Where to start?

[Princess]

Hey all,

Would like to start using effects for a bit of fun but dont know what i should try?

I play messed up funk/metal/grunge so was after some really mad & psychotic sounds.

I think my main concern is what effect causes what noise?

Is there like one of those BASS EFFECTS FOR DUMMIES books floating around or something?

would love tha help!

 

[CBRStingray]

That's a pretty broad question! For the type of music you rescribed I think maybe you could start with something like distortion or an envelope filter. Personally I can't get enough of envelope filtered bass, but it might not be as useful to you as it is to me.

There are way too many choices for me to list all the possible options you have for either of those two effects, but you might want to try:

distortion: big muff pi, Sansamp Bass Driver DI, boss bass overdrive, etc.

envelope filter: Mu-tron, Q-tron, Chunk Systems 00Funk, EBS bass IQ, even the DOD FX25b

Unfortunately, living in Australia means we don't have access to as many effects brands as the Americans do. It also means we pay a lot more for them, so a lot of those pedals I mentioned will cost you more than $400 each. There are plenty of cheaper versions, but most of them sound a lot cheaper too.

As far as what they sound like... distortion is obviously lsimilar to the distortion you hear on guitars. Although each brand/unit will sound a bit different. Envelope filters make the bass sound like you are playing under water. Kinda like an automatic wah-wah that 'wahs' when you play each note. I like to think of it as liquid funk Your best bet is to go into a store somewhere and try as mand different effects as you can. Then you'll know what you like the sound of and what you don't like.

 

[Flatwound]

Yo Princess. Musicians Friend has some good sound clips of various bass effects. That would be a good place to get an idea of the different sounds.

 

[suicas]

I'd also recommend looking for a cheap second hand multi-effects unit, the best way to get started in my opinion.

The effects on it won't generally be as good as you'd get in an individual effect, but you get the benefit of being able to find out what each sounds like, which ones sound good on bass, which are gimmicky. These are also good for letting you combine effects to see what happens before buying them individually.

A multi-effects unit should give you some idea of what each major type of effect sounds like, and you can then later get some individual effects units for the ones that you like and are likely to use.

Most also have a number of presets for common combinations of effects and settings that you might want to use.