4 Pedals Every Bassist Should Have

4 PEDALS EVERY BASSIST SHOULD HAVE

People ask me all the time “Marc, what pedals do I need on my board?” Where the priority changes based on the type of music, my response is generally the same: tuner, octave, overdrive/distortion, compression.

Don’t get me wrong -- I love fuzzes, chorus, envelope filters, reverb, and a ton of other effects. However, more often than not, I find that a wide range of bassists will get a lot of usage out of the aforementioned pedals. Let's explore some options. - Marc Najjar

TUNER | BOSS TU-3

tried and true. It’s an industry standard because it’s easy to read, has a lot of different features (including a type of strobe tuning), and it’s ready to go out of the box. When you’re in tune, the rest of the band has a fighting chance, so why not have a tuner that’s both accurate and easy to see, regardless of the lighting situation? Also, your band won’t hate you which is always a plus (at least not for your tuning, but maybe because of your fashion choices?)

DISTORTION/OD | DARKGLASS B3K MICROTUBE OVERDRIVE

Darkglass B3K Microtube Overdrive - FAT low end, smooth/creamy overdrive, AND a friggin’ blend knob?! Yes, please.With the mini toggle switching for shaping and voicing, it’s really difficult to NOT dial in the right sound. The blend knob makes it perfect for those just looking for little extra hair or those looking for absolute destruction. Or you can just use it as a boost!

COMPRESSION | KEELEY BASSIST LIMITING AMPLIFIER

Looking to make everything sound nice and even across the board? Grab this pedal. This is a must-have in situations where you might be concerned with level spikes, or simply want a good, transparent compressor. Easy-to-use, and it adds a bit of magic to the sound!

Or, if you’re like me, you can just have it handy for those situations where you know you’re going to get too drunk and play WAAAAY harder than you did at rehearsal.

Greer Amps SOMA 63 Vintage Preamp

$229.99

From Greer Amps:

A brave new world of tone, the SOMA ‘63 Vintage Preamp is the first pedal in the XFR series of pedals from Greer Amps. The SOMA ’63 is a true vintage preamp, based on the tone and feel of vintage brown era amplifiers from California. This pedal simulates the entire preamp, phase inverter, power section, and even the feel of the vintage 10 inch Utah speakers that were in those famous brown amps. The tone stack is designed to provide a wide and dynamic range of tonal options to the user. The Presence control works with the tone stack, and is designed to be a wide range control, effecting the overall sound of the entire circuit. The SOMA ’63 features a steel core transformer in the audio signal path. The transformer lends to the overall tone shaping of the circuit, and when the gain is pushed hard, especially with higher output pickups, the small steel core transformer will saturate, just like a vintage amplifier. The SOMA ’63 can be used as a tone-shaping preamp, or as an overdrive pedal. There are a wide variety of tones available in the SOMA ’63, so spend some time with your new pedal, and find the tones that rock your world!

The SOMA ‘63 runs off of a standard, negative center pin 9 volt power supply, and can be ran off of up to 18 volts. At 9 volts, the SOMA ‘63 will have more grit and texture. At 18 volts, you can expect higher headroom, a bit stiffer response, and less overall grit. Greer Amps’ lifetime warranty covers manufacturing defects and component failure to the original owner, it does not cover misuse or abuse.

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OCTAVE | AGUILAR OCTAMIZER

This sub-octave tracks incredibly well, is ultra transparent, and has great blending with the two separate levels for clean/octave. On top of that, there are added tone knobs for a different attack. All in all -- BIIIIIG BOTTOM!

Aguilar Octamizer Analogue Octave Pedal

$179.00

Every bass player wants deep organic tone. The Octamizer creates a wide range of musical sounds an octave below your original note - you will be "octamized"!

The Octamizer features independent volume controls for both the Clean and Octave sounds, so dialing in the exact amount of each is a cinch. The two discrete signal paths also have their own tone controls that were specifically designed to enhance and expand their musical possibilities.

The Clean Tone control uses a Full Spectrum Tilt EQ, allowing for the boosting of treble while cutting bass or boosting of bass while cutting treble. This unique circuit allows you to create a clean sound that creates an octave doubling effect or to blend the sounds together for a great thick, snarky synth tone.

The Octamizer's Octave Filter control is a multi-pole low-pass Filter that lets you shape the octave sound from smooth and deep to edgy and aggressive.

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