In the modern era , ie 2000 onward, I've always had a single multi pedal for doing gigs, if nothing else it's handy to have a tuner, provided it's 'lighty up' and visible, plus I tended to have a v.small ammount of chorus or reverb just to give the sound a little bit of extra something . I never really went far into the effects that were on these pedals, personally I can't see the point of distortion on bass unless you're a Lemmy tribute act , just imho !