What are good pedals for bass?

[The GrungeMetal Guy]

I know that it's almost a requirement to have a compressor pedal, but what else would be good? Need advice for my bass player. What pedals would be good for him, we play metal, mostly progressive metal, so what pedals would be best for him. Modulation pedals, time pedals, distortion pedals, utility pedals. Thank you!

 

[Demanic]

Re: What are good pedals for bass?

If the amp doesn't have them, I'd say compression and eq. Other than that, maybe an envelope filter or chorus. Bass, to me, doesn't need a whole lot of extras, otherwise it can tend to muddy up the mix.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: What are good pedals for bass?

Big Muff. Envelope filter. Chorus.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: What are good pedals for bass?

View attachment 84173

 

[some_dude]

Re: What are good pedals for bass?

The only two pedals I carry are a tuner and a SansAmp BDDI.

They're all worth experimenting with, but for myself I found my band sounded better when I didn't use them. The exceptions are if the bassist is going to play lead, or will play some sort of reverby atmospheric interlude or something... but for the most part the more distorted the guitars are the cleaner you typically want your bass tone.

 

[dystrust]

Re: What are good pedals for bass?

Big Muff. Envelope filter. Chorus.

Wren & Cuff Pickle Pie B.

It's a Muff tuned for bass with a clean blend. It also has a much larger (usable) gain range than a stock Muff. The only downside is that they're rather hard to find and tend to be rather spendy on the used market.

Here's longcat's bass board as of a few weeks ago. We recently added a Boss BF-2 to the end of the chain:

So the chain is:
Pitchblack > Bass Octave Deluxe > EVH Phase 90 > Pickle Pie B > Boss CE-2B > Boss BF-2

We haven't felt the need for an EQ as longcat's SVT 3Pro has a switchable graphic EQ that is left bypassed unless it's needed. We also haven't needed a compressor as the SVT's tube preamp can do that depending on pick attack.

 

[Mincer]

Re: What are good pedals for bass?

A good tuner, a compressor, and probably a chorus for those softer quiet parts- it fakes a nice fretless sound, too.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: What are good pedals for bass?

View attachment 84173

What does this do?

My Bass amp has some built in effects.. (guess they arent really effects, but "styles") Some dont work anymore, and some are worthless... But can get some good tones too. Ampeg BA115

 

[crguti]

Re: What are good pedals for bass?

What does this do?

My Bass amp has some built in effects.. (guess they arent really effects, but "styles") Some dont work anymore, and some are worthless... But can get some good tones too. Ampeg BA115

It's a preamp. The purpose of this pedal is to send an affected 'amp simulator' signal to FOH, and the parallel output (unaffected ) to your amp. You can also use the amp's DI output to send it to FOH, but I have noticed that the amp's eq affects too much the DI output. It's way better to use a dedicated amp simulator pedal.

 

[Mincer]

Re: What are good pedals for bass?

You can also look at bass-centric multi-effects, and either go for something like that, or steal the idea and build it with individual pedals. A great one is the Bass FlyRig.

 

[vegetablejoe]

Re: What are good pedals for bass?

Catalinbread SFT. Said to be great for a bass. While I have the pedal, I don't have a bass, so I can't confirm yet...

 

[toowrongfoo]

Re: What are good pedals for bass?

I can't say the one you need because I have one for sale But you need it.

 

[Aceman]

Re: What are good pedals for bass?

Not really a Bass player, but...

Dirt/OD - because sometimes a little hair really works. Just not too much
EQ - because bass is finicky, and/or change the sound quickly
Compressor - tame the BOOM or the too quiet if you have no solid technique (like me)

Chorus -Bass chorus is apparently a thing. Not sure why.

I have an Ampeg DI that I play through with Dirt and some cool eq built in. Comp is my gonna be my first pedal.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: What are good pedals for bass?

Ace, do you play the Michael Anthony solo in the cover/tribute band?

 

[Aceman]

Re: What are good pedals for bass?

No - but I have played a little bass on stage. Including You Give love a bad name. Fun stuff!

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: What are good pedals for bass?

FWIW, I tried a bunch of compressors for my bass rig including the Keeley 4-knob, and I kept going back to the EHX Black Finger. I absolutely love what that pedal does for bass.

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: What are good pedals for bass?

I know that it's almost a requirement to have a compressor pedal, but what else would be good? Need advice for my bass player. What pedals would be good for him, we play metal, mostly progressive metal, so what pedals would be best for him. Modulation pedals, time pedals, distortion pedals, utility pedals. Thank you!

Why do you think he even needs them? What's missing from his current sound? If he gets a fairly dirty tone then he may not need a compressor (not to mention most guys don't even know how to use one).

What's his current rig? Instead of $400 in pedals, maybe that $400 could go towards something else that will improve the sound that much more.

With that said, Sansamp everywhere I go (nothing worse then a gnarly amp tone and a tiny DI in FOH) and a chorus pedal depending on what gig it is.

 

[ThisDyingSoul76]

Re: What are good pedals for bass?

I've found that Compressor and some sort of dirt are the essentials. A modulation and wah or envelope filter could be useful too. Beyond that, it's up to the individual (well, technically it's all up to the individual).

Key feature I look for in compressor and dirt pedals for use with bass is a clean mix/blend so you can keep some of the clean signal in. It's especially important to me with dirt boxes because I find you lose a lot of the rumbling lows with a dirty bass.