bass effects

[Dark]

i'm looking at purchasing 1-3 effects petals for my setup, and i'm wondering what would be the best one(s). Mostly for rock-metal style music, and just a really unique tone, not too overboard.

Also, go ahead and post any reviews you guys have for effects pedals....

[zeronyne]

Here

 

Here

 

And Here

 

Some great advice here

 

Here.

 

Try using the search feature.

 

 

And in case anyone was considering flaming me for suggesting it, look above. I've provided pertinent links to past conversations, one that is functionally identical to this thread.

[SmittyG]

Not a flame; just an observation. I think it is cool to point out the search feature since site newbies might not know about it. It just seems to me at times that the folks pointing out the feature go out of their way to do it in the nastiest way possible. In this case, however, I agree that it was quite nice of you to do some searching on this individual's behalf to help get them started.

[musicfiend]

This comes from an eariler post as quoted by benloy:

If you don't know where to start, don't get any effects.

 

Keep practicing. Try to copy the basslines you hear on records.

 

When you hear a bass sound on a record that you really like, do some research to find out how they got that sound. If they used an effect, and you've "just gotta have that sound" then buy the effect.

 

I own a handful of effect pedals and I almost never bring more than one of 'em to a gig. Most of the time I just play straight into my amp and turn it all the way up if I need distortion.

 

 

This makes the most sense; I played for four years with only a cable from my bass to my amp, the reason was because I never felt effects to be necessary or called for from a musical, tasteful standpoint. When I started out I bought a heap zoom 506II multi effect and that helped me learn the parameters and funtions of different effects. Then I started to hear recurring spots for certain effects, the straw on the camels back came during a recording session. At mixdown we decided to add effects, talk about frustration..trying to find the right effects, keep them, and tune in the best sound for each effect while dealing with an engineer as your mediator into a digital world. I've had much for luck with the stompboxes I've bought.

 

What I'm getting at is this...make sure all of your musical actions are vindicated and musiscal( i know, cliche right). Even when say tool or led zeppelin turn to effects, or oddtimes, or when the beatles turned to a sitar(norwegian wood) they did so to capture sounds that they wanted not to be clever and throw some extra musical baggage onto a song. Try a cheap multieffect pedal, or a trip to gc to begin with. The last time a bassplayer asked me if he should go into effects (why he asked ME i do not know) I let him borrow my old zoom pedal..i told him he could keep it if he wanted. I recieved the said pedal a week later, and a promise from the bassplayer that he would "stay clean"...always thought that was funny.

[ChrisOfDoom]

My only 2 effects are a Boss Harmonist pedal and a Boss ODB3 overdrive pedal. I mainly use the harmonist for octave and/or chorus effects. One really unique sound I have come up with is using the harmonist pedal to create an octave up and down, and using the OD to put some thick distortion on it. It sounds like a swarm of bees flying in tune with my will.

 

However I agree with the sentiment that if you don't know what effects you want, there is no sense in buying any. Go to Guitar Center, play around a bit with the effects rack, I am sure you will find something you like.

[Davo-London]

Or take up the g****r. They love effects. Our g****rist turns up to play at church with an effects board containing 10 effects! I just shake my head. It says: listen, looking cool and being able to get all these amazing sounds is far more important than actually playing something valid and musical. Ooops overstepped the mark again ... Davo

[PhilMan99]

Assuming you've mastered everything you can at your bass, like string-type, where/how you pluck the string, pick vs. fingers, etc...

...I like my Line6 Bass PODxt. It simulates lots of popular bass-amp/cabinets and has a number of effects. It is very strong on subtle coloring of your tone, but if way-out (yet high-quality) "effects" are really your thing, you'll probably do better with individual boxes or the Boss GT-6B.

 

Lots of great reviews here: http://www.harmony-central.com/Effects/Data/

[alexclaber]

Originally posted by musicfiend:

This comes from an eariler post as quoted by benloy:

If you don't know where to start, don't get any effects.

 

Keep practicing. Try to copy the basslines you hear on records.

 

When you hear a bass sound on a record that you really like, do some research to find out how they got that sound. If they used an effect, and you've "just gotta have that sound" then buy the effect.

Read this again, it is so so true.

 

When you use effects well, you're not just adding a sound or changing or your sound, you're changing the sound you choose to play. You have to want to get that sound out of the bass (and understand why you want it). It's not merely a case of coming up with a cool bass line and then adding an effect - the effect should affect the line you choose to play.

 

I love effects and have a LOT of them. But in some situations I might not touch them at all, whilst in other situations I might not play a single note without some kind of crazy effect on it. But there is a method to my madness.

 

Alex

[mcbn]

Get a nice compressor: I'm partial to the EBS Multicomp.

 

Get a nice distortion pedal: I've heard great things about the ZVex Wooly Mammoth.

 

Get a nice octave board: The Electro Harmonix POG.

 

If you don't like them they should be easy to sell here.

[Robitaille59]

If I had to pick only one pedal, I would get a chorus pedal.

 

For playing Rock, you don't need any effects (but a compressor is helpful).

 

Don't feel bad about being refered to the search function here. I had an oldtimer here link me to effing google.

 

Oh yeah...I use a bass POD for effects now.

[lug]

Buy a used Korg PX3B Pandora. It has all the most common effects, most of them quite useable, drum pattern generator, sampler, CD input, lots-o-nice things you can do with one and you can get a great idea of which effects will work for your situation. should be able to pick one up for less than $75 since the newer PX4B has come out (which you can find for around $125 used)

[getz out]

Originally posted by Rob the Hermit:

For playing Rock, you don't need any effects (but a compressor is helpful).

Facist. Don't tell me what I need and don't need.

[LOWBOY]

distortion is fun

my fave fuzz is an

ELECTRO HARMONIX/SOVTECH BIG MUFF PI

nice big fat tone.

the only thing i dont like about it is its all or nothing

id prefer to be able to mix the distortion in with the clean bass sound so you dont lose any of the bottom end

the DIGITECH BASS OVERDRIVE has this feature and is a very flexible tone monster but its also a battery killer(less than 4 hours per 9volt)guarenteed to die at the worst moment...

a wall wort is a must have for it.

 

the first pedal i bought is still my fave

DOD FX72 BASS STEREO FLANGER

good for a big cool wooshy effect

or just to beef up your tone a little while the guitarist solos

 

when its just me a guitarist and a drummer,i love haveing my stomp boxes and making a big nasty noise.

but with more than one guitar i usually stick to a clean tone so the bass cuts thru and doesnt get lost in a wall of mud.

 

for distortion the best way to go if you can afford it ,is with a bi-amp system where one amp runs clean,and the other amp runs the dirty signal.

that way you can blast crunchy noise and not lose the fundamental bottom end.

(listen to TYPE-O-NEGATIVE's October rust cd)

[Someone]

Originally posted by musicfiend:

This comes from an eariler post as quoted by benloy:

If you don't know where to start, don't get any effects.

 

Keep practicing. Try to copy the basslines you hear on records.

 

When you hear a bass sound on a record that you really like, do some research to find out how they got that sound. If they used an effect, and you've "just gotta have that sound" then buy the effect.

Third! Me, myself and I have no effects.

 

I'd like an overdrive, wah and stuff but I don't have any use for them so I don't buy them. Way too expensive for something I will never use.

[alexclaber]

Why would you want or need effects when you have The Loudest Bass In The World:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v736/LOWBOY/goth-T.jpg

 

I need to wear earplugs to look at that thing!

 

Alex

[LOWBOY]

HA HAH

True!

i havent actually used my boxes much since i bought my T-bird

its Big Bad and BOOtifull all by itself.

[viejid]

Originally posted by Dark:

i'm looking at purchasing 1-3 effects petals for my setup, and i'm wondering what would be the best one(s). Mostly for rock-metal style music, and just a really unique tone, not too overboard.

Also, go ahead and post any reviews you guys have for effects pedals....

I play in a metal band... i would suggest a good distortion, an eq pedal if u slap, and (though i dont have one) a compressor

 

if ure gonna get a distortion pedal make sure u get something thatg wont get rid of your low end... some may sound really cool, until u play them with your band and notice you cant hear yourself anymore...

 

the fulltone bassdrive, the big muff and the ODB 3 seems to be the favorite among people... i personally love the bassdrive... but that's a personal thing

 

eq is useful if you slap because you can adjust frequencies so that your tone is more homogeneous when switching parts...

 

i use my amp's compressor, but ive been wanting to get a good stompbox compressor for a while...

 

 

you should really question whether you wanna get anything outside that unless you know you can use it... ie, delay pedals are cool to mess arund with, but hard to fit into songs... same goes for envelope filters and wahs...

[sir funkytown]

If you can play well, and have a great big tone, no one is going to tell you to get effects.I've been getting good results from the GT-6B.I should qualify that by telling you that: the presets really blow,the synth and wah are thin,there is no groundlift on the XLR direct out and ...ring mod?!On the other hand...the regular effects are great and the amp simulations are tasty....and sound guys seem to love it!

[claudio]

i just got the "hot tubes" and "tube eq" electro harmonix pedals, you shoud try it,the hot tubes is made for guitar but in the effects loops works great for bass,it is not your average overdrive/distortion,it´s tube overdrive,great growl.the tube eq is a real parametric equalizer,with an expression pedal you can achieve wah-wah like sounds,it doesn´t works like a real wah pedal but just for the eq you got a great tool

[alexclaber]

Originally posted by viejid:

i personally love the bassdrive... but that's a personal thing

No, it's as close as one can get to a fact when discussing tone. The BassDrive rules. However, it is beyond many people's means or wants to pay that much for a pedal.

 

If every other effect I owned was as solidly built and easily fixable (should lightning ever strike) as Fulltone's products, then I would be an even happier bassist than I already am...

 

Alex