Bass Effects - how many of you use them?

[gelfin]

[quote name='BottomE' post='1169001' date='Mar 19 2011, 11:20 PM']Wow. One of my bands is cover band. Do you use your effects to achieve a sound as close as possible to the original bass sound or is it to change the sound of your basses regardless of song?[/quote]
Mostly I use effects to try and sound like the song. Sometimes just because I feel like it.
Here's the pedals. Before the TC chorus was put in.



I also use these to great EFFECT

[BottomE]

[quote name='gelfin' post='1170068' date='Mar 20 2011, 09:32 PM']Mostly I use effects to try and sound like the song. Sometimes just because I feel like it.
Here's the pedals. Before the TC chorus was put in.



I also use these to great EFFECT

[/quote]
holy sh** for once i am lost for words

[fretmeister]

Sloppy technique with an envelope filter is awful.

Fx are there to get the sound you want your song to have. Hysteria without fx? Bootsy without envelope filter? Addicted to that Rush without drive? None of them would work.

I don't think anyone specifically picks fx to cover sloppiness. Even compression is there to help the mix and there for the band sound as a whole, especially if you have a venue that booms in certain frequencies. A front of house engineer will put compression on your bass whether you are personally using it or not.

If you like you bass and amp alone, then great. If you like it drenched in fx then great too.

Perhaps there should be another thread- do you lack the imagination to use fx? That would be just as snobbish.

Do whatever pleases you, and if that means a metal muff and a Prometheus on a bowed EUB, then brilliant!

[arthurhenry]

Playing in a 3 piece covers band I use effects mostly for intros, to cover a keyboard sound or a production effect from the original recording. When the song kicks in they go off. There are a couple of songs where an effect is used for the whole thing, such as Deeper Underground - Jamiroquai or Hysteria-Muse.

[JamieBenzies]

I don't know if other people think this is a valid point but I have often thought that electric guitars and basses lack the depth and timbre of an acoustic instrument, FX to me are where our electric instruments compensate for that loss.

Edited March 21, 2011 by JamieBenzies

[BottomE]

[quote name='JamieBenzies' post='1170242' date='Mar 21 2011, 12:18 AM']I don't know if other people think this is a valid point but I have often thought that electric guitars and basses lack the depth and timbre of an acoustic instrument, FX to me are where our electric instruments compensate for that loss.[/quote]
I don't get this really. Why do you think electric instruments need some kind of compensation? The timbre in the growl of a Jazz/Stingray bass is beautiful. Why smother it in effects? If there is no depth get a better amp/cabinet.

[Gust0o]

Effects will never hide or compensate for sloppy playing.

I use a single overdrive pedal now, with the odd bit of fuzz - I don't think I'm compensating for my technique, but I certainly am compensating for the lack of a second guitarist

Or maybe just a good first one

[dbass]

I've just stepped in to the world of loop pedals and effects, so for solo performances I think they can be used to really expand your sound.

For 99.99% of my normal gigs I just go straight in to the amp but recently got the urge to try an EBS ValveDrive in my metal band as I think it will fatten the sound with some edge and grit.

Edited March 21, 2011 by dbass

[mrtcat]

I love clean sounds and it suits what i do with the band. I also love toys and have a couple of pedals for playing about (EBS envelope filter is my fav) but I never use it live as it doesnt fit with the band.

The only effect I use live is some distortion from a "Way Huge Swollen Pickle". It's primarily a guitar pedal but with the filter it works really well with bass and can add a lot of depth to the sound which helps when guitar is soloing.

[Gust0o]

I'm probably quite bad, but I had to read this thread to understand what a compressor did

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='mrtcat' post='1170458' date='Mar 21 2011, 10:56 AM']I love clean sounds and it suits what i do with the band. I also love toys and have a couple of pedals for playing about (EBS envelope filter is my fav) but I never use it live as it doesnt fit with the band.[/quote]

This is important. I can imagine most players in straight-ahead rock / guitar bands won't find a use for effects on bass, apart from maybe a bit of valve grit or whatever. In my band the guitarist sings and he's usually playing a simple reggae or ska chop, we do have a keyboard player but she's often playing trumpet instead, which leaves a lot of room for me. So I often play a lot of notes, or I double up my sound with an octaver or I add a synth on top of my bass (or on top of the octaver!) and whammy that note around, and so on.

So while I'm mostly replacing my bass sound with another bass sound, I do often double up and add something else on top instead, just to give a song more hooks and more colour.

Another band I did for a while, they were writing songs on a computer and adding live instrumentation later, so it was very rare that the demos they gave us contained anything that sounded like a bass guitar. I remember the first rehearsal I did with them they didn't seem to be digging what I was doing, so I thought it might be a bit of a gamble (you tend to get funny looks using effects on bass with people you don't know) I switched on a few noise pedals through a filter and the singer immediately turned to me and yelled "Play more like that!"

So yeah, sometimes it's not appropriate to use effects, and sometimes you won't get the gig if you don't. It just depends what music you're making.

So far I haven't tried effects on my double bass but we've been asked to do half a dozen acoustic gigs over the next few months so maybe I will give it a go in rehearsals at least.

[Skol303]

Surely the answer to this thread is: it depends on what genre of music you're playing (?).

I mean, if you're in a metal band then it's likely you might want some distortion or overdrive/fuzz from time to time; if you're playing drum'n'bass or dubstep then I guess you'd most likely have an octave pedal at your feet... etc.

Can effects hide bad playing? Probably, but not easily so. You might think that a distortion pedal, cranked up to the max, could hide poor technique - but the thing is, you have to be fairly tight when playing with distortion, otherwise it just sounds like a mess. So perhaps not.

This definitely isn't something to get all 'purist' about. A nice, clean bass has its place in music, for sure. But then so do effects - it's simply a case of "horses for courses"!

[Low End Bee]

Fuzz on two songs because it sounds nice. Bass Synth on an intro and outro of another for the same reason. That's it.

If someone can produce a technique compensator pedal I'll have one

[BottomE]

[quote name='Skol303' post='1170668' date='Mar 21 2011, 01:53 PM']Surely the answer to this thread is: it depends on what genre of music you're playing (?).

I mean, if you're in a metal band then it's likely you might want some distortion or overdrive/fuzz from time to time; if you're playing drum'n'bass or dubstep then I guess you'd most likely have an octave pedal at your feet... etc.

Can effects hide bad playing? Probably, but not easily so. You might think that a distortion pedal, cranked up to the max, could hide poor technique - but the thing is, you have to be fairly tight when playing with distortion, otherwise it just sounds like a mess. So perhaps not.

This definitely isn't something to get all 'purist' about. A nice, clean bass has its place in music, for sure. But then so do effects - it's simply a case of "horses for courses"! [/quote]
Sure, i can see the use of effects being influenced by the genre. The thread was really seeking to find out how commonplace the use of effects is amongst basschatters. And so far it seems that most of you use effects irrespective of genre. For me, distorting a bass is a hanging offence but i am an old fart that doesn't like heavy metal. Live and let live and all that.

[burray]

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='1170689' date='Mar 21 2011, 02:03 PM']If someone can produce a technique compensator pedal I'll have one [/quote]

I'll take two. One under my left foot for my fretting hand and one under my right foot for the picking.

My board consists of tuner, equaliser, chorus and distortion. I'm by no means against effects, but these are the four that have been useful in the past. I've tried loads as I used to work in a music shop, and most of them just gave me an extra pedal to worry about without adding much to what I can bring to a song. I may bring the bassballs back into action soon though.

As for whether or not you can hide poor technique with them – utter bollocks, surely? You can still hear whether someone's playing bum notes or playing lazy lines, regardless of how much fuzz (to a degree) is layered over. I'm sure there are some units that could hide shoddy playing, but they're not going to be affordable to the budding shonky player who would use them purely for that reason.

[Low End Bee]

[quote name='BottomE' post='1170699' date='Mar 21 2011, 02:09 PM']....distorting a bass is a hanging offence but i am an old fart that doesn't like heavy metal. Live and let live and all that.[/quote]

As soon as you plug it in you distort the signal surely?

[xilddx]

Christ, there are some funny attitudes around here aren't there.

If you like the sound of your 62 Precision into a B-15 unadulterated for your Marvin Gaye tribute, fine. If you like your Dingwall through a NaztyAss JerryCurl FuzziFunk for your RHCP cover band, fine. What's there to argue about? No amount of effects will save you from playing like a prick, and no amount of purity will make you sound like Jesus.

I like a very produced sound live and in the studio so I use compression and a little chorus on most of my sounds. I need to pretend I'm a cello sometimes. I need loads of subs sometimes. I use amp sims, compression, distortion, flanger, noise gate, volume pedal and delay in a single song, all together and it sounds amazing and suits that particular song.

Do what you want, don't judge others because they are different. You are either a sensitive musician, or an insensitive one. Sensitive musicians do what's good for the song with the agreement of the composer.

[Skol303]

[quote name='BottomE' post='1170699' date='Mar 21 2011, 02:09 PM']Sure, i can see the use of effects being influenced by the genre. The thread was really seeking to find out how commonplace the use of effects is amongst basschatters. And so far it seems that most of you use effects irrespective of genre. For me, distorting a bass is a hanging offence but i am an old fart that doesn't like heavy metal. Live and let live and all that.[/quote]

^ Ha! Yeah... well, I've committed a few 'hanging offences' pedal-wise, put it that way! ;-)

Personally, I own/use a wah, distortion, fuzz and octave - not all at the same time, of course. The music I write is mainly electronic-influenced stuff: dubstep, drum 'n' bass, breakbeat, etc. But I also write some 'clean' folky numbers from time to time! So yeah, all fairly eclectic. Virtually all of my music is produced or recorded digitally, so using effects is a big part of what I do.

Plus, I don't own a 'brilliant' bass (got an old Ibanez EDB600) and I only have a small practice amp... so I'm not especially proud of my clean sound!

In short: live and let live, as you say :-)

[risingson]

[quote name='silddx' post='1170728' date='Mar 21 2011, 02:31 PM']Christ, there are some funny attitudes around here aren't there.

If you like the sound of your 62 Precision into a B-15 unadulterated for your Marvin Gaye tribute, fine. If you like your Dingwall through a NaztyAss JerryCurl FuzziFunk for your RHCP cover band, fine. What's there to argue about? No amount of effects will save you from playing like a prick, and no amount of purity will make you sound like Jesus.

I like a very produced sound live and in the studio so I use compression and a little chorus on most of my sounds. I need to pretend I'm a cello sometimes. I need loads of subs sometimes. I use amp sims, compression, distortion, flanger, noise gate, volume pedal and delay in a single song, all together and it sounds amazing and suits that particular song.

Do what you want, don't judge others because they are different. You are either a sensitive musician, or an insensitive one. Sensitive musicians do what's good for the song with the agreement of the composer.[/quote]

Always love the 'no sh*t' approach to posting Nigel!

[Adrenochrome]

Yup I use effects all the time. I use them to get fairly authentic sounds when playing covers. My normal sound has just a little drive on it so I get a slightly overdriven sound when digging in for classic rock.
I couldn't imagine playing the intro to For Whom The Bell Tolls, or Jeremy, completely clean - it'd sound sh1te. Likewise Cochise or Would? without some drive or distortion - forget it.

[BottomE]

[quote name='silddx' post='1170728' date='Mar 21 2011, 02:31 PM']Christ, there are some funny attitudes around here aren't there.

If you like the sound of your 62 Precision into a B-15 unadulterated for your Marvin Gaye tribute, fine. If you like your Dingwall through a NaztyAss JerryCurl FuzziFunk for your RHCP cover band, fine. What's there to argue about? No amount of effects will save you from playing like a prick, and no amount of purity will make you sound like Jesus.

I like a very produced sound live and in the studio so I use compression and a little chorus on most of my sounds. I need to pretend I'm a cello sometimes. I need loads of subs sometimes. I use amp sims, compression, distortion, flanger, noise gate, volume pedal and delay in a single song, all together and it sounds amazing and suits that particular song.

Do what you want, don't judge others because they are different. You are either a sensitive musician, or an insensitive one. Sensitive musicians do what's good for the song with the agreement of the composer.[/quote]
I think you are missing the point and haven't read the previous posts - but there are a lot of them. No one is judging anyone except you. So anyone with a different view to you has a funny attitude? The thread was doing quite nicely with some great contributions till you showed up.

[Doddy]

[quote name='burray' post='1170713' date='Mar 21 2011, 02:18 PM']As for whether or not you can hide poor technique with them – utter bollocks, surely? You can still hear whether someone's playing bum notes or playing lazy lines, regardless of how much fuzz (to a degree) is layered over.[/quote]

If you are playing a fast run or whatever,if you are fuzzed out it can often hide a bum note compared to
playing the same thing cleanly.

[xilddx]

[quote name='BottomE' post='1170800' date='Mar 21 2011, 03:59 PM']I think you are missing the point and haven't read the previous posts - but there are a lot of them. No one is judging anyone except you. So anyone with a different view to you has a funny attitude? The thread was doing quite nicely with some great contributions till you showed up.[/quote]
I have read them all.

Despite your saying you don't want to upset or have a dig at anyone, your OP, and most of the comments you have made, demonstrate some prejudice or ignorance with regard to those of us who use multiple effects. We are probably used to it by now but I have had concerned comments from some engineers when they see my POD, and I have to waste time reassuring them while I'm worrying they're not experienced enough to get the band a decent sound. As for you being a "dying breed", that's lazy engineer speak for "thank f*** I can set the desk to '[b]simple bass[/b]' and get to the bar quicker"

If I have upset [i]you [/i]I apologise.

Edited March 21, 2011 by silddx

[fumps]

I have to agree with a few people who has posted here earlier.
Effects are there to make pretty much any noise you want, I think it's fantastic to hear sometimes when someone has worked hard & crafted a sound that suit's them.

It's a stereo-type but some people when asked about effect's automatically think about Metal using FUZZ/Distortion etc.
We have some amazing technology available to us, I just think you restrict yourself by ignoring it.



At one point i was peicing together a project where i was keen to really mess about with noises & effects. I was on a strict budget & people i knew was throwing me various differant pedals & units to play with. I was basically messing about to see what happened.
I used a expensive (Guitar) multi effects pedal & put a cheap cheesy keyboard through it added a few extra units of various quality & price ranges & out of the other side was something heavy & mean......we used these samples to create alsorts of metal/techno style tunes......Top fun, as music should be.

[BottomE]

[quote name='silddx' post='1170841' date='Mar 21 2011, 04:29 PM']I have read them all.

Despite your saying you don't want to upset or have a dig at anyone, your OP, and most of the comments you have made, demonstrate some prejudice or ignorance with regard to those of us who use multiple effects. We are probably used to it by now but I have had concerned comments from some engineers when they see my POD, and I have to waste time reassuring them while I'm worrying they're not experienced enough to get the band a decent sound. As for you being a "dying breed", that's lazy engineer speak for "thank f*** I can set the desk to '[b]simple bass[/b]' and get to the bar quicker"

If I have upset [i]you [/i]I apologise.[/quote]
Apology accepted.

I hope not to have offended anyone as this is not my intention. I really don't like distortion on a bass guitar. So what. I have no problem with others playing with HairyMuffs et al.

Its hard to post on here without upsetting someone - feel like i need to run everything through the BC PC filter if i had one. I think the thread has been great and i have learnt a lot (that i am a dinosaur) and realised that there are some effects out there that i might like to try.