Bass Pedal Question

crocodilemachine

Ok, so I just saw the title and figured it'd be a good place to throw in a question of mine

Anyone know of any good bass pedals?
The sounds I'm looking looking for are metal and funky

Any suggestions?

Pheezer

It's never a good idea to hijack someone else's thread.

crocodilemachine

Righto, point taken. Still question still stands... anybody? Anybody?

Greg343

I bought a Boss Overdrive ODB-3 pedal off eBay for 60$, and it has extreme flexibility. Anywhere from a soft buzz(like "Time Is Running Out"- Muse) to a full on guitar style crunch.
The only real down side is the price(like 90$ retail), but it was totally worth it for me. Really high quality.

Knob

Guitar pedals will work fine with basses, so try out some popular guitar stompboxes, I suppose. Just try to avoid things like filters, since they're looking for different frequencies than a bass generates.

Pheezer

Knob wrote: »

Guitar pedals will work fine with basses, so try out some popular guitar stompboxes, I suppose. Just try to avoid things like filters, since they're looking for different frequencies than a bass generates.

I think that pedals that work on phase shifting designed for a guitar are also a bad idea with a bass guitar. Like chorus pedals, manual phase shifters, and flangers. I could be very wrong though.

Also tube distortion pedals, I think those tend to die when you use the wrong type with the wrong instrument. Luckily I don't think the OP is going to drop $250 on a pedal, so it's unlikely that he'd end up in possession of a tube based pedal anyhow. Anything priced at the entry level range is going to be a transistor based pedal that won't care what frequency the input/output signal will be.

I'll second Boss though. They're built like tanks and their overdrive pedals have a really meaty sound.

Nrthstar

Greg343 wrote: »

I bought a Boss Overdrive ODB-3 pedal off eBay for 60$, and it has extreme flexibility. Anywhere from a soft buzz(like "Time Is Running Out"- Muse) to a full on guitar style crunch.
The only real down side is the price(like 90$ retail), but it was totally worth it for me. Really high quality.

I use the same pedal, and I've used it as really my only pedal (besides my fender tuning pedal). It is an exceptionally versatile pedal, and once I threw it against my Ampeg SVT-3 pro, it can send a burning metal tone that's just unstoppable. Yeah, I'd love to get Ampeg's overdrive pedal, but I just don't have that kinda cash. This combination has lasted me perfectly for over a year now and gets me threw every show I've played (hardcore/metal). Funk is a different matter.


I've used a boss flanger and chorus guitar pedal before, which was cool for funk, but I tried to use them sparingly. The best funk lines only use pedals for a very short bursts rather than a whole song.

T-bolt

I have a lot of pedals I use with bass and recommend:

EHX Little Big Muff - the Big Muff fuzz sound in a small package, some low-end loss if not EQ'd right, but sounds really cool - under $80 CDN new

EHX bass microsynth - some out of this world synth-like sounds, biggest drawback is that its not programmable, just a bunch of sliders that are very sensitive.. cool studio pedal, but I use a Korg G5 live (which is programmable) - about $300 CDN new

MXR Bass Auto-Q - funky filter effects that's geared for bass. Not as quacky as other envelope filters but more useable - about $150 CDN new - also try the DOD envelope filter (which Flea from RHCP uses)

Sansamp Bass Driver DI - the Ampeg SVT sound in a box, I use the programmable one and can go from a warm clean to big overdrive - about $200 CDN new

crocodilemachine

Sweet, the MXR Auto-Q caught my eye as far as funky goes.
I probably should have mentioned something about the actual bass I plan on using it on (Warwick Corvette.)
But from what I hear that isn't too big a factor though.
And am I going to have a problem with many of these on smaller amps? I use a 120w most of the time (Should be set with most pedals there, right?) then I use a 60w and a 20w for practice (These are what I'm worried about)

Pheezer

No, pedals don't care how large the amp they run into is. You might find that on lower powered amps the sound tends to go to hell if you turn them up too high with effects pedals in play, but if it's just your practice amp in your bedroom then you're probably not turning it up to 10 anyhow, now are you

Knob

DrDizaster wrote: »

Knob wrote: »

Guitar pedals will work fine with basses, so try out some popular guitar stompboxes, I suppose. Just try to avoid things like filters, since they're looking for different frequencies than a bass generates.

I think that pedals that work on phase shifting designed for a guitar are also a bad idea with a bass guitar. Like chorus pedals, manual phase shifters, and flangers. I could be very wrong though.

Also tube distortion pedals, I think those tend to die when you use the wrong type with the wrong instrument. Luckily I don't think the OP is going to drop $250 on a pedal, so it's unlikely that he'd end up in possession of a tube based pedal anyhow. Anything priced at the entry level range is going to be a transistor based pedal that won't care what frequency the input/output signal will be.

I'll second Boss though. They're built like tanks and their overdrive pedals have a really meaty sound.

even a tube driver should work fine. The bass isn't generating more power than a guitar, so you're not gonna blow your tubes. the reason i warned away from frequency modulators and such is that they'll either do not a damn thing or just sound like shit. it isn't like running a bass through a guitar amp, where there's a very real risk of blowing the thing. only way you're gonna explode a pedal is by running too much juice through it.

I just didn't want to see a dude blow $50 on a like a crybaby instead of a bass wah and wondering why it sounded like a butt