That’s why I keep my zoom, to fill in gaps that I will not ever need enough to buy. But if I ever want a flange, there’s a pretty decent one built in.
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I don’t really know anything about the Helix other than plenty of people I trust say it sounds great.
The one thing I have noticed consistently now is that the one thing that sometimes matters for bass compared to guitar is being able to control what range of frequencies goes to the effect and then having the ability to mix back in some dry bass tone to keep it anchored. The bass specific FX think about this more than the guitar people do. The MXR bass chorus has a crossover button that is very handy. The Darkglass X concept takes this into consideration. Soooo, the chorus may be yet another one that has to popout of the multi effect unit to get it to behave how I want with a bass. The crossover FX feed and dry mix controls may be a reason to consider that the swiss army knife for guitar may not cover bass quite as well for some FX.
That’s a far more cost effective route than where I went. I do still feel good about the spend though because the X5 is providing flashback, hall of fame, sub-n-up, and the total cost of that set would be more than the X5. All stuff that I don’t need bass-specific controls around.
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Oh yeah I agree. I took a long look at the plethora. Very nice 
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Zoom does really well with modulation effects and the compressors. Great phaser and chorus effects too. The distortions and overdrives all were either noisy or underwhelming to me though, which is what led me down the pedal rabbit hole.
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The Plethora looks nice, but I don’t care for the idea of marrying the entire TC Electronics line of pedals with one purchase. I prefer the ability to choose individual, handpicked pedals from different builders that suit my taste. Just my personal opinion FWIW
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It’s a good opinion
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Plethora makes me wonder if all TC pedals are essentially the same inside and are actually software models via the toneprints. Because it’s either that, or the Plethora contains an aggregate mix of the hardware of all the pedals it supports.
If it is the former, I would absolutely go with a Helix instead.
The real value of the Plethora is if you really liked and wanted to buy a couple TC pedals; it becomes a cost effective way to do that and get a lot more in the bargain.
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Yeah, all the Toneprint pedals are DSP implementations. The software modules just get ported over to a bigger processor on the X5.
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Yep, I’m with ya’. I slowly add boutique things around it. It’s the “everything else” box and eventually it may just be an oversized tremolo.
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Makes sense. Given that, its pricing is kind of odd. You can get a Helix Stomp in the same price range, and Line 6 is usually going to beat TC for modeling.
The Plethora is basically for TC pedal lovers then 
Which is fine, TC makes some great stuff.
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Exactly. Which brings us back to original thread question. Is someone who wants to chase great bass tones served well by investing in Helix? A lot of people here invest in Zoom first to experiment and figure that out. It could be perfect; it could turn out orphaned gear if someone develops more specific tastes. Hard to say. I guess Helix has good resale no matter what. I don’t really know. Go small. Go big. Go gradual? Most everyone on here I think show boards with discrete pedals if they aren’t still experimenting with a Zoom?
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Yeah. I think if you wanted to end up with a pro-studio level multieffects unit and only wanted one thing, a Helix (or Kemper, or high end Roland, etc) would be a good choice; otherwise for a unit to play with tons of pedals and learn what you like, it’s hard to beat Zoom (or Roland’s equivalent entry level products like the GT-1B).
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i think they both have their place. the zoom is almost impossible to beat on numbers, i think mine has 80 effects listed? and sure not all of them are great, but a surprising number are really useful. and again, how good of a phaser do i need? i mean if your a phaser nut, then get a standalone. but there are a bunch of effects that i don’t use all that much that the zoom fills in just fine (and cheaply). i even got rid of my hall of fame reverb, which i loved, and i like reverb a lot, i just realized that the zoom has a bunch of them and they all sound pretty good. as for the tc, i think the value of it is if, like me, you realize that you have 3 or 4 tc pedals on your board anyways, then you might as well for the same price get the plethora. but i really couldn’t see myself just have a plethora, or line6, or whatever multieffects and being satisfied with just that.
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… I really endorse this statement… even though I took it grossly out of context.
It’s not just a tone improvement - it’s a life improvement.
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I bought 2 zoom pedals from a second hand store…zoom B2.1u and a 506…both together spent a little less than $50 and just working off of the factory presets I really surprised at the tones they provide. I’ve got tons of stomp boxes laying around that I bought for guitar but these bass pedals provide a lot of versatility without having to do any tweaking.
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Cool! It’s all about finding the sounds you like. I loved the chorus on my B1on and B3n.
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I have to say that my new zoom bass multistomp has the cave reverb on it, and I don’t think I need any other reverb on earth. I mean cmon. It’s cave.
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Of course Josh sounds good playing entry level basses, I think he could still sound good if he played a garden stake with fishing line ; )
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I will back this 100%.
There are many aspects to being a bass player, playing bass, sound, effects, amplification and they can all be very separate, or all connect at the same time.
I love my basses, I love my pedals, and amps and interface and all the gear that I have acquired thus far,
but
my most valuable investments, which is also probably the least glamorized and least talked about
are
Classes like B2B
Courses like Scales and Chord Tones on other sites
Lessons - one on one with an instructor
and number one
Putting the time in.
There are also many good Training related gear / software / apps that can go on this list too.
All that said, I would not trade in my time and investments with
All in One processors, like Zoom’s
Pedals
Various Bass’s (configurations, brands, styles, etc…)
Various Amp’s (configurations, brands, styles, etc…)
That stuff can almost be viewed as a completely separate hobby, considering I like to flip things (turn profit on items bought and sold), but it does have added benefit of gaining experience with other aspects of being a bass player, it is just not necessary to becoming a Good Bass Player Fast. IME and IMO that is.
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