Convince me not to buy a multi-effect pedal.

[squiresuzuki]

The Line 6 M13 looks almost too perfect...it has over 100 effects, you can have 12 pedals on your board at one time, plus the looper and a tuner. It costs $500.

I'd love to have a pedalboard, but...well you know. The M13 has the ease of transportation, way more effects.

The "essential" pedals I'd like to have is a distortion/fuzz/OD (like the big muff pi), a delay (like carbon copy), envelope filter (like the EHX Q-tron), and an octaver (like the micro pog).

Those example pedals I just gave total at exactly $500.

Basically, what I'm asking, is if I can get better/equal effects as the ones I listed so that I can add even more effects to my chain (like a compressor, chorus, flanger) so that I don't have to go the M13 route.

Yeah.

[cheapbasslovin]

It's pretty simple in my opinion.

If you are looking for THE SOUND in each of those effects, you should look elsewhere, or at least combine some singles with an M9. If you are looking for a way to experiment in a great many areas and are just looking for ways to add to THE SOUND that you already have in bass and amp, M13 is the way to go.

M13 does a lot of really great things, but you have to work much harder to get them out than if you had singles, and with some effects the greatness is really elusive (some would say nonexistent). I have one and love it, but I recognize its limitations.

[Vic Winters]

It's hard to beat the value of the M13, though it's not the end all be all either.

- The distortions are more guitar oriented and lack a clean blend. A blend pedal like a Boss LS-2 does wonders.
- The envelope filter is very hot with no way to control the input volume, unless you use the volume patch before it.
- The octaver is very good, but not polyphonic, like the Micro POG. Nor does it do octave up and down at the same time.

There's always the M9 and M5. The M5 doesn't have a looper though.


I personally use the M9 with singles.

[iamdenialNJ]

Get the m9 and some single-stomp dirt pedals and you'll be good to go.

[cheapbasslovin]

Originally Posted by Vic Winters

It's hard to beat the value of the M13, though it's not the end all be all either.

- The distortions are more guitar oriented and lack a clean blend. A blend pedal like a Boss LS-2 does wonders.
- The envelope filter is very hot with no way to control the input volume, unless you use the volume patch before it.
- The octaver is very good, but not polyphonic, like the Micro POG. Nor does it do octave up and down at the same time.

These are some of the exact things I'm talking about regarding how hard it is to get greatness out of the M13. I didn't want to get into this really long post, but oh well.

With an LS-2 or similar you can run an octave down from input to fx send and an octave up from fx return to output still not polyphonic, though. Envelope filter, comps, and distortions benefit greatly from learning how to use your bass volume knob. A lot of effects like to be combined to achieve the results of a single effect found elsewhere.

For some it isn't worth hunting to find the goodness. For some they don't think the goodness is in there even if they hunt. It works for me. I miss my HOG and Bass Micro Synth, but not enough to change my setup to make that happen. In the end it is all up to the individual tastes.

[gumtownbassman]

Might want to poke your nose at the Boss GT-10B too, it has more effects, and a fully programmable/movable chain for series and parallel effects, up to 15 effects at the same time.
And it's made specificly for Bass, plus also a few guitar models in there too.
It's about the same price as the M13 too.

[stingraysvt]

I've seen several guitards, like, really good ones, go the way of the M9, M13, along with 2-3 of their favorite pedals, major reasoning was, it has everything, if I need this, boom, if I need that, boom, we want to learn a new song that has that pedal on it, boom....

Just easy way without owning two or three huge pedal boards....

I love multi stuff, and I'd prob like this, so DON'T BUY IT!

[Swift713]

I've got the M5 and some singles. It gives me a bunch of stuff I only use occasionally and leaves plenty of room for my favorite od, filter, comp and looper/delay. The hardest part of multi's is spending hours and hours spinning your wheels tweaking and fiddling. I tried the M9 but switching in and out of looper mode was cumbersome and it still couldn't replace my favorite singles.

[gastric]

Originally Posted by squiresuzuki

Convince me not to buy a multi-effect pedal.

* They're too hard to program
* They're too large on your pedalboard
* They take proprietary power bricks
* They never have the EXACT sound you want
* They're expensive
* Analog purists will laugh in your face. Constantly. I'm laughing right now.

I love multi's purely for the PRESETS. All of my favorite gear has PRESETS. BOSS/Roland multis, Korg G5, Octavious Squeezer. Love me some PRESETS. If that band name wasn't already taken I'd name it THE PRESETS.

Plus all of the other flexility, utility, and patch saving functionality. Most of the current models are extremely robust, have amp switching features, external FX loops you can move around in the signal chain, MIDI OUT control functionality, tap tempo and MIDI CLOCK sync for nearly EVERY tempo based effect. Awesome stuff.

You just have to go into it knowing it won't do EVERYTHING you want. But it'll likely do enough to the point where you will be happy.

[Explorer]

Although you can get more and more complicated setups when you start adding expression pedals and such, each effect in the M series is just as easy to use as an individual pedal. As the M series boxes promise... "Bonehead Simple."

I generally see these go for around $300 to $350 used. By being patient, I found one for $275 used, box and all.

I'd suggest thinking about the kinds of tones you want, and then looking on YouTube to see if anyone has posted a video with them. Be sure to search for both the M9 and the M13, since the M13 can do everything the M9 can do.

----

I'm a fan of individual pedals, and of multieffect units. The M13 manages to do a lot, and pretty well. As to whether you'd like it, I suggest you read through the manual and the list of effects, and figure out if you like what it does. Again, you can look to YouTube to get an idea of what everything sounds like, and I believe there might even be samples on the Line 6 site.

Whatever you choose, good luck!

[MNAirHead]

I've owned both individuals and a mutli board....

That being said I'll be the first to note that "your sound" is only as good asn the sound guy and gear.... much of this "my tone" is relative and heavily errored.

My preference is the multi boards for simplicity and small size.... in a band mix much of the nuances of individual stomp boxes are lost.

OPINION...
I'd start with something small and inexpensive... a Zoom b2.1u can be found for under $75 and may have what you're looking for.

I own zoom.. digitech... roland and line 6 for multis... the biggest benefit to the line6 is the abilty for our guitarist to tweek a sound then email it to me.. the software is simple to use.

-----
Against individual boxes.. some folks will sayu stupid stuff about XYZ pedal and forget it's just a small snippet in the entire band spectrumproduction.



Tim

[EricssonB]

A jack of all trades is a master of none.

[MNAirHead]

Unsure if you sing... the x3 (line6) will also allow you to run vocals through it... it's nice to have a standard setup

[MNAirHead]

Originally Posted by EricssonB

A jack of all trades is a master of none.

And easy to employ... and handy to have around.

[carl h.]

Originally Posted by EricssonB

A jack of all trades is a master of none.

Jack is my boy. I can say with 100% certainty, you don't know Jack!





(Don't buy the multi-pedal. Only users like me use them. Go free range and be green!)

[L-A]

Here's my Unprofessional Sound Effects Quality Grade. Higher is better:

0. Own a 30$ distortion pedal you always leave on.
> Result: You quit guitar and start playing bass, sans effects


1. Own a multi-effect.
> Result: You now know what effects you like to use. Some sound good enough for live shows.


2a. Own several single pedals
> Result: You can have the highest available quality of each effect you want. Access to great sound is quick, reconfiguration is long. Easy setup at shows.


2b. Own a high-end computer, a top-of-the-line audio interface and professional sound processing software (a MIDI pedalboard to control it all doesn't hurt)
> Result: You have the highest available quality of sound processing in general. Reconfiguration is quick (on-the-fly between songs), access to great sounds is harder.

[squiresuzuki]

Well, the type of pedal I'm lusting for most is an octave up pedal/harmonist. I couldn't find any reviews of the Boss ps-6 for bass, then I ran into the M series...and that's my story.

I just remembered that I can buy used, so I might start watching some stompboxes on ebay.

I'm 16 by the way, so I don't exactly have the best budget. I just want to get some nice unique tones for my jazz trio. I just fear this will turn into an effect-acquisition-syndrome. I was looking at JHS pedals...damn those are hot.

[Swift713]

For octave up the EHX Micro Pog is superior to the M series, IMO. It's polyphonic.

[cheapbasslovin]

Originally Posted by Swift713

For octave up the EHX Micro Pog is superior to the M series, IMO. It's polyphonic.

If you really are itching for the best octave up or octave harmony out there, you are going to want to look at µPOG, POG, HOG, Pitchfactor. IMO the M series is the best harmony a multi has to offer, but it isn't the same as what is above.

[StoutFellow]

I bought a Zoom B2.1u earlier this year. It sounds great - and that's the problem. It's like a high-end set of Bose speakers - everything sounds great through them, but there's a price to pay.
I have to step back and decide if I want just compression, chorus (rich but subtle) and the occasional bit of really deep end (octaver or harmonizer) and NOTHING ELSE. If that's the case, I can ditch the Zoom and go with my BBE OptoStomp, get a good chorus and a reasonable octaver pedal - and that's it.
So, for me, the jury's still out on this. There are some lovely features on the Zoom - I do love the reverb and delay - touches of this - even on an otherwise plain signal - are lovely. But I'm afeared that all the bells and whistles are distractions from what matters most - solid, thumpin' bass lines....
Just my 2cents...
R