When it comes to recording the bass guitar direct, a bass DI is the go-to stomp box for that sort of thing. However, if you ever run into the situation where you don’t have your favorite DI box at-the-ready (or if yours broke for whatever reason,) you can plug in to your guitar player’s multi-effects unit and usually wrangle a “passable” sound out of one.
Most modern multi-effect floor units for guitar have 100 presets or more, and will have at least a handful of bass-specific presets in it, such as the DigiTech RP360 shown above.
Is this a replacement for a good DI box? Absolutely not. A proper bass DI is specifically made to accommodate electric bass guitar frequencies best and is much better suited for both studio and feeding into a PA.
While recording bass direct this way isn’t a replacement for a proper DI, in a pinch it does work. Or to be more specific, it’s better than nothing.
