Worship Bass Pedalboards

[Rodrigues]

ST-200 -> FEA Dual Band -> B3K -> ParaEQ -> BOD -> REDDI. Honestly though I've thought about paring it down to just the tuner, compressor, and REDDI.

i Heard- that You need to be careful with OD/Distortion/Fuzz into a DI because they are going to send the full frequency range out of it which may give you some harsh highs that wouldn't normally be there when using a speaker cab. That's why speaker simulators are becoming all the rage with an IEM setup. Is that true?

I bought a reddi too and i am looking for Pedals. I am also a bassplayer in a Workshop band.
Andy Suggestion sonst Pedals?
Which Type (Fuzz,Overdrive, octave,...)? What is a must have? Which Brand?

 

[RockinBass85]

Hey everyone, just wanted to say hello and see what my brothers in Christ are using for their praise and worship pedalboards. Trying to gather ideas as I build mine. Here's a pic of my set up so far. Pretty straight forward signal chain. Bass > MXR M87 > Source Audio OFD > Boss ODB-3 > Source Audio BEF Pro > Ampeg SCR-DI w/ thru to Korg Tuner.

I'm in the process of returning the Source Audio BEF Pro. I was disappointed. For most it might be an awesome tool, but I couldn't devote enough time to learn all it's features and coax usable sound out of it. I was able to emulate the vocoder-style guitar tone of Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer though lol.

Ultimately, I want to get 3 more tone types from my board:

• good funky wah
  
• non-bef bass synth
  
• deep bass ala Hip Hop/Lauren Daigle/Hillsong

Looking at a Dunlop Crybaby Bass and a Snow White Autowah for the wah. Anyone use either? Any recommendations for alternative pedals?

I bought myself the SA BEF foolishly, I didn't really grasp what a BEF was even though so many are referred to as bass synth pedals and not what I was truly looking for. I'm hoping that the Markbass Super Synth will, so I ordered one today in the hopes it'll give the synth sound I'm after.

For the deep bass, I'm leaning into Twenty One Pilots territory when thinking about this tone, as I'm a fan of Tyler Joseph's bass tone from his song "Heathens". I was thinking about a DOD Meatbox, I like the clean non-synthy sound I've heard from YouTube demos so far. But I'm also wondering if the Markbass super synth will produce a good octave down effect. Haven't been able to find a good demo of this pedal yet on YouTube. Any recommendations?

I'm sorry about the long edited post!

 

[RockinBass85]

i Heard- that You need to be careful with OD/Distortion/Fuzz into a DI because they are going to send the full frequency range out of it which may give you some harsh highs that wouldn't normally be there when using a speaker cab. That's why speaker simulators are becoming all the rage with an IEM setup. Is that true?

I bought a reddi too and i am looking for Pedals. I am also a bassplayer in a Workshop band.
Andy Suggestion sonst Pedals?
Which Type (Fuzz,Overdrive, octave,...)? What is a must have? Which Brand?

Hey Rodrigues, my two favorite pedals so far have been the MXR M87 Compressor and the Boss OBD-3. The MXR I leave on almost all the time. I use it to control my volume when I switch from finger style to slap because the volume change between the two styles was very jarring; it also evens out my playing.

The Boss OBD-3 overdrive is my other favorite. I simply love it. It's just perfect for my setup. I think if Jesus played bass, He'd have one on His pedalboard too. It adds body and character to my bass tone. As a result it helps me cut through the mix much better. It gives my bass tone a serious punch without blaring the high mids. I limit the overdrive just enough so that my speakers sound like an overdriven guitar and not an oversaturated speaker (which I hate).

Hope this helps brother, Dios te bendiga hermano!

 

[simotek]

i Heard- that You need to be careful with OD/Distortion/Fuzz into a DI because they are going to send the full frequency range out of it which may give you some harsh highs that wouldn't normally be there when using a speaker cab. That's why speaker simulators are becoming all the rage with an IEM setup. Is that true?

Having a Pedal with a cab sim included I can say yes that is true, its also one of the reason why traditionally more Bass players and Acoustic Guitarist are happy running straight through a DI whereas electric guitarists almost always use a mic'd amp (Unless they have a cabinet simulator)

 

[simotek]

I recently got a Digitech Polara reverb and Obscura delay mostly for recording ambient tracks, although I may occasionally use them in worship, Waiting for one more pedal then i'll post a new screenshot

 

[MTN.bass72]

Hey everyone, just wanted to say hello and see what my brothers in Christ are using for their praise and worship pedalboards. Trying to gather ideas as I build mine. Here's a pic of my set up so far. Pretty straight forward signal chain. Bass > MXR M87 > Source Audio OFD > Boss ODB-3 > Source Audio BEF Pro > Ampeg SCR-DI w/ thru to Korg Tuner.

I'm in the process of returning the Source Audio BEF Pro. I was disappointed. For most it might be an awesome tool, but I couldn't devote enough time to learn all it's features and coax usable sound out of it. I was able to emulate the vocoder-style guitar tone of Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer though lol.

View attachment 978923


Ultimately, I want to get 3 more tone types from my board:

• good funky wah
  
• non-bef bass synth
  
• deep bass ala Hip Hop/Lauren Daigle/Hillsong

Looking at a Dunlop Crybaby Bass and a Snow White Autowah for the wah. Anyone use either? Any recommendations for alternative pedals?

I bought myself the SA BEF foolishly, I didn't really grasp what a BEF was even though so many are referred to as bass synth pedals and not what I was truly looking for. I'm hoping that the Markbass Super Synth will, so I ordered one today in the hopes it'll give the synth sound I'm after.

For the deep bass, I'm leaning into Twenty One Pilots territory when thinking about this tone, as I'm a fan of Tyler Joseph's bass tone from his song "Heathens". I was thinking about a DOD Meatbox, I like the clean non-synthy sound I've heard from YouTube demos so far. But I'm also wondering if the Markbass super synth will produce a good octave down effect. Haven't been able to find a good demo of this pedal yet on YouTube. Any recommendations?

I'm sorry about the long edited post!

This is what I'm using ... just messing around with the Beta, it's not what I'm after so I'm selling it ... I am working on another board to include what's seen , minus Beta, plus chorus , octave, reverb and delay, and overdrive ... eyeballing the Blueberry BOD, or South Hampton 5th gear... maybe the Darkglass VMT it has great reports for light OD

 

[Mike Sorr]

Just the thread I was looking for. I am also planning a small pedal board for use with my fretless in a worship band, but I'm of of those bass players that has never really used effects in the past, maybe a digital tuner and chorus once in a while. But lately I've been piecing together a few pedals to help my sound like a Sansamp Bass Driver, a few Boss pedals like a chorus, delay, reverb and a digital tuner. Having all these spread on the floor is getting a little unruly, so I'd like to put together a board for about 6 or so pedals. I'm pretty much starting from scratch. Here are a few things I'd like to know:

-Which pedal board is recommended? I understand Pedatrain makes a good platform, but they can be a bit pricey. Are there less expensive alternatives that are just as good?

-Which power supply is recommended? I see power supplies for over $200 and I see them for under $40. Why is a Voodoo Labs so much more expensive than, say, a Donner?

-Which cables are good for connecting all this stuff and which effects go in which order normally?

Which products should I avoid and which should I look for?

Thanks!

 

[Adamixoye]

Just the thread I was looking for. I am also planning a small pedal board for use with my fretless in a worship band, but I'm of of those bass players that has never really used effects in the past, maybe a digital tuner and chorus once in a while. But lately I've been piecing together a few pedals to help my sound like a Sansamp Bass Driver, a few Boss pedals like a chorus, delay, reverb and a digital tuner. Having all these spread on the floor is getting a little unruly, so I'd like to put together a board for about 6 or so pedals. I'm pretty much starting from scratch. Here are a few things I'd like to know:

-Which pedal board is recommended? I understand Pedatrain makes a good platform, but they can be a bit pricey. Are there less expensive alternatives that are just as good?

-Which power supply is recommended? I see power supplies for over $200 and I see them for under $40. Why is a Voodoo Labs so much more expensive than, say, a Donner?

-Which cables are good for connecting all this stuff and which effects go in which order normally?

Which products should I avoid and which should I look for?

Thanks!

There are a lot of questions here, and a lot can be found out by searching. But, I'll try to answer the power supply question. One of the biggest things with power supplies is "isolation." The expensive supplies are typically isolated while the cheap supplies are typically not. A non-isolated supply is basically like if you had a wall-wart and multi-plug adapter. This means you can get noise if you have the wrong combination of pedals. For some combinations, especially simple ones, it may be fine; but for more complex setups, it is a risk at best. Beyond that the important things to consider are the voltages and currents that the different outlets will provide.

 

[Mike Sorr]

This is what I was looking at. Again, this is my first board after 35 years or so of playing, so please feel free to shoot holes in this if you don't think this is decent gear. I'd rather spend the money...if I have to. But if I can get away with lesser known stuff that's on par with the more popular stuff, I wouldn't mind not having to spend $400.

 

[RockinBass85]

This is what I was looking at. Again, this is my first board after 35 years or so of playing, so please feel free to shoot holes in this if you don't think this is decent gear. I'd rather spend the money...if I have to. But if I can get away with lesser known stuff that's on par with the more popular stuff, I wouldn't mind not having to spend $400.

I'm using the Behringer PD1000 case, and I love it; I know the B-word isn't a top choice in some circles but I really like it. It's a case/pedalboard based off the BOSS design. Cost me $130. It came with a daisy chain power supply and 16 patch cables. The way this case is set up, you plug your pedals into the built-in connectors of the pedal, you also connect your daisy chain to the power connector. This enables you to pre-setup your pedals and power supply to them. Scroll up and check out what I'm talking about. It enables me to simply show up, plug in my bass on one side, and then plug the amp into the other side. Simplified things a lot. I like that it's a hard shell-type case, and that both sides are lined with foam. My pedals are protected and so are the settings. I don't have to worry about bumping them or fumbling their settings up because they're all laid out, pre-setup, and protected.

 

[RockinBass85]

View attachment 979127
This is what I'm using ... just messing around with the Beta, it's not what I'm after so I'm selling it ... I am working on another board to include what's seen , minus Beta, plus chorus , octave, reverb and delay, and overdrive ... eyeballing the Blueberry BOD, or South Hampton 5th gear... maybe the Darkglass VMT it has great reports for light OD

Very nice. Never heard of the Beta. What is it?

I've found my light overdrive desires satisified with the OBD-3. It's soft initially but comes to life as I emphasize attack, and I've found it works well to help me cut through the mix sometimes. The SA OFD is something more experimental. It can produce good drive sounds and distortion sounds, however I don't like "oversaturation" as the basis for the overdriven/distorted sound which unfortunately it seems like thats what I get with a few of the settings on here. As it is, I'm plagued with audio issues at the moment, having ridiculous volume and too bright EQ issues with my pedals and my bass at the moment that's just ruining everything.[/QUOTE]

 

[simotek]

Just the thread I was looking for. I am also planning a small pedal board for use with my fretless in a worship band, but I'm of of those bass players that has never really used effects in the past, maybe a digital tuner and chorus once in a while. But lately I've been piecing together a few pedals to help my sound like a Sansamp Bass Driver, a few Boss pedals like a chorus, delay, reverb and a digital tuner. Having all these spread on the floor is getting a little unruly, so I'd like to put together a board for about 6 or so pedals. I'm pretty much starting from scratch. Here are a few things I'd like to know:

-Which pedal board is recommended? I understand Pedatrain makes a good platform, but they can be a bit pricey. Are there less expensive alternatives that are just as good?

-Which power supply is recommended? I see power supplies for over $200 and I see them for under $40. Why is a Voodoo Labs so much more expensive than, say, a Donner?

-Which cables are good for connecting all this stuff and which effects go in which order normally?

Which products should I avoid and which should I look for?

Thanks!

I took the cheep option and made my pedal board from wood from a scrap yard, the only downside to this is I had to find a way to carry it.

Here are some of the differences between cheaper and more expensive power supplies
1. Expensive power supplies will generally have a higher current rating (mA) meaning they can power more pedals, as a rule of thumb its good practice to add up the current requirements of each of your pedals then double it and get a supply that can handle that.
2. More expensive supplies will often have 1-2 outputs for pedals that run at a different voltage which is only really needed if you have 12/15/18v pedals.
3. More expensive supplies will either have each port isolated or have more isolated ports, some pedals when sharing the same power supply will create a buzzing sound, isolated outputs prevents that.

The following video goes into a bit more detail


If you only have a few pedals as long as you have reasonable cables you will be fine, if you have a lot of pedals you want good quality cables, as for order its pretty subjective and its best to play around with whatever you get and find what works for you or once you've settled on pedals ask on talkbass and people will give you suggestions.

As for what to buy, theres nothing i'd specifically say avoid, generally once I know the types of pedals I need I normally watch a bunch of youtube reviews to narrow down what I want then try and find a store that stocks them so I can try them (This is hard in Australia sometimes). Its important to try them with your bass and amp or very similar ones as many particually drives and fuzz pedals sound completely different depending on the bass and amp.

For most worship the part of my setup I use is pretty small, I use a overdrive, preamp and compressor, If your bass is running to a DI then to the front of house i'd definitely recommend a preamp pedal which will often have a DI out anyway. I use a Two Notes - Le Bass, which is a combined overdrive, preamp and cabsim. (Cabinet sims become important if you want to use distortion through a DI), that preamp doesn't have enough eq control for me which is why I use another pedal with eq. I also use a MXR Bass comp, and those pretty much cover worship for me. (Although I have more on my board). If your doing more modern dance / synth driven songs alot there is a range of pedals you can get to make your bass sound more like a synth. If you like playing ambient music then you might want a volume pedal, delay and reverb. I have these on my board but I wouldn't generally use them in worship unless I was in a pretty cut back band with no keys to do pads and only one electric guitarist.

 

[BIG97BEN]

This is what I was looking at. Again, this is my first board after 35 years or so of playing, so please feel free to shoot holes in this if you don't think this is decent gear. I'd rather spend the money...if I have to. But if I can get away with lesser known stuff that's on par with the more popular stuff, I wouldn't mind not having to spend $400.

I have the same power supply except its marked as a Joyo, and I don't have any problems with it. power supplies are funny in that every single persons situation is different. Give it, or a 1spot, a try to see how it works and if you run into any of the problems caused by dirty power, then look into an isolated PS.

I run two decent sized boards, and power my main one with a 1spot, and the larger one with one of those pictured and another 1spot. It runs well, so I've never needed to look into anything else.

 

[SteveC]

I'll (hopefully) be receiving my Roscoe 6 this week. I won't be using it at church right away as I need to get reacquainted with it. I plan to try doing some "solo bass" and loping stuff at home. Plan on getting a Ditto looper and maybe a reverb of some kind. Thinking TC mini Ditto and HOF reverb. Any thoughts - especially on a reverb pedal. I don't want to spend a tone, which is why I thought a simple and small "mini" pedal would be a good place to start.

 

[MTN.bass72]

I'll (hopefully) be receiving my Roscoe 6 this week. I won't be using it at church right away as I need to get reacquainted with it. I plan to try doing some "solo bass" and loping stuff at home. Plan on getting a Ditto looper and maybe a reverb of some kind. Thinking TC mini Ditto and HOF reverb. Any thoughts - especially on a reverb pedal. I don't want to spend a tone, which is why I thought a simple and small "mini" pedal would be a good place to start.

Not sure of your price range, but the Earthquaker Devices Dispatch Master is awesome !! it has reverb and delay.. you can run them together or individually

 

[SteveC]

Not sure of your price range, but the Earthquaker Devices Dispatch Master is awesome !! it has reverb and delay.. you can run them together or individually

Looks nice. I guess my budget is $100 of the ditto and a delay for $100 or less would be nice. That's why I was thinking TC Minis - and they stock them at a local store so I can try before I buy.

 

[simotek]

I'll (hopefully) be receiving my Roscoe 6 this week. I won't be using it at church right away as I need to get reacquainted with it. I plan to try doing some "solo bass" and loping stuff at home. Plan on getting a Ditto looper and maybe a reverb of some kind. Thinking TC mini Ditto and HOF reverb. Any thoughts - especially on a reverb pedal. I don't want to spend a tone, which is why I thought a simple and small "mini" pedal would be a good place to start.

The Earthquaker devices Avalanche Run is another delay / reverb that would probably work well on bass because its not too muddy but I haven't tried it.

 

[bobbybass85]

Here's a post from a few weeks ago at Flatirons. Sorry about the weird lights, they were running their programmed lights and when taking a panoramic shot it makes things a little extra "artsy."

The ABM-500 is running into a custom, ported 2x12 and is purely for pushing air. The board pulls direct off my Tone Hammer DI, which is at the end of my chain. Currently that chain is MXR BOD, Darkglass B3K (occassionally I'll swap in my Agro), Zoom MS-60B (running an SVT styled patch with a little compression and either a synth to play with or a chorus/phase depending on the weekend) into the TH.

 

[MTN.bass72]

Here's a post from a few weeks ago at Flatirons. Sorry about the weird lights, they were running their programmed lights and when taking a panoramic shot it makes things a little extra "artsy."

The ABM-500 is running into a custom, ported 2x12 and is purely for pushing air. The board pulls direct off my Tone Hammer DI, which is at the end of my chain. Currently that chain is MXR BOD, Darkglass B3K (occassionally I'll swap in my Agro), Zoom MS-60B (running an SVT styled patch with a little compression and either a synth to play with or a chorus/phase depending on the weekend) into the TH.

I didn't really like the Agro.. but have considered a B3K.. is the B3K as aggressive as the Agro, or can it do nice subtle OD

 

[bobbybass85]

I didn't really like the Agro.. but have considered a B3K.. is the B3K as aggressive as the Agro, or can it do nice subtle OD

I use both of them for fairly subtle drive. I think where the B3K wins in most situations is you can get a full-out distortion that remains clean and sits REALLY well with the blend control. Much more tweakable. The agro I have set with the drive at about 10-11 o'clock and keep it pretty clean. Just a little bit of lo-fi magic there.

If I'm looking for a more blown-out speaker sort of tone, that's where the Agro wins (for example a while back we did Fire by Mother's Finest, the agro was perfect for it). For definition and bite, I go B3K.