Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

Guitar players, a question . . .
Whom makes the best multi effects pedal ?
Now I'm talking "effects" here. Not 'modeling' or any of that nonsense I don't need.
Just the ability to chain multiple effects into one button.

Go !

Not sure exactly what you are trying to do George. Essentially all multi-effects pedals are digital modeling pedals that you can group effects like reverb, delay, OD, and Wah for 1 button access and ignore amp modeling if you don't want it. They are very flexible but some have a long learning curve. The "Best" is very subjective. Most of the modern players lean towards the Pod HD and the more vintage players lean towards the Vox Tonelab LE. Both will do a pretty good job live and studio.

If you just want to create an effect loop on your board you can do that with an A/B pedal. A: straight guitar tone, B: effects loop.

Agree with Cajun, multi-effects pedals are modelers. The Line 6 POD HD is the top of the line. A bought a cheap early-model Zoom one time, and resold it right away as I found the sounds very limited. I heard the new Zoom models are better.
If you are trying to stop having to do the old 'stomp box dance' when you have turn on/off multiple pedals at one time, they are good - just get one that has enough memory spots for each of the setups.
Like Cajun says, if you're just trying to get a whole string on/off at one time, use an A/B pedal or one of the Radial pedals that actually has one of more selectable FX loops on it.

Can't do much but agree with the above. All the multi effects units I know of are digital modeling units, and if you only want the effects you simply ignore the modeling functions. I haven't kept up with t hem at all, used a couple a few years ago and wasn't impressed, still doing the stomp box dance. Some sound fairly decent, but the ones I used around 3 years ago sounded pretty "canned", like cheap imitations of the analog effects I use every time I play. In general the time based effects, like echo/delay and chorus are pretty good, the distortion/overdrive based effects won't match the analog originals.

The other thing is you have to really spend some time tinkering and tweaking to get the sound you want. Most of the factory overdrive/distortion presets I used were not impressive, too much echo and/or reverb, usually muddy, too loud, while the clean presets were usually pretty decent. Most also combined more effects than I usually want. Put together overdrive, delay, echo, reverb, compression, sustainer and flanger and it gets pretty hairy sometimes, especially if overdrive or distortion and echo are both too heavy. Which is usually the case. Then you have to figure out how to tweak those AND save the changes...Onstage you have to remember which ones are tweaked to your satisfaction for specific songs...

I don't really need all that. I use an analog delay always on for one light slap back echo, quite frequently an overdrive for a lot of leads and some rhythm parts, and an A/B switch going to each channel of the Super Reverb so I have completely different amp sounds available by stepping on the A/B switch. Vibrato channel is full and rich sounding for most of the time, normal channel a bit louder and brighter for leads. Kick in the overdrive and that's all I need 90% of the time, echo is always there. Phase Shifter used maybe twice a night, distortion 2 or 3 times a night...oh yeah, volume pedal is required...I never touch the guitar knobs. Keeps my hands free to play.

Thanks . . . looking into the A/B route.
Recently playing through a Hughes & Kettner Tubmiester 5 . . . don't want or need any "distortion" or modeling as the 'dry' signal does all I need for rhythm.
I just need a one step route to add the chorus & delay I want to thicken up the solo parts.


Thanks again!

OK I'm wondering about a bypass switch, which wouldn't be too hard for 2 effects. The idea is to loop both effects through one switch box, the switch turns bot on or off at the same time. GO here and scroll down to the "Simple true bypass switches" section for a decent explanation.

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/U ... _Good_Tone

If I can find a layout it's not too hard to build a simple one, the Lehle shown in that article is a bit expensive.. ON this page

http://www.americanmusical.com/AB-Router-Pedals

A couple more should do the same thing at a better price, the Morley QB2 looks like it might, the Big Shot should do it, Morley A/B/Y maybe, I'd have to do a bit more checking. I use a simple A/B switch, that's all I need. But I don't think it would do what you want, a bypass box sounds more like it. Not easy to explain, but cold be built with a little thought. I'm sure something like that should be available, but usually bypass boxes are intended to handle multiple effects individually and bypass any or all at one time. But it seems a bypass box built for one effect should work, just loop 2 in series through it. Keep both on all the time, the box simply switches both off or on at once. I still haven't found a god link but will look a bit more later on.

Radial makes some heavy duty switch choices, look into those.

I have a Radial PZ Pre, which has 3 band EQ wiht sweepable mid, low-cut, and notch filters, 2 switchable inputs (either or both), DI pre and post-out if you want to run your guitar signal direct to a PA; amp out, dedicated tuner out and a switchable FZ loop/boost. Probably a lot more than you woudl need for rhythm guitar, but just shows you the kind of stuff out there!

Guitar players, a question . . .
Whom makes the best multi effects pedal ?
Now I'm talking "effects" here. Not 'modeling' or any of that nonsense I don't need.
Just the ability to chain multiple effects into one button.

Go !

Keely, probably.

I know one person, he is Steve Rockman. He is an australia residency. You can contact him.

You don't have to buy an amp modeler to get multi effects. You can look into a TC Electronic G Sharp, G Major or G Major 2. Line 6 makes a few multi effects modelers that don't include amp modeling like the M5, M9 & M13.

Hi, My Name Is Rich, I'm an old timer but I still play I can get most effects just by the old fashion way like bend stings and so on. You don't nee to here that old stuff. I have some nice equipment,
a Marshal JCM 900 100W With three cabs one I got with the JCM900 its the 1960B
slant front with casters high watt cab the other two are the 412 Cabs. I have a 1991 Gibson Les Paul Standard Fire top, I put in one Burst buster-pro for $212.00 and a 1957 Burt Buster, I am licensed Electronics tech, So I replaced the cheep caps, with real set of Bumble bee's and 500k k-ohm pots, volume and tone, to bot my less Paul and my 1998 Gibson SG Standard Cherry Mahogany. any way I got a Tascam DP-24 portable recording studio, and I was told to get cake Walk with it. the softer dose not inter face. I ask another band more of the band of todays time. They told me I should not have got the software. I want to be able to make my music with inputted effects. I will give you a few example of what I am looking to do. 1. The song Hells Bells by AC/DC while they are playing there is a sound of a bell ringing in the back ground and in the Song MONEY by PINK FLOYD, while they are playing there is the sounds of CASH REGISTERS put in. That is what I want to do. DO I need a Drum Machine or one of the new keyboards with drum machine built in. with sound effects. some one else told me I can buy a professional sound effects machine with Drum machine and keyboard, with built in sensitizer. I have no Idea. I am at a hold. I have written some good music, but I need some real good hardware to add to the mix. my email address is rev_richard [email protected]. Please if you know what equipment I am missing, please write me Rich Thanks. The Music supply house, just try to sell you stuff that really is not what you really need.

Rich,

You should probably start your own thread so as not to step on George's. As to adding special effects to a multitrack recording project, just record what you want on a separate track in your song.
Example:
Ch 1-5 Drums
Ch 6 Guitar
Ch 7 Bass
Ch 8 Keys
Ch 9 Vocal 1
Ch 10 Vocal 2
Ch 11 Bells effect
Ch 12 Cat growling
Ch 13 Witches laugh

You get the idea. You can record these yourself with a microphone or search the web for effects sounds you like. The world is your oyster.

You don't have to buy an amp modeler to get multi effects. You can look into a TC Electronic G Sharp, G Major or G Major 2. Line 6 makes a few multi effects modelers that don't include amp modeling like the M5, M9 & M13.

This.

I own the G-major and use a Rocktron Midimate as my pedal board. My amps are Mesa Boogie 2:90 with a Triaxis pre-amp. Needless to say, I have all the tone I want with the Mesa Boogie; I don't need any amp modeling at all. The G-Major is just straight multi-effects.

I program several channels. Every channel can have it's own combination of multi-effects. With one button press, I can change my pre-amp and effects at the same time. This is the holy grail of sound to me, as a guitar player. Simple to use.

It can take a little time to learn to use something like the G-major, but once you know how to use it, altering patch channels is super-easy.

Sell the meister and get the grandmeister. Lol. I dunno. I had a friend that loves his tubemeister but ended up buying a grand becAuse for live it's ultra easy. Not my deal but I went to try it and it's pretty great and easy. He was going to get the TC multi effect but decided on the grand. Great amp and sounds better than his tri-amp mk2. Hope this helps:-/