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essential bass effects?


chris newcomer

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hello. the holiday of christmas approaches and i would like to get the bass player of my band a pedal. he is poor and at this point has no effects in his setup, which is an old short scale EKO bass into a vintage ampeg head and 8x10 cab.

 

he was a guitarist before playing bass in our band and had a lot of guitar effects, which he sold to buy his bass and amp. so neither of us really know anything about bass effects and which ones would be good to have. he's tried a bunch of my guitar pedals on his bass but none end up sounding very good (frantone cream puff, various boss overdrives/distortions, a rat, crowther hotcake, old russian big muff), probably because they werent made for bass...

 

i was thinking of getting him either some kind of compressor or an overdrive/fuzz thing?

 

which would be more immediately useful or essential for him to have?

 

i was leaning towards these:

 

ehx black finger, metaphors, bass big muff, way huge swollen pickle, mxr m-80 bass... and is there a cheaper pedal comparable to the zvex woolly mammoth?

 

 

 

what does anybody think?

 

thanks!

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we sort of sound like

 

the who meets my bloody valentine

 

one of those

 

{censored}in indie bands

 

 

i dont know. i use mostly a hot cake and some minor delay. sometime a ring mod, a whammy, some filters to get synthy sounds. the other guitarist uses a hot cake and LOTS of reverb and LOTS of delay. i dont think we want bass chorus. i mean, we dont want guitar chorus so we probably dont want bass chorus. just something that can help achieve a really nice, legit, controllable bass tone and perhaps a real fat smooth badass fuzz to stomp on sometimes...

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Aphex punch factory compressor- Since it sounds like the guitars are big and fuzzy, this would help him to keep the groove going and punch through a swirling mass of chaos.

 

+1 to a good tuner

 

Fuzz/OD is fun, but with all the effects the guitars are using, i'd be surprised if anyone noticed.

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I wouldn't worry about a Compressor if he is playing through a tube amp... Having said that, the Aphex Punch Factory is great IMO.

 

Dist. or Fuzz would be cool, if you're sound is more along the lines of The Who rather than My Bloody Valentine.

 

Although a good tuner is a must, If i got a Tu-2 or Strobostomp as a gift, I'd be over the moon...

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i dont know. i use mostly a hot cake and some minor delay. sometime a ring mod, a whammy, some filters to get synthy sounds. the other guitarist uses a hot cake and LOTS of reverb and LOTS of delay. i dont think we want bass chorus. i mean, we dont want guitar chorus so we probably dont want bass chorus. just something that can help achieve a really nice, legit, controllable bass tone and perhaps a real fat smooth badass fuzz to stomp on sometimes...

 

 

Get either the Bass Muff or a Little Big Muff. I see lots of reference to delay, filters and such and not many references to how loud and teh brutalz your guitar tones are. Fuzz on bass often loses you in the mix unless you work your EQ's around the guitar tone. The cleaner or tighter focused the guitar tones are, the more room the bass has for overdrive.

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he does have a tu-2 already, yeah




very helpful tho, guys. thanks for the input i will meditate on this.



:thu:

 

Meditate on this:

 

222629.jpg

 

It sounds crazy, but this pedal provides a nice, clean boost to my tone, and the "Womp womp" noises are all but invisible in the mix because of how hard I'm playing. For whatever reason, it helps me cut through and give a little bit of punch, too.

C7

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Probably be better off with a better bass.


There is no such thing as an essential bass effect.

 

 

I would have to agree. While they are fun and you can make a ton of cool sounds with them, and for some styles of music they are helpful, I have come to prefer just me plugged into an amp for the last few years.

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No kidding. Why does he hate America? We're supposed to encourage people to spend their money in these tough times, not keep it because they don't "need" things.
:rolleyes:

 

:thu: Spoken like a true Ame-- HEY, wait a second!!! :mad:

 

Although yes you're right, suggesting someone just buy a brand new, nice bass is much more cost effective than just buying a pedal :D

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his bass is pretty damn cool, tho. it plays really great, super fast, low action. sounds decent, just a little too bouncy and bright. think i will go with one of the compressors yall mentioned and try and figure out how and dial in a better tone with one of the guitar fuzz pedals

 

eko_1.jpg

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