How was your experience with a multi effect pedal?

[Betheonez]

@InkCow @cheapbasslovin

Thank you for your inputs. My background is I work as a live sound technician for a band, while also make music/short film scores EXCLUSIVELY with virtual instruments on my laptop on the side. Bass just seemed to be one of the first hands-on instruments I decided to pick up. Thus the silly question, haha.

But I digress, thank you again for such quick responses! It's about time I stop piggy-backing on this thread.

 

[Deleted member 394181]

Sadly, I couldn't figure it out. So I still use my Boss GTB 50.

Typo, Boss ME50 B.

 

[semiprohooker]

I guess my Kemper fits into the Multi FX category.

I love it because I have the ability to run my guitar and bass from both the same rig. Straight to ears preferably, but a QSC k12.2 when I need it.

I use it almost exclusively in "performance" mode. That gives you 5 rigs within one "scene," each with their own FX. On bass I'll typically set one performance per bass. Generally, I'll have 2 clean tones, one breaking up tone, one heavy tone, and one slap tone for each bass. Within each of those I'll also have a FX lineup including compressor, OD/Distortion, octave, and chorus. Each of those effects has its own footswitch and remains in a consistent spot from rig to rig.

On guitar I have a few basic "performances" laid out similarly, but I'll also build a performance for each song if I have a full setlist. A verse rig, chorus rig, bridge rig, solo rig, etc.

It's really been a total game changer for me and I don't see my self ever going back to an old school pedalboard with an amp.

 

[ad9000]

I had a Boss ME-50E for a while. It did some good things and was fairly workable, but no contest up against individual pedals. Also, there was a feeling of latency that I just couldn't deal with.
This was a few years ago - I would bet that multi effect units have improved significantly since then.

 

[BioDriver]

IME you get what you pay for

 

[MarkBee123]

Totally unrelated to the OP's post, but If I may ask on this thread; is a multi-effect a suitable tool for beginners to do some silent practice with headphones? I just started learning bass and I'm currently looking for something I could both use to practice and tweak some tones later if I get good enough to record.

I posted about this, but my post was focused on NUX MG series, then someone recommended Zoom b1x four for silent practice. I do some web searching and the price of the Zoom is pretty close to some of the cheap and other 2nd-hand multi-effects that come with aux in, headphone out, tuners, cab/amp sim, effects and a drum machine and I just thought "why not just get one of those?"

A little more review watching led me to think of Hotone Ampero/Ampero One as the most "bang for your buck choice" as a total beginner and it could do some really good bass tones too, but I could be wrong on all accounts.

(for perspective: Zoom B1xFour retails at 160 usd and 2nd-hand Ampero is capped out at 210 usd in my country)

I am pretty sure I replied to your other thread. One advantage of something like the Ampero or MG400/MG30 is that they can also function with your computer for recording as a USB audio interface. I don't think the B1xfour can do that. I currently use my Nux MG400 with the bass amp model and a little room reverb to give it a little life. I have headphones plugged into the Nux and it is connected to my computer via usb. I can hear all the audio from my computer so I can play along with youtube videos, audio files, etc... I can also record my bass playing via ableton live lite. I had a B1xFour but ultimately sold it, the effects engine and processing is a bit old, devices from Hotone, Valeton, Nux, are better, however more focused at the guitar. Prior to buying the MG400 I would use the Zoom, but playing along with audio on my computer was a total PITA. (note, be sure to install the Nux audio drivers after that my audio switches seamlessly from the onboard audio card to the Nux when I plug it in, or turn it on as I leave it plugged in). I still may upgrade to the MG30 which has more bass amps, or the Valeton GP200lt but right now the MG400 is doing a fine job...

 

[MarkBee123]

It depends on whether you want something specifically for bass or something more general that happens to work well for bass, too.

If it's the former you absolutely will not do better than the Zoom for the money. The other budget multieffects simply will not have the variety of amp models or quality effects, for bass, that the Zoom has.

Now, if you play a variety of things and the bass is just among the things you want to play through it, then you'll want to find something that represents bass well, and is decent for other things too. For example, I got a Valeton GP-100 to use with my lap steel simply because it was cheap and had an expression pedal (which I wanted for volume) and was pleasantly surprised to learn that it also had some decent amp/cab models and bass effects in it. Am I replacing my pedal board with it? No, let's don't go crazy, but I do use it for headphone practice and it works really well for that.

However, the budget multieffects can be extremely hit or miss for how well bass needs are represented. My understanding is that the Ampero has very few amp models (although I absolutely could be thinking of another device). OTOH, the Mooer Prime P1 seems to be really well suited for bassists: Mooer Prime P1 as well as guitar (probably not my lap steel, though - well, or at least I'd have to spring for a volume pedal to go with it) so it's probably worthwhile doing a bit of research on them to see how people like them for different use cases.

I did a fair amount of digging into the suitability of various Multi effects units for bass, I think the MG30 (4 amp models and 8 cabs, with 1K IRs) and the Valeton (5 amp models and 8cabs) are the budget picks. I personally like the list of amp models and cabs for the bass better with the Valeton with 3 different 4x10 cabs eden, swr.. etc... they all have SVT 4 and 8x10 cabs. I had a Headrush MX5 for a short amount of time, it was ok, better IR samples, but in the end I sold it. Amazon has the MG400 for $220, the MG30 for $300 and the GP200Lt for $270. Ultimately, the amps and cab models and processor power of the Hotone Ampero 2 stomp looks awesome on paper, but that unit is around $400 (similar to the MX5)

 

[InkCow]

I did a fair amount of digging into the suitability of various Multi effects units for bass, I think the MG30 (4 amp models and 8 cabs, with 1K IRs) and the Valeton (5 amp models and 8cabs) are the budget picks. I personally like the list of amp models and cabs for the bass better with the Valeton with 3 different 4x10 cabs eden, swr.. etc... they all have SVT 4 and 8x10 cabs. I had a Headrush MX5 for a short amount of time, it was ok, better IR samples, but in the end I sold it. Amazon has the MG400 for $220, the MG30 for $300 and the GP200Lt for $270. Ultimately, the amps and cab models and processor power of the Hotone Ampero 2 stomp looks awesome on paper, but that unit is around $400 (similar to the MX5)

Until recently, I had a Valeton GP-100 and I thought its bass amp models were quite good. The only reason I got rid of it was because I didn’t think the effects sounded good enough on their own. Noisy, hard to get unity gain, and required an effects loop pedal to bypass. I figured I would replace it with a Zoom B1 Four, although I haven’t yet.

If I was using the amp and cab models I would absolutely have held onto it because it sounded surprisingly good especially for the price.

 

[MarkBee123]

Until recently, I had a Valeton GP-100 and I thought its bass amp models were quite good. The only reason I got rid of it was because I didn’t think the effects sounded good enough on their own. Noisy, hard to get unity gain, and required an effects loop pedal to bypass. I figured I would replace it with a Zoom B1 Four, although I haven’t yet.

If I was using the amp and cab models I would absolutely have held onto it because it sounded surprisingly good especially for the price.

I think the newer multi effects units are amazingly good. Even the MG400 at $220 the sound quality of the effects are comparable to more expensive units from the recent past. The raw processing power of the newer DSP chips is bringing the price point of great sounding multi effects boxes down. As to the B1xfour, I think it's still really good, especially used for around $60 or so, but it is showing it's age. Zoom released the G2x four, so there may be a B2X four on the way...

 

[incubus2432]

I picked up a Helix a few days ago. It replaces a Fulltone Bass-Drive, Morley bass wah, EBS compressor, EBS octave, Boss chorus so not too many. The main reason for going this route was to go amp-less at practice/gigs.

The very good -
It has an effect for drop tuning so I don’t need multiple basses/tunings. It tracks fantastic and doesn’t mess with my tone down to BEAD (I don’t need more than that)
After a few hours making changes is a breeze
The various amps and effects for bass are plenty useable although some tweaking goes a long way
I love the ability to hook up my phone so I can play along with a song and hear it perfectly in my earphones
The tone comes out sounding like me playing through similar effects and a good amp/cabinet…..other multi-effect units I’ve used have always sounded “fake” (maybe passable but just off in some way)
A crazy amount of adjustability

My slight nitpicks -
Pricey but a board of good effects is not cheap either.
There is almost too many choices and adjustments for me. It’s easy to get into trouble and chase minor tweaks forever.
Adding effects into a signal chain seem to throw the other effects off more than they would in reality so it takes more tweaking or effect substitution to get closer to what I’m after (this is likely a “me” problem).
I’m not thrilled with the wah effects for bass. Again probably a me problem that I’ll eventually sort out.

I’m very happy with my switch to the Helix. The benefits for my situation far outweigh the negatives.

 

[Mo'Phat]

I am a fan of that MurderBacker.

 

[semiprohooker]

I am pretty sure I replied to your other thread. One advantage of something like the Ampero or MG400/MG30 is that they can also function with your computer for recording as a USB audio interface. I don't think the B1xfour can do that. I currently use my Nux MG400 with the bass amp model and a little room reverb to give it a little life. I have headphones plugged into the Nux and it is connected to my computer via usb. I can hear all the audio from my computer so I can play along with youtube videos, audio files, etc... I can also record my bass playing via ableton live lite. I had a B1xFour but ultimately sold it, the effects engine and processing is a bit old, devices from Hotone, Valeton, Nux, are better, however more focused at the guitar. Prior to buying the MG400 I would use the Zoom, but playing along with audio on my computer was a total PITA. (note, be sure to install the Nux audio drivers after that my audio switches seamlessly from the onboard audio card to the Nux when I plug it in, or turn it on as I leave it plugged in). I still may upgrade to the MG30 which has more bass amps, or the Valeton GP200lt but right now the MG400 is doing a fine job...

I primarily use a Kemper, but I have to admit that my NUX MG30 sounds remarkably good; especially when price is considered. Sometimes I take that along as a simple throw and go rig for either bass or guitar. Obviously not as full featured as the Kemper, but I never feel disappointed in the tones I get from it. That being said, quality IRs are an absolute must on the unit. They totally take profiles from alright to very good. Some of their Bass IRs and the acoustic IRs are pretty good, but the guitar side definitely benefits from having some quality IRs ready for it.

 

[Nephilymbass]

tl;dr: how was your experience adding a multi effects to your board? Which type/kind of pedal(s) did you "let it go", which you did not?

Hello, folks. I'm thinking about transitioning from pedals to a multi effects (Line 6 HX Stomp). I've seen a lot of videos, read the manual, searched through posts, and I'm pretty confident that I understand how the HX Stomp works, the pros and cons.

What I didn't find enough was the experience of the "players", or feedback, about the transition from pedals to a multi effect. I really want to know from you, that tested / bought the multi effect, how it worked out at your board?
Did you regret? Which pedals you replaced by the multi effects?
Did you stay only with the multi effects or you board has a mix of it (pedals + multi effects)? Which pedals you couldn't "let it go" in your board?

I’m the type that doesn’t want to carry around a massive pedalboard so I enjoy using a relatively small multi effect as a Swiss Army knife pedal along with a couple select dedicated pedals. In the studio if the studio has nice pedals, or if another bandmate does I’ll use those instead of a multi and then try to mimic those effects on the multi for playing live.

I’m currently using the hx stomp for this. The stomp does tuner, pitch shifting, all types of modulation, and delay and reverb very well. It even does some unique tricks like momentary footswitchable tremolo which actually makes tremolo a fun effect to use for me. I currently use dedicated pedals for drive, comp, synth, and looper. The stomp can get pretty close to a lot of those sounds but the problem with
Trying to do it all with the stomp is the dsp limitations. While the stomp includes all the helix effects and amps, it only has half the processing power. So the more individual pedals I use along with the stomp the more of the stomps processing power I can use for other things. The amp modeling and even some of the effects like the poly pitch (which is a great pitch shifter by the way) use up a lot of the stomps processing ability. So for me it can’t be my all in one solution as even with three footswitches for three snapshots I sometimes run out of processing power setting up patches. Maybe if I had the full size helix could use it as an all in one. But then again I don’t ever really want to go that route either. Because there is always a pedal or two that are very difficult to recreate even with high end Multis like the fractals or the quad cortex. My source audio c4 synth for example. Sure I could spend (what are they up to now?) like $2k and get a quad cortex. And I could make captures of all the drive pedals and compressor settings I like. But what about the c4? From what I’ve seen the capture feature on the QC can’t capture every type of pedal. Mainly overdrives. I’ve yet to see people making QC captures or kemper profiles of more complicated digital pedals like the source audio c4. When the tech gets that good then yeah I’ll buy a high end multi. But if I’m going to have to use a any dedicated pedals I’ll stick with the small form factor multis like the hx stomp.

to add, one of the coolest aspects of the stomp that I didn’t think about at all before I got it is how you can use the effects loop to control other pedals. You can for example put a drive pedal in the effects loop and create a snapshot that brings in the effects loop while turning everything else off. Sort of like a pedal switcher. You can do two effects loops if you use trs split to mono cables as the effects loop is stereo but it can be configured to be used as two mono effects loops.

 

[Zam]

I picked up a Helix a few days ago. It replaces a Fulltone Bass-Drive, Morley bass wah, EBS compressor, EBS octave, Boss chorus so not too many. The main reason for going this route was to go amp-less at practice/gigs.

The very good -
It has an effect for drop tuning so I don’t need multiple basses/tunings. It tracks fantastic and doesn’t mess with my tone down to BEAD (I don’t need more than that)
After a few hours making changes is a breeze
The various amps and effects for bass are plenty useable although some tweaking goes a long way
I love the ability to hook up my phone so I can play along with a song and hear it perfectly in my earphones
The tone comes out sounding like me playing through similar effects and a good amp/cabinet…..other multi-effect units I’ve used have always sounded “fake” (maybe passable but just off in some way)
A crazy amount of adjustability

My slight nitpicks -
Pricey but a board of good effects is not cheap either.
There is almost too many choices and adjustments for me. It’s easy to get into trouble and chase minor tweaks forever.
Adding effects into a signal chain seem to throw the other effects off more than they would in reality so it takes more tweaking or effect substitution to get closer to what I’m after (this is likely a “me” problem).
I’m not thrilled with the wah effects for bass. Again probably a me problem that I’ll eventually sort out.

I’m very happy with my switch to the Helix. The benefits for my situation far outweigh the negatives.

View attachment 4960099

Dude, this bass looks awesome!

 

[Deleted member 394181]

Still using this, so I've had a good exp. With them

 

[ClusterFlux]

I prefer multi-FX. This is because....

1) I'm a computer guy, so menu diving and setting up in advance is not a problem for me.

2) I prefer the flexibility of a MFX -- e.g. I can easily reorder effects, lock in presets, switch quickly between patches with just a few foot taps.

3) I'm usually a "satisficer" (good enough is good enough) rather than a "maximizer" (uphold high standards every step of the way... which often results in disappointment, switching gear constantly, cork sniffing etc).

4) I enjoy effects, and buying all the effects I'd want would be very expensive, and result in a complex pedal board.

5) I prefer having a single self-contained unit whenever possible.

6) MFX gear is gradually improving, both in power and affordability.


IMO there are a few downsides, such as it's a little harder to modify patches on the fly. Also, even the best units seem to miss one or two highly specific FX -- e.g. the Boss GT-1000 has everything but the kitchen sink... and the Dimension Chorus. Built-in loopers also seem to be a bit limited, or require lots of tap-dancing to access. Meaning in some cases, you still may end up wanting other pedals, which adds to the complexity.

 

[Geddyfleaharris]

I picked up a Helix a few days ago. It replaces a Fulltone Bass-Drive, Morley bass wah, EBS compressor, EBS octave, Boss chorus so not too many. The main reason for going this route was to go amp-less at practice/gigs.

The very good -
It has an effect for drop tuning so I don’t need multiple basses/tunings. It tracks fantastic and doesn’t mess with my tone down to BEAD (I don’t need more than that)
After a few hours making changes is a breeze
The various amps and effects for bass are plenty useable although some tweaking goes a long way
I love the ability to hook up my phone so I can play along with a song and hear it perfectly in my earphones
The tone comes out sounding like me playing through similar effects and a good amp/cabinet…..other multi-effect units I’ve used have always sounded “fake” (maybe passable but just off in some way)
A crazy amount of adjustability

My slight nitpicks -
Pricey but a board of good effects is not cheap either.
There is almost too many choices and adjustments for me. It’s easy to get into trouble and chase minor tweaks forever.
Adding effects into a signal chain seem to throw the other effects off more than they would in reality so it takes more tweaking or effect substitution to get closer to what I’m after (this is likely a “me” problem).
I’m not thrilled with the wah effects for bass. Again probably a me problem that I’ll eventually sort out.

I’m very happy with my switch to the Helix. The benefits for my situation far outweigh the negatives.

View attachment 4960099

Love your bass, your pedal and your kitchen! lol

I think I replied to you on a Ric page on Faceplant. The Helix is insanely expensive here in Canada. The Boss GT 1000 is cheaper but about 20%. The menu diving scares the bee-geesus out of me. I usually don't have the patience or the skill to really figure things out.

 

[incubus2432]

Love your bass, your pedal and your kitchen! lol

I think I replied to you on a Ric page on Faceplant. The Helix is insanely expensive here in Canada. The Boss GT 1000 is cheaper but about 20%. The menu diving scares the bee-geesus out of me. I usually don't have the patience or the skill to really figure things out.

I actually returned the Helix. My issue turned out to be that I was tapping out the DSP with my signal chain which really wasn’t that complex. I ended up going the Quad Cortex route instead and I do believe it’s a keeper. Even with a ridiculously complex chain that I was messing with I’m only at 67% of the processing power getting used and I’m sure I can tidy things up a bit.

 

[AlexMG]

I have yet to come across a multi effects for guitar that comes close to the tones I nail with my pedals.

For bass, I had a sneaking suspicion that multi effects units would be more compatible and bet on the Zoom B6, it’s an awesome piece of gear. Very impressed with the Amp modeling in the unit as well!

 

[Bass Mark]

I recently got my first multi effects pedal, a Boss MS-3. I kept my analog compressor, octave, and drive pedals. Some of the built in effects that I use include Limiter, Noise Suppressor, Parametric EQ, additional OverDrive (Rat and Bass Muff), Chorus, and Reverb. I installed the Boss software and use it to configure my signal chain. I like compact size and functionality which allowed me to reduce the number of pedals. Minor annoyance is that unit is very current hungry (500mA) and required a current doubler to power from my power supply. The output signal coming from the MS-3 was too hot for my DI which was clipping harshly. I put the DI into a loop and it works fine now.