Flexibility vs Focus

[40Hz]

When shopping for effects I tend to go with units that do one thing exceptionally well and mix and match to build the signal chain the situation calls for.

All-in-one do everything boxes are great in their own way. You can't beat their convenience. No fussing with patch cables or dealing with impedance issues and prdaps not playing nicely with eavh other. And in the long run you'll probably save money with one of the new digital modeling units like the Stomp or Cortex over single stomp boxes . Because a half dozen effects, an isolated power supply, some quality patch cables and a board with road case can easily equal or exceed the price of a multi-effect unit. Especially with so many pedals edging up past $200 these days.

But to me, the biggest drawback with something like the Stomp is that it makes it harder to experiment since twiddling settings on a small display or with your phone is less convenient than just reaching down and tweaking a knob. It seems more a device that's suited to live performance and predetermined set lists rather than being a musician's toy box. Because you can't conveniently adjust settings on the fly when you're playing with one of these devices.

There's also the problem of all your eggs being in one basket. If a single pedal starts acting up it can be pulled from the signal chain or patched around. But if a multi unit becomes problematic, the whole chain is compromised. It's pretty much all or nothing.

 

[ClaytonCroft]

Since we are primarily a giggling band, I like the idea of an all in one that I can "set and forget", that can slam into the amp, get tuned, and kick on distortion. The guitarist brings 2-3 full pedalboards and has all this complex chain going on.

My ME50b works fine for this, I just think the dist is pretty crap. The Infinity I tried was a step in the right direction: just essentials and top-notch distortions, but it just went sideways on me and the gig was a mess and it pissed me off. Maybe just a tuner and a good dist pedal with aux/phones for practice, but then I have to faff about with powering them.

 

[sloppy_phil]

Maybe just a tuner and a good dist pedal with aux/phones for practice, but then I have to faff about with powering them.

Well, if you're looking into a multi-FX unit, there'll be "faffing about" with powering that as well. It isn't really much trouble to power these kinda units and pedals, these days. Don't let it get you worked up. I can guarantee it'll be less hassle than "2-3 full pedalboards" LOL

 

[HelpImaRock]

This is basically my board LOL.

OP, I don't do the all in one thing because I want to control one thing at a time and I like knobs instead of menus. Yes, a board that consists of a Peterson Strobostomp HD, BOSS BC-1x, and Tech 21 BDDIv2 will cost about as much as a Line 6 HX Stomp. But I'm not going to get option paralysis and have to menu dive to tweak settings from home to rehearsal to gig either. It's all right there.

Everyone is different. Find what works for you.

As a follow-up, this is my board from last night's rehearsal. Going straight into a ZOOM L20 mixer, and back out through headphones. Never sounded better.

 

[doran.dragic]

I wanted to suggest some variation of SansAmp (which is what I'm simulating when I'm using my HX Stomp) but I'm not sure if you can use it with headphones. Also, not all versions allow you to store presets which you want to do if I understood you correctly (being able to turn the drive on and off, unless you' would only be using it using it as a drive unit).

Could you maybe expand on how many different sounds you are using? If you only need a clean and a dirt, the Bergantino looks like an overkill to me, especially if you're trying to save some money. But you mentioned that you lost all the presets from your Infinity so maybe you have other needs?

Also somewhat unclear to me is the role that your amp plays in this equation. From what I understand an Ampeg SVT has a sound that has a certain coloration so maybe that could eventually affect the sound of your preamp? Do you rely on the Ampeg to give you the sound you want? If yes, maybe you only need to add a drive.

There are other factors that need to be considered: are you mostly using your amp for yourself or do you have P.A. support? Do you have a sound engineer? If yes, does he process your sound a lot or just does the basic? Because if he adds compression and filters from the mixer there might be no need for you to have these features.

Another factor that you might consider is how other band members (guitars and keys) approach this question. I play in bands where people mostly use same sounds even if the songs we cover are vastly different. In this situation I might stay with one or maybe 2 sounds a whole evening. On the other hand, other bands I play with try their best to replicate the sound of the songs as good as you can expect on a gig which means changing instruments and a couple of different sounds for each instrument.

This is how I use my HX Stomp for the rock gigs when I sub if I'm not familiar with the band or the material (I'm not a rock bassist by any means): I have a couple of sounds that I know that are going to work in a specific situation (basically just different combination of a SansAmp, compressor and EQ) and I rarely need to change them on a gig. I was considering also getting a Zoom MS-60B which would get me through the gig in case my Stomp malfunctions (I put the Stomp on a Pedaltrain Nano and I use a Truetone CS6 to power it which makes the whole setup more expensive but it allows me to add or exchange pedals without any problems).

This being said, I play different kinds of music and I sometimes also play a baby bass so flexibility is important for me and I feel like the Stomp in my case is a good combination of flexibility, being easy to use and giving me sounds that are good enough to get called back. True, there's a lot of stuff that I'm not using at any given moment and I still sometimes need to add certain effects like a Source Audio C4 synth.

I used to own a bigger board with single effects and I often miss it because it was fun to play, it allowed me to make quick changes and allowed me to achieve some great sounds by accident but it also made my life miserable many times. For example when I had to carry it or when there would be a connection issue somewhere in the chain. Also maybe the most important factor for me was not being able to replicate some sounds that I would get from certain pedals on a regular basis (like the Iron Ether Xerograph Deluxe). Also the process of reselling gear is something that I don't enjoy.

So at some point I made a conscious decision to stay away from this approach because it pushed me away from actually making music. I spent too much time checking out new gear and solving problems with my current pedals. I'm still triggered all the time when I see pedals that I want to get (like the D.O.D. Meatbox which I already owned twice or the above-mentioned Xerograph Deluxe) but I realise that this is going to happen no matter what gear I own.

 

[el murdoque]

A pedalboard is a platform full of boxes that do things.
I usually want a box to do a specific thing, and that specific thing only.
Less options means less tinkering with it and it also means I can buy more boxes when I need different things.