The Bassist's Effects Line Up
- Thread starter exin
- Start date
litford
New member
i know what you mean exin, now everything on my pedalboard can be bypassed (except for comp.).. well just so i have that option of playing clean right through..
cleaned the board up abit now, so i'm playing with only one loop actually
so its
bass -> mxr m-102 dynacomp -> (feedback loop) mxr m-80 bass distortion/DI -> arion sch-z chorus -> BOSS PH-2 Phaser -> Line6 Echopark -> amp.
probably looking at an envelope filter in there sometime.. and perhaps call it a day for the time being..
cleaned the board up abit now, so i'm playing with only one loop actually
so its
bass -> mxr m-102 dynacomp -> (feedback loop) mxr m-80 bass distortion/DI -> arion sch-z chorus -> BOSS PH-2 Phaser -> Line6 Echopark -> amp.
probably looking at an envelope filter in there sometime.. and perhaps call it a day for the time being..
exin
New member
There are 5 essential effects that bassists really need even though we don't really NEED effects in that sense but to really liven up your sounds it's recommended.
1. Compressor - an effect to smoothen out the levels of your playing, even out the peaks and give you a smoother sounding tone. You gotta be careful on what kind of compressors you use.
2. Chorus - i guess this is pretty much to add that airy effect to your tone when you're playing certain slow songs. It's really nice especially when you want to give your tone a little ZING to it. =). Blends in nicely with the band if you can get the depth and rate right ...
3. Envelope Filter - Funk is never funky without the funk of the bass. Envelope filter is like the wah-wah pedal of bass. Gives you that auto-wah that funkifies your sound.
4. Synthesizer - don't you hate it when the keyboard player tries to copy a bassline. There are great keyboard basslines out there and some players do it really well but nothing beats the real thing.
5. Octaver - The essential effect for that fat tone and octave note. Great for soloing and adding fullness to parts. Must be careful what octaver you buy though.
Exin's Essential Effects Compilation. Subject to addition and change from SOFTIES ... =)
1. Compressor - an effect to smoothen out the levels of your playing, even out the peaks and give you a smoother sounding tone. You gotta be careful on what kind of compressors you use.
2. Chorus - i guess this is pretty much to add that airy effect to your tone when you're playing certain slow songs. It's really nice especially when you want to give your tone a little ZING to it. =). Blends in nicely with the band if you can get the depth and rate right ...
3. Envelope Filter - Funk is never funky without the funk of the bass. Envelope filter is like the wah-wah pedal of bass. Gives you that auto-wah that funkifies your sound.
4. Synthesizer - don't you hate it when the keyboard player tries to copy a bassline. There are great keyboard basslines out there and some players do it really well but nothing beats the real thing.
5. Octaver - The essential effect for that fat tone and octave note. Great for soloing and adding fullness to parts. Must be careful what octaver you buy though.
Exin's Essential Effects Compilation. Subject to addition and change from SOFTIES ... =)
rottenramone
Active member
..
of course.
of course.
litford
New member
yeahh, but sometimes the challenge is when to use efx such as fuzz/overdrive/distortion. because most guitarists play with these effects, or if you have a rhythm guitar player who covers space when you have a lead soloist and all that, usually the so-called 'dirty' effects are just harder to cut through the mix, worse still if they just end up muddying the sound more.. it's a challenge to use these effects tastefully i reckon..
+1 to e earlier comment on onboad DIs colouring tone a bit much.. used to play thru an MXR with the 'colour' thing on... which i like cos it really makes a bass sound like a bass, but takes away a load of mids in the process.
im wavering between bypassing that and leaving the mxr for the xlr output, or adding using a seperate eq pedal to compensate.
im a bit anti-overdrive cos imho it sucks the low end and punchiness right out of the sound, shall leave tt to our thin stringed brethern..
p.s. some keyboardists should have their left hand tied behind their back when they play in a band....
im wavering between bypassing that and leaving the mxr for the xlr output, or adding using a seperate eq pedal to compensate.
im a bit anti-overdrive cos imho it sucks the low end and punchiness right out of the sound, shall leave tt to our thin stringed brethern..
p.s. some keyboardists should have their left hand tied behind their back when they play in a band....
depends la. the ox (john entlewise sp?) did the overdrive thing really well with the who. dirk lance used the bigg muff to great sucess with incubus as well imho. doesn't have to be on only during solos. but it's true, the challenge is to use it tastefully. just like running on scales, too much and you lose the groove.
yourgrandpa
New member
litford said:
agreed.
tim_1002 said:
John Entwistle
litford
New member
DarkRed said:+1 to e earlier comment on onboad DIs colouring tone a bit much.. used to play thru an MXR with the 'colour' thing on... which i like cos it really makes a bass sound like a bass, but takes away a load of mids in the process.
im wavering between bypassing that and leaving the mxr for the xlr output, or adding using a seperate eq pedal to compensate.
im a bit anti-overdrive cos imho it sucks the low end and punchiness right out of the sound, shall leave tt to our thin stringed brethern..
p.s. some keyboardists should have their left hand tied behind their back when they play in a band....
Hi! i'm usuing the MXR M-80 as well..
i like the 'colour' thing.. in fact, i almost think it's enough EQing without needing to affect the mix too much. the M-80 is the single pedal in my signal chain after my dynacomp.
i do most of my playing in church for now.. and i've actually experimented with sending one signal from my m-80 to the mixer, and then another signal after it goes through all my other effects and the peavy 12" amplifier's preamp into another DI. so basically, all my signals are DIed into the fronthouse speakers.. and the results have been good really -) bass is not muddy anymore.. and you just gotta trust your soundman to give you a good fronthouse bass tone -)
and i think Chris Wolstenhome of Muse is an incredible example of good tasteful effects, like his hysteria verse line and time is running out line as well..
Colin Greenwood from radiohead, 'specially when they went kid A onwards.. makes it sound more synthetic.. more club dance sorta bass.. but who can forget that incredible fuzz from Exit Music (For A Film)?
www.myspace.com/koscillate is a live drum n' bass band from melbourne and using midi, their bass player does heaps of insane stuff.. and also helps bridge the gap between a physical band and say.. something in the techno electronica realm?
exin
New member
platypus said:
you have your normal compressors .. compressor sustainer .. compressor enhancer (more rare), compressor limiter .. multi-band comp ...
compressors are meants to compress your tone .. DUH!! .. okay, but they basically even out your tone so that it'll be smoother over the board. Live you can't hear the difference much but it'll add to the dynamics of your playing ...
i think the better design compressor out there are multi-band .. you can control your low compression and high compression .. so it's more versatile in that end ..
use too much compression your tone may sound too squashed and have no life .. it's nice for studio recording but you wouldn't want that live right? ... too little myself don't use at all .. so you've gotta find that sweet spot in using it .. =) .. i'm still trying to look for a nice compressor .. looking at EBS Multi-comp butttt .. expensive man .. seriously ... was thinking of MXR DynaComp ..
