Anyone use effects for bass?

[slammer]

I play with brianstatik; we are an electronic progband.  i use an Eventide eclipse.  Many times it doesn't even sould like a bass, better than MIDI real time tracking!
 
I run a wet and dry channel, so I can decide how out there I want to be on the fly.

[David Houck]

Jim; I'm listening to some of your mp3 samples.  Very nice!

[olieoliver]

I've used some light effects in the past put I'm more of a straight signal man. I have nothing against effects just not my bag.

[bigredbass]

This ever happen to you?  Buy effect just like this week's bass hero uses.  Got all stoked up on a Pino Palladino/Paul Young article, just HAD to have a BOSS octave box like PP uses.
 
Guess what?  I'm no Pino Palladino and nothing I play sounds even half-way right once I fire up the thing! Learned 'Burn Your Playhouse Down': Never played it, the band could've cared less . . .
 
J o e y

[bassdr]

I really like my EBS octabass, it gives me lower notes than a 4 string without having to go to a 5 and is super clean- Michael (Flame Koa Essence)

[jazzyvee]

I recently bought a Line 6 Pod XT Live for guitar. It generally goes against my preference for analogue pedals due to their warmer sound than digital.
 
Really I got it hoping I would get a more consistent live sound when on tour based on the idea that their modelling amps would be reasonably authentic and I could just use the backline amp as just a poweramp.
 
However so far having tweaked with the sounds I have yet to find anything that gives any warmth, that inherent feeling of power nor the clarity I was hoping for.
 
I still find it a bit thin and buzzy and over processed for the overdriven, distortion sounds. With a clean setting it's very digital especially in the higher register the sound is almost unnatural for a guitar sound.
 
I have a gripe about these digital boxes not giving a straight bypass of the digital processing and this is no difference.
 
In my analogue board I have a Boss line switcher to  keep my effects out of line till I need them. I plan to try the Line6 with that over the weekend and also use the blend setting which should basically give me a wet and dry mix of effect and clean guitar which I hope will keep the clarity of my Orion guitar and I can add as much of the XT Live as I feel neccessary.
 
I have a mate who has the rack version and swears by it..... so far I've only swore at it.
 
Its not horrendous but sounds very digital. I'll have to spend a bit more time trying to tweak the settings to get some some warmth out of it. Failing that you may see it on ebay... lol  
 
I still don't think digital is there yet with effects pedals but its better than it used to be.  
I tried the Boss GT8 I think it was..... .... hmm didn't blow my socks off but is marginally better than the GT6.
 
(I have a preference for tube amps and have a fender twin which I love, although its in repair at the moment).  
 
Anyone had any success with it?
Any tips for getting warmth. I only plan to use my Alembic on the road this year so experience with Alembic guitars would be good. I have yet to try my strats through it.
 
 
ps: is the display visible under bright sunlight or bright stage lighting?
Jazzyvee

[bigredbass]

I recently STOLE a NIB Aphex 661 TubeEssence compressor.  Had resigned myself to a DBX 160A and then I found this.  Really digging it as it has an automatic mode which 'follows' you from thumb to fingers to pick, pretty handy.  Or you can adjust the 4 controls separately in a manual mode to really fine-tune for a given attack. It seems strange to wait for the tube to warm up before it's ready.
 
I was surprised as I have fairly even attack.  Especially how it tended to tighten up the low Cs and Ds and to pull up the dreaded dead spots on some of my other axes.
 
I'm in line for the new TC G-Sharp:  Dual engine, Rev/Effects, and an all-knob faceplate:  I hate trying to scroll through a bunch of pages in a panic.  
 
I always wanted to add invisible compression, a light chorus in spots, and a very light reverb to my sound.  I bought a great bass and amp, and wanted that final bit of 'studio seasoning' to finish out my sound. I hope I'm fixing to FINALLY be there.
 
J o e y

[lbpesq]

Joey:
 
As a fellow suffer of G.A.S., I can assure you that you will NEVER be there.  For once you actually get there, there becomes here and, guess what?  There's a NEW there there!  Enjoy the compressor and rock on!
 
Bill, tgo

[David Houck]

Joey; I use a TC reverb/effects unit, which I like a lot.  All knob controls sounds great; I'll have to check it out.

[bsee]

I am really liking my POG now.  Makes for a very nice 8-string sound and can do some more wacky things if you're into that.  I just use it in a 3-piece setup to get a fuller tone on some tunes.

[dubalbal]

Hi Folks ,  
 
...just a little word to say that i bought a few month ago the TC electronic G-SYSTEM , originally made for guitar . In fact , these are kind of  studio effects that suits bass too . The presets are tailored for guitar but when u build your own sound , it's really great tool ! Great choruses , delays , reverbs , parametric eq ...everything but distortions...I'm really happy with it !  
 
The only limitation is the tuner , it doesn't match the E+A strings...with the harmonics it's ok however .  
 
I also uses a ebs octaver .  
 
I ' m also intersted in  the ebs valve drive pedal as , i still need to try it !  
 
ALAIN

[jlpicard]

To all those out there considering Digitech pedals etc. I used to work for them as a Sound test tech. It was my job to make sure they worked as advertised before they went out the door. As an employee, I got  to buy anything I wanted for cost! I could never bring myself to buy a single thing! Need I say more? (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)

[paulembic]

My current board/chain rig is:
 
Boss Volume
Boss Distortion/Bass overdrive
Morley bass wah
MuTron III
Digitech synth wah
Digitech Whammy II
Boss Chorus
Boss Flanger
Boss Tremelo
Moog Bass Murf
Digitech Compressor
Boss octave
Boss Loop Station
Boss reverb/delay
a Morley A/B switch fopr multiple basses
then a rack tuner, power conditioner, my Alembic pre amp.
All mogami, monster cables
 
might add more distortion options this year.
 
I used to run the effects only through the treble pickup and ran true stereo-two amps- but I soon will run them mono to a crossover and two cabinets.. this way the Moog, Mutron, synthwah, and other effects sound much richer.
 
Alembic custom 8-string (The Riff King) and soon a 4 string series II (OhMyGa) plus a custom fretless..all stereo
 
BTW I have even more crap for my electric guitars.
 
Over twenty years of simplification and enhancement, improvement and trial, trial, error, error...

[jazzyvee]

I'm not a fan of bass effects live although I had considered using a compressor on my bass rig at one point, but was talked out of it by a forum member so for now I'm clean and controlling dynamics myself. It's good to know the sound I get is just my fingers and my bass.
 
My experience with effects on guitars over the years has led me to be very disappointed with digital devices. I bought a Line6 XTPro live last year for my guitar as I was getting a variety of guitar rigs whilst touring and wanted to get a make sure I was getting a constent tone.
 
They are good at what they do but you do sacrifice so much of the natural sound of the instrument. To keep this to a minimum, I use a line switcher to keep the XT out of the signal path till I need an effect. Then I add it to my clean guitar sound rather than have just the processed guitar sound. That way I keep the clarity of the natural guitar sound.
 
This year I am considering going back to using the analogue stomp boxes as I've managed to arrange for a specific guitar amp which means I should be able to get what I want soundwise.
 
I can't see that I would use bass effects live at all. But then it's not required in the music I do for bass.
Jazzyvee

[hodge]

does anybody have any views on the boss bass overdrive pedal.