Silly question about effect unit?

[acronym]

Stupid question but why is it a bad idea or not since I don't a clue why you can't use a guitar effects unit?. Why should I get a dedicated bass unit, thinking of getting a b3 but just wondering why?

[tonyquipment]

The only reason I can think of is that guitar effects kills some of the low end. That's about it

At the end of the day an effect is an effect regardless what instrument you use it on

[LiamPodmore]

There isn't any problem at all, if it sounds good, it sounds good. 2 of the pedals i've used most over the past few years were guitar OD/Distortion pedals.

Liam

[acronym]

Cheers the guitar multi effects unit is for sale, tempted to get it and plug it into the bass

[Sibob]

Some units/effects won't be optimised for low-end if its a guitar specific pedal. Some though, like the Line 6 M series, have a pretty decent EQ capabilities, so work on either.

It's whatever sounds good to you!

Si

[Kev]

I would always be wary of any digital multi effects pedals for guitar that have a bass specific version as well as almost certainly the guitar version would not be tuned for bass, otherwise why would they bother?

Otherwise, loads of guitar effects work with bass just fine, just a matter of trying them!

[SimonEdward]

I have a few TC toneprint pedals - they are not dedicated 'bass pedals', but work fine with all my basses - passive or active - no tone suck whatsoever.. If I had a spare 45 notes, and was looking to muck about with a multi-unit, I might be tempted by the VOX (read Korg) StompLab IB Effects Modelling pedal.......

Edited June 3, 2013 by SimonEdward

[OzMike]

There's two aspects to this, as others have already mentioned:
1) the frequency response of the effect
2) whether the effect is 'tuned' for guitar (in terms of frequency the EQ operates at, or drive levels etc)

Most digital units should be ok, in theory, regarding point 1), as their circuitry generally operates over a range that means all bass -> treble frequencies are processed.

The only trouble, with digital or analog units, is if there is internal processing (digital) or circuitry (analog) that rolls off bass frequencies. This is not uncommon on guitar distortion / overdrive units. Also, EQ for a particular effect can be tunes to be useful for guitar, and perhaps won't be so much on bass.

For distortion, I find it useful to record a clean bass channel and then produce a 'dirty' channel from this during mixdown; this way the sound guy can blend in as much clean sound as necessary, and also process the clean and dirty channel separately. This works live also.