Switching to Individual pedals

[novak7]

I have been playing bass for 5 years now and I have always had a multi effect pedal, the digitech i have has stopped working correctly. I would like to get some advice from some people who have made the transition from Multi Effect to individual pedals.

I normally have a different tone programed for different songs but its usually just a combination of drives and effects. I left my only project so I don't need to recreate any tones.

 

[BazzTard]

real pedals sound better than those digitised multi effects.

Firstly you need to decide which ones you used the most, ie OD, Dirt, Fuzz, Chorus, Compressor,etc

To start with you might want a compressor, the MXR Bass Compressor is great for noobs as the ten LED display shows you how much comp is occuring.
Then you might like some Overdrive for warmth and that tubey sound.

A Tech21 Sansamp BDDI might be the go,lots of variety in this pedal.And it's a DI and preamp.

The Tech21 Bass Boost Chorus is the best chorus I've used,can go from very subtle to full on flanger.

An envelope filter or octaver if your music type uses it would be cool too.

 

[sketch]

When I started I had a BOSS ME-30 or some such multi-effect. I used it 99% of the time as individual effects (not the presets/banks, which I hated); I took the ones I used frequently and/or thought were cool, and made a little outline/table. Then I went to the local shop (this is like 1999/2000) and tried out what they had with those words on them, like "distortion" "delay" "phaser" and "chorus". Then I picked what was 'best' from my price range. I figured out how to adjust the knobs to get as much out of each as possible. With a TS9DX for example, I had mild grit up to heavy overdrive/distortion... you just change one knob and boom, new sound. As I played with the pedals more and more, I would note things that didn't work and when possible try out another pedal. I recommend this approach.

 

[Unemploid]

dirt pedal, octave, envelope filter/wah, chorus (or delay/reverb)

 

[FretNoMore]

Only you know which effects you used in your multieffect; maybe start by listing those and then get suggestions on good pedals to recreate your effects chain with individual pedals.

 

[Alien8]

First figure out a budget, multiply by at least two, then start searching.

There is an Excane demo thread that covers a number of dirt / fuzz and OD pedals. There are also demos of lots of others on YouTube. My recommendation is to listen to multiple demos of a pedal you like then try it. Ask here and for user experience as well. Anything dirt is a personal preference so your experience will be similar, but there will be things you like and don't.

For the other effects, there are good pedals that accomplish many things swirly. Empress Effects makes a Nebulus that covers a lot of ground, as do Eventide and Strymon.

If you are picky, just start with a good builder with a pedal that has options. As you train your ear you will be able to more specifically find what you like. MXR, Tech21 and EBS are good lower cost places to start, search used to save money.

 

[novak7]

the problem I seem to have is that I use my head as just a 7 band EQ and a power amp, I get all of the tones from my multi pedal and I like to have a personal tone for each song (sound guys really hate me). will I have to get some sort of preamp or upgrade my head to one that get me in the general tone I like?

 

[The Ryantist]

Short version: start with the basics - maybe an amp emulator and a compressor. Learn how to use them really well, and then add other effects one or two at a time. You'll notice that there aren't many bass pedals in local stores, so I either a) buy online from a store with at least a 2 week return policy or b) buy something used that is very popular that I could easily resell without a loss.

Long version:

Individual pedals are probably (but not necessarily) going to cost more money overall. But to me it's worth it - I think there is more flexibility and better sounds available. I also like to sometimes tweak settings on pedals and it helps to just look at the knobs positions and turn them rather than digging through menus or remembering what the settings are on a digital pedal.

I don't have an amp, I always play direct. I started out with a SansAmp Programmable Bass Driver DI, which has an analog signal path, but the knob settings are still digital and you have 3 channels, which you may like. I liked the tone, but again I wanted to just look at the knobs and know how they're set so I recently picked up the new SansAmp VT Bass DI (I could have gotten the regular BDDI, but I wanted to try a different flavor).

The next most important effect to me is a compressor, which I leave always on. As mentioned by another post above, I started out with the MXR M87 for its LED indicators and noob friendliness. I used that for a couple years, but felt like I could hear it "pumping" so I recently replaced it with the Empress Compressor, which still has LED indicators and sounds more transparent to my ears.

I don't really use modulation, chorus, delay, etc. but I do like drive. Like others will tell you this is a very personal thing and everyone has their own preferences on "good tone." When I started out I thought I wanted a fuzz pedal, but I've either sold or returned all the ones I've bought (MXR M84, EHX Big Muff, JHS 4 Wheeler [Zvex Wooly Mammoth clone], and Empress). I think I've come to terms with the fact that I like OD and distortion, but not so much fuzz (unless the perfect one still eludes me out there somewhere). I have the Darkglass B3K for overdrive and I love that. Lately I've had GAS for a second OD or distortion to use in tandem with the B3K.

 

[Matt Dean]

Welcome to the wild world of effects... all good advise from tbfx brethren.

I recommend buying used from the TB classifieds and if you don't like, you can resell without significant loss.

 

[Dave W]

the problem I seem to have is that I use my head as just a 7 band EQ and a power amp, I get all of the tones from my multi pedal and I like to have a personal tone for each song (sound guys really hate me). will I have to get some sort of preamp or upgrade my head to one that get me in the general tone I like?

That's something only you can answer. Are you not able to dial in a tone you like on your amp? If not, you probably need a different amp.

IMO, your amp should be able to sound great all by itself. Last night I forgot my board (1st time in 20 years). If I relied on it 100% I would have been screwed...

 

[novak7]

That's something only you can answer. Are you not able to dial in a tone you like on your amp? If not, you probably need a different amp.

IMO, your amp should be able to sound great all by itself. Last night I forgot my board (1st time in 20 years). If I relied on it 100% I would have been screwed...

I did that once I had to send somebody to run and go get my pedal because many of the songs I played with that band were bass heavy with echo and wah.

 

[willbassyeah]

I did that once I had to send somebody to run and go get my pedal because many of the songs I played with that band were bass heavy with echo and wah.

that is a different story all together man, if you really want to go back to the multifx route you can just look for the zoom b3, i dont think there is anything wrong with using a multi fx but if you want to go for single pedals like other says go and look for some of the tones that you have and get the singular pedal that will help to achieve those tones. Most FX in a multi fx unit are normally model of other effects anw.

If your concern is to get three pedals working with a stomp then what you need is a true bypass looper or some sort where you just put the pedals in the loop and click it on when you need the three pedals for that sound. At least this is what i did.

The reason most of us gave very generic answer to your question is because of we are not sure what are you looking at in terms of fx and sound that you are trying to re-create.

 

[willbassyeah]

Anw below is what i meant by the model effects that is applicable to your multis, you can usually find them at the manual

 

[bassbrad]

If you do a lot of dramatic tonal changes the best solution may be a combination of single efx and a multi. Like you I do a lot of changes with unique sounds for specific songs, while an approximation is possible with single efx, some chains are too complex and specific to try to recreate on the fly.
My most basic sound is an amp sim, eq and reverb- when adding effects those basics often change as well, not to mention mid song changes some songs may use as many as 4 different sounds. No way to do that on the fly with conventional single efx.

 

[gregmon79]

I would look at what you used most on the multi and get those first. Preamp, OD, fuzz, chorus, delay and maybe a wah or filter and an octave.

 

[Nephilymbass]

I think some of the newer multi effects are cool. none of them are great at everything though. And that's the problem with them. The line 6 m5,m9, and m13 have a lot of cool effects that work nicely but the dirt is not even usable imo. Dirt tends to be the first or second type of pedal people buy and it happens to be a category of effects that digital multi effects have a lot of trouble mimicking. Last year I built a board based around an m5. it had a bass whammy an overdrive the m5 and a Jamman (for sampling) and used the m5 a lot for different sounds. It had just about every sound I thought id ever want, but after a while there starts to be a difference in an effect sounding cool and actually being put to use within a song. And that can go differentlt based on the type of band your in. Sold the m5 to my guitarists and he really only uses it for delay, and in all honesty it is great as a delay. These days I have a smaller board and I still swap out pedals regularly experimenting. But for my band I don't need 20 different sounds. Right now aside from my pedal wireless and compressor I have chorus and dirt. But they are two effects that are very useful for our songs. I often have a delay or reverb on the board to create some ambient atmosphere between songs live but haven't used either in the studio at this point. Octaves and pitch shifter can be useful. I really like the band Royal blood and how he uses a pog in combination with a guitar combo for that fake guitar sound and its a sound I think would be very useful in my band because our guitarists did some harmonies and layering in the studio we can't really pull off live because he's stuck playing the main part.

 

[smo]

real pedals sound better than those digitised multi effects.

As far as a punter out FOH is concerned, this isn't always the case, and can get very expensive trying them out to find *the one*.

I think a good multi can handle the effects you don't use often, and using individual pedals for personal tastes (drives, octave, Fuzz, delay etc.) is the best way to go.
A lot of the new multi's coming out in the last 5 years have been very very good.
The Mobius is a great bit of kit.
I like the MS-60B too for a swizz-army knife in a small package (although this one will need a lot of tweaking as the presets are pretty raw.)

I dislike using dirt from multi's, not always because of the tones on tap, but also because I like the ability to mod them on the fly, without having to delve into presets etc etc.. Every rehearsal/gig venue can be a bit different in terms of EQ'ing to the room, so I have individual pedals for drives/fuzz.

 

[NightW0lf]

I'm in the process of doing exactly this.

I started with a Boss ME 50B only. I noticed I used the compression feature a lot but found it lacked fine tuning, so I added a real compressor. I ran with both for a while, then I added a Fuzz pedal. Then a Reverb one. Now I still use the ME 50B for the octaver, noise supression, delay, overdrive, Wah, Chorus and of course, tuner.

My next purchase will be a good Octaver, and when I'm done replacing effects I use on it, i'll sell it and use that money for the tuner and noise supressor. I probably have a couple of years before I complete my list.

You don't have to do it all at once, take the time to learn each new pedal well before you take on another one.
And if you can get them used from a fellow TBer, it's even better