What to buy?
 

Ok here's my situation. I've got $250.00 burning a hole in my pocket. I play bass in my church and we run direct into the house system. Right now I use a Zoom b2.1u For amp modeling. I'd like to upgrade this but I'm not sure what to get. I'd like to get something with some good presets that I don't have to mess with too much To get a good tone. Really just an esential you got to have one of these kind of pedals

Boss GT10B.

Sansamp VT Bass Deluxe - I use it and I play at churches all around town. It helps me keep my sound even when I'm relying on sound men I have never met before.

I was looking at the sansamp vt bass deluxe. I know everyone has there own preferences for tones but its there a basic go to group of settings for a good basic tone. All the knobs and switches just end up driving me nuts. I feel like when I'm at the eye doctor and he is asking which lens is better. At first there it's easy to tell the better or worse but eventually I cant tell the difference And the doc seems annoyed that i cant.

The Sansamp VT has many threads dedicated to getting good sounds out of it.

When I was playing at my home church, I used my SVT Head into an 810 stack. I am pretty much playing at at least two different churches a week now and transporting that gear is not something I would ever want to do that frequently.

I picked up the VT Bass pedal and have used many iterations of it from the VT1 to VT2 and Deluxe for all of the travelling I now do. You wanted different settings, so I mentioned the deluxe though the other two choices would probably suit you fine (and you can find them in the classifieds on here all the time for well below your budget). I only use the deluxe because I get bored playing the same bass over and over again so I switch it up and have different channels set up to play well for the bass I am using. I am an Ampeg tone lover and found that the VT Bass gets close enough for me to be happy without carrying 200 lbs worth of gear everywhere I go.

The VT doesn't give you effects and if you are looking for an all in one effect box/ amp emulator then you should look elsewhere. However, if you are looking for a nice pedal that does Ampeg emulation very well, choose the VT.

To me it is a nice sound in the church music world that I play in. If you have any questions for me specifically about the pedal and the set up I use for church, feel free to PM me.

If you're interested in a multi-effects processor for recording and live performances, check out the zoom b3. I have sound samples of the zoom b3 if you're wondering how it sounds. here's the link.

www.soudnclick.com/crystalman85

Feel free to check it out.

holy stain or pog-2

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+ 1 for Zoom B3.

Digitech BP355 a close second IMHO.

I have the zoom b2.1u with the expression pedal. I saw the b3 which looks great but does it have basically the same sounds as the b2.1u. I don't want to spend 200 bucks for the same sounds I already have. I was hoping to upgrade, if possible.

I'd strongly consider it. For 200 you've got some really refined effects, better user interface, a USB recording interface, and a DI. Well worth it, and I already have 2 DIs and interface. B3's money well spent.

I think the Zoom B3 is a cool pedal, but I question how much you'd be planning on using the effects in the church, unless you guys are writing a bunch of originals. Of course this is my opinion, but in my experience I am only using a tone shaper/ DI (vt bass deluxe as I mentioned), overdrive (Microtubes B3K), and compression (EBS Multicomp) for 99% of what I play in the church. (no matter how much I want to step on that TAFM on my board, it just doesn't happen in the church... yet).

If you want something cool for noodling around at home , you have the Zoom B2 already but the B3 is a nice upgrade. If you are looking to improve your sound specifically for playing in church in your current setting, I'd start looking into more specialized pedals depending on the effect or emulation you are looking to achieve.