Your "Always-on" pedal

[zekebass808]

+1 Empress Compressor, on my big board (I also use a Markbass Compressore as a stand-alone compressor).
also, SansAmp VT is practically always on.

 

[Bassfreakz]

+1 Empress Compressor, on my big board (I also use a Markbass Compressore as a stand-alone compressor).
also, SansAmp VT is practically always on.

+1 more to the empress. Plus the torpedo c.a.b for cab simulation and the 3leaf enabler for eq and di functions.

 

[Greg75]

Current "always-on" pedals: HPF-Pre 3, Cali76, Li'l Black Box, Nimbus, VT Bass DI, Buffer.

Seems a bit much to me, too, but...

 

[bassmusic17]

My always on is a Joyo American Sound and Mesa Bottle Rocket 95% of the time. Just got a DOD FX10 that might see a lot of work also.

 

[devnulljp]

Does the Bassbone count? I have a Cali76 in the loop and it's always on too.

 

[ShowKing]

MXR m87 bass compressor and SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe are always on for me.

 

[RandomBass90]

My always ons are a Pigtronix Philosopher Stone Germanium to bring out some of the mid-highs in my tone and to fatten it slightly - I then run that into a McSpunkle And Aardvarks boost/od which gives me a super hot tone that I can dig into to make really clanky and distorted, or play softer for a hairy clean tone. I absolutely love the combo, its defined my sound for about 2 years now. I could never take the Aardvarks off the board.

 

[bongostealth]

For me, the following are always on:

EBS Microbass II, EBS Multicomp, and Ashdown 12-Band Graphic eq pedal.

 

[mattbass6945]

A lot has changed over the last few years. Instead of starting a new thread with the same subject ,figured I'd resurrect this zombie. So.....update me!

 

[Stevorebob]

Still Fairfield Barbershop.

 

[Ryan L.]

Southampton All Things Equal.

 

[taylor16]

Darkglass B7K Ultra - does literally everything: outstanding and flexible EQ, can drive a power amp, legendary dirt/drive with blend.

 

[96Brigadier]

FEA Opti-Fet, Southampton Ictineo, Broughton L+HPF are currently always on. Some form of dirt is almost always on too, but it cycles between a few different pedals depending on what I'm playing

 

[Challanger2]

Cali 76-TX compressor. 4:1 ratio, slowest attack setting, fastest release setting. Pulling 8-16db gain reduction depending on how hard I'm playing

 

[Johnny Mac]

TC Electronic Spectracomp, Two Notes Le Bass, and Broughton L+HPF are the core of my clean tone. Depending on which band I'm playing in, my Broughton Terraformer sometimes stays always-on as well.

I'm debating picking up a Fortin Zuul and another compressor for the end of my signal chain. Both would likely stay on all the time as well.

 

[Oneud]

Southampton 5th Gear and Ictineo for me

 

[96Brigadier]

TC Electronic Spectracomp, Two Notes Le Bass, and Broughton L+HPF are the core of my clean tone. Depending on which band I'm playing in, my Broughton Terraformer sometimes stays always-on as well.

I'm debating picking up a Fortin Zuul and another compressor for the end of my signal chain. Both would likely stay on all the time as well.

That Zuul with the key input feature looks really interesting for some high gain/stacked pedal noise reduction.

 

[SLO Surfer]

Fairfield Barbershop
Keeley Bassist

 

[BasementWarrior]

Lr Baggs Stadium DI.

 

[Fuzzbass]

We all have those pedals that we're always looking for excuses to use. Or, on the other hand, pedals that we barely even touch at all, but you still leave on the board... "Just in case".

However, there's the "Always on" pedals, for some of us. That one pedal that's just become such a significant part of your tone, that it's always turned on.

So, I was wondering. Do you guys have a pedal that you can't possibly live without? Your "always-on" pedal?

For hard rock/metal, it's the Darkglass B7K: it's always on, and I use it to shape the tone of other distortion pedals that I'm stacking into it for heavier crunch.

For other kinds of music (classic rock/pop/blues/country/funk/R&B/jazz/etc) I have a bunch of favorite always-on pedals: too many to list, but my most-often-gigged are the Damnation Audio MBD-1 and Reiner Gasoline.