Bass Guitar Effects – Multi-Effects Units

July 10, 2010 | By Vikki Alexander In Accessories, Choosing Equipment, Effects Pedals |

An alternative to the pedal board with several bass guitar effects pedals held on with Velcro is one of the multi-effects units on the market. As the name suggests, these are several, often dozens, of different effects units combined in a single box. Only one power supply needed, programmable patches so you can have a different sound for every song if you like. So are multi-effects units the way of the future?

My personal experience has been with the Line 6 Bass Pod XT Live. This unit has all of the usual effects built in plus others that you may not have considered such as several synthesizer type effects. The XT Live is extremely versatile and while not always easy to set up, once you have got a few sounds programmed into it, recalling them is a simple matter.

Another feature of the XT Live is amplifier modeling. It will reproduce the sound of several amplifiers and speaker combinations. Although the amplifier modeling does not sound exactly like the real thing, it is pretty darned close. The sheer number of effects built into it is just amazing, although some of the synthesizer effects, although fun, are not really usable.

I use my XT Live unit for all of my gigs and I love it. I have programmed it with several of my favorite sounds and switching among them requires just one or two taps on the pedals.

The Line 6 Pod XT Live is no longer available new. It has been replaced by the X3 Live which can be used for both bass and guitar. If you like the idea of having many different sounds available to you, the Line 6 products are worth a look.

So are the days of the individual bass guitar effects pedal numbered? Probably not in the foreseeable future. Although the all-in-one units can do a lot of things reasonably well, they cannot always compete with a single pedal, designed to do one thing and do it well. However, when you consider the cost of purchasing all of the pedals required to do what a multi-effects unit can do, they are a force to be reckoned with.

Here are a few available right now on eBay.

Line 6 Pod X3 Live Multi-Effects Guitar Effect Pedal