Essential pedals. Your opinions please

[Dingus]

Just a tuner , and maybe a decent -sounding compressor . For the vast majority of bass playing situations , what people want to hear is a good , solid clean sound . Effects are usually superfluous to that .

[neepheid]

Yup, been a sole Boss TU-2 between my bass and my amp in all my playing days. Dabbled with overdrive and limiters. In my world the only one that is essential is the tuner.

[Highfox]

I like a few pedals,

mine goes like this, bass,Tuner, Envelope filter, Octave, Compressor, Chorus. The compressor is always on.

The envelope filter would be my first port of call if I was looking to funk things up.

[xgsjx]

To cover most sounds, I have octaver, filter (with exp pedal & auto wah), dirt & chorus.
There's no correct answer to your question though.

[skej21]

Tuner, compressor and a pre-amp/DI for me. I always use the tuner and compressor pedals as they keep things clean and tidy in a live mix and keep the pre-amp/DI for the gigs where I want control over the desk EQ or if I need a little extra headroom.

[uncle psychosis]

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1378816802' post='2204969']
What do these actually do? Not being sarcastic, I really don't know!
[/quote]
[quote name='Jack Cahalane' timestamp='1378819114' post='2205041']
Me neither!
[/quote]

Limiting is a specific form of Compression.

More on both here:

[url="http://www.ovnilab.com/articles/limiter.shtml"]http://www.ovnilab.com/articles/limiter.shtml[/url]

[6v6]

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1378886177' post='2205894']
Limiting is a specific form of Compression.

More on both here:

[url="http://www.ovnilab.com/articles/limiter.shtml"]http://www.ovnilab.c...s/limiter.shtml[/url]
[/quote]

The LMB-3 is actually a compressor though, despite the name, since it's got an adjustable ratio (making it a limiter with the ratio at infinity, but a compressor elsewhere in the range)

[KiOgon]

TC electronics Polytune followed by their Flashback, just for fun amazing http://www.tcelectronic.com/flashback-delay/

[uncle psychosis]

[quote name='6v6' timestamp='1378887202' post='2205914']
The LMB-3 is actually a compressor though, despite the name, since it's got an adjustable ratio (making it a limiter with the ratio at infinity, but a compressor elsewhere in the range)
[/quote]

Some genius marketing from Boss right there

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1378831982' post='2205296']
Just a tuner , and maybe a decent -sounding compressor . For the vast majority of bass playing situations , what people want to hear is a good , solid clean sound . Effects are usually superfluous to that .
[/quote]

Refuse to play music for those people. They are people who don't like music.

This is like saying rock and roll is OK so long as it's not too loud and there's no swearing.

Oh yeah. For me the pedals I wouldn't be without are an analogue octaver, a low-pass filter, a sample rate reducer and a pitch shifter.

[shizznit]

I have a lot of pedals tucked away, but I only use a few essentials. I'm more of a funk player and I use an envelope filter, synth, fuzz and octave. Other than a tuner and a compressor pedal (if required) that's all I need.

[Sibob]

OC-2......probably?!

Si

[Jonnyboy Rotten]

//And you can't make any assumptions just based on whether the pedal has the word "compressor" or "limiter" painted on it. For example, the Boss LMB-3 is marketed as a limiter, but it has a wide range of control over the ratio, so it can be used for any sort of compression; whereas the Boss CS-3 is marketed as a compressor, but it has an extremely high ratio, so it is really more of a limiter.//

Ahh so that's cleared that up then...

Edited September 12, 2013 by Jonnyboy Rotten

[SimonEdward]

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1378996579' post='2207532']
OC-2......probably?!

Si
[/quote]

+1 for the OC-2.

The general consensus for 'essentials' appears to be: - Tuner > Compressor > Pre-amp/DI (which I'd broadly go along with too).

A link to my board (below)...

[url="http://simon-edward.tumblr.com/page/6"]http://simon-edward.tumblr.com/page/6[/url]

[Sibob]

I wouldn't necessarily class a compressor/limiter as an essential, IMO.
My 'essentials' board is tuner, octave, overdrive/distortion & envelope filter.
But then everyone is different in their 'must-haves'

Si

[xgsjx]

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1379279672' post='2210868']
I wouldn't necessarily class a compressor/limiter as an essential, IMO.
My 'essentials' board is tuner, octave, overdrive/distortion & envelope filter.
But then everyone is different in their 'must-haves'

Si
[/quote]

Same here. I don't have a compressor anymore.

Essential pedals is determined by the music & sound that you're after.
A song that my band have started writing, the Moog Bass Murf set to pattern 10b is essential, otherwise the song never would have came to be.

[BigBassBob]

My essentials are: Tuner, HPF (if the amp doesn't have one), overdrive/preamp and compressor. They don't have to be there but they make my life a whole lot easier.

[Ghost_Bass]

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1379279672' post='2210868']
I wouldn't necessarily class a compressor/limiter as an essential, IMO.
My 'essentials' board is tuner, octave, overdrive/distortion & envelope filter.
But then everyone is different in their 'must-haves'

Si
[/quote]

Another vote for this. I would even get by without the OD aswell as the comp but having that option i'll take them with me. Currently my board has the minumum pedals i have use for live performance (see wich in sig), i don't need more and won't use less.

[Guest FretNoMore]

As said already, it would depend on what music you play ... I don't really think any of my dozen or so pedals are really "essential". I could play every song on our current set list with no effects - it just wouldn't be quite as fun. It's nice to know though that the band doesn't fall apart if my pedal board were to go on strike (fingers crossed), just grab a cable and resume playing.

The only "always on" pedals are my Line 6 G30 wireless, [sfx] micro Thumpinator, Empress Compressor and a Suhr buffer. Frequently used is a TC Polytune tuner. Everything else (overdrives, octaver, filter, phaser, chorus, equalizer) are mostly mild flavourings for some songs or even parts of songs.

Edited September 18, 2013 by FretNoMore

[sk8]

Tuner, Compressor, Dirt

[Dramatis Persona]

Overdrive, Fuzz and Reverb.

[lefrash]

This is sooooo subjective its unbelievable! My current hip hop band essentially I need all my effects! tuner, compressor, fuzz, pitchshifter, octaver, vibe, delay.

When I turn up to pub/function/rock/jazz gig, I can easily go straight into amp. Tuning never really is a problem either, so a quick tune before and at break will suffice.

If I were to be involved in a regular rock band, I'd probably go for OD and a fuzz. Probably put a tuner there just for the sake of it.

[Biaeothanata-Bassist]

For me it has to be some sort of overdrive and a tuner. A year ago I would of included a compressor pedal in that but I've not bothered so much with the compression side of it any more. As long as my strings sound twangy still, all I need is the overdrive and tuner.

[Karnage]

Amazed how many people would suggest an OD as essential for someone playing in a disco outfit, or maybe they are only really referring to the genre(s) they tend to play.

I really like a compressor for the slap side of things, helps the bass be a little more consistent in the mix, sometimes a lot. It's not always dependent on just the bass either, the sounds used by the rest of the band can make control of the bass more critical too.

The advice someone gave of using your multiFX to play the material and work out what to get from there can't be beaten IMO, as long as it has all the types of effect required.

Sometimes a synth effect of some sort can be quite important if the material has baselines originally done on a keyboard you are playing on bass, and not all synth effects are equal! If you do (like me) use a 5 or 6 string bass, some synth effects really struggle down at the low end (sound odd, or respond slowly), so check them out rather than buy online without playing them yourself.

Edited September 22, 2013 by Karnage

[Sibob]

I don't think it's people suggesting overdrive, just that overdrive is one of their essentials. As mentioned, it's so subjective, however there is certainly instances of overdrive and fuzz in funk/disco, Bootsy, Bernard Edwards, Stevie Wonder etc. Sometimes they were pedals, sometimes they were just basses too hot for the recording equiptment.
Just depends on your ears and preferences

Si