What Effects Do You Most Commonly Use

[Phaedrus]

Hi,

I guess some folk would have more pedals than they commonly use, with a couple they very rarely use.

What are the effects you do actually use regularly?

Why did you get those pedals? Was it to achieve a particular sound you needed for a cover? Was it to try out something new?

Do you think there are some core effects most bass players will need, or should have?

My thinking (as a bassist in a rock covers band) is that the essential effects are compressor (not strictly an effect, I know), some sort of overdrive or distortion, chorus, and some sort of EQ. Then maybe also an octaver and a delay.

I'm currently using a mish-mosh of my own and my guitarist's pedals - tuner -> wah -> -> distortion -> chorus -> EQ -> DI (which is also an overdrive & EQ).

My own (all-owned-by-me) set-up will be more or less the same, albeit with different models of pedal.


Mark

[gnasher1993]

These are the pedals I use the most:



So that's octave down, overdrive, boost, EQ, sequenced filter, delay.

Why did I buy them?

Octave down - I initially got it to create synth tones with my fuzz/filter pedals but found I preferred just the clean octave signal

Overdrive - Just to add some grit to my tone.

Boost - The EP Booster adds some high end sparkle to my tone, especially good for pick playing with roundwounds (I can't seem to get this particular sound using just EQ).

EQ - This one's always on. I mainly use it to shape my sound but it's really useful for adding character to my overdrive.

Seek Wah - This one was a bit impulsive really, it just seemed like a cool idea but I use it alot more than I though. It's kind of a cross between a tremolo and a filter. Great for adding rhythmic ideas to simpler lines.

Delay/Looper - Just that really, not sure what else I can say .

I think the only ones I would class as my core effects are the overdrive, booster and EQ.

[Grand Wazoo]

Me, none except for a compressor. (pictured below)

frankly speaking unless you are Doug Wimbish, or Stuart Hamm, if you play in a band doing covers or playing a particular style you'll find you'll hardly use effects. We are not guitarists after all we don't need any of that w@nking stuff

I've gone through a lot of effects pedals and ended up selling them all back because to me they just add unwanted noise to the otherwise beautiful natural sound of a bass going through a decent amp.

When you play in a band your singer and your drummer need to rely on your fundamental backbone, not your echo, chorus flairs, or wah wah sweeps, no Sir.

This is all I take with me.

Edited February 28, 2010 by bass5

[WarPig]

[quote name='Phaedrus' post='760115' date='Feb 28 2010, 08:24 PM']Hi,
[b]Ahoy hoy![/b]
I guess some folk would have more pedals than they commonly use, with a couple they very rarely use.

What are the effects you do actually use regularly?
[b]OD, Boost, Wah, Chorus[/b]
Why did you get those pedals? Was it to achieve a particular sound you needed for a cover? Was it to try out something new?
[b]Answered it with the second and third part of that question.[/b]
Do you think there are some core effects most bass players will need, or should have?
[b]No, its all subjective. The other day i played bass straight to the amp and it sounded fantastic, only thing i had was my amps 2nd channel for a fatter boost.[/b]
My thinking (as a bassist in a rock covers band) is that the essential effects are compressor (not strictly an effect, I know), some sort of overdrive or distortion, chorus, and some sort of EQ. Then maybe also an octaver and a delay.
[b]For covers, anything to get close to the sound (if thats your thing). I know many bassists who do covers without effects and pull it off just aswell[/b]
I'm currently using a mish-mosh of my own and my guitarist's pedals - tuner -> wah -> -> distortion -> chorus -> EQ -> DI (which is also an overdrive & EQ).
[b]Pics of your set up?[/b]
My own (all-owned-by-me) set-up will be more or less the same, albeit with different models of pedal.


Mark[/quote]

[nick]

[quote name='bass5' post='760189' date='Feb 28 2010, 09:42 PM']Me, none except for a compressor. (pictured below)

frankly speaking unless you are Doug Wimbish, or Stuart Hamm, if you play in a band doing covers or playing a particular style you'll find you'll hardly use effects. We are not guitarists after all we don't need any of that w@nking stuff

I've gone through a lot of effects pedals and ended up selling them all back because to me they just add unwanted noise to the otherwise beautiful natural sound of a bass going through a decent amp.

When you play in a band your singer and your drummer need to rely on your fundamental backbone, not your echo, chorus flairs, or wah wah sweeps, no Sir.

This is all I take with me.[/quote]

Hard words, but despite being an effects junkie myself, have to agree with you on all the above.

*But, love fuzz!!

Edited February 28, 2010 by nick

[Bankai]

ME-50B. Job done

Channel 1 = EQ
Channel 2 = Big Muff
Channel 3 = Reverb
Pedal = Sound Hold/Loop
L/C = dbx140 Compressor

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='bass5' post='760189' date='Feb 28 2010, 09:42 PM']Me, none except for a compressor. (pictured below)

frankly speaking unless you are Doug Wimbish, or Stuart Hamm, if you play in a band doing covers or playing a particular style you'll find you'll hardly use effects. We are not guitarists after all we don't need any of that w@nking stuff

I've gone through a lot of effects pedals and ended up selling them all back because to me they just add unwanted noise to the otherwise beautiful natural sound of a bass going through a decent amp.

When you play in a band your singer and your drummer need to rely on your fundamental backbone, not your echo, chorus flairs, or wah wah sweeps, no Sir.

This is all I take with me.

(photo of mark bass compressor, I took it out as it would just make the page long!)[/quote]

I agree to an extent. I think it depends on how much space the particular band has to fill. Sometimes some effects can be used nicely if done sensitively. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8KQmps-Sog"]An extream example, the guy from muse is given so much space in the sound he can fill it with effects. [/url]
Me, I can't seem to get on with any kind of compression and like a bit of OD when i dig in on some songs. For some of the stuff I play currently at church the chorus would be usefull.

Edited February 28, 2010 by LukeFRC

[gnasher1993]

[quote name='bass5' post='760189' date='Feb 28 2010, 09:42 PM']frankly speaking unless you are Doug Wimbish, or Stuart Hamm, if you play in a band doing covers or playing a particular style you'll find you'll hardly use effects. We are not guitarists after all we don't need any of that w@nking stuff [/quote]

I think you're in the wrong forum . This is the effects forum...

Anyway, some people do find that they use effects alot (I know I do). Just because people use effects doesn't mean that it's for fretboard showmanship (or w@nkery as you so delicately put it )

[quote name='bass5' post='760189' date='Feb 28 2010, 09:42 PM']I've gone through a lot of effects pedals and ended up selling them all back because to me they just add unwanted noise to the otherwise beautiful natural sound of a bass going through a decent amp.[/quote]

If you spend time perfecting your set-up, you can use effects without adding any noise or changing your tone when the effects are bypassed. But, as you said that was to you, I think the tolerance of tone-suck/added noise is all very subjective to individual users. Not many bass effects users are tone purists (as far as I know).

[quote name='bass5' post='760189' date='Feb 28 2010, 09:42 PM']When you play in a band your singer and your drummer need to rely on your fundamental backbone, not your echo, chorus flairs, or wah wah sweeps, no Sir.[/quote]

I half agree with this. I personally think there's 2 types of effects users:

Those who use effects to shape and develop lines (this one's the category I fall into).
Those who use effects to create lines.

Although I agree about the other band members relying on the fundamental backbone I think the backbone they need is rhythmic and harmonic, to me it doesn't matter how it's presented (whether it has echo, chorus or wah) as long as those two fundamentals are there.

That's all just my opinion of course and everyone will different preferences when it comes to effects usage. I respect your opinion and definitely understand where you're coming from but I think this thread could benefit from having views from both sides .

[nick]

For the function band; nothing but a bit of occaisional compression.
For originals band; anything I can get my hands on, except compressor!

Edited February 28, 2010 by nick

[Grand Wazoo]

I forgot to add, I hope no one got upset about my comments. I just spoke on account of my personal preferences, and didn't intend to put down those who use or like effects. Cheers.

[dudewheresmybass]

for my main gigging band, i normally have two drives, wah and chorus.

one drive the boss md2 (atm) for big thick audioslave type chunk, the ibanez weeping demon for swells, screams, and other similar noises, and another drive ( I'm going through a bit of a transition with that at the mo - nothing seems to get the 'right' sound i'm looking for), and chorus for duff esque lines.

my church board will vary from week to week, as i put a board together according to the setlist. Normally i'll have something like the bad monkey, a BBM, wah, chorus, filter (micro q tron currently), sometimes the syb 5 with exp pedal, a di/ pre - either the hartke vxl or MXR M80, sometimes a delay will creep in for those floydy ambient type things. an octave has been known before, but that too is under review atm (perhaps a BOD on the horizon!)

most of these have appeared after reading here or bassworld previous to that, and harmony central / talkbass. Bear in mind i also used to work in MI retail, so plenty came via that route!

[thisnameistaken]

My most commonly used pedal by a bloody mile is my OC-2, because I've never met anybody who didn't love the sound of it. The first one I had, was given to me by a guitarist who couldn't find a use for it. Thank you!

Second-most-used is my Octavius Squeezer, which I got because I needed a decent envelope/ADSR filter with patch memory. But it turned out the fuzz on it is great and the oscillator is a nice thing to throw in sometimes too.

TBH I'm tempted to move on all my other pedals because those two pretty much cover everything I need.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Just a behringer BLE100 limiter. What a lot of people really need when they thing they need a compressor. If you believe some people, they're supposed to be really shoddy and fall apart as soon as you look at them so I bought a spare one via ebay for next to nothing. Both have been gigged a lot and neither show any signs of falling apart though.

[bobbass4k]

I don't think I play without some sort of drive on anymore, my most common sound is the OC-2, Turob Rat and Mastotron in LS-2 for blending, then into the Groove Regulator for pure synthy goodness, occasionally i'll add in the psilocybe on the slowest sweep.

My other favourite sound is the xp-100 on the envelope filter patch, set heel down (lowest sensitivity) for a really round thumpy warm basstasic tone.

[Kiwi]

I use my Lexicon MPX-G2 for most stuff although I also have an Akai UB1 which I've used as well. Was using the DHA valve compressor and Deep Impact but neither are working any more and I haven't repaired them.

Love Native Instruments Guitar Kontrol though, way more powerful than the G2 and almost infinitely flexible. Would love to show up to a gig with bass, laptop, foot controller and IEMs one day.

[Doddy]

I've got a load of pedals and a couple of multi effects,and on the vast majority of
gigs,I don't use any of them.Not even a compressor.
For me,it's all about having options. If I need to use a particular effect,it's there.
I'd hate to be asked for a certain sound on a gig and not be be able to do it,so
I have pretty much everything covered just in case.

[cheddatom]

I always have a clean blend with my effect board. I always have limiting on on the board. 90% of the time I use some distortion blended with compressed clean.

I bought distortion pedals because I loved muse. I started using compression and blending after experimenting in the studio. I took it a bit further by adding EQ pedals and boost pedals to alter the level/tone in songs as I had done in the studio with the computer IE more low end in choruses, mid boost in riffs etc.

My favorite effect is probably wah!

[Bassmouseman]

I try to keep my board small and take out things I don't use.
At the moment I have

Sans amp BDDI - use as a pre amp is on all the time
Bass Big muff - use in quite a few songs for extra boom
Boss Chorus - use quite a lot

I also have on the board but hardly used and probably won't stay
Boss ODB-3 - set up a a volume boost
MXR Phase 90 - Borrowed from a friend

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='bass5' post='760189' date='Feb 28 2010, 09:42 PM']When you play in a band your singer and your drummer need to rely on your fundamental backbone, not your echo, chorus flairs, or wah wah sweeps, no Sir.[/quote]

You can still put out a strong bass presence with some carefully-built effected sounds though, or blend your effected sound with your clean sound if your effected sound isn't that strong down below (or blend it with an analogue octaver which I often do). One gig I was doing last year, they were doing a kind of neo-soul/house sound, the singer and songwriter very rarely wanted a bass guitar sound, so I ended up using effects on almost every song. In my current gig (punk/rocksteady/hip-hop) I'm mostly playing a Jazz with flats straight into the amp, but there are still tunes where I change up the sound of the bass with effects when the song changes character or behind a solo or something. More subtle than the previous gig but still makes a good impact.

Depends entirely on the gig. If you're in a straight-ahead rock band then no, you probably won't need any effects.

[valere24]

Compression and octaver mainly.
Very occasionaly I might use chorus or phaser if I play with a pick.
I've probably used delay once or twice in a gig situation.
That's about it.

[Low End Bee]

Sansamp programmeable BDDI - Always on. Use two settings - 1.Dirty and 2.Warm to dirty
Ashdown Compressor - If going only DI or through someone elses amp. Otherwise I prefer the onboard one on the Trace.
Boss TU-2 - Bog standard tuner.
Bass Big Muff - I like to fuzz out on a couple in the set.
DOD FX64 Ice Box - Nice chorus used on 1 song.

A Synth Wah thingy is the only other one I'll add. Just to have a bit of colour and variation.

[Phaedrus]

[quote name='bass5' post='760189' date='Feb 28 2010, 09:42 PM'][b][i]When you play in a band your singer and your drummer need to rely on your fundamental backbone, not your echo, chorus flairs, or wah wah sweeps, no Sir[/i].[/b][/quote]

100% agree. But when the bass part of a song we're covering has a particular tone, I want to nail it. I don't really care (though it would be nice to have it apreciated) if Joe Public doesn't even realise that I have the original bass sound down. Think of the very middly chorused bass tone in Don't Stop Believing.

To this end, when I have the cash, I'll be running bass -> tuner -> Punch Factory. From the Punch Factory's XLR out, I'll be sending a clean DI to the PA, and from its 1/4" jack, the signal will continue on into the rest of my FX, ending with my Hartke VXL, where its XLR out will send an effected signal to the PA, and its 1/4" jack will go straight into my amp. I'll have just my effected ton on stage, but both clean and effected signal in the PA. Wayhayyy!

Thanks for your replies - it's good to get ideas from folk.

I'll take a pic of my current set-up at rehearsal tomorrow night. Here's my plan for the future:




Mark

[Phaedrus]

Have a pic from a few weeks back, before I bought my Ibanez Weeping Demon from OldGit (top man to deal with - can't wait till he's selling something else I want . . .). I was using my guitarist's Morley guitar wah - he plays bass in a Metallica tribute band and has some good gear.




Mark

[GazWills]

i have a lot of pedals at home, and when i'm playing at home, always have either a fuzz, an o/d or a delay turned on...
personally, i hate chorus pedals on bass, and have never seen the need/point of a compressor for what i play/use, but horses for courses.


for live, i just play a stingray through a fulltone bassdrive and straight into my bassman. no need for a preamp or a compressor for the sound i'm after, just a nice tubey stingray, with the bassman for a bit of drive.

have to say the fulltone bassdrive (running at 18v) is a pedal i find myself using whatever band i'm in, and it sounds good with whatever bass or amp i'm using. no other pedals i've used seem to sound so good in so many different settings.

[D2TS]

I appreciate when a straight forward solid bass tone is needed but I like to use different sounds. It's just about whatever sounds good. If you come up with an interesting bass sound that you want to use then I say give it a go.

My setup (which needs expanding)

Tuner (for tuning)
Boss SYB-5 for synth bass sounds
Boss ODB-3 for some distorted tones but mostly as a booster
Marshall Guv'nor Plus actually a guitar fuzzbox but I like the distortion on bass with the sub-bass dial cranked up
ideally a digitech whammy would go here to enable me to get the best out of the...
Mid-Fi Electronics Glitch Computer for occasional bursts of glitchy nintendo sounds
Digital Delay for when I use a cello bow or coin for legato timbres