I’m looking into the world of effects pedals. Since I don’t really know what kind of sound I want, I’m thinking a multi-effect box is the way to go. I’m looking at the Zoom B6 and the Line 6 HX Stomp. Does anyone have a strong recommendation pro or con for either of these? Anybody have experience with both to compare? Are there other models I should be considering as well?
Thanks all. GAS is real!
My opinion from comparison shopping a few years ago: Line 6’s effects are the best in the sub-$1300 price range and you really have to go NeuralDSP to beat them. Boss has recently gotten close and are a close second behind Line 6.
Zoom gets you bang for the buck. While definitely a step down from Line6 or Boss, they are certainly decent quality and come with a whole lot for the price. I love their stuff.
Basically they will all be good.
I have owned two Zoom boxes and loved them both.
You might also want to check out the Boss GT-1000 or GT-1000 Core, or their GX series.
I made a decision between the Line 6 HX Stomp and the Boss GT-1000CORE a few years ago.
My reasons I chose the Boss:
Reasons that were in favor for the HX Stomp:
One of the reasons for the Boss, that I can add more effects, isn’t so huge, after all, I must admit. Also, you can get around that limitation of the HX Stomp if you are willing to connect to a computer, as you get a license for their software counter part which doesn’t have the limitation of 6 effects at a time.
I started with a Boss ME-90B and liked it.
My reasoning were: price, and the ability to select and adjust effects physically on the board instead of menu diving. This made it the right tool for me to experiment with lots of different effects and decide which ones I like the best.
A couple of month ago, I was considering a Darkglass Anagram. In the UK, it’s £900, so a considerable investment, but one that was within the envelope of acceptability between my wife and I. I watched a whole load of review videos, convinced myself that this was the pedal that would transform my playing and was set to press the Buy Now button.
Then I stumbled on the BOSS ME-90B.
The ME 90B is a multi-effects pedal, but instead of menu diving, you can control the bank of effects through physical knobs, turning the effects on and off using the foot switches. Once you have a sound you like, you save it to a user preset. Once you work out how to do it, and of course, remember which preset location you have saved it at, you’re good to go. It’s super intuitive and the best bit, no menu-diving!!
Frankly, I am hugely impressed by the ME-90B. And for the money, it’s outstanding.
I bought mine from BAX music. It was B-stock, I suspect a customer return. It was perfect and cost me about a quarter of the Anagram.
It is a bit finnicky trying to remember which presets are for what. But… how many do you really need? Really?
I use it a lot by switching between Memory and Manual mode. When you pull up a patch in “Memory” mode, it preloads the settings for all the channels, even if they’re not activated.
So I treat it kind of like a standard pedal board, where the patches are my different loadouts for different genres (Punk/Grunge, New Wave, Funk, Etc.). Default just activates up the ones I know I want all the time (usually just EQ and compression). I select the patch, and then switch to manual mode. Now, when I’m playing something New Wave, I can turn on my Chorus or Delay just by stomping the MOD or DLY pedal respectively.
(That said, I’m moving towards individual pedals now. Mostly I’ve got a Darkglass Microtubes infinity doing most of my work, and then a Fuzz pedal for when I want that. And… that pretty much covers my needs with the new band. Honestly, I could get along with just the microtubes if I wanted.)
Quite! Mine, so far are:
U1.1 Clean compressed
U1.2 Slight dirt, compressed
U1.3 A bit more dirt, compressed
U1.4 Grimey as fcuk, compressed (I use this for Blur’s Song 2)
U2.1 Clean compressed, but with an octaver
U2.2 Clean compressed, with an octaver and auto wah
U2.3 A bass synth sound
I can go both directions but my natural preference would be physical knobs and pedals. Less to go wrong and easier to diagnose the mishaps.
Although I don’t use many presets so the Boss Katana pedal is perfect for me. I got 4 presets that I may use and it’s always the same 4, I don’t need anymore than that and the bonus is I don’t even need to bring my amp, as the house amp is the Katana 110&210 so I just bring my BT dongle and connect that to my iPad and it’s done. Now I don’t even need to bring my GA-FC pedal as the house already have them.
So, just saw that there is now a hardware VST host (that doubles as a sound interface and other stuff as well), which comes with a touchscreen built in, and is heavily endorsed by YouTuber Glenn Fricker; and which, according to him, is the end of all multi-effects pedals. Slight hyperbole, for sure, but if you already have oodles of VSTs, you can now take them on the road to your gigs… If it holds true on all these promises, it might be something I could really be interested in.
In essence, it’s a dedicated signal processing iPad and a DAI and a DAW rolled into one device (which is cool for “on the road” playing and recording).
(NB: there is somewhat similar VST player from Seelake (which @terb made me aware of a few years back), but you need to bring your own laptop/iPad and it’s a bit more expensive that the Octave. Haven’t done any proper deep dive yet, however!)
This is literally all I ever wanted in a multieffects pedal, basically one that’s just a plugin host with an effects oriented UI.
UAD did a lesser version of this first (with their Apollo interfaces) but this is closer to what I wanted.
I agree with Glenn, if it is well executed this will blow all other multieffects away. NeuralDSP said they were going to do this but it never really materialized fully.
Thanks everyone, this is really helpful. I hadn’t looked at the Boss ME-90B, but it is definitely worth considering because I do prefer dials and switches to touch screens and menus.
I appreciate the suggestions and perspectives!
Even if you don’t like touchscreens, the GX-100 might be a good option for you to see if a multi-effects unit is right for you or if you’d be better off with separate floor pedals. Used GX-100s are quite affordable (since many people seem overwhelmed by the controls and quickly resell them). I bought mine primarily for its Bluetooth functionality and headphone jack, and I occasionally tinker with effects. But honestly, how many effects does a bassist really need? Four slots are enough for me, but there are plenty more available. It includes a tuner, pedal, and a basic looper. I’m happy with it but have nothing to compare it with.
