Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

[BloodRose]

I have a couple pedal boards set up for my guitars, but Im going to try to spend some time focusing on bass.
Are there any guitar pedals that translate well with bass? Or is it better to use bass designed pedals? Many does it hurt to use guitar pedals with bass, OR is the frequency not correct with guitar pedals or anything like that?

AND.. what types of effects are good to use with bass? such as: chorus, reverb, wah, etc?

Thank you!

sorry, the wording of my post seemed repetitive...

 

[ErikH]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

While there are bass effects out there, I don't use any of them. Crazy enough, I used to have an old Boss BF-2B Bass Flanger that I used with my guitar rig. It simply sounded better to me.

I do know that the tried and true Tube Screamer (808 or 9) work well as does the TC Electronics Mojo Mojo.

If I was to get an overdrive for my rig, I'd pick up a Truetone Route 66. There's a clean mix control so you can retain some of the pure bass tone and mix it with the OD and the compressor side has that too. The ever important Bass knob is on it too. There's others that have these features but I like the Route 66 best.

As for other effects, I would imaging a guitar wah would work fine. In fact, I'm going to try my Cantrell with the rig tonight.

Everything else is pretty much, eh, for me when it comes to bass. Guitar pedals can work so don't be afraid to try them. Delay is delay, reverb is reverb so don't get hung up there. If a guitar chorus doesn't work for you, then try a bass chorus. Most of them are the same circuits with a few select caps changed to lower the effective frequency range.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

Technically you don’t need any effects for a bass, but a good Preamp is great for tone shaping and a compressor can help even out dynamics and give the bass some pop. For distortion/fuzz, I think the biggest key is blend. A lot of distortion or overdrives can pull back bass frequencies and they can over compress. Blend will give you the big punchy bass
Along with the grit on top of it.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

Funny you should say that..... I have a Cantrell Wah on my board.. I do have a VOX and bad horsie if the frequencies in the CAntrell are too low.. Please let me know how it works...

Oh, and for anyone who wants to know what tools Im starting with... I Have an 88 Charvel model 2 bass, updated with Dimarzio bass pickups . ( bought it that way) and Playing thru an Ampeg BA 115 ( I believe it is). FYI, the ampeg has some built in effects, but I bought the amp used and not all the effects are working correctly.

 

[dystrust]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

If you're looking for a bass distortion, I can't recommend the Wren & Cuff Pickle Pie B enough. It's loosely based on a Russian Big Muff, but the usable gain range is much wider, as is the range of the tone control. It also has a clean blend. The only bad thing I can say about it is that they're not cheap and nearly impossible to find used.

If a guitar chorus doesn't work for you, then try a bass chorus. Most of them are the same circuits with a few select caps changed to lower the effective frequency range.

IME Bass Chorus tend to have a low-pass so that the chorus only effects the mids and highs. The CE-2B on longcat's board is set up like that and it's much more subtle than my CE-2. The upside is that the low end doesn't wash out.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

For bass I mostly use an old MXR Limiter, an Ibanez Sound Tank chorus, and a modified Boss bass over drive, and a tuner.

But I’ve used more stuff in the past, like an EH Bass Microsynth, Big Muff Pi, TubeWorks BlueTube, a Peavey bass chorus (had a built in crossover to only affect the top end) and an MXR Phase 90 and Maestro Bass Brassmaster. My first effects back in the 70s was an EH Mole bass booster, and a Maestro Fuzz (the Satisfaction fuzz). That got replaced with the Brassmaster. Also had various Envelope filters and stuff.

Some effects for guitar work fine for bass. Others like overdrive or distortion benefit from having a clean blend. Some overdrive pedals roll off the low end. Tube Screamers are like that. Might or might not give you the tone you want.

I also play guitar so I have lots of toys. Lol.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ErikH]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

IME Bass Chorus tend to have a low-pass so that the chorus only effects the mids and highs. The CE-2B on longcat's board is set up like that and it's much more subtle than my CE-2. The upside is that the low end doesn't wash out.

That is true. The 2B is voiced to do as you mentioned with those changes.

Here's the biggest differences. This is from a post on the diystompboxes.com forum that I used to frequent when I modded and built pedals.

CE2 vs CE2B differences: one cap, added delay level control
higher post delay HPF cut-off freq on Delay path

BF2 vs BF2B differences: a couple of caps and delay chip has half the stages
higher pre-delay HPF cut-off freq on delay path
higher HPF cut-off freq on Feedback

There's a few other trivial non-functional changes.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

IME Bass Chorus tend to have a low-pass so that the chorus only effects the mids and highs.

Chorus is a time domain effect, so what they often do is use a cross-over to separate the lows and highs. Then the apply the effect to just the highs.

I’ve also have chorus pedals that don’t do that, so they likely use a high pass filter to remove the lows going into the delay/modulation signal path.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dystrust]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

That is true. The 2B is voiced to do as you mentioned with those changes.

Here's the biggest differences. This is from a post on the diystompboxes.com forum that I used to frequent when I modded and built pedals.

CE2 vs CE2B differences: one cap, added delay level control
higher post delay HPF cut-off freq on Delay path

BF2 vs BF2B differences: a couple of caps and delay chip has half the stages
higher pre-delay HPF cut-off freq on delay path
higher HPF cut-off freq on Feedback

There's a few other trivial non-functional changes.

:cool3:

I tried both CE2s and definitely liked the bass version better on bass. I didn't have a chance to try both BF2s, but when listening to demos longcat and I decided that the BF2B was too subtle so I found her a BF2 instead.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

:cool3:

I tried both CE2s and definitely liked the bass version better on bass. I didn't have a chance to try both BF2s, but when listening to demos longcat and I decided that the BF2B was too subtle so I found her a BF2 instead.

I liked the BF-2B on guitar better than the BF-2.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

Funny you should say that..... I have a Cantrell Wah on my board.. I do have a VOX and bad horsie if the frequencies in the CAntrell are too low.. Please let me know how it works...

Well, I realized after I got home from rehearsal that I forgot to take my Cantrell Wah with me...LOL. I was so hungry when I got home I had to load up, head out and grab something quick to eat on the way, and it was rain cats and dogs all day in to the evening. At some point I'll try it out at home with my practice setup.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

Do bass players ever use reverb?

 

[Francois]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

I checked ny gear to see what guitar effects could be good on bass and the winner was the MXR Phase 90.

The bassplayer of my band (Tear of Doll > on hiatus) used an EHX effect called bassball which was cool (It is a kind of envelopp filter).

TA lot of distortion or overdrives can pull back bass frequencies and they can over compress. Blend will give you the big punchy bass
Along with the grit on top of it.

There is too schools for this:
MXR bass distortion (based on RAT) or MXR bass fuzz deluxe will mix the dry and the wet in a single output.
EHX bass big muff has two separate outputs (two amps need or a mixer)

It is a matter of taste, but one funky effect for bass would be the envelop filter. I have a Maxon AF-9 and you set it for bass. The same circuit was sold by Ibanez as well (AF-201). And there is the famous Q-Tron (never tried).

 

[Mincer]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

Geezer Butler did great with a wah pedal back in the day- I think he has his signature one now. Chris Squire used effects built into his Electra bass. For bass, I say, use what you got. The Studio Bass Compressor is wonderful, btw.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

Cliff Burton too...

 

[Francois]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

And fuzz on bass can be fuzz with a little octave (up) added :

- Hugh Hopper : Second Soft machine album (I love it)

- Glenn Hughes : Deep Purple "Sail Away"

 

[Adieu]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

A DS1 direct into a PA set to very slight distortion can be a surprisingly half-decent solution if lacking a powerful bass amp or too lazy to lug one.

For hardrock/metal sounds, preferably with actives or humbuckers. And a solid bass. Worked okayish with a tight hiend Japanese Ibanez, bandleader *****ed and moaned a bit but the working pro bassist from the next band lined up for the rehearsal space thought it was badass and oohed and aahed and drooled a bit and tried to borrow it without asking when I stepped out for a smoke (it wasn't quite ALL that... millenials)


...Prolly won't fly with a Chinese Squier Affinity Jbass, though, just fyi.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

- Glenn Hughes : Deep Purple "Sail Away"

Always assumed that was Blackmore with an octave down...cool!

 

[dg27]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

Do bass players ever use reverb?

In reggae and dub reverb and delay are used from time to time. I have an ancient In-Line Effects analog delay and Digitech RV-7 on my pedalboard that I use from time to time.

 

[Howlermonkey]

Re: Guitar pedals for bass?? Bass effects?

I want a bass that sounds like this.............

Any ideas? It sounds a bit like a chorus pedal.