Bassist effects to fill out a 3 piece punk band

[PunkPonyPrincess]

sorted. ta

Edited December 13, 2016 by Bownose

[colgraff]

The Fishman Powerchord does what you are asking for, but it is a tricky little so and so to master. Personally, I use a Darkglass Duality Fuzz and Boss OD3. In both cases I use a very fuzzed /overdriven sound, but with about 75% clean signal so my sound is mostly clean but thickened.

[Lo-E]

Octave effects, with or without distortion, can be kind of cool because they can give bass an almost synthy character.

Sometimes in your situation I just use a little overdrive and lay into double-stops or even full chords with the backs of my fingernails. Simple and effective.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

I think you need to look at what you're playing and your tone in general rather than a specific effect to use during guitar solos. Really, the bass and drums should be the real body of your band's sound, so if the guitar goes on on a flight of fancy you know the bottom won't drop out.
Also it may be that the guitarist needs to look at his/her approach - if they are blasting everything into oblivion with amp far too powerful for the band (amazingly this does happen) it's obvious that the band sound will change dramatically when they solo. It may be that your guitarist needs to step back a bit and play more for the band.
By all means look into the overdrive option of course, there are some wonderful pedals out there, but perhaps more for your overall sound rather than an occasional space-filling effect.

[dudewheresmybass]

Spot on Ben!

[Cosmo Valdemar]

What gear are you currently using?

[KingChrome]

If you don´t want to spend a lot of money get an ultimate drive from harley benton.
Cheap and really kicks ass! I used to play an expensive darklglass b3k, but the ud does the thing for me!
Distortion, no fuzz!

[tauzero]

You could get a Zoom B3, MS-60B, or BiON to experiment with - you can get octave up/down, other pitch shifts, chorus, overdrive, etc out of one box. Decide effects what you like the sound of and then whether you're happy with the sounds that the Zoom unit or whether you'd rather explore the world of separates in the endless quest to find the exact sound you want.

[nash]

My motto is WWRD (What Would the Ramones Do?).

[AttitudeCastle]

Big sound when playing live?

It's (IME/IMO) all in slotting together, musically, and tonally. (I think anyone who's seen Muse knows that haha!)

Some grit on the bass really brings out the harmonic content of the notes adding more life, and weight around the guitar/cymbal blend area really pulling things together. A nice fat low end, and then making sure you have the appropriately sculpted midrange to fit in.

All of the above is why in my experience, (having playing in projects down to Drop E (the E below the standard E on a 4 string)) the further down you tune the harder it is without using precision EQ/engineering, and why mixing music tuned really low is so much more annoying/difficult for studio engineers as everything is fighting in one area, leaving pockets empty in others)

Beyond that, having complimentary parts, being concious of the kick drum, that kind of stuff.

A bit garbled, but hope some of that is useful!

[Skybone]

I can only say listen to bands like Bad Brains, Black Flag, Discharge & the like. The bass is thundering away underneath the solo, reinforcing the rhythm and pace.

As Cosmo said, look at what you're playing rather than adding effects, though a bit of reverb might help "fill" out the sound.

[Handwired]

My approach is to use an overdrive that has a blend control so that when the rhythm cuts out I jump on it. The blend control allows you to retain your original sound and then layer another more overdriven sound on top at a volume level of your choosing. Yes you can play a little more also, but don't forget to 'dig in'.

[Lozz196]

I`ve found that having a more twangy/gnarly/driven sound the whole time means less of a drop in the guitar solos. Sure the drummer does need to choose cymbals carefully, but as long as the bass is not too warm and focused on the lows then when the guitar kicks in on a solo no real gaps should be noticed. Bear in mind the guitar should be upping volume/boosting eq at this point as well, so choose the staple bass sound carefully and have no worries.

We`re a punk 3-piece and this is what we do, and so far it`s worked. I just have a touch of gain and when the solo starts, dig in a bit as Handwired says, it really fills out the sound without any drastic changes.

[HazBeen]

Cog T65 well worth checking, EHX POG, An envelope filter (mxr one is great) and a good overdrive. 3 of these 4 would sort you out.