Digitech BP200

The Digitech BP200 is an effects stomp box specifically for bass guitar, combining amp/speaker modelling, the usual effects, and an expression pedal that can control one assigned parameter per patch. A tuner is included, as well as a 31-pattern drum rhythm generator you can jam along to. Though the unit is rugged enough for live use, the wall-wart PSU may be cumbersome in such situations.

There are 40 preset and 40 user patches and editing is extremely simple. The Select button steps through the processing stages, and three knobs control the most important parameters for each stage. Creating a basic sound involves selecting suitable amp and cabinet models, setting the three-band EQ, and then choosing from a number of effects — these include fretless simulation, wah-wah, compression, whammy, gate, pitch-shift, detune, delay and reverb, as well a full set of modulation effects and some more extreme options such as Octavider, Synth Talk and Envelope Filter. Whammy can be controlled by the expression pedal to produce harmony bends or octaves and the maximum delay time is two seconds.

Sonically, the amp/speaker modelling is quite effective and, combined with compression, it's possible to get a wide range of both clean and dirty bass sounds that sit well in a mix. I'm less convinced by the fretless emulation, which seems to combine a slow attack with some form of filtering, and the pitch-shift is no better than you'd expect from a budget unit, but the other effects work well and the core bass sounds are very good.