Pedals And Effects loves to show how deep the whole pedals scene gets into the pop world, and today's post features Simon Francis of Ellie Goulding's band. Hailing from London, Simon plays electric bass but its not your ordinary pop bass. Mr. Francis plays effected electric bass that is not just effected but heavily effected. He's definitely, one of us!

One would not think a huge pop star would allow radical sounds on stage but apparently, Ellie digs the unique approach Simon utilizes! Hopefully this will inspire more artists to at least check out what we like minded musicians are capable of without synthesizers or computers.

Simon has an interesting take on bass and carving sounds and he also offers great insight on his pop gig with Ellie. He tells us how he got the gig and how he keeps it.

On the nerd side of things, Simon and I share a mutual love of the Electro Harmonix Microsynthesizer and he hips me to how he uses it with other great pedals that I dig. He gets his main bass synth sound with the Microsynth and Mantic's Density Hulk and ends it with one of my favorite choruses, the Moog MF Minifooger Chorus. Not only am I into this dangerous combo, I love how Simon wrangles the crazyness in. I have now found myself using his combo because it works!

His gear also includes other great pedals like the Malekko Diabolik, a unique Cog Effects fuzz customized just for him, Tronograhpic Rusty Box (yes, a Rusty Box!), Darkglass Microtubes, Source Audio Envelope Filter Pro and more! We share mad love for Travis Bean basses, Bob Weston, Scott Shriner and Justin JMJ!

Here is parts one and two but I highly recommend viewing both videos sequentially - because if you need insight on handling big gigs, Simon has excellent advice to give. I am so into this bassist and I am completely blown away on Simon's gig and how he handles it, sonically and personally!

All the pedals mentioned (and more!) are available at Reverb.com

-Juan

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Interview: Bassist Simon Francis of Ellie Goulding

Pedals and Effects