Starting from Scratch

[JBP]

Hi guys

I have been a user of multieffects for a good few years now, but I have decided to go the individual pedal root and build myself a board etc. I have a rough plan as to what I'm going to do, but my question is, what would you do.

There are a lot of guys here who have been using pedals and building their own boards for years. So with that experiance in and lessons learned from past mistakes how would you start from scratch now if you had... let's say 1k to spend?

[LewisK1975]

This won't be very helpful at all I'm afraid - I've gone from minimal pedals (tuner, comp, chorus in a bcb-30) right through to a Pedaltrain with a stereo output setup (used with a yamaha attitude):

[attachment=244231:pedalboard.jpg]

I now find myself right back again at just plugging straight into my amp (TC BH250 utilizing the spectracomp toneprint) and DI'ing to the PA. Only thing I'm finding myself missing is the occasional octaver.

Sorry if that's negative sounding, it's just where I find myself right now........

I suppose a good starting point for you would be to consider what sort of sounds you really like from the multi effects unit and look at getting the individual pedals which could achieve something similar??

[elephantgrey]

Some things to think about when starting off:
Power supply. I am a big fan of the gigrig system, supper flexible and expandable (you will probably end up either expanding your board or giving u effects. I've not seen many that finish their board). If you don't want to make the commitment though I'd recommend going for something like the 1spot and daisy chaining up gigrig isolators and adapters. I wouldn't get a gigrig isolator though, they are just fancy daisy chains.
Switching. Do you want to switch your effects either via midi patches or a switch pedal?
Midi sync. If you are using alot of modulation/delay/a looper, you might want to sync everything up.
Board size/pedal size (/weight). I've given up on this. I've gone for a main essentials board, and then my 'fun' board. If it's important to you though I'd recommend top mounted jacks.

[dannybuoy]

^ I think the Distributor is the equivalent to a daisy chain rather than the Isolator

I've never been tempted by the Gigrig stuff personally, I find it overpriced and bulky, however it is a very good option for those with massive boards. I ran a simple 9v daisy chain for years quite happily, but am now using a simple Cioks DC5 since it bolts underneath a Pedaltrain Nano/Metro.

Hard to make any recommendations as we don't really know what you want. For example, some spend loads on delays, bitcrushers, modulation etc, but for me I just need a nice selection of dirt pedals and a solid octaver, filter and compressor.

Also being in London there are a ton of pedalheads nearby that would probably be happy to geek out on fx over a beer and let you try some of their stuff!

But the best things to take note of are buy used so you can sell without taking a hit, or order from Prymaxe in the US when they are running their 20% discount codes, or order from a store that has a generous return policy - e.g. they are not based in this country but Thomman and Bax both offer free returns if you just happen to not like the pedal. Many UK shops are a bit more difficult to deal with when returning non-faulty items.

[tauzero]

Presumably you'll have an idea about which effects you'll want from using the multieffects. Isn't it more a case of wanting suggestions for each of the effects you're currently using?

[elephantgrey]

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1493388882' post='3288007']
^ I think the Distributor is the equivalent to a daisy chain rather than the Isolator.
[/quote]
Yeah, sorry, thats what i meant.

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1493388882' post='3288007']
some spend loads on delays, bitcrushers, modulation etc
[/quote]
That sounds too much like me. Weird noises are fun.

[Jack]

Tuner, EQ, Overdrive, Amp Sim. I'm a man of simple tastes.

[dannybuoy]

My #1 tip for the day would be to jump on this:

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/304904-fsft-pike-vulcan

One of my favourite bass overdrive pedals of all time.

[Elfrasho]

Zoom ms60b would be first in the list. Even if you use it as a comp and tuner, could you get a better starter?

[JBP]

Thanks for the info so far guys. For a long time now I have been using an MXR M87 into my trusty old Boss GT-6B and then into my Sansamp Bass Driver Deluxe, mainly because the amp modelling and the compression on the GT-6B are crap. What I do use it for are overdrive, EQ, chorus, octave, envelope filter/synth, Wah wah and as a DI if I'm not using the Sansamp. Oh and a tuner.

Out of that lot all I want to hang onto is the M87, The Sansamp is great but my two main basses are Warwick Thumbs and the Mid frequency suck on the Sansamp just kills their tone, I do boost the mids with the EQ but that then robs me of a lot of flexability.

Now this is what is making it hard for me to work out what I need, I'm currently involved in three projects all very very different. I'm playing with a very funky kinda jazz fusion originals band, a very typical 60's 70's pub rock band (the sansamp is actually just the ticket here) and then just because we can we are trying to put together an 80's metal tribute act, so you can see why I'm throwing this question out there lol.

[xgsjx]

Sounds like you need to try a few different pedals to replace the Sansamp on the stuff it doesn't work on. It might take a bit of time, or you might find one straight away.
For Filter/synth & was, look at a LPF with an expression pedal ( I rate the Moog MF101 highly & wish I'd never sold mine )
As for the others, there are a lot of options & it's probably hard to get a crapper these days.

Edited April 29, 2017 by xgsjx