using effects on bass

[thunder_bird]

Hi guys, i find that using fx on bass seems to be a bit more hit and miss than on guitar ive found only a few fx's that can be used in a real situaution. Infact i really only use fuzz and thats it. What fx do u guys use?

[pagodas_fiesta]

I don't actually use it because I don't play bass, but have you ever tried experimenting with delay?

[PhantomLord]

delay with slap bass should be cool

[SG_74]

Flange with Slap bass for ultimate 80's cheese

[Sloppy J.]

I had a boss chorus pedal that sounded great on my bass for melodic, arpeggiated kinda stuff.

Envelope filter (Q-tron) can be fun with fuzz for some funky stuff.(bootsy collins, flea)

Or a wah pedal with fuzz for Cliff Burton's(old metallica bass player) solo anesthesia.

Octave effects can be pretty sweet also, really thicken up your sound.

Delay seems like it could have some cool possibilities, I mean listen to what Brian May from queen can do with an echo box, but on bass I never could do much with it.

Flanger, Phaser, Rotating speaker simulators couldnt do much with them either.

[Plstrcast]

Listen to Geezer Butler for some great bass effects ideas! I tend to stay clean, the ONLY thing that goes between my bass & amp these days is my Tech-21 DI box ( http://www.tech21nyc.com/bassdriver.html )... GET ONE!!! Or, at least TRY it! It will make ANY amp sound like a mutha effer! That, and it's great for recording direct to the board.

[Rogue Axel]

I use a boss Bass overdrive pedal, and its really cool. You can change all the features around ,but its not one of the higher tech ones.

[bugman]

I don't play bass but I got this from Vic Wooten's website:

"I use a custom MidiMix controller for the Sound Canvas and the MidiVerb. The Sound Canvas allows me to play sustained notes and chords on tunes ike "Stomping Grounds" and my solo spot in the show. I use a "Visual Volume" pedal to control the overall output."

And the bass player from Ben Folds Five used distortion.

[Rogue Axel]

arent overdrive and distortion like the same thing?

[t_shirtsnjeans]

Overdrive pushes power through a channel until the channel breaks up, distortion sends dirty sounds into a clean channel. Quite a bit of sound difference and depends on what you like.

I've used chorus and reverb on bass and it is very nice especially on stereo through the sweep. Bass effects are better than guitar effects for bass, on one of my recorders I have a fretless setting that is very cool for recording the more soothing songs.

Mike Anthony uses delay and flange on his bass on "Ultra Bass" on the live cd. I think he also used a pitch shifter too for the deep dives, I'm not sure on that one though.

[ModestCargo]

A wah with a bass is kinda cool.

I can't stand distorted/overdriven/fuzz bass guitar.

[Globe_Dasher]

Les Claypool uses a lot of auto-wah for his newer music. I think he used overdrive and chorus before. Geddy Lee uses the overdrive and chorus on a lot of the Rush music, I believe. I have tried this on some recordings and it seems to separate the bass from other instruments, and give it a little more low-end.