Bass POD or Pedal Board?

[Pinta]

Hi guys, new to the forums here..

I've alway's read the page cause usually my concerns have already been posted but this one is rather specific..

This is the deal..

I like to keep my efects to minimum but on a new band Im playing I was forced to "beef up" my tone. It's only me, a guitarrist and a drummer, so nobody can really slack of..

Currently my board consists of:

TU-2
CS-3
ODB-3
GE-7 (It's the guitar version, Im planning on getting the bass version)

Im fairly happy with my tone right now, it's really agressive. I don't overdrive with the ODB-3, I just max balance but leave gain to the minimum. This way I have a lot of punch but still play clean.

So, there is an oportunnity to acquire a Bass POD.

Will the POD do everything my pedals are already doing and more? I'm not sure what do here... Should I stick to the Boss Pedals or clean up my signal by just using the all-in-one POD?

I play funk and acid-jazz by the way..

Thank Youuuu!!

[RickenBoogie]

No multi-fx pedal will give you what the singles already have. You will gain quantity at the expense of quality.

[Pinta]

Thx, that was my suspicion, but all the great review's of the Bass POD made me doubt.

[chuck norriss]

It looks like you have everything you need. Typically the multi-tool isn't as effective as a good pedal with a single purpose. POD's are fun to toy with while recording--so many different emulations. I think it would be a fun complement to what you already have but I wouldn't trade it out entirely.
I use an Alesis Wedge when I want it but my other gear stays. If you're happy with your tone & only want to increase the mass of your sound I would suggest a good octave-down or even an octave-up pedal. There are so many ways to increase your presence--the way you play, amps, cabs, pickups--& I'm sure the POD will help but I'm afraid it isn't the answer to all things. You will have fun with it if you like different sounds. That's certain.

[chuck norriss]

Originally Posted by Pinta

Thx, that was my suspicion, but all the great review's of the Bass POD made me doubt.

Their marketing is excellent & will make you want to trade your blood for one of their products but see how many TB people are using the Bass POD:

the most owned pedal here on TalkBass is ... ? (Join the list please!)

[Floyd Eye]

There are those that swear by multi FX units, but they usually are referring to very high end stuff. Certainly not the Bass Pod. Personally, I am in a 3 piece too and I have about 9 pedals on my board. Each one does a specific thing and some are there for one part in one song etc..

Besides, pedal boards are much more fun. lol

[Pinta]

Thx Guys!

Guess I should trust my instinct more,

All those little coloured boxes look better than one chunk of green anyway, lol..

My mother calls them "Race Cars". My Dad is a real gear-freak and everytime he buy's a new pedal my mother is like..

"Oh! You bought a new race car!"

hahaha

[Pinta]

On a different topic, something weird happened today. Out of the blue my odb-3 started distorting even when the balance was all low.. Any idea what may have happened?

[Old Joe]

I have a POD X3 and love it but there are some things to keep in mind:
1. Don't expect the default patches to sound great. Some are OK but for the most part there's tweaking to do.
2. Editing patches on the fly on a gig can be difficult. Individual effects are easier to change while playing out.
3. Less is better. It's easy to get heavy handed with the effects on these units.

I got mine because I wanted the effects and the recording interface. Plus it works for guitar too which I play sometimes. The whole "individual effects sound better" is subjective. Try before you buy if possible.

[oldcatfish]

I just want to give you a different perspective.

I exclusively use multi-effect pedals. I also play guitar, and I went away from individual pedals to exclusively multis. Why? Because I also use very few effects at a time, but I find amp and cab simulations very useful when playing through an amp that is less than ideal...and sometimes direct to a PA. If you take your time and really learn how to get the most out of a multi-effect, they can sound very nice.

That being said, if you like your current sound, I'd just stick with it. If you would really like to add some extra effects that are decent, you could add a Zoom B2 for under 100 dollars to your current pedalboard....just bypass any effects that you don't want. By the way, I own the Zoom B2--never tried the Bass Pod, so I'm not sure how it sounds.

[DeltaPhoenix]

If you play acid jazz and funk wouldn't you want some sort of envelope filter as well?

[Pinta]

I have been thinking of the envelope. But im scared of abusing it or something...

[depalm]

Multi effects are very practical in some situations but they can also be an endless tweaking exercise.

Individual pedals are good to achieve your own sound signature, they're easy to tweak in the middle or between songs, but sometimes you don't need or want to carry the whole pedal board to use just a compressor and EQ.

Got a POD, a GT6B and a pedalboard, I choose between each one depending on the situation.

[Pinta]

Thx Guys!

A friend will sell his Ph-1 and his RV-5 to me, so I don't think I will be needing the POD.

Thx for all the great replies though!

[Explorer]

Originally Posted by chuck norriss

Their marketing is excellent & will make you want to trade your blood for one of their products but see how many TB people are using the Bass POD:

the most owned pedal here on TalkBass is ... ? (Join the list please!)

Let me suggest an alternate explanation:

I love synth pedals, so I join the discussion here about effects for that reason. However, I love my POD X3 for easy plug-and-play, and am about to receive a Boss ME-50B.

Like all the guitar players who go for, say, a POD and who don't partake in discussion of individual effects, could there be more multieffect users on TalkBass who don't bother posting in the Effects section because they have their needs covered by such a multi-effect?

The couple who posted in this thread and I could be the only ones who use a multieffect and are happy with it, though, so if that's true, your conclusion is correct. Hmmm... only three or four players out of thousands... how likely is that?

Short version: Not everyone who has a particular point of view has to evangelize about it, or to talk about how it's better than another.

[Pinta]

Your point is actually very logical Explorer