Every now and then, I love playing around with tremolo, flange, envelope filter, fuzz, creating really cool synthy and ambient tones.
And then I get to a sound I think is so cool, but then it just feels like… if I could have a second clean bass playing underneath those tones, it would sound awesome.
Like realistically, 99% of the time, it just sounds better when all the fun synthy sound effects are coming from a keyboard or an electric guitar, and then you have a mostly clean bass playing underneath it all.
And then I enter a loop of going back to clean bass, then I add just a smidge of effects, then I think those effects sound cool and increase them… you get the point.
Does anyone else fall into this madness?
I don’t use a lot of effects for the same kind of reason. Songs really feel thin and empty without a solid bass line as a foundation. There’s nothing wrong in recording a cleaner line underneath some more melodic crazyness though. I think it’s a must for any arrangement, you cannot just play melodies/chords/ambience. The rhythm section is essential and that’s why bass teachers really insist on mastering the basics.
At least in metal music it’s pretty common to mix wet/dry bass signals so you get the best of both worlds.
Get a Boss LS-2 or similar that allows you to blend in clean signal in suitable dose.