Effects.......

[T-Bay]

I am sure this has come up before but I can’t find a thread about it, so maybe it has but in a slightly different way, anyway............ Last night our new band was first on the bill at a small local ‘festival’ (or outside gig in a field with a beer tent as they used to be known). Due to the layout of power my pedal board had to live in front of my rig rather than right at the front. No problem thinks me as I am organised and put which effects I need for each song in code on the set list (I know, sad isn’t it). It only takes a couple of seconds to turn around and switch them on and off. So first song starts and we get into the swing of things and with the board not being at my feet I just don’t bother. Apart from one song where I normally switch heavy overdrive on for one section, I didn’t miss them at all.  A mates band were on after us and their bass player said my tone was fantastic, so much so that he asked to use my rig (he sounded stunning). The 1000w terror amp with a cleaner revolve and barefaced cabs are a killer combination imho.

 

Sooooooo the end point of this long ramble, is do I continue to use my not insignificant pedal board which I have spent many many hours perfecting? or was last night an indication that I can leave it at home? Has anyone else gone from fairly pedal heavy to none at all?

[ambient]

It depends why you use them? If you play covers, were the effects used on the original version of the songs?

[T-Bay]

2 minutes ago, ambient said:

It depends why you use them? If you play covers, were the effects used on the original version of the songs?

It’s all covers, so I try to get close, but not obsessively so. Some of the board is only used for practice such as a looper so I can hear how a section sounds, and a pitch shift pedal so I can drop a semi tone without retuning. Then I have a compressor (always on), chorus and three overdrives which are set from very subtle to full on fuzz and I often combine them in different ways. Then a tuner and a mute. I also have a separate wah but often don’t take that.

[Nicko]

I have a small pedal board, Tuner, Compressor (rarely on), POG (used for a few songs), overdrive (never used nowadays*) and Graphic EQ (used when I need a bit of extra cut through).  To be honest apart from a couple of Muse tracks where the POG is really required I'd leave it behind if I could be bothered to take the tuner off.

 

* Not used for bass, but I use the board with my six string and therefore the pedal stays.

[pbasspecial]

I too have a really nice pedal board now:

TU2, Rodenberg overdrive & distortion, MXR Fuzz Deluxe, MXR P90 phaser, Cog custom built Reverb & Chorus, Boss GE7B and a TC Boost.

Lovely looking but barely use it. Nice to press some pretty lights occasionally when I get bored though

[la bam]

In all honesty, for me, one great tone that mixes perfectly with the drums is much better all round than changing patches all the time. Give the sound guy a good chance of getting the rhythm section mixed perfectly by giving him a consistent sound and let him worry about vocals, guitars and keys the rest of the gig.

[steve-bbb]

16 hours ago, T-Bay said:

 or was last night an indication that I can leave it at home? o none at all?

 

[paul_c2]

I did a gig last night. Signal chain was bass --> amp. No effects, no PA. Works great and keeps it simple.

[Roger2611]

Saving Amy played at Steelfest the other week, the stage had a Mark Bass LM3 and 2x10 Traveller cab as the back line set up, handily, exactly the same as my rig however it appeared to have an issue with the effects send / return as I couldn't get my Boss GT6 to work on the effects loop, as we were tight for time I just unplugged it and shoved it out of the way and promptly much preferred my bass sound for the entire set....so, despite Saving Amy being a rock band where I was using overdrive on quite a few songs I think it sounded clearer without it so, really other than a tuner I am happy to go back to playing without the effects unit.