Bass Effects

[Apostrophe (')]

Noob to the bass.

Is it ok to plug a bass into effect pedals/amp modellers that are designed for guitars? (Boss OD, Line6, etc.) It's just the amps/speakers that you have to worry about, correct?

[ self-answered edit ]

Found this blurb on Boss' site:

Just because the following pedals don't say "Bass" on them doesn't mean bassists
can't tap in to their unique effects. In fact, some of these pedals are "must-have" effects
for any serious bassist.

And the Tech21 site has sample mp3s with a bass being used with their Fender amp modeller.

[Renniw]

I see no problem using guitar effects on bass. The only thing to consider is that these effects may not reproduce bass frequencies as well as bass oriented effects.

Another thing, if the effect sounds good to your ear, then it's good...

[bassman blue]

I see no problem using guitar effects on bass. The only thing to consider is that these effects may not reproduce bass frequencies as well as bass oriented effects.

Another thing, if the effect sounds good to your ear, then it's good...

yes, that's my understanding too... you'll notice that some companies like EHX and MXR now have specific 'bass' pedals that apparently ensure no loss of the bass frequencies.

[james on bass]

I'm not really big on effects. I've had the same guitar Chorus pedal for over 20 years now that I only use occassionally, mostly with my passive fretless. I find it works well with passive basses, but with active electronics it really sucks out the low end. If it was something I used a lot of, I'd try out a bass specific chorus.

[Apostrophe (')]

I tried it out - the two effects that seemed the most useful were chorus and delay. The rest I can't see using alot, unless it was some crazy funk/disco solo.

Most of the amp modellers I tried didn't sound quite right - not surprisingly the Fender Bassman was the exception.

Now all I have to do is learn how to play, especially without the excessive fret noise, lol.

[Milothicus]

using a guitar amp (head) is fine, but may not be voiced well for bass.

it's the speaker that you can damage by using bass through a non-bass speaker. the problem is pushing the coil further than it was intended to go...

[mhammer]

The question of adapting effects to the bass context comes up fairly frequently over in the DIY Stompbox Forum. Mostly in the form of "What do I need to do to make Effect X suitable for bass?".

The answer is complicated; it depends on the category of effect. For instance, some effects involve merely a range shift. So an EQ pedal has the frequency bands shifted downwards where they can control those frequencies of greater relevance to bass. An autowah usually has the filter range bumped downwards.

In some cases, adaptation simply means taking steps to make sure that no bass is inadvertently cut out of the signal path by using larger cap values in certain places.

You also get the offbeat cases. Consider chorus and flanger pedals. Many of these have the effect of detuning the notes heard. While that may be well and good for guitar, the rest of the band needs the pitch of the bass to be rock solid and always identifiable in the middle of the mix. Consequently, a common adaptation for chorus and flanger pedals is to shave the bass off the wet/delayed signal that gets mixed in with dry/clean signal so that the pitch-wobbled parts you hear most are those in the 400hz and up range. There will still be pitch wobble across the entire delayed signal, but the note fundamentals on the wet side will be relegated a bit more to the background, and one will be able to tolerate it (as a bandmate) more.

When I make a chorus, I usually do two things to it:
1) I identify the cap that sets the low-end rolloff of the wet signal, and I drop the value of that cap to maybe 1/5 the original value or smaller (e.g., .1 would become .015-.022uf), and
2) (assuming there is no existing wet-level or mix control) identify the mixing resistor that sets the wet level and replace it with a fixed resistor one common value down, and a suitable value pot (e.g., if the mixing resistor was 47k, it would be replaced with 43k or 39k in series with a 250k-500k pot).

These two changes shave off the objectionable pitch wobble from the bass signal, and also allow one to dial in subtler chorus settings.

In still other cases, adapting effects for bass do not require changes as such, but rather permit one to take advantage of certain opportunities. For example, distortion adds harmonic content and applies large gain factors in the process of doing so. Unfortunately, that adds noise and hiss. If one is distorting a bass, though, you don't really need that much high end, so you can afford to use more severe lowpass filtering without sacrificing the character of the distortion. Trimming back on treble does wonders for making distortions sound quieter.

[Ripper]

alot of bass players like the EHX Sovtek Big Muff too. Too my ears it works pretty good on bass.

[Michelle]

I picked up a Behringer Bass V-Amp Pro a few months back just for fun. It has some useful fx but there are no footswitches, I pretty much only use a bit of reverb with some compression anyway. As for the amp/cab simulations, I find it sounds best to me on 'Ampeg' especially thru an Ampeg. http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y112/michelle_andree/shrug.gif

Great tonal flexibility and there is room for 125 pre-sets, I'm only using 1. There is a bit of digital noise but hey, it's a Behringer. Great fun to be had with the pc interface, downloads, and it has DI. Also a cheap way to fill 2 rack spaces. :)

I could see this as very useful for straight DI or as a headphone amp. It is also good for guitar and using it for that thru a 450W Ampeg is murder on the ears. :banana:

[buckaroobanzai]

So far I haven't found a lot of use for bass effects - I find they were just muddying up my live sound.

What I did do once, though, when invited to a mostly-metal jam with a lot of spare stage space, was run DOD FX-55 Overdrive thru a 2nd smaller amp ( in this case a Behringer BX1200) alongside my Hartke 3500. I didn't care that the overdrive sucked up some of the bass because the Hartke filled in the bottom end. Played Metallica tunes all night. Takes up a lot of stage space, though, and don't get me started on hauling 2 bass amps around.

[Apostrophe (')]

I'm using the bass strictly for home recording, so I was actually thinking about getting the Zoom B2 ($110). I may just wait a few years and pick up something of higher quality that has both guitar and bass modellers.

I picked up a Behringer Bass V-Amp Pro a few months back just for fun. It has some useful fx but there are no footswitches, I pretty much only use a bit of reverb with some compression anyway. As for the amp/cab simulations, I find it sounds best to me on 'Ampeg' especially thru an Ampeg. http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y112/michelle_andree/shrug.gif

Great tonal flexibility and there is room for 125 pre-sets, I'm only using 1. There is a bit of digital noise but hey, it's a Behringer. Great fun to be had with the pc interface, downloads, and it has DI. Also a cheap way to fill 2 rack spaces. :)

I could see this as very useful for straight DI or as a headphone amp. It is also good for guitar and using it for that thru a 450W Ampeg is murder on the ears. :banana:

[smorgdonkey]

I find the 'default' bass recording tone needs a little bit of flange and that's it. I typically record it dry and add EQ and a touch of flange using software afterwards. I like that method because if it is too much or too little the changes can be made. Non-destructive editing is great for that. If you record it with 'too much' then it can't be undone.

[Milkman]

My tastes lean away from effects on Bass.

I tiny bit of chorus can be ok in small doses but generally I like a deep well eq'd bass with a clean and defined attack.

I enjoy bassists who use their fingers AND if well played, a pick.

Distortion effects and sounds like "bass balls" make me cringe.

One notable exception is the intro to Batlescar, by Max Webster, and featuring RUSH. The fuzz bass in the intro is pretty cool, but of course there ARE two bassists playing in that tune and one of them is Geddy.

These days I'm really digging Tony Levin. He gets some really deep tones and has interesting ways of getting a sharp attack as well. Very musical.

As other have said, there's no harm in plugging a bass in to any guitar modeller.

[bassman blue]

One notable exception is the intro to Batlescar, by Max Webster, and featuring RUSH. The fuzz bass in the intro is pretty cool, but of course there ARE two bassists playing in that tune and one of them is Geddy.

Another good argument for running a clean sound and one that is affected by your effect of choice. You retain your bottom, punch and clarity and add the effect for added colour...

[mhammer]

Milkman's comments are why I find almost all effects for bass need to have some blend of dry and effect. The other players in the band HAVE to be able to refer to the bass as a rock solid pitch reference. Anything that blurs that pitch reference, unless it is a whacked-out solo or something, throws things off. So there needs to be something in the effected signal that maintains that pitch reference. Small wonder that bass fuzzes often blend in clean with distortin, bass auto-wahs often have a filter/clean blend control, and bass chorus/flanger pedals often filter out the bass content from the time-modulated signal. And small wonder that bass players that borrow guitar-players' pedals come away with a poor impression of pedals.

[Gunny]

As a guitar player I used the usual assortment of effects. As a bass player I experimented with all the various effects but I choose to play clean and deep and that does not include any kind of effects, not even octave ones. I plug straight into the amp.