# New bass guitar player here: What effects pedals should I buy?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bass-guitar-player-here-what-effects-pedals-should-i-buy/682949
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 5, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bass-guitar-player-here-what-effects-pedals-should-i-buy/682949 "2014-03-05T18:01:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2014, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bass-guitar-player-here-what-effects-pedals-should-i-buy/682949/21 "2014-03-08T22:52:30Z")

</div>

I’ve been playing bass for many years, and I’ll generally echo the sentiment so far: you don’t generally need much in the way of effects when it comes to bass.

I’ve usually got a tuner and a delay and that’s about it. If my amp didn’t have channel switching and a nice overdrive, I’d have a distortion of some sort. If I was playing reggae at all, I’d get an autowah/octave divider/envelope filter of some sort.

I’ve never been a fan of compression pedals, chorus or flanger on bass, and reverb really does just muddy that instrument up. So, I don’t recommend those.

If the SWR lacks anything, it’s tubes. If you want to keep its headroom while getting somewhere near the B-15 tone without having to shell out the money for a SVT, you could get a tube preamp. A good one will give you nice smooth compression with a little bit of pleasant distortion. Prices on them vary greatly, from $50-crazy, and they all have a different character, so be sure to play through it before you buy one.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-bass-guitar-player-here-what-effects-pedals-should-i-buy/682949.md?page=1)