Your favorite pedal under $50 new

[Koldunya]

I have a $35 CoolMusic Insane that's a shockingly good distortion pedal for heavy music. Before I got my Zoom G1 I put it in front of my Darkglass Element (Guitar cab IRs) and recorded/played from the DI out to my sound card.

 

[scuzzy]

if I recall mk1 was amazing but they got sued for stealing the circuit of another great pedal, so invented mk2 which isn't as good.

unless I'm confusing this with a different octave pedal that has mk1 and mk2 versions....

That is my understanding as well.

I was a little against my usual self and as soon as I heard whispers mk1 was going away, I ordered from Ali -express and got it in a week later. I don't applaud the stealing of intellectual property, but I still bought their product... So I suppose that is one of many of my hypocrisies. It really is a great octave pedal, and I got it for $45 to my door.

 

[Zam]

There's multiple rebrands of the Ultimate Drive on AliExpress under $20. It's a must buy at that price. I have the Saphue branded version which is $15 at the moment!

My other favourite pedal is the Donner Tutti Love chorus - also under $20.

Generally good experiences with Donner (cheap), Saphue (very cheap) and sonicake (pretty cheap). Not so much Movall and Ronin (cheap but didn't work well - maybe just unlucky). At the prices on ebay/AliExpress they're pocket money fun.

NK, how you feel about the LOW ENDS in the Saphue Ultimate Drive? The price is way better than the Joyo Ultimate Distortion, but, sadly, that's no videos on youtube with bass players using the Saphue version (that's why I'm asking =D)

 

[_One//Man//Mutiny_]

Donner Noise Killer, new was $30 and I got a 2-for-1 on it for me and the guitarist

Works as well or better than I'd hoped, and in a 1590A footprint.

Came here to say exactly this pedal, the real winner is the latching footswitch, engage it, set it, forget it! I have one on every pedal board and also works very well for throwing in the effects loop of noisey high gain guitar amps when recording. Or just recording in general.

 

[-Stingray]

Short Answer: None.

Longer Answer: I'm on an anti-pedal kick lately. Going straight into my Little Mark III for everything. I'm finding my playing got sloppy using an "always on" compressor.

Time to tighten up my playing by going straight to amp for a while.

 

[lark_z]

+1 on Joyo American Sound

 

[OldShark]

For guitar: TC Cinders (a BD clone), for bass: TC Thunderstorm flanger.

 

[Blue Moose]

Joyo Ultimate Drive. Bought it for guitar but it works great for bass too.

 

[BenSantora]

Yes, you have to choose.
Yes, you only get one.
Yes, it has to be the new price.

No, it does not have to be something you play out. Could just be something fun you jam on at home.

Mine has proven difficult to incorporate into my band rig. It's the Behringer SF300 Super Fuzz. $29, and they go on sale regularly. Sounds through my practice rig. Cuts too much bass to gig.

What's yours?

AZOR 5 band EQ Mini Pedal - $25 on Amazon - really useful for bass because it has a low band of 62.5 Hz - solid controls, very versatile - the combinations are endless. But had to grind off the hat and cigar image - lol.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Yes, you have to choose.
Yes, you only get one.
Yes, it has to be the new price.

No, it does not have to be something you play out. Could just be something fun you jam on at home.

Mine has proven difficult to incorporate into my band rig. It's the Behringer SF300 Super Fuzz. $29, and they go on sale regularly. Sounds through my practice rig. Cuts too much bass to gig.

What's yours?

Behringer bass overdrive. 25 bucks. Bunch of knobs. Great pedal.

 

[kjp360]

I'll +1 to the EHX LPB-1.
I have used it for more than a decade without issue. I love the simplicity as well.

Honorable mention to the Joyo American Sound.

 

[devnulljp]

I got a Boss OC-2 in 1987 for $50, does that count?

 

[Zam]

Damn.. now I bought another pedal: Joyo Ultimate Drive. You all should be ashamed!

 

[IanStephenson]

Hey, Ian! Did you test any of those brands? Is the Saphue as good as the Joyo one?

I only have the Saphue version of the Ultimate Drive, and used it for guitar rather than bass, so can't compare, but it is good.

I bought a bunch of pedals to make a cheap guitar pedal board:

Sonicake AutoWah
Saphue Ultimate Drive
Saphue Phaser
Horse American Sound
Donner Tutti Love Chorus
Donner ?? Fall Delay
Sonicake Reverb

Very happy with all of them. All under $25 (about 50/50 Ebay and AliExpress). I was happy to take a chance on all of them, as if any of them were disappointing it would have been another $20 to try something different. Over a few months it was a fun project, to do a whole load of GAS'ing without spending much cash.

Highlights are definitely the UD, and the Tutti Love.

As far as I can tell Horse is another rebrand often Joyo stuff (American/California/Oxford etc). Based on my limited experience Saphue, Horse and Kmise are putting out identical pedals - same range, same names, identical appearance, to the extent I think they must be made in the same factory. Donner and Sonicake are a little more "legit brands", and I'd say their stuff is slightly more well constructed (cast cases rather than folded).

The three pedals that didn't make the cut were
Movall Reverberous: Wanted to get excited about Movall as they're cheap, and have a wide range, but the reverb had a strange pulsing sound, and the controls didn't work. Got a refund (quickly without sending it back), but it was disappointing and put me off the whole brand. Maybe I was just unlucky.
Rowin tuner: The LED display caused a horrible clicking sound even when in bypass. Guess it needed more smoothing on its power input. Again quickly refunded.
Saphue US Dream: OK distortion. I just didn't have space on the board for two distortions and preferred the Ultimate Drive. For $15 I was comfortable buying a couple of distortions and keeping the better one.

 

[Zam]

I only have the Saphue version of the Ultimate Drive, and used it for guitar rather than bass, so can't compare, but it is good.

I bought a bunch of pedals to make a cheap guitar pedal board:

Sonicake AutoWah
Saphue Ultimate Drive
Saphue Phaser
Horse American Sound
Donner Tutti Love Chorus
Donner ?? Fall Delay
Sonicake Reverb

Very happy with all of them. All under $25 (about 50/50 Ebay and AliExpress). I was happy to take a chance on all of them, as if any of them were disappointing it would have been another $20 to try something different. Over a few months it was a fun project, to do a whole load of GAS'ing without spending much cash.

Highlights are definitely the UD, and the Tutti Love.

As far as I can tell Horse is another rebrand often Joyo stuff (American/California/Oxford etc). Based on my limited experience Saphue, Horse and Kmise are putting out identical pedals - same range, same names, identical appearance, to the extent I think they must be made in the same factory. Donner and Sonicake are a little more "legit brands", and I'd say their stuff is slightly more well constructed (cast cases rather than folded).

The three pedals that didn't make the cut were
Movall Reverberous: Wanted to get excited about Movall as they're cheap, and have a wide range, but the reverb had a strange pulsing sound, and the controls didn't work. Got a refund (quickly without sending it back), but it was disappointing and put me off the whole brand. Maybe I was just unlucky.
Rowin tuner: The LED display caused a horrible clicking sound even when in bypass. Guess it needed more smoothing on its power input. Again quickly refunded.
Saphue US Dream: OK distortion. I just didn't have space on the board for two distortions and preferred the Ultimate Drive. For $15 I was comfortable buying a couple of distortions and keeping the better one.

Awesome reply! Thanks for the explanation.

I'm now on the search for modulation pedals, like Envelope Filter / Wah / Octaves, since I don't have any on my board. If you, or any fellow bassist player in this thread have experience in this department (cheap modulation pedals), I'd love to know about! Take care

 

[HelpImaRock]

Behringer Bass Overdrive BOD400.

Behringer V-Tone Bass BDI21

I have both of these pedals. BDI is at the end of my signal chain and is always on.

I can't get a good sound out of the BOD though. With both pedals on there's no mid content and the dirt sounds buzzy in a bad way. I have other dirt pedals so it doesn't bother me but I feel like I'm missing something with it.

 

[Bass4Brkfast]

I have both of these pedals. BDI is at the end of my signal chain and is always on.

I can't get a good sound out of the BOD though. With both pedals on there's no mid content and the dirt sounds buzzy in a bad way. I have other dirt pedals so it doesn't bother me but I feel like I'm missing something with it.

Hmm...maybe the gain on the BOD is too high?...
I use the BOD with very low gain, almost as a preamp and trying not to get almost any breakup at all...gain maybe from the minimum position up to the 10 o'clock position, boosting both low and high up to the 1 o'clock position, plenty of dry mixed in, it livens up the tone nicely for me to especially with lowe output pickups.

 

[Zam]

Came here to say exactly this pedal, the real winner is the latching footswitch, engage it, set it, forget it! I have one on every pedal board and also works very well for throwing in the effects loop of noisey high gain guitar amps when recording. Or just recording in general.

Hey, Erik! Would you mind elaborate more about the usage of a Noise Gate in a Bass Pedal Board? Is it really useful? I'm kinda of new into the pedal world and never used a Noise Gate before. Take care!

 

[_One//Man//Mutiny_]

Hey, Erik! Would you mind elaborate more about the usage of a Noise Gate in a Bass Pedal Board? Is it really useful? I'm kinda of new into the pedal world and never used a Noise Gate before. Take care!

It’s a noise gate, so it’s a utility type pedal. I put mine last on my board and set the threshold to keep my signal dead quiet when not playing. Keeps everything nice and quiet. ISP decimator does the same thing but 3 times the price and it in a boss enclosure instead of the mini pedal size

 

[Zam]

It’s a noise gate, so it’s a utility type pedal. I put mine last on my board and set the threshold to keep my signal dead quiet when not playing. Keeps everything nice and quiet. ISP decimator does the same thing but 3 times the price and it in a boss enclosure instead of the mini pedal size

Ty for the info, Erik! If I'm using a DI Pedal (VT Bass), I should put after it as well or before?