Anyone use effects for bass?

[bsee]

I use the Bass Pod XT pretty regularly, though more for modelling than for effects in the classical sense of the word.  Occasionally I use the envelope filter and there's a cool synth strings patch that I mix in a parallel effects loop for a passage here and there.

[ajdover]

I use:
 
A Morley Power Wah
An Ibanez Bass Chorus (it's ancient, but it works)
A Boss Tremelo
A Carl Martin Compressor
 
That's it.
 
Alan

[keith_h]

I wish I still had my Morley Power Wah.
 
I occasionally use:
MXR Stereo Chorus (old A/C powered model)
MXR Envelope Filter
 
I'm looking to add a volume pedal to even out the
level when I go from single to both pickups on my BB.
 
Keith

[xlrogue6]

jlp--
I've been using a BBE 411 Maximizer for 10+ years--every other component has changed, but the Maximizer makes every rig I've used sound better to my ears.  (My SF2 runs a close second in longevity in the rig.)  I tried the Aphex unit recently with my Walkabout combo and didn't care for it--sounded mushy when engaged, to my ears.  Also, its gain structure didn't work well with my Rogues--distortion when using the passive setting, and padded down too hard with the active.  To my ears, the rig sounded much better without the Aphex, exactly the opposite experience I've had with the Maximizer.  YMMV.....

[gare]

The Aphex seems geared more towards processing low end frequencies and accentuating them. Thats works nice for recording and maybe live vocals. The BBE seems to restore some upper end and presence to the sound,especially after eq's and processors.
 
G

[edwin]

I used to use a ridiculous setup that sounded great. Various envelope filters, distortions, Whammy pedal, wah, Lexicon LXP5 and LXP plus a Jamman. It took up a huge amount of real estate and a 12 space rack. Now I just use a Lex G2 and the Jamman (although I did just add an Electro Harmonix Bass Microsynth, it's awesome!) and I can get almost everything I had before plus more. Lots of fun!
 
Edwin

[alanbass1]

Edwin,
Sounds wacky-ville.  Bob Moog does a set of envelope filter type effects, might give these a try.  Any other makes out there?

[spacebass]

Toys, I love 'em and I hate 'em:  I presonally use:
 
Boss Octave pedal
Digitech Bass Chorus
Digitech Bass Delay
 
which I run into a Aphex Aural Excited.  Which gets some very heavy low end, fat round tones.  I am trying to get my hands on Lovetone Meatball, but it's just not in the budget today.  For those of you who love the Mutron, this thing will warp your mind!

[adriaan]

Gare, at the risk of sounding like a puritan - but you mention The BBE seems to restore some upper end and presence to the sound,especially after eq's and processors. That's exactly what fx units do: they add nice things to your sound -but always at a cost.
 
Go direct into the BBE and I'm sure you'll notice that it takes away good things. Perhaps less than a stomp box, but still ...

[alanbass1]

The reason I have always gone 'natural' with the exception of high quality compression is that effects often 'muddy' the sound by stripping out the definition of the notes.  However, I want to have a go with a few things for a change.  Anyone tried the Boss Bass Synthesizer pedal that I noticed on the MusicToyz site?

[mattheus]

I've played with the Boss Synth lots of times. It has nothing to do with that 'natural' bass-sound. But it big fun to play with. It gives yoy the opportunity to make a (almost) real synth-sound. It has little problems with the tracking. The muddier the original bassound, the more problems you have with the tracking. You have to play very accurat.
But, like i stated earlier, it's fun to play with. You always have people in the audience who will look at you with the idea that wath they hear isn't real....

[gare]

Hi Adriaan
I agree with you,I guess my remarks were feeable attempt to compare the 2 units,which to my ears are opposite.
I've always found it interesting to see how others do things,after all where would we all be without experimenting and making mistakes ?  
Never tried going just into the BBE,have to give that a try,I've always used it to try and restore some brilliance at the end of the signal chain.  
It's interesting to see how other people setup their signal chain. Played with a guitarist once who ran a delay before a distortion box,I thought it sounded terrible, he thought it sounded great..to each their own.
Gary

[dadabass2001]

Back in the 70s, I was giging regularly in Iowa, and used my stereo Guild Starfire with an Electro Harmonix Y-Trigger Filter on the neck pickup and a Small Stone Phase Shifter on the bridge pickup. I never used them together. The Trigger Filter was cool for Chameleon ( a poor man's Mutron), but has died long ago. The Small Stone is still kicking. I might break it out again and try it with my Epics.
 
Mike

[811952]

I play through a bass pod pro, but don't really use the effects much, though it does have a nice feature of being able to cross the effects over to keep the low unaffected.  I have been known to run a true stereo chorus through the mains, which makes the bass sound huge (adding a touch of reverb to the lows really enhances the effect too).  I've also got a BBE unit that really livens up a dead room, but I don't use it all the time.  I am a big fan of a little compression to get the ringing JE I'm-beating-the-Hell-out-of-my-Rotosounds tone, though I don't like losing control of my dynamics that much.  It's like everything has elements of Ying and elements of Yang and I don't know if I'll ever find a good balance of either!  I use a little Alesis microverb on my DX-7 that's run by a set of Fatar bass pedals, just to get a bit less definition and a better rumble...
John
 
(Message edited by 811952 on April 22, 2005)

[spose]

I play clean and straight 99% of the time...but there's a couple of tunes that I need the funk on...so I use these tools for that.
 
My Series bass into a Crowther Audio Prunes & Custard - EBS OctaBass - EH Q-tron in a loop that only goes to my dedicated high cab. In the rack is EQ and a Rane DC24 dual band compressor which are always in the signal path.
 
http://www.lilypix.com/photos/data/c81e728d9d4c2f636f067f89cc14862c/600_p42002.jpg
 
http://www.lilypix.com/photos/data/c81e728d9d4c2f636f067f89cc14862c/600_p41993.jpg