Multi fx come at me

[Jakeyc]

Hi guys so ive been looking at multi fx units. As you've probably guessed.

Ive had my eye on the boss gt6b. I really liked the zoom gn5 but not sure if it handles bass and the bn3 doesnt look at in depth.

 

And suggestions for a mutifx unit sub 200 with an expression pedal. Cant be just up and down patches im after a more stomp box orientated thingy

Thanks 

[visog]

Give the Boss GT-1B a go. Fulfills your criteria of <£200 and an expression pedal. But then you say 'stomp box orientated' which I think is more the B3n's thing. You'll have to compromise a little - perhaps a B3n and a cheap expression pedal might fit the bill?

Edited November 28, 2018 by visog

[dannybuoy]

I've not tried the Boss, but it is obvious that Zoom or Line6 are way more popular on here and on Talkbass. The Darkglass distortion models on the B3n and Helix are killer for rock and metal and I don't think the Boss has anything comparable, that would be one of the main deciders for me.

[Skybone]

You could try and find a Zoom B3 and an expression pedal which would give you plenty of options.

You can certainly get something like a Line6 PODxt Live for less than £200, the amp models are better than the B3 IMO, but the effects aren't as good. You also have to allow for buying the Bass Expansion Pack.

If you can stretch the budget, you can get a Line6 HD500x (again, budget for the HD Bass Pack), the amp models and effects are far better than the B3 or PODxt, and it's a great choice (use one myself, big fan of the HD500x).

If you just want effects, then you could look at the Line 6 M13/M9/M5, no expression pedal included though.

The Boss GT6B or GT10B are solid choices.

Take a look on the For Sale Section here, eBay etc., there's some good choices out there.

[PaulWarning]

if you want to just try one the Zoom B1on is the way to go, cheap as chips, with the same effects as the B3

Edited November 26, 2018 by PaulWarning

[dannybuoy]

On the other hand I would skip the B1on and B3. If you’re playing metal you really ought to give a Darkglass B7K a try, and only the B3n has that model.

[funkydoug]

Just to add that the Boss GT1b can be used as a stomp box style unit. By default 2 of the 3 buttons are used for patch scrolling but they are very easily reassigned to switch on / off any of the effects, several at a time if you want to. If you do want each switch to do more than one fx on/off that involves using the 'assigns'. That bit is not rocket science but is poorly explained in the manual. Add to that scope for extra external switching. 

 

For example you can have the expression pedal act as a mid boost pedal, or have one switch turn on an Octaver and a fuzz. Pretty cool. 

I think the flexibility of the GT1b is vastly underestimated. 

Edited November 26, 2018 by funkydoug

[paul_c2]

After being not really into effects for a while, I'm becoming more and more drawn to the occasional subtle, tasteful effect applied here and there to spice things up. The Boss GT1B looks interesting, however I wonder: 1) do people actually make use of all its facilities, in other words in the "heat of the moment" at a rehearsal situation, is it possible to tweak things and assign things in 10-20 secs you might grab, or is it more a case of 10 minutes of fiddling with stuff and everyone else sitting around bored? 2) I see the effects take after the Boss pedals, I guess they're digital simulations of those, are they actually any good or useable? 3) is the bass synth (and octave) effects any good? I note that everyone is after an OC-2 and that the OC-3, despite being a digital simulation of the OC2, is considered a bit rubbish and not the same etc......

[funkydoug]

Hiya, 

I'm not really trying to make the case for the gt1b, each to their own etc. Just thought folk might like to know about the assignable pedals. That said, I'll try to answer these questions as I've had the gt1b myself. 

1) at a gig or rehearsal I don't think you'd want to be messing around with assigning switches. I think you'd want to set that up at home. That doesn't prevent you tweaking effects units 'on the fly' though. 

2) sound and tone etc are subjective but to these ears the effects sound very good. The amp models and overdrives were really good in particular I would be very happy to gig or record with them. But, as ever, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 

3) Is there an OC-2 in there? Almost. The octave is an OC2 clone and, again, I thought it sounded pretty good. I was using the -1 sound and liked it as an OC2 sound-alike. I didn't use the -2 sound so can't comment on that, or on the other synth sounds which I didn't use. 

 

In general, I think you'd set up your 'board' at home and then tweak it easily at the gig / jam. That is very doable. I still think the best multi for on stage tweakability is the Boss ME80b, which is an oldie but a goodie! 

 

In the end I couldn't quite get a driven OC2 sound that I liked from it, (despite liking the octave and overdrives individually!) . I also prefer the simplicity of analogue units with a single knob or maybe two.

... the gt1b sounds great though. 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2018 by funkydoug
typos

[visog]

On ‎26‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 23:04, paul_c2 said:

 1) is it possible to tweak things and assign things in 10-20 secs you might grab, or is it more a case of 10 minutes of fiddling with stuff and everyone else sitting around bored? 2) I see the effects take after the Boss pedals, I guess they're digital simulations of those, are they actually any good or useable? 3) is the bass synth (and octave) effects any good? I note that everyone is after an OC-2 and that the OC-3, despite being a digital simulation of the OC2, is considered a bit rubbish and not the same etc...…

1) Yes - once you understand the user interface - the small buttons form the effect chain, click a button to bring focus to that 'pedal' then edit the parameters as if it were a stand-alone floor pedal. Bit fiddly to start, within 30mins you'll be able to do this quickly.

2) Yes and no - bass synths for me are near unusable - unreliable tracking and random level-changes. Octaver tracks well - very usuable. Similarly, the rest are good too: modulations, limiters/compressors, etc. Effect chains can get noisy and difficult to tame, particularly when multiple effects/simulations with gain are chained.

Find a shop with both (B3, etc) and give them a go...

[tonyquipment]

I would go for the boss like a BAWS

[paul_c2]

Well, I decided to buy a Boss GT-1B and it arrived today. I know I was also looking at synths - I think eventually, that's a route I'll probably pursue, but I'm well aware there can be a world of difference between something that's a bit of fun at home, and being able to practically use it in a band rehearsal/gig situation.

I know its vague but I kinda know what I'm after, but only very roughly. Its the ability to instantly select (and de-select) some alternative tones to better fit into a particular song or three, in a wide variety of musical settings. But they can't be too "wacky", they still need to do the role of the bass, just spice it up a bit. After having spent a couple of hours with the Boss I've also downloaded the computer software that goes with it (makes things easier/quicker to do a load of setting up) and done a few basic patches of my own. I'm working my way through all the effect possible and there's a LOT which are (for me), useless or nearly-useless. In fact it almost comes down to the basics: chorus, flanger, some EQ. (Tuner is nice to have underfoot too). Still, at the price, and even if I use no others, its still a plus because having one unit rather than 4, makes sense both financially (I'd need to have bought a flanger...I used to own a BF2 but sold it...it was a nice one too!!) 

The "expression pedal" is nice to have, I'm sure its possible to assign it to one of the effect parameters - for example it would make sense if you could assign it to eg resonance, when using a patch which has a flanger on it. I've not quite sussed how to do that yet.....and the CTL1 button could do useful service as a treble boost (for solos).

For now, I've put a couple of quite generic/useable settings for each song onto patch U2, U4, U6 etc. and changed U1, U3, U5, etc to "no effects". Another little feature I might do is put the song name onto U1/U3/U5, program the tempo in and make the LED flash to the bpm....although pragmatically, the drummer should be setting the tempos so its kinda not needed.

[paul_c2]

I thought I would update this since I've now had a chance to properly try out the Boss GT-1B.

In summary, I've just done the last rehearsal and am playing at a gig in a few days - and I won't be using the GT-1B. There's 2 issues which means its not made it onto the gig: 1) I can't quite put my finger on it but it seems to chop/limit the signal in a way. Maybe its something to do with master volume, or the way it interacts with my bass or amp, but if I program a "patch" which has no effects in it, I'm not quite getting the punchiness and dynamic range of the bass plugged in direct to the amp (or though my existing other pedals). 2) The chorus is a little bit weak, and takes some bass away. A few months ago I bought a Boss Bass Chorus pedal but I tried both it and the regular chorus. The regular was almost as good but did the taking-the-bass-away thing while the bass chorus is a bit more subtle and usable over a wider range of settings - so offers a further variety. And it seems the GT-1B's chorus is like a regular Boss chorus pedal, not the bass one.

I don't really use effects that much anyway - I had in mind its use on some interesting pieces but TBH I think these need a proper bass synth rather than an effect of some kind - I might be able to do something with the phaser; or octave plus overdrive but its not quite "right" in sound - but its hard to explain what I'm exactly seeking too. So for now, I just need a bit of chorus on a couple of songs and a (treble) boost pedal for a solo (I do the famous line in James Bond theme tune....) and I can do this with my existing pedals. I also need to swap basses, so a third pedal (a tuner, which mutes on switching...) will be used too, so unfortunately I need to live with a bit more mess of wires near my feet, at least for now.

I think I'll keep the GT-1B anyway, its bound to be useful if I need to set up 2 or more different tone/graphic EQ settings; or use octave effect (its not too bad); or use something where the effect's parameter is put onto the expression pedal - I'm convinced an amount more experimenting and settings here can be a usefully deployed.

[NoirBass]

Interesting, I'd only just seen this thread. I'm a long time user and fan of Boss/Roland stuff - GT-10b, GR-55, VB-99, GT-6b, ME-8b, BE-5b, zillions of Boss compacts. I would have also highly recommended the GT-1b for your needs and budget. Its basically a stripped down GT-10b and I think it actually has a few advantages sound wise over its bigger brother. Where it does fall down is the menu/GUI navigation which can be a bit confusing. I get around this by using the Boss Tone Studio software, which makes editing easy. Its also a little awkward to jump up and down multiple patches on the fly. I get round this by grouping patches together or adding a default patch either side of any more radical ones.

To comment on your summary above. 1/ It did take me some considerable tweaking to finally settle on a transparent default patch at something close to unity gain. The pre loaded patches all seemed very hot and so I started from scratch constantly bypassing the GT-1b to check. Once this was done I designed all my patches using the default patch as starting point and again bypassing and checking levels etc. repeatedly.

2/ The Chorus has a Low and High pass filter built in. If you set the The 'Lowcut' to anything above 125Hz you should retain all the low end as It'll be unprocessed. I actually find the Chorus in the GT-1b more extreme than either my CE-2b or CEB-3. I mostly use it for a subtle wash though rather than full on sea-sick wobbliness.

I'd strongly advise to to spend some serious time getting to know the sound and capabilities of the unit before you dismiss it. Every multi effects I've ever used has its own idiosyncratic nature. There are usually some things that each multi does well its just a matter of learning how to use the unit and find the sweet spots. The GT-1b is a great multi and is a very powerful bit of kit, I've programmed (and use regularly) Everything form Face melting Fuzz patches, through gentle grind, some rudimentary synth patches, It has a brilliant OC-2 emulation, the T-wah is one of my faves (including boutique stuff and my Mu-Tron III), I've even managed Royal Blood type splits and crazy Hammond organ patches.

Stick with it , I'm sure it'll be accompanying you on a gig soon.

[Muzz]

Just a quick heads-up - PMT are doing brand new HD500xs for £269 at the moment, but they're going fast...they'll also take a deposit to hold one till after Xmas if that's what people need...

[Skybone]

Well worth a punt

[Muzz]

Punted... 😀

[Rogerio Freitas]

I have the GT-1B and I am very satisfied

[visog]

On ‎13‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 07:09, NoirBass said:

 I've even managed Royal Blood type splits 

Can you elaborate how you achieved that - I'd like to give it a go? AFAIK you can't spilt the signal in the GT-1B?

[NoirBass]

42 minutes ago, visog said:

Can you elaborate how you achieved that - I'd like to give it a go? AFAIK you can't spilt the signal in the GT-1B?

You are correct, I’m splitting the signal in a micro POG and then processing the signal with the GT-1b apologies for not being clear.

[visog]

Thanks for clarifying. Is the micro-POG digital? Otherwise we're in comb filtering danger aren't we with a slightly delayed digitally processed signal alongside the clean?

[NoirBass]

Yes, micro POG is digital and has wet and dry outs. I’m sending the wet output woth ocatve up only through the GT-1b (it has high gain Gtr amp sims) adding a bit of delay and verb gets you close to the RB type sound.

I’ve actually spent a lot of time working with different setups; AKAI unibass, micro POG, and even Hex pickup equipment to achieve the split effect. I still favour the POG and a multi such as the GT-1b.