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What’s the Best Bass Guitar Effect for Me?

What’s the Best Bass Guitar Effect for Me?

Once upon a time, many bassists would just set up next to the drummer, hook their bass directly up to their amplifier, and they were done. But these days, way more is demanded of the bass player than just filling out the bottom end of the rhythm section, and as a result, bass effects pedals have started to play a much bigger role in shaping the distinct sound of a band. In this Guide, we take first-timers through the finer points of what effects pedals and multi-effects units can actually do to the sound of your bass. If you can’t find the answer to your question here, feel free to contact us!

1. How Can I Make Sure My Bass Can Be Heard?

For many bassists, it can actually be challenging to make sure that what they’re playing can actually be heard, and there are different ways to solve this depending on the situation:

If you want your sound to have more clarity in one or more frequency ranges, then an equalizer (EQ) pedal will definitely help make your sound stick out.
For moments when you need your overall sound to be louder, then a boost pedal is a great option.
If you use slap or tap techniques; want your eighth notes to come through with more clarity, or just want more sustain, then go for a compressor.
If you want a more brutal sound that no one can ignore, then there are three effects to choose from: fuzz makes a bass sound more thick and ‘hairy’, overdrive fluffs up the edges without going too far, while Distortion can completely shred up the sound.

Bass Equalizers
Bass Boosters
Bass Compressors
Bass Fuzz Pedals
Bass Overdrive & Distortion Pedals
Overdrive & Distortion Pedal Buyer’s Guide

2. What Can I Use to Give My Bass Sound More Atmosphere?

Since the eighties, many well-known bassists have proven that a unique bass sound can be shaped in very subtle ways, and there are many different routes to creating your own ‘vibe’:

Do you want to add an extra higher or lower octave to your bass lines, or maybe just a 5th or 3rd? Then you can use a pitch-shifter.
If you want your bass to sound like it’s fluctuating, so you can emulate that New Wave style sound that you hear in a lot of pop music, then try some modulation effects like chorus, flanger, or phaser.
If you want that classic, funk-style sound, then a filter or wah pedal is an essential.
With reverb, you can make your bass sound like it’s being played in all kinds of different spaces, and with a delay, you can even add an echo.

Bass Pitch Shifters
Bass Modulation Pedals
Bass Filter Pedals
Bass Wah Pedals
Bass Reverb and Delay Pedals

3. Can I Use Standard Guitar Effects Pedals with a Bass?

Many bass guitar effects exist simply because bassists started putting guitar effects between their bass and amplifier. Sometimes, this has a really great effect, but guitar effects tend to remove all of the deeper, lower frequencies from the sound. Professional bassists solve this problem by combining an amplifier with effects with a second amplifier with no effects. However, since this option isn’t viable for everyone, effects pedals that are specifically designed for the bass offer a much better solution. These pedals have been specially tuned to handle the lower frequencies of the bass guitar. Some modern bass guitar pedals also come fitted with a blend control pot, making it possible to accurately mix the effected signal with the original, full and clean bass sound.

Bass Guitar Effects
Guitar Effects
Guitar Effects Buyer’s Guide

4. Can I Connect My Bass or Bass Effects Directly to a Mixer?

While punk bands in the seventies would just plug the bass directly into the mixing desk, many bassists find that the full-spectrum sound of their bass gets lost. This is because mixers are designed to take the signal of instruments with a lower impedance, and guitars and basses are high-impedance instruments. As such, it’s a good idea to set up a DI box between your bass guitar and the sound system. This also applies when using effects pedals.

These days, there are many specially designed bass guitar DI boxes available that combine DI functionality with a bass preamp complete with tone controls. This way, you have extensive control over the sound of your bass before it's sent to the sound system. Effects pedals can also be added, and if you opt for a bass multi-effects unit (see Question 5), then a DI function and preamp will often come built-in.

Note: Since a DI box (or an effect/preamp with built-in DI) can be directly connected to a mixer, you can get away without a bass amplifier on stage, using the stage monitors to hear yourself instead. This set-up is not for everyone and is a question of personal preference, since some bassists simply prefer to hear their sound via their own bass amplifier and have the full control that an amp offers.

DI Boxes
DI Box Buyer’s Guide
Bass Preamps/DIs

5. Should I Get a Multi-Effects Unit or Separate Effects Pedals?

If you want access to a wide range of effects, but know that you’ll only use some of them occasionally; prefer versatility over a single ‘signature sound’; and want something that takes up as little space as possible, then a multi-effect pedal is an all-in-one solution. Also, you can often connect multi-effects units directly to a mixing desk (see Question 4).

Are you more of a ‘tone chaser’ and want to blend various effects from various different brands to find the perfect bass sound? Then building a collection of separate stompboxes is probably going to be more appealing. This is not only the best route for bassists that want to find their own signature sound, but for bassists that want to put together a kind of ‘greatest hits’ of renowned bass sounds that can only be created by combining specific bass effects pedals.

Bass Guitar Multi-Effects Units
Bass Guitar Stompboxes

6. What Else Do I Need To Get with My Bass Guitar Effects?

If you’re working with one unit, like a multi-effect pedal, DI box or preamp, then a pair of 6.3mm mono (TS) jack cables is all you’ll need: one cable connects your bass to the effects unit, then the second cable connects the unit to your amplifier or sound system.

If you’re working with a few different pedals, then you’ll need a few more things:

Two 6.3mm mono (TS) jack cables, or three if using stereo effects.
To connect the different pedals to each other, then you’ll need shorter versions of the cables mentioned above. These are referred to as patch cables.
You can often power pedals using batteries, but a power supply and a daisy-chain is a much more practical option (see our Guide for pedal power supplies). To make sure that more expensive effect pedals get enough power and are protected from overloading, a multi-pedal power supply unit with isolated outputs is the ultimate solution.
If you want a neat way of setting up all of your pedals and keeping in the right order, then you might want to invest in a pedalboard and maybe a bag to carry it to rehearsals and gigs.

6.3mm Mono Jack Cables
Patch Cables
Effect Pedal Power Supply Buyer’s Guide
Pedalboards

Links & More Information

Blogs & Buyer’s Guides

Effect Pedal Power Supply Buyer’s Guide
Overdrive & Distortion Buyer's Guide
Looper Buyer's Guide
Bass Guitar Buyer's Guide
Pedalboard Buyer's Guide
Guitar Effect Buyer's Guide