Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I mostly use what guitar effects I have. I have not gotten around to buying specific bass effects. Just got my first bass last October and got my first Ric a few months back. I think chours, tremelo, overdrive/distortion, echo/delay, flanger, and some wah pedal all sound good. My flanger has a guitar and bass input jack and is my only bass specific effect. It sounds okay for bass. I am still trying fund the elusive Chris Squire Harmonized sound from Silent Wings Of Freedom. Sounds like some Wah and some chorus and other stuff. What ever it is the one of the best sounding bass sounds ever.

I'm not really into effects that much, but I do think two are kind of "must haves" for various applications... compression and distortion. I use an Aphex Punch Factory for the compression, or the onboard on my TC Classic450. And I use an MXR-M80 for distortion. The nice thing about all of those is they also have high impedance inputs and XLR output and hence function as D.I.'s, as well as having low impedance output via the 1/4'' jack out (which means you preserve a lot of your high end even with long cable runs). The MXR-M80 has proven to be a really great pedal for most gigs as it can also work as a simple volume boost for solos, and it has some basic EQ options.

These are my effects. From left to right: Dunlop 105Q bass wah, Danelectro Tremolo, EBS unichorus, MXR Blowtorch, EBS multicomp and Korg Pitchblack tuner.

In my country band, a compressor, phaser, & fuzz.

For the other stuff, I bust out the Ric-O-Sound and have just a compressor on the neck pickup, and a compressor, bass chorus, POG 2, fuzz, & Bass Micro Synth on the bridge pickup.

Aphex Punch Factory (this is what compression is supposed to sound like!). Joshua, does the compression still work when using only the XLR output? I tried that once when running direct to the PA (no amp whatsoever on stage, just a PA monitor), but it seemed as though the volume and gain knobs were useless in this configuration, so I just went back to running 1/4" out to an XLR converter.

And right now, some kind of old, cheap Zoom multi-effect processor. I really only use fuzz and some kind of dual-octave plus chorus effect from it, though.

The best fuzz/overdrive/distortion I ever had was actually from an ART tube vocal preamp. I drove the tube pretty hard on it, and the resulting sound was incredible! My brother borrowed it, moved to Seattle, and when I asked him about it, he said he needed to replace the tube. I (sadly) never saw it again. Thankfully, they're only like $70, and they even come with a USB output these days!

Tech 21 Leeds
Tech 21 VT
Tech 21 Red Ripper
Electronix Submarine
EH Bassballs
Boss Bass Chorus
Behringer Digital Delay

iamthebassman wrote:Tech 21 Leeds
.....
EH Bassballs

Ooh, do you use the Bassballs much? I discovered that it produced a sound I'd heard that I particularly like and have been thinking about getting one, but just wondering if it'a a bit of a one trick pony.

Don't know if these are exactly effects as they are also my preamps:
SansAmp RPM
SansAmp RBI

And then:
Alesis 3630 Compressor (it's cheesy, but sounds pretty good if you replace the VCA's & Op-Amps)
Lexicon MX200 Reverb
Rane AC22B Crossover

Bass > Boss Chorus > Tech 21 VT > GK MB115 Combo. Sometimes I'll toss an old Dod Flanger in.

Ronn,,, How do you like / compare the Tech 21 Leeds vs. the VT?

effects come and go with me,the only thing i have hung on to is an ART PHAT BOY pedal which has a lot of presets,and can be nice to add some color here and there,and a tech 21 VT pedal which is more of a grind/tone generator sort of thing,but it is ALWAYS on. the vt with my markbass combo just makes every one of my basses sound more alive.
ps i think Chris used a mutron pedal combined with an eventide harmonizer on most of "tormato". i used to own a mutron III pedal and when i linked it with the flanger and drive settings on the phat boy,it came pretty close to that sound.

MXR Phase shifter (nice) and bass octive boost (does not respond at the low end). Good subject, learned some things.

Thanks for the Squire info, gonna look online and do some research.

Boss pedalboard with tuner, programmable EQ, chorus & noise reduction (Tech 21 VT pedal added after pic was taken),and Moog Taurus 3 bass pedals - not an effect, but rather a whole other instrument.
* Ric basses not shown in stage rack - too precious, so they stay in their cases between sets.

superdick2112 wrote:...Moog Taurus 3 bass pedals...

Ooh! NICE!



Someday...

These are my toys at home:
They are Boss GT-10B, Line6 M5, EBS Multidrive, EHX POG2, EHX Freeze and an expression pedal for the M5. The stand alone pedals are in the effect send/return loop of the GT-10B (which can switch them off), the M5 is via Midi connected with the GT-10B.

With my coverband I usually only take the EBS Multidrive and a Korg PB-01 tuner. I might take the Line6 in future. I am not in another band at the moment.