Walking Bass Line

Multi Effects are cool. They are a lot of fun to play around with, and you can use them for computer recording. There are pretty much three catagories: really cheap crappy ones that aren’t worth the money, mid-level units that are often pretty good, and really expensive units that are “studio quality”. Today we are talking mid-level, between $150-$220 brand new. And the candidates are:
Boss ME-20B

The ME-20B’s metal body and intuitive design make it a popular choice for gigging or for jamming in the bedroom. It is probably the most solidly built of the three, but it is also the most expensive at $220. Many say it has the best sound quality of the three also, but it has minor setbacks. There are three pedals that make for easy layering on the fly, but this also means you can’t use two effects from the same group at the same time (ex: no phaser and flanger together). If you can live with this, then this is an excellent pedal.
Line 6 Bass Floor Pod
The Bass Floor Pod’s bread and butter is helping you find a tone to color your amp, or for DI recording. It lacks the versitility of the ME-20B, and is notorious for its delay when changing between presets, making it difficult to use in a live situation. Some say the sound quality is a step down from the Boss, but there are good tones available if you can find them. At $200, it is $20 cheaper than the ME-20B, but if you already have 200 bucks, I’m sure you can find 20 more.
DigiTech BP200
As the cheapest of the three units, the DigiTech brings up another issue: value. It is hard to compare an Accord to a Corvette. Ok, that is a stretch, but the BP200 is only $150, $70 less than the Boss. It doesn’t sound quite as good note for note with the Boss, but no one really expects it to. In its favor, it doesn’t suffer from the Boss’s combining effects issue, as you can use up to 11 at once. That is pretty cool, but who uses 11 effects at once anyways? The BP200 is the only one of the three that has a drum machine; more features, less money= good idea. If you are on a budget, this is the way to go.

So which one wins??
That is up to you. How much money do you want to spend? Are you going to gig with it, record with it, just jam at home with it? Do you want to combine lots of effects?
I recommend you try them all yourself if you can before buying, but personally:
If you want the best tone: Boss ME-20B
the best for gigs: Boss ME-20B
the most layered effects: DigiTech BP200
the best value: DigiTech BP200
the easiest to use: Line 6 Floor Pod
Overall: gotta go with the Boss ME-20B