Going down the memory lane ...

[ilansgroove]

I see more and more bassists using the zoom B3 .
I never tested it but always kept that prejudice that a zoom multi effect is horrible .... Then I realized why....
My first ever pedal was the Zoom 506 multi bass effect !!

I think it was the worst pedal I ever had BUT it was the pedal that showed me the differences between fuzz and OD , phaser and Flanger ... Chorus ... And if I remember well it even had a compressor ....

What was your first pedal ?
How did it affect your pedal consumption ?
Anyone kept their first pedal ?

 

[ilansgroove]

By the way , I'm not saying the B3 is bad ... I couldn't say , never tested it.

 

[bassbrad]

My first effect was a Hammond Wah Wah back in 1969 when I still played guitar, followed with a big muff, small stone and a UniVox tape delay. I was always into effects.
My first bass specific pedal was an EHX BassBalls in the late seventies, BassBalls is still my favorite defect pedal, I own 6 plus a couple of variants (Rocktron Heart Attack and Moore Sweeper).

I also had a Zoom 506 as well as several others, I can suggest you check out a B3 or MS60b because Zoom has come a long way in design, sound and ability to control parameters.

 

[gregmon79]

My first pedal, I think, was a this one

Oh man, what a horrible sounding pedal. I too was way turned off my multi effects after this one too. But it sorta taught me some things. I actually still have it. It doesn't work though. I think I got a DOD fx25b, a BDDI, and sovtek bass balls and a sovtek Black Russian all about the same time softly after this one. I wish I would've tried to hold onto the Black Russian and bass balls all these years. Those were awesome pedals.

 

[zontar]

My first pedal was more for guitar--a Boss BF1 flanger.
Boss was making the smaller pedals already--and had the BF2--but I got BF1
It was on sale-I could get a phaser-ish sound & a chorus-ish sound from it--so it is versatile.
I really wanted a distortion though--which I got shortly after.
I still have it--but I don't use it as often.

 

[Nev375]

I think this was my first pedal I bought used at a pawn shop for like 20 bucks in the late 80's.

 

[NoiseNinja]

I see more and more bassists using the zoom B3 .
I never tested it but always kept that prejudice that a zoom multi effect is horrible .... Then I realized why....
My first ever pedal was the Zoom 506 multi bass effect !!View attachment 797967

I think it was the worst pedal I ever had BUT it was the pedal that showed me the differences between fuzz and OD , phaser and Flanger ... Chorus ... And if I remember well it even had a compressor ....

What was your first pedal ?
How did it affect your pedal consumption ?
Anyone kept their first pedal ?

Exactly!

I had one of those too, and before that I owned a bigger Zoom guitar multi effect.

And yeah, they were truly horrible cheap sounding, and keeped me skeptical of the Zoom products in many years to come.

But then I decided to buy a B3 anyway and it is nothing like those, in fact it might be the best sounding digital multi effect pedal I ever heard, including the Boss ones, which in my opinion, while not horrible sounding, sounds a bit sterile, bland and without any real character.

Even the dirt and amp simulations sounds fairly good on the B3.

On topic though, my first pedal was a Boss MT-2, and while not the same pedal I still own one.

 

[Bass Growler]

My first pedal was a Boss CS-3, which I still have. I bought it used in '95, and used it for 19 years straight until I replaced it with an MXR bass compressor. I still love it though.

 

[Tom Howland]

My first, Boss CS-2.

 

[Mr. voodoobass]

This was my first, mosfet distortion! Got it in the early/mid 90's and kept it for about 20 years. It did actually sound quite alright. It went on and off the board until I finally sold it a year ago.
Lots of cheap plastic parts, looking like Lego and a flimsy switch.
But sure did it's job more than ok.

 

[XXL]

My first pedal was a beat up 80's MXR distortion plus. Its probably why I like having so much dirt in my signal chain.

 

[Bodeanly]

I couldn't afford a flanger, so I bought the phaser sitting next to it. My next pedal was 12 years later. Big Muff. Used it for one song.

 

[Jazz Ad]

I think my 1st pedal was a boss delay sampler. I used it for poor renditions of thunderstruck and cool delay textures.
1st multi was à boss me5b which to this day remains an excellent unit.

 

[Relsom]

My 1st effect was an EH LPB1. Outboard preamp that plugged directly into the instrument. Another, that I still have is an EH Doctor Q envelope filter. Both were from the early/mid 70s.
BTW - If anyone wants to fiddle with the Doctor Q make me am offer. It still works somewhat but the range if effects is greatly diminished. In other words....needs work.

 

[ofajen]

I'm not sure what was the first pedal. My first effect was the blue face MXR Digital Delay (model 113, I think.) That was a fabulous device. Eventually developed problems, I shipped to some approved shop in California, but never got it back. Apparently some parts for it basically can't be located. In the mean time, I got a later model MXR rack unit that works well. Only loss was that amazing vibrato control with the pull out range from 10 to 1000 Hz that did weird FM effects. Anyway, if it still worked I'd still be using that first MXR.

Otto

 

[Clef_de_fa]

My first pedal, I think, was a this one

View attachment 797981

Oh man, what a horrible sounding pedal. I too was way turned off my multi effects after this one too. But it sorta taught me some things. I actually still have it. It doesn't work though. I think I got a DOD fx25b, a BDDI, and sovtek bass balls and a sovtek Black Russian all about the same time softly after this one. I wish I would've tried to hold onto the Black Russian and bass balls all these years. Those were awesome pedals.

This was also my first ever effect. But I used 4 things, the octaver, the manual wahwah, the auto envelop and the EQ for a better slap tone. Once it died, it took like 10 years before I got anything else.

 

[DavC]

i played keys , bass , gtr ... i think my first fx pedal was a MXR phase 90 ... then probably a boss Chorus ... i do remember a TC Chorus/Flanger ... in the early 70's

tried the Zoom B3 a while back when it first came out ... didn't do much for me , except give me the modeling bug , ... programmed via my latop ... ! now have Line 6 HD ProX with a few extra pedals ... still not a big fan of digital dirt ...!

 

[Swimming Bird]

EHX Pulsar trem.

 

[Bass Growler]

This was my first, mosfet distortion!

I saw Paul Gilbert with one so you're in good company.

 

[erigod23]

My first effect was the Arion Bass Distortion. I traded it a long time ago for a MXR Dyna Comp I no longer have. I've recently been in touch with my high school buddies and they've been sharing old recordings and man, that distortion pedal sounds awesome! I need to find another one!