Best Bass Effects: Adding Depth to Your Music!
Bass pedals to switch things up...
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Best Bass Effects: Adding Depth to Your Music · Source: Eugene Sergeev / Alamy Stock Photo
Your bass playing provides the whole vibe to a song. But what if you want to spice things up a little? Our list of the best bass effects will keep things interesting for many jam sessions to come…
Best Bass Effects:
Best Bass Effects: Adding Depth to Your Music!
We all know that electric guitarists are renowned for having an unhealthy addiction to guitar pedals. But why can’t we bass players be part of the same crowd?
Bass effects are just as important as guitar effects. In the old days, all you needed was a couple hundred watts of bass cab and that was you good to go! However, it’s 2025. There is an abundance of weird and wonderful bass effects that are perfect for you.
MXR M87 Bass Compressor
Here, we’ve got arguably one of the most fundamental pedals you can use to improve your overall playing experience.
What is a compressor? This pedal will act as your fairy godmother for an overall improved tone. Guaranteeing a linear sound from your cab and ensuring that there are no harsh peaks or troughs in the mix. Harsh notes get softer, and your soft notes get a little harder.
What are we working with here, then? This compressor from *MXR encompasses many welcome attributes. You get to control the rate of your compression with five easily accessible knobs, allowing you to change the amount of attack, release, input and output.
Boss CEB-3 Bass Chorus
Next up, we’ve got a more budget-friendly way to add another flavour to your playing.
Chorus pedals add a degree of the 1980s. Perfect for clean bass lines, this *CEB-3 provides just enough modulation to keep your overall tone nice and clean. Not sure of what chorus is? Cast your mind back to Nirvana’s Come As You Are.
This example is a great entry-level way to get into varying signal chains. What’s nice about this pedal is that thanks to a low-pass filter, the chorus won’t interfere with your sweet low bass frequencies. Simply load it with a 9v battery and you’re ready to go.
Electro Harmonix Bass Big Muff
Like we said earlier, guitarists usually have all the fun! Often associated with six strings, the Big Muff pedals are renowned in various circles. This time, we’ve got the *Bass Big Muff for four-stringed players.
Overall, this is a fuzz/distortion pedal. We’ve got three large dials that control the overall volume, tone and sustain of the pedal. Furthermore, there’s a subtle two-way switch to switch from a dry distortion to a bass boost.
Unlike the other pedals we’ve seen so far, this pedal is something that most players will either take or leave. It all depends on what type of music you play. However, if you need a relatively cheap fat boost sound with long sustains, look no further!
MXR M288 Bass Octave Deluxe
This next-best bass effects pedal will provide you with the most fun when practising your instrument. Let’s take a closer look at this *MXR Bass Octave Deluxe.
Octave pedals are used on many records to add extra layers to the bass sound. Just listen to Figure It Out by Royal Blood, how good does an octave pedal sound?
Make use of the Growl control to comprehensively customise the amount of low-end dirt you want. Furthermore, you get a true bypass to turn on, or off, the power of octaves whenever suits you.
Line 6 HX Stomp
Finally, we’re taking a look at this multi-effects stompbox from *Line 6. When considering the best bass effects, you need to think about multi-effects pedals such as this.
Multi-effects are a great way to cover as many aspects as possible. Yes, a dedicated reverb pedal will get you the best sound, but this HX Stomp has 300 different effects!
Before you start playing, use the LCD display, which is situated on the rather sparkly unit. Then, choose between 8 amp models, whilst using various cabinets, loopers and effect blocks simultaneously. At the rear, we’ve got stereo headphone out ports to maximise usability. Plus, MIDI compatibility.
Best Bass Effects: Multi or stand-alone?
Having looked at some great ways to change up the sound of your bass playing, which is best? I’m a multi-effects kind of guy these days. Everything I need in one compact unit. However, you can’t beat a good old-fashioned pedalboard…
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