EskimoBassist

I started with one of these, great memories, nice post! I did quickly swap it out for an Epiphone Thunderbird, however it wasn't bad to play, sounded okay and for that price it was a gerat starter bass. I was disuaded by the shopkeep to buy the BC300 over a Squire Jazz, I don't know if I have him tot hank, but even so at that price it was worth every penny.

This thread really interests me, I'm suprised there aren't more FX junkies jumping up to defend their prized collection! I'd just like to reference a few bands, in support of using effects of course. Firstly take MOGWAI. If you've heard of them, you'll know that they are a 6 piece wall of sound, three guitarists, a bassist, a drummer and a keyboard player. Now all three of the guitarists use a stupidly large number of pedals and, despite everything going on in the mix, especially with the keyboard player using a whole variety of plugins, there bassist still uses a few effects, and they work well. We're only talking a Delay, Overdrive, Synth and an Octaver (I think...please correct me if I'm wrong) but still his sound works really well in the band. Of course, they are a Progressive Alternative Rock band, so the louder and the bigger the better perhaps! If you want a listen, go check out "Glasgow Mega Snake", here's the link: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1b9ToqTjjs"]www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1b9ToqTjjs[/url] There isn't an official video for this song, so I just picked an art video with good audio, note the HQ option. Secondly, I'll take the band that I am in. I play Bass (obviously), we have a guitarist, who is as equally enthusiastic about pedals as I am, a drummer and to top it off: a Keyboard playing front man. OH THE SHAME. Now when he had this [i]fantastic[/i] idea to get a keyboard, I was pretty sceptical as to how good it would sound in a band context. Actually, now I think about it, I remember actively trying to suppress how much it featured in our songs! It's not every song that he uses it on, although if he had his way he would, as a very competent musician he has a habit of just joining in with the rest of the band in songs which he doesn't know or play. HOWEVER, having said that, it really doesnt effect (haha) my use of effects pedals in the band. If anything, I now use more. I even encroach onto the hallowed grounds of synth! So to be fair, having a keyboard in our band has opened up new possibilities and I wouldn't regard it in a bad way at all, I guess as a Bass player you've got to stand your ground where it matters but be prepared to let the keyboard sometimes take the dominant bass line. Fundamentally, we haven't changed our musical direction either, we are still predominantly an Alternative Rock band. Recently we have started covering well known dance songs at the end of our set, something that always goes down a treat. Without a keyboard this just simply would not work! Yes I provide the deep synthy bass lines ala Korg G5, Boss OC-3, EHX Bass Big Muff and Boss ODB-3, but often the main synth melody is played on the keyboard. I guess this the bass and keyboard working together in harmony. You might not like them, but look towards Pendulum. As a live Drum and Bass band, I can't really think of any better example to illustrate my point. Here, see Pendulum covering the Prodigy classic Voodoo People: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvP5Tp-CLtQ"]www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvP5Tp-CLtQ[/url] Oncemore, the High Quality option really shows the bass through. If you liked that, try Propane Nightmares or Showdown live from Brixton Academy. So my pedal collection is still expanding and the only thing limiting me is the size of my Diago Tourman and being at 20+ pedals already, I think I've got enough! Ultimately I agree with most of the other posters above, using effects in a band situation has a time and a place anyway, coupled with a synth keyboard line it may restrict the need for a dirty, overdriven bass line, but I don't think that it totally restricts your usage of effects, or indeed the size of your pedalboard! Being in a relatively small band I guess it's easier for me to be liberal in my effects choices. Too, I agree, that the genre of music that you are playing totally dictates what sounds you will be using, but really doesn't this discussion come down to the age old discussion of whether you need effects in the first place, not simply will a keyboard player make your pedal tapping habits redundant? But anyway, that took far too long to write and in retrospect it's bloody boring and I should really be focusing on my looming exam! Rich

[quote name='The Funk' post='512589' date='Jun 13 2009, 03:13 AM']Join a band - best way to speed up your development.[/quote] +1 Join a band full of musicians who are a lot better than you. From personal experience, that's the best way to become a better player and quickly too.

Neil Mahoney of Amplifier and Justin Chancellor of Tool.

When I've played it with a band I've used an octave down pedal, with some clean signal blended in, running into a fuzz pedal, also with some clean signal blended in. My Boss OC-3 octaver and EHX Bass Big Muff fuzz do a great job of emulating this sound, using my Jazz bass. Great song to play i think! The whole bassline is actually played an octave higher on the fretboard than it sounds, but the octaver is obviously on to bring it down. Hope that helps.

+1 to dannybuoy and ahpook

So this September I am upping-sticks, leaving the nest, spreading my wings etc. etc. and going to University . However, when I get there I really, REALLY want to keep playing my Bass. And whatsmore, I want to take a buttload of my pedals with me too. Can't be a good idea surely, but even so. (Another question for you BassChatters at Uni - did you take your uber-expensive-prized-posession of a bass, or your old, battered, well gigged machine, relegated to your second bass at home?) Obviously I'm NOT going to be lugging an amp with me, so of course I'm think of buying some kind of headphone amp, to keep me happy. Currently, when I want to do some quiet practice, I use an old Korg AX10B, swap it on line mode and take a 1/4" headphone adapter straight out the back. SORTED. However, I want to get rid of it and use something else. I'm not going to take my massive Diago Tourman laden with pedals to uni, just a select few on a much, MUCH smaller pedalboard. Smaller pedal board...I NEED ALL THE SPACE I CAN SPARE FOR MY PROPER PEDALS! This is where you guys come in, what would you recommend? I need some kind of device, not necessarily with tone shaping or a tuner as I've got pedals for that, that will happily take a strong signal from a selection of pedals and most likely the high-output Epiphone Thunderbird. It doesn't need to fit on my pedalboard and it's no problem if it requires its' own power supply. Reading through previous posts, it seems that a Korg Pandora would be a good idea, any thoughts? Cheers, Rich

Well that's just rude!

I got quite excited excited when I saw the title... unfortunately you are not regailing us with tales of how you romanced your favourite effects pedal, fish dinner, wine and all!

Personally, I think you're missing TWO things: A Pedal Tuner - Boss TU-2, Korg Pitch Black? A nice Fuzz - I see you're trying to shift an El Grande, how about the new Bass Big Muff, I love mine!

[quote name='alexharvay' post='494532' date='May 21 2009, 06:07 PM']I've been meaning to do this for a while. Here's my current board The chain goes right to left, top to bottom. Pretty self explanatory. Diago power supply, George L's... I'm sure you guys and girls know what it all does.[/quote] REALLY nice board mate, I think if I had a small one it would look something like this, nice work. Question on everyone's lips: what's the Animato like? Worth £200?

Running 16/17 pedals from a Diago powerstation atm, all different makes and with different mA requirements, no problems at all!

[quote name='Monz' post='487424' date='May 13 2009, 11:12 PM']I'm no expert here but as you only use the one pedal I would have thought a set of rechargeable 9v batteries and a charger would be the most cost effective solution and I've seen them at maplins too [/quote] +1. Or get a nice tuner to go with that nice MultiComp and maybe even a DI, and suddenly you'll be thinking about a pedaltrain mini...

[quote name='1976fenderhead' post='486312' date='May 12 2009, 08:16 PM']Just replaced the TU2 with the Korg Pitchblack :-)[/quote] I've always really liked your board. Really simple, neat and effective. I've also got an Ultra Fuzz, which I think is an amazing, and massively underrated fuzz pedal, and a 105Q Bass Way, I can't really think of a better wah for me. Rich

[quote name='johnnylager' post='481985' date='May 7 2009, 02:02 PM']Some good info on compressors [url="http://wiki.basschat.co.uk/info:effects:compressors_and_limiters"]here[/url] & [url="http://www.ovnilab.com/"]here[/url]. My vote goes for the EBS MultiComp, but it would do - I bought one and never turn it off.[/quote] PLUS ONE. That's me too, mine's always on.

Although I'm sure you can alter the gain of your signal using this pedal, perhaps it is referring to the size of the sound, not the loudness of it, but the greater tonal control. Isn't the Exciter, aside from a nice DI, just a flexible pre amp/eq?

Right from the very beginning, I have always played and gigged with effects. It was unbelievably alien to me, when I played an acoustic set a few weeks ago, to NOT have anythign in front of me to stomp on. Usually, even when I play much more chilled out, acoustic venues, I still have a nice tuner, compressor and my own Pre/DI. Effects pedals must be the single greatest expense for me and I guess I have become a little addicted. That said, I think I can appreciate when and more importantly when NOT to move away from my clean, albeit compressed, signal. I have a whole myriad of pedals and believe it or not every single one gets used at everything single gig that I play, with a full band, of course excluding acoustic performances. It would be nice not to have to cart round my fully laden Diago Tourman to every gig though, at least once in a while, but I guess because of the music that we play, as an Alternative Prog Rock outfit with only one guitar, that's a luxury I can't afford. My Bass really fills out the sound, so perhaps I can be excuse for having more pedals than sense? Either way though, it feels refreshing to leave my board at home every now and then.

If you want a full on synth, I would suggest the Korg G5, though expect to pay around £150, though it really is the dogs bits, I think very comparable to the Deep Impact. Even so, depending on what kind of synthy sound you're after, perhaps a Digitech Bass Synth Wah would do it for you, much more affordable at around £40 s/h but it is very versatile, with a GREAT octaver on it and some decent filters. Maybe you'd be better buying invidual stomps and creating your own synth sound? Especially cause then you'll have the killer pedals on their own to use as well. Combine a Fuzz (preferably gated for a synthy sound), an Octaver (the Boss OC-2 is cheap and well favoured for synthy uses) and an envelope filter (DOD FX25/b, well cheap and very good sounding, or perhaps a Q-Tron?), and you can get some really dirty synthy sounds. Add a compressor too and you can get a really tight synthy sound. personally, although I love my Korg G5, I think producing a synthy kind of sound in this manner is much more appealing and versatile, you can easily change any of the parameters of the individual effects on the fly, and then you also have an Octaver, a Fuzz and an Envelope Filter to use on their own too . As far as a chorus goes, I would personally consider one of the Boss units, I have a Boss CEB-3 and I really like it, although it is not as rich or as deep as the Chorus Ensemble for example, which is more warm. CEB-3's go really cheap on these forums and on eBay too though, even around £30 which isn't bad! To throw a spanner in the works though, have you considered multi-effects pedals? I used to use a Korg AX3000B which has superb Choruses and Synths ampoungst many, many, MANY other effects, I was really happy with it for nearly two years of constant live usage, practicing and recording, GREAT PIECE OF KIT. Can be found for around £100 in new condition, and even less second hand. This is the bit where everyone else tells you to buy the Zoom b2 1.u... Hope that's some help, Rich

[quote name='johnnylager' post='464350' date='Apr 16 2009, 08:02 PM']EBS MultiComp.[/quote] PLUS THE ONE! Fantastic pedal, I would never gig without it! Definitely worth the money .

Get yourself an EHX Nano Small Stone, or a Boss CEB-3 chorus, or maybe a Boss OC-2, all cheap and great pedals. If I was you though I'd probably just use the BSW as an octave down and instead get myself a nice pre amp/DI, such as an MXR M-80 or a SansAmp .