your pedals mustn't be a distraction to your and the congregation's worship.
In short, playing music and playing as ministry are 2 different things with different aims. You can be a musician who occasionally worships, and/or you can be a worship musician (operative word being "worship" over "musician"). Both are ok paths, just don't either over play the music and tech side in context of church, nor should you short change your music and tech side in general because of church, if your defining identity is "musician" instead of "minister".
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That's the most obnoxious thing I've heard in a long time. Whoever reads this don't listen to that it's totally false. If you know how to use a compressor and it's a good one, it'll make a hell of a difference in your sound. The best compressor I've ever hear on bass is the La3a. And certain ones sound better than others. But that's $2000. For pedals, check out FEA Labs Opti-Fet compressor. Bought a 1.5yr waiting list. But back to topic. $150 and I wouldn't be able to recommend any pedal for that price. Don't have a single pedal on my pedal board that was that cheap.
Maybe could find a used pedal and get a smoking deal.
If your happy with your overall clean sound than go for Fuzz. Check out Chunk Systems Brown Dog, It's a gated fuzz can do slight distortion, to flat out crazy distortion, to synthy distortion. Analog, true bypass, and best of all it's got a built in gate so if you wanna play fast distorted licks you can set your gate tight so your notes won't drown out. And of course it keeps your bass tone as it has a blend knob.
Or maybe the Malekko B:Assmaster Germanium Fuzz pedal Invalid Link Removed
Wicked sounding, and you can get a plug put in for an expression pedal to control the sensitivity, good for having 1 pedal to do different distortion tones on stage. Also has a slight Octave sound to it.
There are a ton more Fuzz/Distortion pedals, but they don't cost $150. Save your money and go with something good. Watch some youtube video's and buy it off the internet make sure you can return it. That way try it and if it sucks your not stuck with it. Check the for sale on here, and guitarcenter used, ebay, Reverb.com. Don't buy for craigslist, as many time you'll get screwed, scratchy post, bad wiring, or water damage to your circuit board in which case it's practically trash at that point.
If you want some ambience go for a delay pedal. A good delay pedal can give you a tiny bit of reverb in it as well. I would go for the Carl Martin Analog DeLayla for not drastic delay. Sounds beautiful all analog of course.
Then there's Empress SuperDelay not analog all the way, but you can get very many different types of delay out of this thing. It's one of the best pedal delay's I've heard, (have heard hundreds as I'm old and been playing, studio, touring for 24yrs). You don't get a lot of that digital sound from buffering that you get on say the Strymon.
And then theirs the Strymon. Pretty similar to the Empress, can do some more stuff, but you sacrifice some of your analog tone to the digital buffer's in the Strymon. Even if it's bypassed it still sucks some tone. Did an A/B in Protools so seen and heard it, in the chain, out of the chain, on/off as well. Then compared it to the Empress.
For Compressor the FEA Opti-Fet is the best. Can do many things. It's basically an La3a and an 1176 combined. Flat out amazing. Can't describe how awesome it is really....
Then there is the Diamond Bass Compressor. It's damn good. Glues your bass tone together. If you ever get stuck looking for that last little thing that will make your bass sound even better(when you've got it already at 9.5 or whatnot) than this is it. Will make it sound better no mater what, if you set it up right that is.
Then what every bassist needs the most out of all of these is a good wah, or Envelope Filter.
The 3Leaf Audio Wonderlove is an amazing envelope filter. You can do pretty much anything and keep your bass tone in the mix. You want that thin kinda am sound from Lenny Kravitz Fly Away....done. You want deep bass wah, done. You want a Bootsy Collins wah sound done. Things a beast use mine all the time.
Then there is the Chunk Systems 00Funk. This one is better for wah that is very distinguishable, or even effecty, or synthy. Both have expression outputs so you can hook up an expression pedal and control you wah like that.
Then there is the classic wah and Mission Engineering Bass ReWah Pro. It has an individual wiring switch inside to change the way it's wired. This in turn changes your wah tone. Up to 16 different tones. And it's built like a Brick. Awesome manual wah.
But none of these are under $250 new. Might find them used on the sites I listed above for your price range. I'd give it a go. Bought a used Carl Martin from GC for half the price it cost new $500 new got it for $250 was in great condition still works 100%. Got the Chunk Systems Brown Dog NOS(they don't make it anymore) fomr Reverb for $220. Was 299$ brand new. So you can definitely save money, just gotta have patience and look! Good luck.
I seriously wonder why someone like you would even bother to come to the effects forum.
Hotly debated but point taken! They're also dirt-cheap used in either pedal or rackmount platforms.
Riis
First of all, it was a joke - mostly. Secondly, if you have good technique, you won't have many peaks that need limiting unless you've got something cranked too high. Also note I said "limits" not "eliminates" the need.
Come to think of it, if you have a decent bridge you probably won't need much sustain added either. Compressors can change your sound but if it's making a "hell of a difference" as you say, you don't have it dialed in subtly at all and in that case they aren't for me. Liking compressed sound doesn't make what I said any less true, and some people want dynamics to play with so although I probably should tell everyone "don't listen to [your post] it's totally false", I understand the point of a discussion forum.
I'm a compressor fan as a staple, myself. I understand that tube amps can give some natural compression, but my tube amp experience is more guitar oriented - nevertheless, point being, if your amp can give you certain things, then aim for a pedal that gives you something else, that either your amp can't do, or that you prefer to trigger with your feet. (if you're limited as to what you can get now, that is).
As a church player, it was mentioned above to get delay/reverb and volume. Hmmmm, my only thought on that is, as most churches are halls of some size, unless you're in a very dry or balanced acoustic space, or a really small church, delay is ok for the rare special fx, but reverb might mud you up considering that the hall is already giving its natural ambience. Worship & Praise won't likely benefit from a muddy rhythm section. Just my 2¢ as having been a church pianist/keyboardist for many years. A volume pedal for worship can come in handy, if your hands aren't, at controlling your dynamics. I have subbed on bass in church as well, never really needed much except comp. But for your alt & punky stuff, a good flexible dirt box is a must, imho. So distortion, plus whatever edge you like to push your amp to.
side note: I know a lot of "modern" worship is fairly middle-of-the-road rock, slightly cosmic alt anthem, and all sorts of stuff for the "kids" as the older church dudes say. In that genre, whatever the tracks they give you to learn use might be a helpful guide, if you're into that sort of thang
But if the main heart/core of your playing is not church music, as well as your greater personal aim being music in the big wide world (as opposed to ministry in a finite church/subculture space), then aim your choice toward what most inspires your personal music toward growth and progress as a musician - one points toward a music oriented aim (which allows for a lot more pedals), while the other is ministry oriented, where your pedals mustn't be a distraction to your and the congregation's worship.
In short, playing music and playing as ministry are 2 different things with different aims. You can be a musician who occasionally worships, and/or you can be a worship musician (operative word being "worship" over "musician"). Both are ok paths, just don't either over play the music and tech side in context of church, nor should you short change your music and tech side in general because of church, if your defining identity is "musician" instead of "minister".
Well said in every respect, man. Thanks.
Thanks man! I'll definitely check out everything on your list, for sure. Yeah, $150 was just the cash I have on hand right now. Definitely no stranger to saving up a little for something I KNOW is the what I want.
Cool man. I actually have one on my guitar pedal board already. Might mess around with it on bass, too.
Watch one of those "Just Nick" videos about it on YouTube. Seems like it makes sense, although it really tough to tell from a YouTube video. As are most/all effects, really.
I've got one too - great little pedal. I'm finding it less useful on bass these days though because often what ends up happening is I loop the bass line and solo over it... thereby not forcing myself to practice playing the bass line for extended periods. No big deal for an easy line, but considering I don't solo like that in a band context or live I feel practicing a harder line should include a little bit of endurance training lol
I use a BD-2 blues driver with my acoustic B100 amp. I use it as a top end/volume boost when I'm playing with a group in a smaller area. When I'm by myself though, its always on so I can get that tube like sound.
