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New (to me) pedals


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I"m not a guy who buys pedals for bass. I have plenty of processing once the track is recorded that I don"t really have a need. I also have several modelers that are essentially a collection of pedals anyway, so I avoid clutter and expense by not buying them. Heaven knows I spend plenty on Eurorack modules and VSTs...no reason to start another obsession.

 

But I bought two recently because they were really great deals. The first is the ZVex Basstortion. It"s a Vexter (non handmade) version and like the Wooly Mammoth, it is barely controllable. I"m going to have to sit with this for an afternoon to coax out a usable distortion sound. But it"s got plenty of mojo.

 

The second pedal is a little more interesting. It"s the Fishman Fission, and it"s not quite what it seems to be on the surface. It"s an overdrive, a noise gate, and a very specific octave pedal. It can do one octave up, a fifth up, a fourth down, and the combination of a fifth up and an octave up. Just describing it with words may not reveal what is obvious the first second you kick it in. It"s a pedal that makes guitar power chords, and they sound really nice. If you"d like a little demo, let me know.

"For instance" is not proof.

 

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If you"d like a little demo, let me know.

 

 

Come on, is that a real question??????

 

:D

You can stop now -jeremyc

STOP QUOTING EVERY THING I SAY!!! -Bass_god_offspring

lug, you should add that statement to you signature.-Tenstrum

I'm not sure any argument can top lug's. - Sweet Willie

 

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I'm not much of a pedal guy either, but it can be fun to experiment.

 

Right now I have an Ibanez Soundtank Superchorus that I use very sparingly. And I have a Maxon CP9 Pro+ compressor that allegedly uses the same compression circuit as my DBX 160XT rack unit. I have the DBX in the rack with my Eden WT-550 so I use the Maxon with the Eden TN-501.

 

I've been toying with the idea of getting one of the EBS Billy Sheehan distortion pedals, just because I love the way it sounds. But I don't honestly know what I would do with it, and they're kind of spendy.

"Tours widely in the southwestern tip of Kentucky"
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No shame in using pedals with a bass. I've got plenty. I have a medium-sized pedal board for bass-designated pedals, and I've tried to keep to what fits on there. Crammed tight. I bought a Beetronics Royal Jelly fuzz/overdrive, mainly for guitar, but it sounds pretty sweet with bass. If we work on enough tunes that it sounds appropriate on, I might just end us adding it to the board. Or getting a bigger board.

"Am I enough of a freak to be worth paying to see?"- Separated Out (Marillion)

NEW band Old band

 

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A few years ago, I came to the realization that it wasn't such a good idea to use the same pedals on bass and guitar. I rarely use pedals on bass, but when I do, I want them to be 100% transparent and linear in behaviour. For guitar, I am less concerned about how they handle the lows, and generally want them to impart some character to the sound vs. preserving the natural character of the instrument 100% with no detectable difference.

 

The TC Electronic SCF pedal remains my Chorus pedal (I don't flange or tremolo much on bass, but would probably use that same pedal if I did). I have the Diamond Bass Comp compressor, and the Bass Big Muff Pi for fuzz. I did keep one Aguilar pedal; the Filter Twin. I find it much easier to control than the more famous EHX pedals that were used in the 70's by the funk bands.

 

I've been through a lot of pedals over the years, and sold a lot, but have generally settled upon final choices for bass guitar with much less experimentation than for electric guitar. It might be different if I wasn't looking for 100% transparency. EBS pedals are cool but not transparent, for instance. And I no longer feel a need for an octave pedal or a standard distortion or overdrive for bass; the Big Muff and Filter Twin cover all of that ground for me.

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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I go back and forth, but mostly forth - no pedals. I find that a lot of effect gets lost by the time it gets to the FOH and the room. I also find that they are more obvious and useful when my guitar player (or synth/keys guy) uses them. I generally just try to lay down a solid foundation and groove with the drums. I have a tuner and a REDDI at the moment. It would be nice to have a filter for Can't Stop the Feeling or a chorus for Don't Stop Believin but to have a board and pedals for maybe 4 tunes a night seems like a waste or more trouble than it's worth. I've debated a multi effect to save space and money and have "good enough" effects for what I need.
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Current effects are the chord to my amp. I'm currently in a Blues band so it's pretty much a requirement. :D

You can stop now -jeremyc

STOP QUOTING EVERY THING I SAY!!! -Bass_god_offspring

lug, you should add that statement to you signature.-Tenstrum

I'm not sure any argument can top lug's. - Sweet Willie

 

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I still have my DOD Bass EQ that I'm quite fond of. I would either set it and forget it or set it up for a slight boost that could be turned on at the right time to cut through, especially if my frequencies were getting stepped on. I also still have my DOD Bass Stereo Chorus which never gets used anymore but was great for connecting my 2 little amps.

Defintily not new.

 

About 2 years ago I got a Electro Harmonics Crying Bass (wahwah/fuzz) that's fun but if I was playing with anyone I wouldn't be able to find a use. It's gotten some bad reviews but I don't have anything bad to say about it. Sure you can dial in something awful but that's on you. Interesting concept of a non-mechanical wah.

 

My TC Electronic tone print combo lets you download a bunch of preset effects or sets of effects. You can have 2 loaded but only one in use at a time. It's a pretty cool 2x10 combo but still wish I bought something else.

 

I tend to agree that effects on bass are to be used sparingly, if at all.

If you think my playing is bad, you should hear me sing!
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I've never really liked delving into effects and I really think that many times the effect get lost in the FOH mix. Maybe I just haven't done it properly or our FOH has sucked. I think we have a nice system so it's either me or I just don't care for an effected tone. I find I seem to serve the music/band/mix best if I have a solid tone and play well.

Bass --> REDDI --> FOH/IEM's seems to be working for me these days.

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My bass player at my old church used a Line6 M9 as I recall, and he had pretty much everything he wanted in one smallish box. Usually he had compression, chorus, and fuzz on tap.

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

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I should get a compression pedal. I always heard a bass player should have one.

 

Not quite sure if this is sarcasm or not, but either way, I am always torn. I had a REALLY good compressor (LA-1A) for a while this year. I thought I'd never part with it, but alas, I did. I found that it didn't have as much of an effect when I got my REDDI as it did with a plain DI - like a JDI for example. I used to be almost anti-compressor but it can be useful. I have thought about trying one again, but that would mean using a small board again. If I did, it wouldn't be a tube this time, maybe a Cali76 or something. For now though, I'm gonna stay with my Sonic Research tuner and my REDDI DI. Simple and solid...and it fits nicely into a Pelican case that's easy to carry around.

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Stopped using pedals for anything live years ago. Same with Rack effects. Just were not needed. Studio is different. I did recently pick up a sans amp though. I've been practicing through a mixing boards and it kinda sucked. This is much better. We'll see if it's needed or usable live but I kinda like it.
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Had a gig this summer with a Jerry Garcia tribute band (a one-off, hired-gun scenario). Since I would be covering a lot of Phil Lesh parts (and his sound is a LOT of mids), I picked up a Keeley Bassist limiting compressor. Really made a big difference in getting the bright yet full mids of a Lesh tone. Since my regular band is on hiatus after losing our drummer to COVID in March, I haven't had a chance to use it with my regular playing partners but, hopefully, soon will.

 

If you're in the market, this is definitely one to scope out. I love the possibilities.

 

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Play. Just play.
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Been shopping power supplies lately and putting a small pedalboard together.

 

Live, I've always been cable + tuner, but playing more at home has inspired me to drag out the effects. The only one new to me is a Donner Water Echo I picked up at a pawn shop a while back. It's a mini-pedal that has a chorus and a delay, and it has some really cool possibilities inside. The level of the chorus is a lot louder than the delay, which bugged me at first but I think it's voiced to not get lost in a live mix.

It sounds pretty good for sure, and really good on fretless. The delay is a lot of fun too, definitely worth the 5 bucks the pedal cost me.

 

I'm currently trying to decide on a power supply, thinking about going switch mode. Cioks 4 looks to be the front runner so far.

 

I'm a lot more like I am now than I was when I got here.

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
back amp tweaker made bass pedals i had a TON of fun playing swirl pool through a bass tight fuzz. i could have spaced out on that for days. i really like having access to distortion, even if it's just to give the chorus a little more snort. a lot of times the distorted tone doesn't sound great on its own, but it really adds to the mix.
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  • 4 weeks later...

Like with all gear, it was just a matter of time. I'm in deep. Along with the Fishman Fission and the ZVex Distortron that started this thread, I have now acquired the MArkbass SuperSynth, the EBS Octave, and the DiscomBOBulator (the latter two from our resident Dr Sweet Willie!) As you can probably tell, I'm tryint to augment my very electronic and aggressive synths with a similar role on bass. I'm trying to avoid "standard" effects because I have several generations of Line6 modelers and, of course, plug ins. But buying bass filters has revealed just how many there are...which may drive me to try them all.

 

Any suggestions?

"For instance" is not proof.

 

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Like with all gear, it was just a matter of time. I'm in deep. Along with the Fishman Fission and the ZVex Distortron that started this thread, I have now acquired the MArkbass SuperSynth, the EBS Octave, and the DiscomBOBulator (the latter two from our resident Dr Sweet Willie!) As you can probably tell, I'm tryint to augment my very electronic and aggressive synths with a similar role on bass. I'm trying to avoid "standard" effects because I have several generations of Line6 modelers and, of course, plug ins. But buying bass filters has revealed just how many there are...which may drive me to try them all.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Every bassist could use a Tech 21 Sansamp Bass Driver DI (Version 2). Super versatile, built for war and capable of subtle and not so subtle tones, it's a must have DI. Studio quality sound, low noise floor, can be run off phantom power if you go direct. It's the good stuff. Our bassist has the Geddy Lee pedal, that's cool too and so is the Dug Pinnick Fly Rig.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I did add a compressor back into my signal. Went with an Empress MkII and I love it. Even better than the LA-1A I think going into my REDDI. Since I had a little room left (I am still limiting myself to a Nano) I put my Bass Big Muff back on to try at a few gigs once we get playing again this summer. Sonic Research tuner and my Rolls for my wired IEM's and a CIOKS DC5 mounted underneath. Bass sounds amazing through the new Westone UM 50 Pros.
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  • 6 months later...
Like with all gear, it was just a matter of time. I'm in deep. Along with the Fishman Fission and the ZVex Distortron that started this thread, I have now acquired the MArkbass SuperSynth, the EBS Octave, and the DiscomBOBulator (the latter two from our resident Dr Sweet Willie!) As you can probably tell, I'm tryint to augment my very electronic and aggressive synths with a similar role on bass. I'm trying to avoid "standard" effects because I have several generations of Line6 modelers and, of course, plug ins. But buying bass filters has revealed just how many there are...which may drive me to try them all.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Every bassist could use a Tech 21 Sansamp Bass Driver DI (Version 2). Super versatile, built for war and capable of subtle and not so subtle tones, it's a must have DI. Studio quality sound, low noise floor, can be run off phantom power if you go direct. It's the good stuff. Our bassist has the Geddy Lee pedal, that's cool too and so is the Dug Pinnick Fly Rig.

 

Super agree on the Sansamp. I have the Deluxe DI at church (three presets, there's another bassist and we each have our own settings) and it does a great job with no fuss.

 

I also have an MXR bass envelope filter...that I leave on all time, and really don't use as envelope filter! More like a second EQ for tone shaping. I can't explain it too well, but it imparts some kind of magic that I miss when I don't have it on.

 

An MXR bass octave and Stone Deaf Fig Fumb (their version of a Big Muff) are also on the board, but used less as you can imagine. Still, I like having the option. Had a Boss bass chorus at one point but never really cared for it.

"Of all the world's bassists, I'm one of them!" - Lug
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Recently acquired an old MIJ Boss CE-3 in really good condition... works well, and so far I like it.

 

Also have been playing a lot of guitar lately, so also using an odd mix of pedals there..nothing fancy, mostly cheap, but fun.

 

I'm a lot more like I am now than I was when I got here.

 

 

 

 

 

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.... The first is the ZVex Basstortion. It"s a Vexter (non handmade) version and like the Wooly Mammoth, it is barely controllable. I"m going to have to sit with this for an afternoon to coax out a usable distortion sound. But it"s got plenty of mojo.

 

...

 

Years ago I bought a ZVex guitar distortion pedal. It was number 5 of 5 in a special NAMM run, hand built and hand painted. Wonderful pedal, but not in my hands. I could not control it. I hated to sell it, but I also hated to have such a beautiful pedal of a shelf never to be used. It is one of the very few items that I sold that I wish I still had.

This post edited for speling.

My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page

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  • 4 weeks later...

That"s actually a good point. There has been a lot of virally loved gear that, once purchased, immediately induced buyer"s remorse. The worst for me are mics and mic pres, where I don"t know enough to know exactly what I want.

 

Also, in the continuation of my pedal hoarding, I"ve acquired many more pedals including a Darkglass Alpha Omega, several Sansamp-type pedals like the M80, and many others. I"ve started selling to ones I truly do not need as well.

"For instance" is not proof.

 

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