I own a Digi-tech rp 70 or 80, it’s cute and fun, but not gig-worthy. If you plan to gig with your M/E processor, go with the Boss, I’m not a fan of line 6 products, personally I think they sound too synthetic. The Boss units allow you to use the effects independently like you would with single pedals, unlike my Digi which tends to combine several together to form a “sound”, I’m shopping for a BOSS myself.

If you’ll pardon a bass player following up Alexander’s excellent advice, a little thing to think about with the Boss ME20.

I had a Boss bass unit (BE6 or something) and used it for a lot of gigs. The simplicity of just stepping on what I wanted; OD, flange etc, was very useful for gigs and the plastic was pretty robust. The OD was a touch fizzy and lost me much bottom end (something I’ve read about the ME20) but, otherwise, a likeable unit.

Then I got all fancy and paid out for a Peavey Max 100 (horrible, avoid) and, worse still, gave away the Boss to a kid who lost it. All that patch 36 for this, patch 57 for that was fun when casually playing alone (why I bought it) but just too much arsing about when playing live. The ME20, from a quick read, allows for simple step on/off and also some (probably enough for real gigs) combination patches. There’s no modeling, but I have good amps so I appreciate others would be more bothered than I was about the lack of some simulations.

If the Boss is well within a tight budget (and you really need the opportunity to try or return before committing), I’d certainly consider it for gigging, but there’s a risk of early boredom if you’re mostly looking to liven up a basic amp during room practice.

Here are other affordable and well received multi-effects that you can look into:

– Zoom’s G1 Series (G1N is probably the cheapest)
– Vox Stamplab 1G
– Digitech RP70

I would still say that its better to save up for the HD300, but these units will get the job done at less than a 100 bucks. Good luck!

I would recommend the POD HD300 or HD400. They use the same tehcnology (HD modeling) as the HD500, but with less effects and routing features, which can be confusing for some. The HD300 is a great unit to test the waters so to speak.