Okay, maybe late night ambition got the better of me when I suggested the Bass Effect Tour Box, but I still think there is valuable information to be gained here. Therefore, I am starting the Bass Effects Thread, where we can discuss which effects we've had good/bad experiences with on the electric bass guitar. This can include both bass-specific pedals and not.

I'll start with what's on my pedalboard right now...

Digitech Whammy: I've always wanted to use this thing to get synth-bass-type pitch bends in a song setting, but it just seems impractical to set it up and use it in time without losing the groove. Guitar players usually have times in the song when they are not playing, when they can tweak pedals, but bass players generally do not. We tend to be playing for the whole song. STILL, the ability to perform pitch bend freak-out sections a la Jeff Pincus in the Butthole Surfers still makes this one of my favorite pedals of all time. Check out the Bootsy Collins / Bill Laswell project "Zillatron" for more ideas on what this thing can do in a more-or-less solo bass setting.

Fulltone Bass Drive: Still probably one of the best all-around bass drives out (as far as I know). Can get quite good overdriven amp sounds in the Comp-Cut mode, but with the added compression/clip circuit switched in, it can also get highly compressed distortion similar to the Big Muff. So far I haven't gotten it to do really extreme distortion effects though. And, even though it has great frequency range and sounds great on bass by itself, it still sounds even better if you mix dry bass sound in with it to get boosted bottom end.

Pigtronix EP-1: I have already given a more detailed review of this in THIS THREAD. When the resonance is cranked, which I like, it can still loose some low end, so it is also a pedal that benefits from some clean signal mixed in.

Boss DM-3: A classic analog delay sound that I find often is actually too muddy for what I want to do. I'm aiming to replace it in the not-too-distant future for an AnalogMan modded digital delay, an SIB Mr. Echo or a Line 6 Echo Park. I'd like to have something that could offer both analog and digital sounding delays when I need them.

Boss GE-7B: straightforward bass EQ that does it's job. Right now I have it in a rather extreme setting that gives me my Robbie Shakespeare reggae sound at the push of a footswitch. All low end, NO high end, and a boost in gain so that I can play with a much softer touch, further enhancing the reggae tone.

Finally, I'm using an RFX A/B/Y switch in conjunction with a DOD AC240 resistance mixer to combine my effected and dry sounds. Because this mixes the effects on top of my already full-volume dry tone, it is nearly impossible to manage my overall volume while still getting the full impact of the effects. So I plan to buy or build a loop pedal that mixes a variable amount of dry signal in with the effects, separate from the bypassed dry signal level.

Well that's all I have right now. Based on what I learn from you guys, I might want to add some more in the future.

-- T. G. --

I think that you are finding out the hard way that a) there's not too many bassists around here and b) even less use effects.

I don't use effects on bass and most of the bassists I know in the real world and on talkbass/bassplaza/bassworld dont either.

By all means carry on using and posting about them but dont expect floods of answers.

Negative stuff over.


If you have not tried the EBS range, do so, nuff said.

hey! i don't play bass, but my bassist does, and your thread was looking lonely. right now, my bassist uses a big muff pi russian (the black one), and a deluxe memory man.

the russian is alright. not great, but we're kind of a grungy rock band, and he only uses it to highlight two kind of chaotic rock out sections and to add sustain to a couple of notes in other songs. for that, it works.

he uses the memory man for noise at the end of one of our songs. nothing major. we just all cause our delays to run away into noise after the last note, then silence them all on the same beat. kind of a cool effect.

my old bassist used aboss chorus pedal that i though sounded awesome for sliding to notes. he also had a boss bass synth that sounded off most of the time, but was fun as crap. we never used it practically, but i think we could moreso now than we could then. oh yeah, and he had a sansamp bass driver (or something). that sounded pretty great.

sorry for so little detail. hope that helps flesh out your thread some...


oh yeah! one more thing. on top of the list of most wanted bass effects is the zvex wooly mammoth. period.

quote:

Originally posted by CS:
I think that you are finding out the hard way that a) there's not too many bassists around here and b) even less use effects.

Oh I'm perfectly aware of these points, and there is no "hard way" about it. That's why I'm working so hard to get the discussion going. Maybe if there was more information and/or product available, there would be more widespread use. It's a chicken-and-egg thing, I guess.

Personally, I enjoy having the expanded sonic pallette that effects can offer, in both song and solo context. However, since the bass effect market is not nearly as developed as that for guitars, there is often great technical diffculty in getting that sound from the practice room to also work in a live performance environment. Recording a little less so...

So, anyone who has anything to contribute, please do. Especially guitar players who dabble with, or who have friends/bandmates who play bass with effects.

-- T. G. --

tommy-genes:
Yeah, the "Hey All You Bassists!" threads tend to get the crickets around here...But I've got your back!
As a fellow bassist, I have always sought a great bass overdrive, but have been most satisfied with my SVT II cranked to about 9 to get natural saturation with a little natural grind.
I had Morgan Miller (MMFX) build me a custom bass overdrive ages ago, but the build quality was kind of poor and it started squelching and screaming after about a year for reasons unbeknownst to me. I never bothered to get it fixed, so it just sits on the floor of my band's practice room.
I did have a Depth Charge Bass Fuzz (Prescription Electronics) and that was really nice, though wilder than most anything I'd use for most of the stuff I play on. This one was DEFINITELY a silicon fuzz...Very brassy, metallic and had a mutant/synthy subtle octave thing going on that was ever-present. Very good if you're into the heavy psych/stoner stuff.
Aside from those, I've never tried the Fulltone or other drives. If I ever DO get another drive, though, I'm definitely going for the D*A*M Ezekiel 25:17....Dave at D*A*M made me a double tonebender fuzz for guitar that is great, and I'm sure his bass od/fuzz has got to be great too. (He's also a four stringer...;l)
Anyway, good to hear from another bass player on pedals!

I played bass full-time for eleven years (I've been back at guitar for a little over a year now). By the time I left my last band, I'd amassed a few bass effects, and I used them frequently.

1. MXR Bass D.I.:
best $125 I ever spent on bass gear. It has eq like the SansAmp, but it's voiced better. When I bought it, I a/b/c'd against an Avalon U5 and a Groove Tubes brick. It was a close second to the Avalon, which cost $500. It also has a pretty cool distortion, but I rarely used it.

2. Line 6 FM-4:
I used it for envelope filter sounds. I previously used--and prefer the sound of--an EH Bassballs, but the Bassballs is a very sensitive pedal with a tiny, tiny sweet spot. If it got kicked, the envelope knob would be off by a micron, and the mwah sound would be too narrow or wide. The Line 6 is programmable. Unfortunately, the Mu-tron sound on the FM-4 was really loud, and there was no way to turn it down, so I bought:

3. Boss Bass Limiter:
I only bought it to tame the super-loud FM-4, but it worked pretty well at evening out my slapping, too.

4. Boss Bass Chorus:
pretty generic. If I were still playing bass, I'd get something else. Actually, the best-sounding bass chorus I've ever owned (and I've had a TC and a Lexicon rack unit) was the Zoom Choir 5050. Great sounds, but not dependable. I got tired of it dying during gigs.

I can't currently call myself a working bassist (only one live bass job in the last year), but I track bass at sessions fairly regularly. The only effect I truly require for bass is delay, and that is for a very specific application. I like to use double stop diatonic 10th intervals (light touch - thumb and middle finger) for the more moody sections of some tunes, and I find that delay facilitates this. Unlike with electric guitar, I'm far less picky as to choice of delay - as long as there is some high end rolloff available, I'm good to go. Danelectro Dan-Echo will actually do the job.

A good bass rig has so much power that I can usually find "overdrive" with right hand attack.

That said, there are a few bass effects that I really like. My definitive heavy rock record will always be Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. If I needed a Geezer Butler sound, I'm sure I'd be looking for something fuzzy. Some of John Paul Jones' early Zep tracks sound like there's some tremolo happening... what is that? For a Bootsy/P-Funk thing, nothing beats a Mutron III. The best envelope filter I've played is meterman's Prophecy Sound Rubber Fetish, and I fully intend to steal it from him at some point ;-). I have a love/hate relationship with chorus effects on electric guitar, and I have a hate/hate relationship with them on bass guitar. Blechh.

I think the instrument of choice, as well as choice of plectrum vs. fingers, or combination thereof, is really a huge factor with bass. Rickenbacker 4001 & pick for Chris Squire, P-bass and (actually) one finger for James Jamerson, for example.

quote:

Originally posted by Corleone:


A good bass rig has so much power that I can usually find "overdrive" with right hand attack.



I think the instrument of choice, as well as choice of plectrum vs. fingers, or combination thereof, is really a huge factor with bass. Rickenbacker 4001 & pick for Chris Squire, P-bass and (actually) one finger for James Jamerson, for example.

When I played live I had a Trace Elliot V4 which could be set up for overdrive when you dug in.

The instrument is probably IMHO etc the only consideration. I borrowed amps for years and if I play out again will have to do so again. However it took so long to find and in one case customise my basses that I wont sell them or feel comfortable with anything else.

#1 is a Warwick Thumb bass fretless 4 with Alembic pickups and a low pass filter instead of a tone control. It sounds like a static wah (and sometimes I operate the knob when I play for wah sounds). It's great for fretless.

#2 is a 96 Musicman Stingray 5. This was the time that they had a waxed finish on the neck. They've gone back to lacquer as they reportedly had so much problem with it. I have to be careful with cleaning it but it's a very smooth neck.

So bassically (sic) although I dont like effects and will use just about any amp I'm really anal about the basses I play.


Different strokes

Okay, let's discuss our whole rig. It all goes into affecting our sound right?

Main Bass: Custom bass with Moses Graphite neck and Warmoth Gecko body, single Seymour Duncan Basslines active PU in the "sweet spot" and passive tone control. I'm thinking about adding a Basslines or Aguilar preamp.

2nd Bass: Modulus Q5 Sweet Spot, although the neck is up in the air since it seems to have warped and the damn thing has no truss rod. Currently has stock EMG PU and two-band pre. After the neck issue is settled, I may replace these to match the Main Bass above.

Amp: Recently sold some superfluous amp gear and settled on an Eden WT-800 head. Presently using this with two Acme Low B2 210 cabs. They sound absolutely great, even with a low B, but they are realtively innefficient and therefore not especially loud. When I can swing it, I plan to replace them with two Eden D210XST cabs.

As you can see, I go for a fairly clean, hi-fi rig, althought the tube pre of the Eden can provide some grit when I dig in. I love graphite necks because they seem to "play" faster. They don't actually make me play faster, but they can keep up with me when I do play fast.

-- T. G. --

Not a bass player, did play a bit in the past (sold my bass few months ago).

Here are my personal notes on the subject...

Whammy with bass... fun... actual use... not much but for the Detune effect and still... there's better to be done with some nice delays.

Octaves... can be fun with synth like situation but gets old fast.

Delays... always nice for spacey stuff... great if you manage some less obvious settings such as doubling etc...

Reverbs a definite NO with me when it comes to bass... maybe in at mix point in the studio... other than that stay away.

Flanger, Phaser etc... not for me with BASS

Wahs... not as much fun to me than on guitar.

AutoWah / Filter... great but limited to very specific style(my opinion anyway)

Distortion, overdrives, fuzz... can be good for teh real heavy stuff.. still you can do without it most of the time.

COMPression.... now that's something I like with BASS.... 3 letters for you here... dbx.

Active pickups.... a definite plus to me with Bass... that or a wireless with the level boosted does a nice thing to a bass tone and hi end... not for everyone but know a few people who liked this once they tried it after I talked them into trying it out.

Preamp wise I always liked my bass straight into my tech21 psa-1 preamp followed with some 8:1 compression...(tape compression is better but you can't bring it with you).

Never really played bass amps per say but for the rare times I'd plug in somebody's else rig... and never really came acrosss something that would get me impressed(you do tend to see a lot of Peavey combo).

quote:

Originally posted by tommy.genes:
Okay, let's discuss our whole rig. It all goes into affecting our sound right?



2nd Bass: Modulus Q5 Sweet Spot, although the neck is up in the air since it seems to have warped and the damn thing has no truss rod. Currently has stock EMG PU and two-band pre. After the neck issue is settled, I may replace these to match the Main Bass above.

Amp: Recently sold some superfluous amp gear and settled on an Eden WT-800 head. Presently using this with two Acme Low B2 210 cabs. They sound absolutely great, even with a low B, but they are realtively innefficient and therefore not especially loud. When I can swing it, I plan to replace them with two Eden D210XST cabs.



-- T. G. --

I like Eden amps, never played the Acme's though. Best sound I had going recently was in a shop EA 600 amp into an Accugroove Whappo jr, shifted a lot of air.

RE you Moduli, nice basses, the ones I played had Lane Poors in them.

in a uk guitar mag i got today it said carl martin is releasing a line of bass f/x-starting
w/a bass chorus.thought i'd toss that your way...

Hello all......I have only just begun experimenting with effects for the bass, although I have been playing with many vareties for the guitar for many years. I have tried a few distortion pedals in the past only for my band mates to look at me funny as they suddenly could not hear the bass anymore just a fizz. I recently put a distortion pedal through the line out/in of my amp which worked alot better and due to that success I have purchased a Fulltone Bass driver (from a shop in the U.S. which costs half the price it would here in England)just because of all the good reviews it has everywhere on the net. I also own a Boss bass synth pedal but have never quite got a great sound out of it and like a previous poster found that it sounds out when playing in a band situation. I know it is not an effect but I could never leave home without my Boss tuner pedal....a must for everyone out there.

coin-opmusic.com

OK just tried the Stingray V with my Lovetone Big Cheese and a Moon Phaser (on loan). The Cheese was IMHO thin and nasty but the Red Witch pedal was really nice. I preferred it in the notch filter setting.

gear-wise. i actually own a bass rig, but not a bass. i have an ampeg v4-b head, an ampeg 2x10 and an ampeg 4x10 (the non-top of the line ones). our drummer owns a mexican jazz bass, and that's what our bassist plays through my amp. it sounds great for our application, but i'm not that discriminant. it just gets a cool grind because of a low tube wattage. we crank the crap out of it.

As for my rig, its pretty basic:
*1976 Fender Jazz Bass, Stock
*Late 80s (?) Ampeg SVT II 300 watt head. This is the model without the preamp gain, and since its non-MV I've really got to push it hard to get any breakup in the high end. ( I play mostly driving rock stuff, so I like the ampeg growl in the mids & high end)
*90s SWR Henry 8X8 cab...This is a great thumpin little cab, but I actually find that I cut the bass via EQ on my Ampeg to make up for the accentuted bass that the porting of the SWR provides. I've always wanted to get a 70s Ampeg 8X10, but just never get around to it.

Its funny...I go through phases where I buy quite a bunch of stuff for guitar (peds, amps, etc), but I've had this same bass rig since about 10 years ago and have never had the urge to try something radically different. A good bass rig is a thing of beauty, even when it looks tattered as hell

I haven't owned a bass amp in quite some time, but SWR amps worked very well for me in the past. My 'go to' bass these days is a G&L L-2000. With a translucent blue finish and a maple board, it's absolutely butt-ugly... but it plays and records like a dream. Also in the stable is a shoreline gold Squier Jazz, which I picked up new for about 150 clams. For the bucks, it's a solid instrument, although the neck profile is a bit slim for my tastes. The front guy in my pop rock band scored a Danelectro Longhorn a while back, and the lipstick pups really have a cool and interesting sound.

For recording, I run through a Demeter tube direct box. I go for a big round, old school tone, and my biggest bass influence is probably John Paul Jones. I work pretty hard at not sounding like a "guitarist who also plays some bass". Not sure if I get there, but that's the target.

quote:

Originally posted by CS:
The instrument is probably IMHO etc the only consideration. I borrowed amps for years and if I play out again will have to do so again.

Agreed. We use some silly Fender solid state 300 watt thing that I've never even bothered to learn the name of; no serious bass player could ever get excited about it. Anything with headroom to match the venue will work perfectly fine for me. I've had my share of lugging Ampeg SVT's (as well as Leslies and Hammonds and whatnot), and... nahhhh. If I landed a regular bass gig again, I'd probably go for SWR, but wouldn't have problem one with playing Peavey.

quote:

So bassically (sic) although I dont like effects and will use just about any amp I'm really anal about the basses I play.


Different strokes

While I did mention in my previous post a few effected tones that I dig, I'm bassssically ((sic x 4)) with you. It's funny, I'm by no means a purist with regard to electric guitar approach, or to music in general, for that matter. But I guess I teeter dangerously close to being an old fart when it comes to bass tone. It never ceases to blow my mind that guys are constantly looking for ways to make bass not sound like bass. My feeling about that is, why not just choose another instrument, such as the glockenspiel, accordian, koto, kazoo, or ukelele. Don't choose tuba, because that instrument plays the same role as bass. Guys that come in with super-present, ultra-bright bass tone, drive me nuts. I honestly think they're missing the point.

I like what Larry Graham did with "slap n' pop", but most everyone else just sounds a bit cartoonish with that approach, to me. Mostly, I hate it. It's sort of the bass equivalent of post-Harvey Mandel or Ed Van Halen two hand tapping, to me. For most every track I've heard with slap n' pop that was "effective", I can't help but think that, "yeah okay, but an old school James Jamerson approach would make that tune groove deeper, harder, more righteously". Sorry, I just dig what I dig.

Since we're (I'm) on the subject, here's a hypothetical sideline - I always thought that The Who and Led Zeppelin should've swapped rhythm sections.

quote:

Originally posted by Corleone:

Agreed. We use some silly Fender solid state 300 watt thing that I've never even bothered to learn the name of; no serious bass player could ever get excited about it. Anything with headroom to match the venue will work perfectly fine for me.

There's a trend to use massive power amps and boutique cabs (guilty as charged) however what most soundguys want is a pure signal to the desk and no errant subs on stage. IF I go back to live bass I'll probably get a small combo and IEM's.

quote:

It never ceases to blow my mind that guys are constantly looking for ways to make bass not sound like bass. My feeling about that is, why not just choose another instrument, such as the glockenspiel, accordian, koto, kazoo, or ukelele. Don't choose tuba, because that instrument plays the same role as bass. Guys that come in with super-present, ultra-bright bass tone, drive me nuts. I honestly think they're missing the point.

The last guy I took lessons from goes out solo with 4 loopers and a multi fx. Whilst I respect what he's trying to do and actually like some of the music, we've had some interesting discussions as I play bass, guitar, bad drums and bad keys.

quote:

I like what Larry Graham did with "slap n' pop", but most everyone else just sounds a bit cartoonish with that approach, to me.

Whilst everyone was marvelling over Mark King from Level 42 I was listening to Derek Forbes from simple Minds-he would slap, fingerpick or use a plectrum and used fretless without ripping off Jaco.

Since we're (I'm) on the subject, here's a hypothetical sideline - I always thought that The Who and Led Zeppelin should've swapped rhythm sections.[/QUOTE]

I'm not going to go there but (tenuous link) it does bring up the point of horses for courses. If you have a lunatic drummer and a guitar hero is a busy bassist going to fit in? Sometimes bands are really locked in and sometimes everyone seems to play something different. The bass tone has to be led by what others or doing or others have to fit around the bass. If you listen to Coldplay the bass is bearly present, but the Muse bassist plays a bassline and overdubs distorted bass to double up the guitar, then there's Les Claypool and I have no idea what he's doing but the guitarist fits in with it.

quote:

Originally posted by Corleone:
It never ceases to blow my mind that guys are constantly looking for ways to make bass not sound like bass. My feeling about that is, why not just choose another instrument, such as the glockenspiel, accordian, koto, kazoo, or ukelele.

So bass players who want to use effects should instead take up glockenspiel? But it's OK for guitarists to have the entire stock of www.MusicToyz.com at their disposal?

I remember having a similar argument on alt.guitar.effects years ago (I'm a former Usenet junkie). Just because of some experience with a hack bass player with a pedal, people didn't want to believe that I, a fairly accomplished bass player if I may say so, could use effects with conviction in a musical context.

Half-fake indignation aside, I partly agree with you. I actually dislike effects that too drastically alter the sound of the instrument. I'm more interested in effects that enhance or extend the bass tone and bass role. If I wanted to play bleeps, bloops and clicks, I'd be playing a synthesizer.

I'm reminded of a chart a friend once handed me for a band we were playing in at the time. At the top where the composer would normally write "andante" or "adagio" or "allegro", he had written "godzilla drives the funk bus". Now you don't go into that tune with a clean and pretty tone...

-- T. G. --