This topic is something usually reserved for our shorter scale six string playing friends. In fact the use of anything more than a subtle compressor is often a daunting thought for many bass players. Despite common misconceptions, the impact of a few well chosen pedals in a bass signal chain can be immense.
However, a few words of caution should be noted, before we look too much further into this exciting world of sound bending and tone crafting.
So far I haven’t stumbled across a ‘Stomp-box Anonymous’ group meeting anywhere near me – and there really should be!
Collecting pedals can become a real habit in the truest sense. Searching every dimly lit music shop glass cabinet for that one pedal that will help you on the eternal quest for your ‘perfect tone.’ Scrolling through pages and pages of online auction sites, looking for that vintage unit that your favorite bass hero was known to have stomped on occasionally. Searching the streets late in the evening to find a 24 hour store. Ready to pay over the odds for a simple 9v battery to get you through the night. My name is Greyum and I am a Pedalaholic.
With the variety of different coloured little metal boxes out there promising mind bending experiences and tonal nirvana, the choices can seem overwhelming.
I am going to explain a few of my favorite pedal combinations and hopefully shed a little light on this mysterious sonic world.
The first unit I want to look at is a pedal that I simply wont leave home without. The MXR M80 DI+.
I was first introduced to this magic little swiss army box when I was working as bass tech for James LoMenzo (Megadeth, Black Label Society etc) I quickly noticed that this pedal was on the floor in front of many pro players out there. And rightfully so.
The reason I cant ever afford to leave the M80 at home is fairly simple.
The harsh reality is this. When you are playing different clubs, pubs and venues every night of the week, the chance of meeting a sound guy who has no idea of bass tone is pretty high.
The M80 is very cool little unit that acts as a Pre amp/EQ, Active DI and Bass Distortion all in one tidy metal package.
You can EQ exactly the tone you are after using the EQ dials and colour switch (pre set EQ shape), ask the guy for an XLR cable from the desk and you have upped your chances of your bass tone not sucking out front hugely. Plus if the he is generous enough to provide you with a phantom power (48v) feed from the desk, you can power the pedal through that same cable.
The use of the EQ and COLOUR functions don’t end here though. I tend to find that even with the EQ set completely flat and the COLOUR switch pushed in, the unit breaths a whole new dimension into pretty much any bass set-up. That pre-set EQ shape really does fatten things up massively without ever really muddying the bottom end at all.
The other great thing about this pedal is the distortion, it is still among my all time favorite aggressive bass tones. You can set the gain dial to be as conservative or outrageous as you like, shape the distortion EQ and then use the blend dial to decide how much you want the distortion to growl though. Leaving you plenty of room to keep the bottom end nice and round while you dial in just enough bite to liven things up.
The reason I have waffled on quite so much about the MXR M80+ is that it is very dominant in nearly all my pedal set ups. It even does a fantastic job as a signal splitter too.
As you can see from the photos, the majority of my pedal chains involve two output signals.
This gives me facility to balance a round, fat and full clean bass tone alongside whatever tonal mayhem I’ve decided to create with the pedal board. This is a great way of making sure that the bottom end never disappears and that you can always maintain your fundamental role as a bass player. There are many ways of achieving this, but this is by far my favorite.
Whenever possible I like to send the front of house sound man an un-effected (dry signal) signal from my bass using my M80 (with the exception of that magical COLOR button pushed in ) as well as the signal from the end of my effects chain (wet signal).
Usually this wet signal is a good quality microphone placed correctly in front of a bass cabinet and then dealt with accordingly at the front of house (FOH).
However having a second M80 at the end of my effects is a fantastic safety net.
Should the FOH guy not be the most competent engineer in the world I can diplomatically make his life easier by telling him not to worry about the mic and just use the second DI for my effects.
If the engineer is however one of the many fantastic guys I have had the pleasure to work with over the years, then the second DI really is just a safety net for any unexplained issues with the microphone or its cabling. Many a time has having that second DI been a godsend when I’m about to go onstage and the microphone line has stopped responding.
So regardless of other pedals chosen, this is my usual signal chain.
Bass into M80, DI Output from M80 to mixing desk.
From the output of this M80 I go into my choice of pedals.
at the end of my effects pedal chain I then go into another M80, I send the output of this to my amplifier and the DI out to the mixing desk.
(This signal chain also gives me the option to have both an effected amplifier and a clean amplifier on stage, which I often do – using the the M80’s secondary output to send a signal to a totally clean amp)
The next step is to highlight a few of the key effects types I like to use in my effected (wet) signal.
For some of the genres of music I play, a fat bass synthy tone is required. I have owned and tried pretty much all of the dedicated bass synth pedals out there, with all their multiple controls and settings and have had great fun with them all. However the most useable synth tones I have found have been from combining each aspect of these synth units available as individual pedals.
Most Synth pedals have controls for the register(octave) that the note is re-produced in, along with controls for a filter and a distortion, gain or fuzz control.
My favorite synth bass tone is achieved by setting a very dominant lower octave (one octave below normal) using a Bass Octave stomp box. This is always added to the very front of my signal chain, as it has much more of a chance of tracking the lower notes without too much pitch modulation when its input is a simple clean bass note. Next I send this into an envelope filter (auto wah) for that squelchy, quacky, funky bootsy vibe. The BASS AUTO Q is great for this as it has a blend dial allowing you to keep as much of the original tone as you like.
Next I like to send all this to a fuzz box box to really drive the deep funky tone truly into synthy territory. My favorite for this being the BASS BLOW TORCH, as even used on its own it has a very synthy voicing. The pedal is extremely controllable using the various EQ dials and mid shift switch, allowing you to fuzz up the mids where they are heard bestleaving the bottom end nice and fat. Actually as the BLOW TORCH is so synthy sounding on its own, I like to experiment putting this as early in the signal chain as possible. I often switch this unit around with the AUTO Q depending on the sound Im looking for.)
Although I have a lot of love for these deep, fat, synthy bass tones, my ears are really at home listening to the array of more classic, retro, spacey rock sounds. All of which make great use of modulation (chorus, Phasers, flangers etc) delays and of course overdrive, fuzz and distortion.
When it comes to modulation my favorite effect has to be a good old fashioned sounding phaser. A phaser can really bring some movement into a bass part and change a straight ahead rock bass line into a spaced out spiral of notes. Similar to that of an old lesslie speaker on the bass notes of hammond organ. I have recently fallen in love with the new MXR Phase 90 custom shop reissue phaser pedal, it is reissue of the 1974 Phase 90 pedal which has been long sort after as a collectors piece. It sounds extremely authentic with a huge rich and deep tonal palette and has already replaced my regular phase 90 on my main pedal board. Which I never thought could be possible.
Delay is an often overlooked effect on bass, when used correctly is sounds fantastic. I recently discovered some live desk recordings of a show I played with Ozric Tentacles back in 2004 at The Concorde in Brighton and I had no idea just how much cool spacey delay our FOH guy was using on my bass in the more dubby moments, very cool. For more in your face delay just listen to the start of ‘One of these days’ by Pink Floyd, one of my favorite recorded bass moments of all time.
One last thing I want to talk about is this use of stereo effects pedals. When used correctly can really bring another dimension to your bass tone. The two I like especially are the STEREO CHORUS and STEREO TREMOLO.
Chorus on bass cab sound great and give a really cool late 80’s early 90’s vibe, spread though out the stereo field this can sound even richer and fuller.
Using a Stereo Tremolo live is a lot of fun. I like to send my effects signal into the Tremolo as the last effect in the chain and then send the two outputs of the tremolo to two M80 DI’s. I ask the FOH guy to pan one DI left of centre and the other right. Then when I step on the Tremolo and hold some big long notes they shift from one side of the room to the other. Very Trippy!
Of course these ‘time based’ effects, modulations,delays etc can be sent to an amplifiers effects loop if it is has one. This will make these effects really stand out in the mix. However I personally like to use some fairly old school valve amps for my stage sound, which don’t have this facility.
This is also the reason that I choose not to you use a stomp box compressor in most of my current set ups. I like the natural compression that a driven valve amp delivers.
Of course the inclusion of a well chosen compressor will be a huge asset to the majority of pedal boards, as it will reduce any unwanted peaks in your playing, allowing you to turn up the over all signal, providing a more even, fatter, punchier sound that will sit much better in the mix.
So there you go, an insight in to my world of ‘low end groove twisting’
Of course this is just scratching the surface, but the the best way to start finding your own sounds is to grab some funny looking little boxes, link them all together and start experimenting.
If all else fails and you start to loose faith, just plug a wah pedal into an old school fuzz box and have your self a good old fashioned fuzz-wah freak-out. Usually works for me.
