Bass Pedals

Toasty · 16-09-2009, 9:33 AM

OK, this feels a little like talking behind our bass players back

He has an array of Bass effect pedals and was trying out a new one again last night. Now generally the rest of us just think he's got a good bass sound and tend not hear much difference when he plays with his settings. Are there any bass players out there? Do you use effects?

I think our bass player likes to have a sound and presence for every occasion and song. Maybe I just don't appreciate the finer points, my view tends to be if you've got a good bass amp you don't need any extras, because bass sounds like, well er, bass. I know its not as trivial as that, but do you need the extra effects for a standard rock sound?

**Kieron** · 16-09-2009, 9:35 AM

I'd have to agree - I can't tell the difference either. Lead guitar effects - yes of course, but bass?

However, if it makes him happy etc.....

**unique** · 16-09-2009, 12:41 PM

the poor guy only has 4 strings to play with, and now you want to stop him having toys to twiddle about with?

if you can't hear the difference, let the poor guy have as many pedals as he wants

Toasty · 16-09-2009, 2:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by unique

the poor guy only has 4 strings to play with

Almost right, he has a 5 string bass

BTW he takes these things in good stride, we dedicated one of our band comic strips to him:

**unique** · 16-09-2009, 8:31 PM

i knew you were going to say it was a 5 string, but it wouldn't have sounded so funny

seriously though, you can get a few noticably different bass sounds during live gigs, your standard sound, fuzz bass, accoustic, etc, but subtleties will be lost on most. if it makes him feel better, it might make him play better

Toasty · 16-09-2009, 9:13 PM

TBH I'm more interested in what other bass players use to compliment their sound too. Our guy rotates his set up and as long as the end result sounds good, none of us are complaining

Seeker_UK · 02-10-2009, 6:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kieron

I'd have to agree - I can't tell the difference either. Lead guitar effects - yes of course, but bass?

A lot of FX don't cut it on bass but reverb, echo, flange and fuzz can make for a very interesting array of sounds even on the bass.

Of course, if your bass player is using ordinary guitar FX (ie not "bass" ones) then they tend to have not as much effect (pun intended) on the sounds.