What do you guys do with your effects?

[Old_Ben]

I am about to embark upon creation of my first pedal board, currently nothing massive: m80 + tuner (and wireless soon), and was thinking what should/could I do with any other effects I could possibly buy.
(I have access to quite a lot of effects through amplitube and reaper, so experimenting and finding things isn't hard, but when there are so many options where to begin!?)

So my question to you all is;
What effects do you guys use and what do you use them for personally, whether it's tonal compression or something to balance out your playing, or reverb for creating a soundscape, I'm curious and looking for ideas!

Thanks

[steve-bbb]

not a lot to be honest bought a nice little collection and then one of those boss bcb60 cases to keep them all nice and tidy - carry them from gig to gig but so far only ever really use one of them (Boss LMB-3)

[RhysP]

What I did with all mine was sell them - so much easier now.

[The Badderer]

before buying or spending any considerable amount of money have a think about, what sounds do you want to make? most people's standard advice is if you fancy using some effects but have no idea what, get a multi effects unit, there are many decent ones out there for not much money and then you'll find out if you're actually going to use them and what you're going to use them for and then you can think about what pedals to buy.

Personally I use mine to add and bit of grit or tone colour and use some modulation effects to enhance or bring some extra interest to the sound and also fill space when playing in a smaller band setting of say just acoustic guitar, keys and bass.

When i was in a full on rock band i was using OD and some fuzz and phasers / chorus to bring some excitement to the low end but not lose the low end solid foundation of the band.

Edited September 26, 2014 by The Badderer

[paul_5]

You've got two of the essentials (as far as I'm concerned) with the pre/dirt box and the tuner. The only pedal I really don't like gigging without is an octaver. I really love the old Boss OC2s, but there are loads out there - even better if you can play about with effects on a computer to find out what you really need (or want) without spending a fortune buying different units.

[JapanAxe]

I previously used overdrive, phaser, and auto-wah, for particular songs that I thought they suited, and I think that's a good way to approach it: go through the songs you play (I'm assuming covers here), pick out the ones where there's an obvious effect on the bass, and look around for a pedal that will give you that sound.

Apart from a tuner (which isn't an effect anyway), I no longer use pedals on bass. I just like the sound of a bass through an amp!

[3below]

I struggle with mine(Pod and Zoom B2?). Despite being an engineering & Physics technical type I no longer have the patience to faff and sort them out. As above I just plug into the amp and play. I would suggest 'borrowing' from mates and trying before buying if possible.

[elephantgrey]

Id maybe consider getting a compressor pedal, and a zoom b1on to play about with diferent effects. I use a Zoom ms60b, and there algorithms are quite good as far as multiFX go.

Also, Bitcrushers are really fun.

[thisnameistaken]

Er...

Well I use an OC-2 to sound not-like-a-bass-guitar sometimes. Usually for dancehall type bass sounds. I use a sample rate reducer (Bugbrand Bugcrusher) sometimes to add some lo-fi noise to it and make it sound messed-up and out of tune, like a broken robot.

I use a synth-modded OC-2 with a low-pass filter (IE Xerograph) to do more sort of '90s hip-hop synth sounds. I also use a bitcrusher (IE Frantabit) as a colourful, modulating fuzz when the guitar isn't busy, again with the low-pass filter to vary the flavour.

I use a reverb (Mooer Shimverb) with the OC-2s to make synth sounds a bit more authentic sometimes. Again this works best when the rest of the arrangement is sparse.

I use a +1 octave whammy effect (Line 6 M9) as a kind of hook-generator anywhere in a song that I think it will prick up the ears, I also use it to lead into fills sometimes.

I use a very fast pitch vibrato effect (Line 6 M9 again) to add synth-like modulation to notes at the end of fills. A Bernie Worrell sort of thing.

I use a gated fuzz through a narrow band-pass filter (both in my Octavius Squeezer) to do nerdy-sounding Parliament-ish lead synth things sometimes. I have it in a 2-channel mixer (SFX Loop Logic) with the OC-2 so I can add beef at the bottom if I want, or switch between the weedy sound and the beefy sound in alternate bars, which sounds cool.

I use a barberpole phaser effect (M9 again) sometimes if I'm running a bass sound with enough treble frequencies to make it worthwhile, although this is getting rarer now. It's nice just to add a little movement to the bass and make it less routine-sounding.

I use a ring modulator (M9 again) sometimes in conjunction with an expression pedal so I can ramp it in and out as needed, much like the sample rate reducer but because it's more extreme I only use it to **** sh*t up briefly. The sample rate reducer I can leave on for whole songs.

I also sometimes resort to fuzz-into-envelope-filter effects (Octavius Squeezer again) but rarely. This is also an interesting sound to run into the sample rate reducer because it inexplicably gives the quacky filter sound a really weird vocal quality. At higher sample rates it does quite distinct vowel sounds, the more you lower the rate the more it sounds like an angry robot shouting at you.

So yeah. They are the things I do most at the moment. I don't ever really just switch on one effect for a song or a chorus or whatever (well, I do with the OC-2 but that's a classic bass sound in itself), I use them to add different hooks and fills and generally make arrangements more interesting. I've built my board in such a way that I can turn things on and off again or modulate certain effect parameters quickly and easily, and my board hasn't changed a whole lot over the last five years or so, so it's become kind of automatic for me to just push the right buttons or modulate the expression pedals, it's as natural as doing a trill with your fingers or pluck ghost notes or whatever.

Oddly the effects I never use are overdrive and chorus. The two that seem to be discussed the most in here.

[The Badderer]

you're a bit further down the journey than we are

[xgsjx]

It depends on what sort of bass sound(s) you want to make. I liked the set up I had of OC3 on -1 octave, going through some dirt & chorus & then controlled with a low pass filter & expression pedal. Got some awesome synthy DnB, dubstep & breakbeat sounds which even got used in a folk/Americana band.
Only sold them because I no longer play live or in a band.

[Dad3353]

[center]

[size=7]Effects..? We don't need no stinkin' effects..![/size]

We use Hiwatt. [/center]

Edited September 26, 2014 by Dad3353

[0175westwood29]

basically if my pedals aid the song i will use them, norm for me is to have 1 of my dirt pedals and my chorus on all the time but i have 4 dirt options that are all different, so can use them to change the feel of a song at least on the bass,

andy

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='The Badderer' timestamp='1411765563' post='2562699']
you're a bit further down the journey than we are [/quote]

I'm just not in any bands with control freak guitarists.

If you do it and it sounds good, and you do it regularly enough, eventually people will encourage you to do what you do. Even if what you do is dive-bombing B-movie robot attack sounds.

[Dad3353]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1411770515' post='2562770']...what you do is dive-bombing B-movie robot attack sounds.[/quote]

... and in what songs would that be the 'root', eh..?

No, on second thoughts, do I really want to know..?

[barkin]

[quote name='The Badderer' timestamp='1411761913' post='2562649']
before buying or spending any considerable amount of money have a think about, what sounds do you want to make? most people's standard advice is if you fancy using some effects but have no idea what, get a multi effects unit, there are many decent ones out there for not much money and then you'll find out if you're actually going to use them and what you're going to use them for and then you can think about what pedals to buy.
[/quote]

I did exactly that, and decided I didn't need or want to buy any more pedals

(I already had a BDI21...)

Edited September 26, 2014 by barkin

[Doddy]

For me, using effects is all about having options. I might be playing something that has an electronic vibe, so I'll
use something like the OC2 or the EHX Micro Synth (especially if I'm not doubling on synth bass). I can get a more
Dubstep like sound with a low pass filter and a tremolo. I can add grit for a more rock sound....it's all choices.
I also like using effects for just a few notes to make something jump out-usually some kind of distortion or
envelope filter. I like a hint of delay when I'm soloing too.
I've got a load of pedals but there are only a few that I use regularly, the rest are there if I need them depending on
the gig. In fairness, I could probably do most of the stuff on my Line 6 M5 if I wanted to-if I could be bothered to sit
down and edit a load of patches.

[cheddatom]

I use effects for all sorts. Sometimes it's just to go from a nice mellow sound to a horrible nasty spikey sound. Sometimes it's to create mental sound scapes.

What I particularly like to do is use a whammy and digital delay in a feedback loop to create crazy high pitched sounds

[lefrash]

I always run a zoom ms60b as a preamp, eq, speaker sim, compressor at the end of my chain. That literally never gets touched apart from the occasional eq tweak. After that my main fx are octaver and fuzz. I've got other bits and bobs that are integral to some of my bass lines therefore I kinda need everything. That's just cos I play in a hand that needs it though. If I was back playing in a rock band I'd either go without any effects, or just set the ms60b as a distortion, with compression. Totally depends on application.

I personally think that putting effects on just for the sake if it sounds pretty bad, needs to be a reason behind the choices.

[ezbass]

Here's my board.

[URL=http://s308.photobucket.com/user/ezbass/media/P8200001.jpg.html][IMG]http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk344/ezbass/P8200001.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

I play in an 80s covers band so the chorus and octaver see a fair bit use. I used to have a compressor but stopped using it. I've had this configuration for years now.

Edited September 30, 2014 by ezbass

[Old_Ben]

Thanks for the responses guys, given me a couple of ideas of where & why to use effects,

[quote name='lefrash' timestamp='1412095115' post='2565600']
I personally think that putting effects on just for the sake if it sounds pretty bad, needs to be a reason behind the choices.
[/quote]

This was exactly why I started the thread!

[uncle psychosis]

[quote name='lefrash' timestamp='1412095115' post='2565600']
I personally think that putting effects on just for the sake if it sounds pretty bad, needs to be a reason behind the choices.
[/quote]

This!

Personally speaking, in my bands I only use a little bit of distortion on bass and nothing else. I find that too much tapdancing distracts me from what I'm doing, and too many changes in bass tone take away the cohesiveness of the band. There are exceptions, some genres require loads of effects and thats cool, but they just don't really fit in with the fairly straightforward rock and indie that I do. I leave the weird noises to the guitarist

At home, I like to muck around a bit more and I've got a Zoom B3 for doing just that.

[allighatt0r]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1411765303' post='2562694']
Er...
[/quote]

Are there any youtube vids of you in action? Your effects seem like they would sound pretty epic!

[thisnameistaken]

Nah nothing on YouTube. To be honest I've been recording my bands rehearsals for the last six months or so and when I listen back to them some of the bass sounds surprise even me! :-)

Fortunately I'm not in bands with anybody who lives by any of those old 'The bass should...' philosophies.

You just have to be a bit bold. If you do anything confidently enough you'll probably get away with it.