Just to elaborate a bit more on the limitations of the GT-1000 series, the limitations are in a few different areas. Most of this will apply more to guitar users than bass users, for reasons which will be easily discernible.
First of all, if you want to use the Core to feed both PA and stage rig in stereo, you will need four outputs, and if you use four outputs on the Core, you give up the ability to use the two effects loops, because the Sub Outs are the FX Sends.
Second of all, the GT-1000 Series has:
one dedicated Reverb block
one dedicated Master Delay block
one dedicated Chorus block (that for reasons unknown to Science is actually less full featured than the Chorus that can be used in the general purpose effects blocks)
four dedicated Delay blocks (no one really knows why)
only two dedicated drive blocks
and only three general purpose effects blocks
in addition to a whole bunch of other dedicated effects blocks
Now, the advantage of the GT-1000 series is that it is designed in such a way that you can turn every possible effects block on and not run out of CPU power, a feat which no other multieffects unit on the market can match. The disadvantage is that if you can't fit the signal chain you want into the number and type of blocks the GT-1000 series offers, you are out of luck.
You want two Reverbs? Too bad. Reverb cannot be assigned to any block other than the Reverb block. Mostly the limitations of the effects signal chain are going to be in the fact that you have only two dedicated drive blocks and three general purpose blocks.
But the Neural Quad Cortex costs 3 times as much as the Core, uses more than 3 times as much power (12 V @ 1800 mA minimum for the QC v. 9 V @ 670 mA for the Core) and is more than 2.5x the physical size, so you can buy two Cores for $1200, and still have a smaller pedalboard that uses less power, and take home $600 change out of the price of a Quad Cortex, which still doesn't have access to Boss' exemplary proprietary effects.
So, if like me, you want to have two Main outs with IRs to feed the FOH, two Sub outs without IRs to go to your stage rig, and still want to have the two effects loops, and more than two drive blocks and three general purpose blocks, one easy way to do this is just get a second Core, and have one handle the front end with effects loops, and the other handle the back end with the four outputs.
Although you obviously cannot move blocks between the devices, you will gain more than enough flexibility to make up for the extra two pedals' worth of space on your board, at the cost of about 4 average regular pedals.
If you use MIDI controllers, you can even control them both at once from the same MIDI switcher. Personally, I'm sticking with the manual footswitches, because they are sufficient for my needs, robust, and low power consumption and complexity.
Anyway, as I said, most of this won't really be applicable to bassists, as bass does not tend to require the level of effects that guitar often demands. One Core will do more than most bassists will ever use. But, it's worth talking about, because it took me several days of intensive study of the GT-1000Core programming and the Boss Tone Studio software to figure all this out.
But, the result? So far is *killer*. I never thought I'd be happy with an all-digital rig, but while I'm not selling my amps just yet, I think this is the way forward for me, definitely for guitar, and maybe also for bass.
Talking about competing products online is difficult, because most people don't have the money to own all of them and really get into the details, so the majority of people talking about multieffects/modelling units online are just being fanboys for the unit they bought, without really trying to understand the limitations and benefits of each one.
If you are considering a multi-modeler, you should probably download the owner's manuals for each and every one and pore over them until you are comfortable with what they can do and cannot do. I've done quite a bit of that myself, just to make sure I'm making a choice I'm going to be happy with.
I'm sticking with Boss, because I happen to really love certain of Boss' proprietary effects algorithms, and Boss has the longest track record in the industry for quality and reliability among the companies currently making multieffects units. I've been using Boss pedals for nearly 35 years, and Roland products for nearly 40 years—I bought my Roland SH-101 synthesizer in 1985 at Manny's on 48th St in Manhattan, when I was in high school—and they haven't let me down, yet.
I'm sticking with the Core, because comparing it to all of Boss' other effects units, it stands head and shoulders above the rest of their product line, with very few limited exceptions where other Boss pedals may have one specific feature that is better.
! Please keep us posted about that 2 Core adventure ('even' if it is for guitar, there is always something to be learned about the device). I am curious, do you MIDI switch one Core with the other to 'preset-sync' them?
