Multi Effects - Preamp / DI

[danpelos]

Hi all, hope someone can help.

I have a number of individual pedals but looking to reduce my on-stage gear and buy a multi effects pedal. I use a passive Gibson SG bass mainly (love it) so looking for a multi effects which has a GOOD PreAmp built in - as well as DI if possible for rehearsing with bands.

Any advice on a good one to look at would be great!!

Thanks,
Dan.

[lefrash]

I've never tried one, but I can tell you that you will be told to get a zoom B3.

[Rik (ESA)]

I used to have a line 6 pod xt pro, which I recently, and foolishly sold. Great bits of kit, and you can connect a foot switch to it / get the all in one floor board (though not sure if this has a DI?).

Anyway, line 6 get my vote, and I know there's various forms in the for sale section at the moment...

[tauzero]

You need to start off by working out which of the assorted types of multiFX would suit you best. Basically, there's three and a half types.

First is the type where patch selection is simply by going up or down the list of patches. OK if you use the same sound all the way through a song, less so if you're changing sounds in a song. Examples are the Zoom B1 and Digitech BP200.

Second is the type where you select patches by selecting a bank initially, then select from the patches in that bank by pressing one of several footswitches. Makes it easier to select a patch at any time. Tend to be fairly rigid in the signal chain, ie. you'll get a chain which roughly speaking contains a preamp, distortion, reverb, and modulation. Examples are the Korg AX3000B and Boss GT10B.

Third is the stompbox emulator. That emulates a series of stompboxes. If you are looking to replace a series of stompboxes which you don't change the settings on much but do switch the individual stompboxes on and off, it's probably the best solution. Means you can have (eg.) a flanger, chorus, and, er, another chorus, or a number of distortions all in a single signal chain. That's the Zoom B3. I think there's some multieffects of the second type that will work in stompbox mode too.

Number three and a half is the Zoom MS30B, which works as a chain of stompboxes. You can opt to have it cycle through a series of patches as per type 1, or have three of the stompboxes in the chain set to on or off and then switch the fourth stompbox by means of the footswitch.

[paulpirie8]

It's the only one I've used but yeah, the Zoom B3 sounds like it could be what you're after. There are a few preamp simulators built in (Sansamp, Xotic BB, MXR M80 etc.) as well as some amp simulators which are all fairly decent.

It has a good DI which means it's handy for using live although I've only used it live once. I normally just it for quiet practice as it has a headphone out and it's pretty small compared to a few similar units.

Paul

Edited March 10, 2014 by paulpirie8

[elephantgrey]

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1394459771' post='2391521']
Number three and a half is the Zoom MS30B, which works as a chain of stompboxes. You can opt to have it cycle through a series of patches as per type 1, or have three of the stompboxes in the chain set to on or off and then switch the fourth stompbox by means of the footswitch.
[/quote]

You can turn individual effects on and off, but you have to switch between them which cant really do that with your feet. This is useful if you use three effects always on, and have one that you use sometimes. For example i use a preamp, a cab sim and a noise gate on all the time, but then have a pitch shifter on only for some songs. Another option i like is to have a chorus>fuzz>noise always on, and then a OD at the start on sometimes, to drive the fuzz more.