Which gear path to choose...

[madzillagd]

Been playing bass for about 18 months now, thanks largely to Customsforge keeping me interested.  Started out borrowing a friend's bass and after a few months I finally purchased my own, an Ibanez SR300 that has been a great beginner bass.  A little while later I wanted to add a bit more punch when playing RS and the ability to play outside the game so I purchased a Fender Rumble 100 combo.  Been very happy with that around the house as well. What I haven't done yet is add any pedals and effects to my set up (the Fender has basic distortion and a couple very simple tone effects).  I've got one cheap chorus pedal that I'm really only using as a splitter to play RS and my amp together but I've reached the point where I'd like to play around more with my sound.  

 

First thought of course was to just start picking up various pedals and going down that route which I'm sure is the most common route folks take.  However, as I started looking around at what to potentially get I really started getting interested in the multieffects pedalboards.  Set ups such as the Boss GT-10B really caught my eye as a one stop shop for endless effects.  

 

Reading various comments for and against I realize there are strong opinions on which route to go.  I know it's an individual preference of sound, convenience, cost, etc. so every player's situation is not the same.  For me, a person that's largely going to be just messing around at home, it's appealing to have a simple solution (even though the solution is very complex) of having a single device to mess with and have the most flexibility in what I can get out of it once I learn it.  On the downside, it's a big upfront investment, steeper learning curve, and you may not get the 'best' version of a sound that's possible.  I'm just not sure the best version of the sound is something I need though. In my playing situation I just don't think I'm really going to want to drop $75 and up per pedal to get some of the more popular pedals out there.  I'd probably end up buying the cheaper Behringer copies of them anyway. 

 

Curious to what people's thoughts are the subject?  Anyone make a similar choice?  Any suggestions on multi-effects boards to look at and/or must have pedals if I go the other route?  I've also wonder if I should just put all of that on hold for now and possibly get another bass just to play something different for awhile.  

 

 

[Van-Blurten]

I'd say if money is a problem, get the cheapest multi effect pedal you can from ebay or a pawn shop.. I mean the absolute cheapest soab you can find.

 

That will likely provide you with some amp sims, not a lot but enough to play about with and a few effects that are just about ok. Then you get time probably 6 months to a year to save up a little bit, if you can put away 15 dollar / euro / pound a month you should  just about have enough for a very decent multi effect to replace the crap one something like Zoom B2.1U or Zoom B3 would be my preference.

 

Then a better Amp, then guitar and finally start buying specific pedals :)

 

 

Ofc it never works out like that for me :)

[dazedandbemused]

Yea, the best thing about a multi-fx is that it gives you the chance to play around with a lot of stuff, which will help you figure out what you might want to buy separately later on.

 

Van-Blurten has got the order right, though - a $200 bass played through a $2000 amp will almost always sound better than a $2000 bass played through a $200 amp.

[madzillagd]

Money isn't really the issue, it's more the damn self control I have  ;)   I know it's a casual hobby for me and I'm probably not ever playing for anybody other than myself so I'm not planning on investing too much in it at the moment (famous last words I'm sure).  At first glance I really like that B3 - looks like we have an early leader.  

[Motive]

There only personally preferences, and target. If for live show need very differents sounds processor more good, if for home use, enough good to play with separated pedals. I used for testing sounds virtual pedals of Guitar Rig, then if like buy a real pedal with similar sound. And i very unlike digital distortion. So finally i started buying only separate pedals. So for bass i`m use same guitar pedal, all work correct -

List:

1. super compressor MXR. 

2. Equalizer Ten Band MXR

3. Tube preamp  AMT SS-20 (with various type distortion and clean), it have very good sounds with bass. (for him need  very good quality power supply)

4. Chorus Black Label MXR (sometime on )

5. Digital Reverb RV-5 BOSS (too if need, on)

And speaksim in Sonar, where all mixed with RS, and out to Hi-End speakers and headphone via analog link. And i like speaksim more then real cabinet, bcs of i can to play 6 hours in row every of days with low volume(or in headphones) but with decent tones, and not bother my neighborhood

 

p.s. there yet one bonus, if doing mixing sounds in Sonar, possible use post processing (Pro channel + decent plugins) for good sounds in mix with a song.

[dazedandbemused]

Money isn't really the issue, it's more the damn self control I have  ;)   I know it's a casual hobby for me and I'm probably not ever playing for anybody other than myself so I'm not planning on investing too much in it at the moment (famous last words I'm sure).  At first glance I really like that B3 - looks like we have an early leader.  

Tell me about it.

 

I'm absolutely a casual guitar player, but I've somehow ended up with 10 guitars. Only 1 bass, though. And 1 amp, and a few pedals.

[madzillagd]

Father's Day present - got the Zoom B3 which I'm loving so far.  If anybody has any favorite settings let me know and I'll check them out.  

[Van-Blurten]

I'm sure that made a great gift  :D

 

Have a google for patches, or make your own, again google whatever artist to get an idea of what they are using.

 

I use this site to get some guitar patches. Like any place on the internet some will be terrible and have a great rating because someone likes the song and vice versa.