Pedals

All bass players need to have at least one pedal in their arsenal. Bass pedals are very crucial and important when it comes to customizing sound and tone. Different types of pedals have their own roles, and when combined together, multiple pedals (basically a full built pedal board) can really define the sound and tone of the bass.

Here are (some) of the most essential bass pedals that you need to add on your rig:

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.

Distortion/Overdrive

Darkglass B3K Microtube Overdrive – FAT low end, smooth/creamy overdrive, AND a 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!

Aguilar Agro – The AGRO^® offers a wealth of overdriven sounds within an easy to use, 4-knob layout. The SATURATION control offers a tremendous range of distortion while the CONTOUR control allows you to dial in a scooped or a more aggressive, boosted midrange sound. The PRESENCE knob adds the right amount of ‘attack’ ensuring that your bass remains defined even with the most saturated settings. The output LEVEL control guarantees that you’ll be able to get the distortion you want at any volume level.

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!

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.

Preamp

Darkglass Microtubes B7K Ultra Bass Preamp – Darkglass of Finland brings you the B7K Ultra Bass Preamp. The B7K Ultra is a direct box, EQ, and drive pedal all in one, with outputs to run into both an amp and a sound system at the same time. Lo and Hi Mid switches, each with three switchable frequency centers, help to tame out the honk, quack, and mud that plague so many DI basses. And a switchable distortion circuit with Blend control makes it easy to access the right level of tube-like drive just when you need it.