3 must-have bass pedals/effects?

Kareir

Hey all,
i was wondering what you thought were the 3 must have effects for bass?
i was thinking
1)Dunlop Wah
2)chorus
3)Distort(?)

Thanks,
_Kar.

Doctor J

Must have? I don't believe such a thing exists

feylya

Doctor J wrote: »

Must have? I don't believe such a thing exists

Tuner pedal? :pac:

Dord

feylya wrote: »

Tuner pedal? :pac:

Yep. I'm gonna say that the only must-have is a tuner, Boss TU-2 is a good one. Every other pedal is just icing on the cake, very tasty icing. :pac:

Doctor J

Nah. I've done loads of gigs without a tuner. Actually, I can't actually recall using a tuner during a gig... ever, even when I've got the tuner rigged up. Good basses stay in tune

feylya

That's cos you know how to tune a bass... We don't like the tuning song!

Doctor J

The tuning song is a bloody abomination! Shame on those who insist on playing it

Kareir

and now i'm forced to ask:

Then tuning song? :P

feylya

It's the song a lot of amateur bands play between songs - bwong bong bong bong

punchdrunk

a proper D.I box
a tuner
a fuzz

boycey

bong bong bong

My old band had a tune that went a lot like that Feylya. It had nothin to do with being in tune though;)

On a more sober note - does anyone really need anything other than a trusty TU-2?

(punchdrunk dont answer that- i know the very notion offends you and your unfeasibly large pedalboard!!)

feylya

A compressor could be useful

punchdrunk

boycey wrote: »

My old band had a tune that went a lot like that Feylya. It had nothin to do with being in tune though;)

On a more sober note - does anyone really need anything other than a trusty TU-2?

(punchdrunk dont answer that- i know the very notion offends you and your unfeasibly large pedalboard!!)

:D:D





...Sorry

studiorat

If money was no object...

Compressor. (demeter Comp 1 or DBX 160)
Fuzz (find the boss bass distortion has very useful tone control or big muff)
Line 6 Filter Modeler (for weirdness)
Sans amp bass driver..

And while I'm at I wouldn't mind a tone core pedal too http://line6.com/tcddk/ and another Radial Di Box.

BTW if you are using active basses it's best to use pedals with a higher voltage than just 9 volts. that's real geekery though.

Dord

I'd say that tuner, chorus and compressor would be the main ones. With fuzz and wah coming in after...

studiorat

all begs the question, what order should they be in, and should you use the aux chain on the amp or not.

Dord

studiorat wrote: »

all begs the question, what order should they be in, and should you use the aux chain on the amp or not.

Whatever sounds best to you.

studiorat

Dord wrote: »

Whatever sounds best to you.

Obviously.
But there are simple rules too, like when to put a distortion before or after a compressor. Before or after a delay etc...

OK-Cancel-Apply

studiorat wrote: »

Obviously.
But there are simple rules too, like when to put a distortion before or after a compressor. Before or after a delay etc...

I think distortion always goes first. If not, it would mangle the effect that came before it.

Dord

OK-Cancel-Apply wrote: »

I think distortion always goes first. If not, it would mangle the effect that came before it.

Thats not always a bad thing.

punchdrunk

i always put filters first

studiorat

I find distortion sometimes drive the pedals after it too hard. I'd always go compressor, filters/modulation, distortion fuzz etc. Except Wah, that goes before the compressor. The tuner on a side chain.

My thinking also being that if distortion is meant to create the sound of an over-driven amp, it would closest to the amp. As well as that extra harmonics and sustain going through a delay or reverb is just gonna muck up the sound more so than the other way 'round.

I always only pulg in the pedals that I'm using at the time and never have them in the chain if they aren't going to be used. Makes a huge difference with some pedals, I've found some to really affect the sound even in bypass.

Royale with Cheese

The only thing I'd notice missing if you took the effects away would be a tuner. It's just miles handier than tuning by ear, especially if you're tuning down for some songs. I could make do without distortion but I'd prefer to have it. Anything else I wouldn't really need.

fish-head

Doctor J wrote: »

The tuning song is a bloody abomination! Shame on those who insist on playing it

Tu Ning is an ancient Chinese folk song...


The only pedals I ever gig with are my TU-2 and my LPB-1(Loud please, Buddy!).

yevveh

Although I have a bass wah, OD and distortion in my loop, the only absolutely necessary one is the TU-2. That said I wouldn't leave the house without my trusty Metal Muff (which, by the way, managed to survive the booze pool incident!)

Darkstrike

Distorton(Blackstar HI-DISTX for me)
Wah(Bootzilla, for now)
Reverb(Boss)

I honestly don't count a tuner in fairness.;)

Oh yeah, distortion before the wah.

Dord

Darkstrike wrote: »

Distorton(Blackstar HI-DISTX for me)
Wah(Bootzilla, for now)
Reverb(Boss)

I honestly don't count a tuner in fairness.;)

Oh yeah, distortion before the wah.

A reverb pedal with bass? hmm... I dont think that would be too nice.

I have a bit more than 3 pedals...

Fuzz (GME Doom Fuzz)
Compressor (Orange Squeeze clone by GME)
Chorus (Boss CEB-3)
Wah ('76 Morley Power Wah Fuzz)
Delay/Echo (Akai Headrush E2)
Tuner (Boss TU-2)

But yeah, I agree distortion or Fuzz before the wah sounds better. It does depend on the pedals tho as each one interacts with the others differently.

Darkstrike

Dord wrote: »

A reverb pedal with bass? hmm... I dont think that would be too nice.

A little goes a long way, I actually love it though, espcially on a fretless.

Dord wrote: »

I have a bit more than 3 pedals...
Fuzz (GME Doom Fuzz)
Compressor (Orange Squeeze clone by GME)
Chorus (Boss CEB-3)
Wah ('76 Morley Power Wah Fuzz)
Delay/Echo (Akai Headrush E2)
Tuner (Boss TU-2)

I have a few more than three too, but I use most of them little.
Fuzz (MXR Blowtorch)
Wah (Bootzilla Bass Wah)
Chorus (Glx Bass Chorus)
Delay (Glx Digital Delay)
OD (Bass Overdrive)
EQ (Glx Bass EQ)
Phaze Shifter (Boss Phase Shifter),
Distortion (Blackstar, Boss Metalzone, Rocktek Distortion)
Reverb (Boss Digital Reverb)
Flanger (Boss Flanger)
Tuner (Boston(Korg knockoff)), I have a Peterson, but it fell over, won't turn on now.:mad:
Proably should sell one or two of those.

Dord wrote: »

But yeah, I agree distortion or Fuzz before the wah sounds better. It does depend on the pedals tho as each one interacts with the others differently.

Yup, mainly I like it that way as I lie the wah to sweep the distortion.

testerdesign

elector harmonics cheap but great fuzz pedal

darrenw5094

Lock this one up.

Strange to see people that used to post here a lot, but long gone.

brianbowell

Tuner - Boss TU-2.. every rig needs one, wouldn't call it an effect though!

Fuzz - The Electro Harmonix Bass Big Muff sounds good, they're cheap which helps and you get some interesting noises, some people stack 2 of them together

Equalizer - Boss GE-7 works well but there's custom ones for bass out there, lets you shape your tone or can be used as a filter if you switch it on and off like an effect, helps counteract the loss of low-end some effects may cause too

Wah - Dunlop Bass Wah, the optical wahs have a nice even filter sweep

Volume Pedal - Ernie Ball make some good volume pedals, they're great for swell effects and underused on bass in my opinion.. works especially well with a delay afterwards in the signal chain

Boss PS-3 - discontinued now but easily my favourite pedal on a bass ever, you'd pick one up on ebay for around E120-140.. it's a cross between a delay and a pitchshifter

Pick 3!!

gotBass

brianbowell wrote: »

Tuner - Boss TU-2.. every rig needs one, wouldn't call it an effect though!

Fuzz - The Electro Harmonix Bass Big Muff sounds good, they're cheap which helps and you get some interesting noises, some people stack 2 of them together

Equalizer - Boss GE-7 works well but there's custom ones for bass out there, lets you shape your tone or can be used as a filter if you switch it on and off like an effect, helps counteract the loss of low-end some effects may cause too

Wah - Dunlop Bass Wah, the optical wahs have a nice even filter sweep

Volume Pedal - Ernie Ball make some good volume pedals, they're great for swell effects and underused on bass in my opinion.. works especially well with a delay afterwards in the signal chain

Boss PS-3 - discontinued now but easily my favourite pedal on a bass ever, you'd pick one up on ebay for around E120-140.. it's a cross between a delay and a pitchshifter

Pick 3!!

Tuner not a effect - it's an essential TU2 all the way.
bass overdrive - I've used lots including the behringer BOD, it has 1 good setting, bass balls/ Rat, wooly mammoth, all good.
octave - use the octave in my Ashdown.
chorus / flanger -
Envelope filter - for that flea/ bootsy thing pick one, and don't go mad messing with it.

lalee17

The only pedal that you really need is a tuner, as lots of people have said.

I don't own any pedals any more, I found them kind of distracting..

But I think this'll be on my Christmas list

http://www.ehx.com/products/bass-big-muff-pi

Gaspode

Have tried lots of pedals over the years, but the only pedal I ever use still is an old Boss Hi-band flanger that I picked up in the 80s. Sweet sweet sound.
Never felt the need for a tuner pedal when playing tbh, mine tends to stay in tune.

-Chris-

Gaspode wrote: »

Never felt the need for a tuner pedal when playing tbh, mine tends to stay in tune.

God, it makes my skin crawl when I read/hear things like this... :eek::D

reniwren

Tuner as said before and a good quality D.I, not effects but everyone should have one

Malice

If a PodXT Live counts as one pedal then that's all I need