Individual effects pedals vs pedal board

[mlarinde]

I'm relatively new to the bass, but I have played guitar for a while. I have a Guitar Line 6 POD XT Live that I have been using for an auto wah, distortion, etc. It feels like over kill to me for a bass, and is probably configured for a Guitars frequency. I was checking out the POD X3 Live, it supposed to be setup for both Guitar and Bass, but again it seems like 10 times more than I need for Bass.

I just picked up an MXR M82 Envelope filter to try out, and I love it. Seems to sound better and cleaner than the POD auto wah.

Anyway... If I was to get a couple more effects, distortion, etc, what would be a good handful of effects boxes to pick? I'm mostly interested in Rock, R&B, Funk and Jazz.

[smo]

VT bass, Big Muff, Phaser - like a small stone.
For starters.

[Goober1206]

Most Qtrons by electro harmonix are good envelope filters (auto wah) if you ever want a new one. So are DOD envelope filters. BUT only the fx25 not the fx25b. for fuzz I'd go with a big muff also by EHX. They have different versions of the big muff and the Qtron. I use the micro qtron and the little big muff. They sound good to me with my Fender Jaguar bass. For overdrive I use a BOSS ODB-3. It's made for bass and sounds pretty good and can get a good amount of sounds. Of course, get a tuner too lol I suggest the TU-3 Boss tuner. Bassballs by EHX is also a very unique and good tuner, but most ppl don't find many uses for it in songs. Most ppl love to keep the bassballs to play with alone though its sounds nice n funky. That's basically my board.. oh and a good advantage of single pedals is you can turn two on at once and get a crazy sound! Qtron + Big Muff = AWESOME!! putting them before and after eachother in the signal chain also change how they sound together. I think using single pedals is better for experimentation. Hope that helps you out.

[JonnyAngle]

a compressor might not be a bad idea either. I'd recommend the BBE optostomp. Hint: buy it from Amazon.

[kenlacam]

Originally Posted by JonnyAngle

a compressor might not be a bad idea either. I'd recommend the BBE optostomp. Hint: buy it from Amazon.

Amazon is definitely the best place to buy gear. I bought my entire home studio from them for a fraction of the cost of online music stores.

[PJSShearer]

I have a Line6 Floor Pod and the reason I use it that you can pre-program a bunch of sounds you want and have them ready at the touch of a button, all in a piece of kit that you put on the floor in front of your mike stand at the start of the gig, no fiddling required!!.

I used to have a board with a few effects pedals on it, but that way you are more or less stuck with one setting for each unless you have enough time between songs to make the necessary changes - and remember what settings you have on each pedal - the POD (or something similar) starts to look good!.

[caeman]

The only two effects I am using are Echo and Chorus. So for me, individual pedals. I've tried some other effects with my bass, but Echo and Chorus seem to be the only two I need for the P&W songs I play. So, not much need for a big multi-effect box at this time in my bass playing.

[stratovani]

Originally Posted by caeman

The only two effects I am using are Echo and Chorus. So for me, individual pedals. I've tried some other effects with my bass, but Echo and Chorus seem to be the only two I need for the P&W songs I play. So, not much need for a big multi-effect box at this time in my bass playing.

Same here. I use a Boss Bass Limiter/Enhancer, Bass EQ, and Bass Chorus, a DigiTech Bad Monkey, volume pedal, and A/B switch since I play two basses at my gigs.

[mlarinde]

Thanks everyone for all the valuable feedback. I will check out these pedals/effects.