Multi FX units

[rayden44]

I was having a poke around for a looper to play with, and I've stumbled across an old enemy. Much like humbuckers, I've sworn off multi fx pedals, amp simulators and the like many times. But in looking for a looper I've run into them again - and they're better and cheaper. What happens to me tho is a quality v quantity war.

Usually in the comparatively limited amount of time I have at the music store quantity of effects and sounds is king, and even if I can 90% dial in the sound I think "wow with all these sounds there must be the sound I want in here, and that 10% has got to be in this box what with all the other cool stuff it can do it is truly the win!!"

Then in the vastly longer time of living with the pedal I generally just can't find that 10% anywhere. It does all the things I want, just not quite as well as the dedicated pedal equivalent. Or I have to live with something odd happening, like a noise or delay going from A to B, that would not otherwise exist. Or maybe the interface was created by some sound engineer with a pocket protector who buried every useful setting 100 menu's deep on an LCD you can't read while standing.

I am however liking the look and sounds of the Digitech RP series and I have heard very good things about some of Line 6's new floor boards. Maybe I've given a perfect summation of multi-fx pedals that's still true now I don't know. I've gone back and forward 2 or 3 times now, so I'm still slightly jaded on the subject, but any other opinions out there? tc electronics has some interesting stuff too if I don't need my kidney

[pwfirst]

I have gone through the same thing over the years. I have always used the Line 6 and digitech. May favorites over the years is my line 6 Pod X3 Live. As I have said many time low end Line 6 stuff is just OK , the high end is very good and fully adjustable . By the time you buy 3-4 pedals you have paid for a good Pod. I have had my Pod for 3 years and have not even scratched the surface off all it has to often.
Good luck with the hunt.

[rayden44]

Ok some first impressions just digging around what I can online first:

TC Electronic: sounds very good, looks very sound engineer in design. still looking around some 2nd hand see what's about. Can't see a looper in their multi FX tho

Digitech RP series looking quite nice. does have a looper, but also has an amp sim sitting in there - could be useful if it's good or for direct recording, but otherwise would have to bypass. I like the design - LCD looks BIG and friendly for me

From what I've heard online of the Line 6's they still seem to be missing that little bit of sound and given I've had that issue with Line 6 before I'm either still looking at the wrong gear or need to find people who do better demos

EDIT: Bit more poking around forums, some people seem to like the higher end boss fx units so I might take a look

For non-tone fiddling fx - TC Electric has a lot of votes sorry kidney, I might have to sell you

Carl Martin? Who? lol apparently rated quite highly as well. Also looking at Delta Lab and apparently Yamaha has one too I'm trying to track down.

One thing I should mention.... some expression pedals have a 'click in' to change from volume to wah... I've tried this, you have to stomp your foot all the way down, putting you at full volume, to click and change to wah. To change out of wah you have to wah all the way to the top which is generally not a pleasant sound. This is the stupidest idea in practice, yet every reviewer says wooo look you have a dual purpose expression pedal... bleh

[gasman]

I've only used DigiTech, and I like them. My first unit was an RP50 that I still have. I haven't used it much (not too much for effects), but it is very easy to use and has some good sounds. The latest one I bought (because it was so cheap on Craigslist and I planned to maybe use my RP50 as a trade for something) is an older, American-made RP200 with an expression pedal built in. It is very sturdy (metal case as opposed to the plastic case of the RP50). It also is very easy to use and has some good sounds. Since it is an older version, it has no looper. I almost bought a THIRD RP unit a while back! It was on Craigslist also for $45 because the seller didn't have the power supply for it. I could have used the RP200 power supply for it. I almost bought it because it DID have a looper, and $45 sure beats spending $200 minimal on a dedicated looper! I contacted the seller, but never got a response (Oh well, that would have been too many RP units already!).

Good luck on your quest!

[rayden44]

Nice endorsements for digitech here. Maybe I should be actually doing work at work, and not researching stomp boxes.... oh well..... Ok I seem to have narrowed down my options a bit so I'll just throw them up here so I can remember. And it would be very nice Multi FX makers if I didn't have to dig through all your product manuals to find all the FX you do Also I want like 3-4 good FX of each type not <insert stupidly high number here> of bad FX. AAANNDDD stop reviewing your pedals FX distorted all to heck so I can't hear the actual effect When I've managed to get a demo without distortion of these boxes they sound alright.

EDIT lets chop this up a bit and I'll give ya's some links

[rayden44]

Digitech RP500 - basically the features I'm looking for just a little concerned about FX quality, and seems to be more geared to running into a PA / direct recording.
www.digitech.com/en-US/products/rp500

Line 6 M9 / HD400 - EDIT: Maybe some punctuation here: M9 has no amp modeling (yay) and no pedal (BOO! I've bought a line 6 EX-1, it's plastic and looked like *I* constructed it), HD series with amp modeling (meh I want FX!) and pedal. These are highly rated everywhere I've looked. I've not kept in active service any line 6 product I have used. Due to the reasons in my opening post and the Line 6's I've used suffering usually more than one of them. (stutters, zipper noises, flat tones, hard to use interfaces). If they have moved on hopefully I can too
line6.com/m9/
line6.com/podhd/multi-effects/index.html

TC Electronics Nova System - May not have a looper as I'm still digging through the manual. Sounds VERY good and is based of their much more expensive processors. VERY VERY VVEEERRRRRRYYY pricey if I can't source from the USA, but then I may have voltage issues.
www.tcelectronic.com/novasystem.asp

Rocktron G200B - May also not have a looper. This is another I'm plugging through the manual for. Mostly interested because it integrates a Rocktron Talk Box into the multi fx which I have wanted to play with for a while.
www.rocktron.com/products/floorprocessors/utopiag200b/

[rayden44]

Okie doke, neither the TC Nova nor the G200B 'appear' to have a looper and I say appear cos if you read the manual of the rp500 it doesn't state there is one (yet the website does).... unless I am of course being lame which is possible

I'm actually considering (if I can source from the US) just going back to my original idea of just buying a looper lol then I'll try and see what else I can find. Still waiting to see if PGS will do anything for me so maybe thru them.

The Digitech RP1000 is looking like the business for working with an amp as you can easily defeat all the amp/cab sims and the FX are of high quality (some say better than line 6's HD). It has its own FX loops too which is pretty cool. The Line HD series is not out of the running tho I'm going to need to investigate these a bit more.

New comer to even this up a bit, and this will be a shocker. Zoom's G9.2tt pedal. Zoom I had totally ditched the idea of long ago thanks to lots of very bad Zoom pedals I've seen. However this thing has tubes, is sampled at 99khz not 44, and is 32 bit. Rare in its price bracket. 2 pedals, and one moves left and right also (tho I'm uncoordinated so that might be bad)

Ok enough online research.... time to get out and about

[rayden44]

Huh something I had no idea about, but is called the 4 cable method.



Hope this image stays up. Ok to do this you need an amp with an FX loop, a pedal with an fx loop (that can be switched off) like the POD HD pictured or the digitech 1000, a guitar and 4 pretty cables.

Now what this would let me do is bypass the amp modeling on the pedal and just use it as an FX box like normal OR if I turn off the FX loop I can avoid the preamp section of my amp and make use the amp simulation on the pedal (and obviously still the FX) without changing a single cable.

I'd never heard of it before so there you go

[rayden44]

I must also say my travels are bringing me across some interesting multi effects pedals, like the AdrenaLinn III www.rogerlinndesign.com/products/adrenalinn3/adrenalinn3.html

[Mojo]

Interesting thread. Thanks for sharing!

[rayden44]

lol I'm actually looking at a looper, multi fx pedal, and possibly a vocal harmony pedal... what did I start looking for again? LOL I must say multi fx pedals are bad for the GAS

EDIT: Yup I've figured this is the route I'm going to go with this, since dedicated loopers are significantly better at the looping job (in some cases hours instead of seconds) and some of the multi fx without loopers actually seem a little better. It frees up my choice of multi FX a bit anyway. I must also stop looking at these things while at work, it is FAR too distracting

[rfc]

I started with a V-Amp a few years ago and liked the concept. I've had a Floor POD for a couple of years and still learning it. I use it direct for recording electric guitar. I use it on-stage in an acoustic duo, played through the PA. I have 4 pre-sets with no amp modeling, only the effects. I also have another four using the 'Tube Pre-Amp' model with reverb and various EQ settings (which are bypassed when you don't use an amp model. As for a looper, they seem to work well for others. As for me, I have another guitar player instead. If that wasn't the case I would be much more interested in the looper.

[rayden44]

hmmm ok well my idea is on hold at the moment but I'll let you know if I find anything interesting. The RP series def seems to have wide appeal from my searching, as does the line 6 M range. However there are rumors around that Digi may change their line soon as their hasn't been that many updates of late on the current series. So maybe keep your dollars for now

[lessonsthatrock]

I think in general multi-effects units are toys, occasionally they are recording devices, and rarely are they live devices for tone. In that respect, you get what you pay for, so if you're looking for quality tone, and ease of use, your best bet is one of the higher end modelers or multi-FX units - IMHO.

[urs]

From my humble experience:

I have the Boss ME-25 multi-fx, which - for its price - I could not be happier with. The looper, however, is restricted to 38s, which was too measly for I felt needing, so as of lately, it is accompanied by the BOSS RC-3 loop station.
Has 99 memory-slots, fits 3 hours in total and can be loaded (and unloaded) through USB.

€ in total: roundabout 380,-