Make me a Bass pedal board

Col_Decker

So I'm bassing in two bands now. One is a folk band, t'other is functions / pop stuff. My current rig is:

Ibanez SB500 bass + jack lead

 

thats it

 

So I thinks its time to make a new pedal board, cos you got to have a pedal board right? So what are the must haves for a gigging basser? I'm thinking maybe ...

- Tuner

- Compressor

- Fuzz (got a Big Muff Pi w/Wicker already)

- Autowah / envelope filter

- Octaver (got a Micro Pog already)

 

anything else?

 

 

monquixote

You need an EBS Muti Drive - and conveniently I have one for sale.

I would also say a fuzz designed for bass like the Bass Big Muff

Compressors aren't essential unless you want to get slappy.

The Bass Balls is a great triggered filter pedal that doesn't cost a lot.

If you want to do 80's you need a chorus.

guitarfishbay

How about the Zoom B3?

@ICBM seems to like his from what I remember.

stickyfiddle

Tuner, Comp AND NOTHING ELSE. Bass fx are horrible.

MarkGAK

This looks like something I can get stuck in to!

Tuner - I would always go for a Boss TU3. There are plenty of others available, but I would still always go with the Boss because of the reliability. Others might have a slightly better display, and more features, but the Boss will withstand 20 years of gigs before giving up. http://www.gak.co.uk/en/boss-tu-3-pedal-tuner/28335

Compressor - Pigtronix Bass Philosopher. Now THIS is a bass compressor. Hand built, sturdy as you like, and very versatile. I like it because it has the ability to be very transparent, but can also give you that crazy "sucked in" sound too. I can't speak highly enough about all of the Pigtronix stuff. http://www.gak.co.uk/en/pigtronix-bass-philosopher-compressor-pedal/80931

Fuzz - You pretty much got my favourite fuzz in the Big Muff, but I think it's also worth looking at the Zvex Fat Fuzz Factory. It's a bit more synthy than a Big Muff and definitely worth investigating. http://www.gak.co.uk/en/zvex-vexter-fat-fuzz-factory-fuzz-pedal/82592

AutoWah/Filter - This is probably going to be a contentious one, but I love the Digitech Bass Synth Wah. For less than 50 quid, it gives you a huge range of tones that are much more useable than most you'd find on something like an EHX Bass Synth. I honestly think it's one of the most underrated pedals available at the moment. http://www.gak.co.uk/en/digitech-xsw-synth-wah-envelope-filter/1580

Octaver - You've got the best one already!

I would also definitely check out the Line 6 M5. It's a stupidly versatile pedal for £95 and great if you want something inexpensive to experiment with. http://www.gak.co.uk/en/line-6-m5-stompbox-modeller/49126

ICBM

guitarfishbay said:

How about the Zoom B3?

@ICBM seems to like his from what I remember.

Yes. So much that I completely lost interest in building another pedalboard, even though I had most of the pedals already.

It's got everything you could reasonably want, is tiny (yet not too tiny!), runs on batteries if you need to, and will fit in most bass gig bag pockets or hard cases. It sounds great and also seems well-built and robust.

And it's less than £150 brand new.

It does have a couple of small irritations, but they're pretty minor once you get used to it.

Ramirez

I used to hate multi-fx. Now I don't. It's like three separate pedals in each patch, so not like the tradition 'preset' driven multi-fx (though it can do that).

One patch, for example, could have a compressor, octaver and overdrive set up on it, each with it's own footswitch and three knobs each. Also has a good built in tuner and sounds great. You may not need the amp sims, but they're fantastic and the Bassman model is now the core of my sound - so much so that I'm ditching my Orange amp for something more transparent (Keyboard amp or PA)

ICBM

Interestingly I use the Bassman model all the time too! Despite preferring an SVT in 'real life', that model just doesn't sound quite right on the B3. It still sounds better through a real bass amp as well though - the difference when I took my old Peavey T-Max up to the band room was quite significant. (Even with it set deep and clean with the tweeter on, like a PA-type sound.)

If it's not obvious from the pic Ramirez posted, there's a fair 'step' down to where the black knobs and the screen are, so they're well-protected from heavy feet.

Col_Decker

Ummm that Zoom B3 does look pretty good. But am I brave enough to go back to multi FX? But then does bass sitting in the mix need expensive sperate pedals? Its a tough one ain't it?

MarkGAK

I would also highly recommend the B3s. Zoom seem to have had a bit of a renaissance in the last year or so. 

Ramirez

Well, I sold all my individual pedals and still had plenty of change after buying the B3. I've noticed no degradation in tone, and I effectively have dozens more pedals to choose from.

It really can be set up and treated as individual pedals in banks of three, and that was initally one of the things that attracted me - my previous experience with multi-fx seemed to be 'switch to a preset, don't know what's happening and don't really like it, and can't be bothered to learn how to edit it- admittedly this was many years ago, but switching 'pedals' on the B3 is child's play, and editing on a laptop with the software is a pleasure. It does pay to build your patches from scratch though. 

ddlooping

Col_Decker said:

Ummm that Zoom B3 does look pretty good. But am I brave enough to go back to multi FX? But then does bass sitting in the mix need expensive sperate pedals? Its a tough one ain't it?

No it's not, get a B3 and be done with it.

Col_Decker

a quick look on ebay and there's one for sale down the road for £40

 

 

 

Ramirez

ICBM said:

It still sounds better through a real bass amp as well though


This is interesting - are you using the cab sims at all? I'm finding the amp models with the cab sim on 100% too be way too much through another, real, bass cab. I really the the cab sims though, so that's why I'm looking for a more transparent cab, and let the B3 pretend it's a full rig.

It did take a while to sort out though, as there are a few different 'wet/dry' controls to be aware of - I think there's a global one, a patch level one, and one on the amp sim models in order to blend in the cab sounds. All at 100% is a bit mushy through a proper bass cab, but really nice though a PA cab / headphones / studio monitors.

ICBM

Yes, I'm using the cab sim - the Peavey is actually a hugely deep and boomy-sounding bass amp with a tweeter, so it gets close to a full-range PA-type sound really. It sounds better like this to me than turning the cab sim and the tweeter off - and it gives me the option to DI from the B3 at the same time as going into the amp, since the cab sim is global to both outputs, which is not quite ideal otherwise.

Still, the amp sound has more punch and 'guts' than just going through the PA, to me. So I would think carefully before ditching your real amp entirely… I'm glad I didn't, even though I nearly did because the damn thing weighs almost as much as I do!

mike_l

Col_Decker said:

Ummm that Zoom B3 does look pretty good. But am I brave enough to go back to multi FX? But then does bass sitting in the mix need expensive sperate pedals? Its a tough one ain't it?

I never thought I'd like multi F/X until I got a G3. It's great.

 

All you'll need is a B3 and a wah, and the wah's only if you want to do some covers that have a wah on the bass.

ddlooping

Col_Decker said:

a quick look on ebay and there's one for sale down the road for £40 

Take a punt, you can always resell it with minimal, if any, loss if you don't get on with it.

Col_Decker

Aye, its at £40  with 1 day left, 1 bid, with a minor fault (menus won't scoll up, only down). I asked for the seller for a buy it now price ..... £80 he says.

 

numpty

MarkGAK

Col_Decker said:

Aye, its at £40  with 1 day left, 1 bid, with a minor fault (menus won't scoll up, only down). I asked for the seller for a buy it now price ..... £80 he says.

 

numpty

Give me a shout if you want to get one. I'm sure we could work out a deal!

Col_Decker

shout

 

 

I like the cut of your jib, hit me up on PM

 

 

MarkGAK

Col_Decker said:

shout

 

 

I like the cut of your jib, hit me up on PM

 

 

Done!