fumps Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 I love my multi effects I have a Boss ME 20b & an old Zoom 506. add to this a big muff & i make some very nice noises. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinball Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 I was in PMT yesterday in Bristol and someone demonstrated the Roland V bass sythesizer. I'm sorry but all your pedals are obsolete and old fashioned. It replaces all your band mates, can do anything, make tea, make love you name it! Here it is [url="http://www.gak.co.uk/en/roland-vb-99-bass-synth/33679"]http://www.gak.co.uk/en/roland-vb-99-bass-synth/33679[/url] Having said that my small mind couldn't handle the vast new sound-scape so after about 5 mins I wondered off and tried out a Fender Jazz. That was much more fun. <luddite! Seriously If I wasn't at work all day I would love to have one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doddy Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 [quote name='Pinball' timestamp='1346255146' post='1787084'] I was in PMT yesterday in Bristol and someone demonstrated the Roland V bass sythesizer. I'm sorry but all your pedals are obsolete and old fashioned. It replaces all your band mates, can do anything, make tea, make love you name it! [/quote] I've had one of the older V Bass systems for a few years,and as great as it is,it hasn't made any of my pedals obsolete.I still use a bunch of individual effects. Multi effects have never really done it for me.I like how I can tweak them easier than most multi effects,especially on the fly,and I like trying being able to switch out one pedal to try something else. I just find them easier to use,and generally I prefer the sound too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 Wow, that Zoom B3 looks interesting. I've got two Lexicon MPXG2's; one for guitar, the other for bass. They're so cheap now, its ridiculous...something like a couple of hundred quid now, including the footswitch...and they're swiss army knives. I've also got a Native Instruments Guitar Kontrol set up too via my laptop. But the thing that has kind of bugged me is the size. Its not exactly a two handed, single load out solution. Much better to have something like the B3 which can be chucked into a gig bag for most covers/function band gigs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiamPodmore Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 I was after a multi years ago, but i realise now, in my case, it would be useless. Nowadays i only use a tuner and OD, and occasionally my preamp if i'm going straight DI. I can see the appeal of Multi's, especially the higher end ones like Eleven Rack, POD HD, M13, etc... but for me it would be a big waste. Liam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiMarco Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 (edited) Here's my opinion. The multi effect modeling toys are nice for quickly recording ideas on your laptop computer. Real handy for this. They do however ALL kill some of your instrument's signature tone and certainly do NOT stack up to using a bunch of proper analog stompboxes plus a real tube comp. Gawd knows I have tried so many of them. Owned and own Line6, Digitech, Boss and TC Electronic multi effect and modeling units. Never used any of them in live situations. For guitar as well, the Boss GT-8 is in the bottom drawer in storage and I'm using an AMT SS-11 tube guitar preamp with a holygrail reverb (AMT stompbox with its own fx loop, how cool is that?) instead. Long story short: multi fx units are tone killers. Edited August 29, 2012 by DiMarco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 [quote name='DiMarco' timestamp='1346275760' post='1787501'] Here's my opinion. The multi effect modeling toys are nice for quickly recording ideas on your laptop computer. Real handy for this. They do however ALL kill some of your instrument's signature tone and certainly do NOT stack up to using a bunch of proper analog stompboxes plus a real tube comp. Gawd knows I have tried so many of them. Owned and own Line6, Digitech, Boss and TC Electronic multi effect and modeling units. Never used any of them in live situations. For guitar as well, the Boss GT-8 is in the bottom drawer in storage and I'm using an AMT SS-11 tube guitar preamp with a holygrail reverb (AMT stompbox with its own fx loop, how cool is that?) instead. Long story short: multi fx units are tone killers. [/quote] I'm not so sure about them being "tone killers"? If Pantherairsoft is willing to replace the majority of his massai board of quality stomps for a M13, then I think he would take that into account. I've only had a couple of multi fx units & now have a small selection of stomps, but I can't say I noticed a loss of tone when I was playing live. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 I made the shift from a huge pedal board to a zoom multi fx and never looked back. The B9.1 has been perfect for me, I used the guitar version too. Sadly I've gigged it to death and now it's got to go back to zoom for a fix, but it's still a fabulous sounding thing, soooo much easier to live with too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 [quote name='DiMarco' timestamp='1346275760' post='1787501'] They do however ALL kill some of your instrument's signature tone and certainly do NOT stack up to using a bunch of proper analog stompboxes plus a real tube comp. [/quote] I totally disagree!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiMarco Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 That's cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topo morto Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Obviously there are many advantages to multis, but three places where they consistently fall down: 1) Routing options. Parallel routings are where it's at for many decent bass sounds, but so many units assume you just want a 'chain', with all the effects in series. The B3 has this failing, and from a brief look at the manuals of the VB99 and M9 it looks like they also fail in this way. 2) Drives. There are a lot of digital distortions that superficially sound good, but when you try to explore their range, have little of the variety of touch sensitivity and response to different drive levels that a good analogue unit has. 3) You're stuck with what there is. You might find that a unit has, for example, great chorus and delays, but the filters aren't great. Unlike individual pedals where you can swap out the blocks, you're stuck. All those are problems that can be solved, but I've given up waiting. Huge pedalboard, here we come! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Why not use the best of both? The things that multi's do best are usually chained. Look at it as a box that contains 3-4 pedals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topo morto Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 (edited) One of the things that digital should be able to do best though [i]is [/i]all the routing / splitting / blending shizzle ... it's barely any load on a processor, just a question of adding it to the interface. Although I was bleating about the quality of drives, they are getting better and I would totally go for an all-digital setup that allowed me to flip between a few different routings easily. After all, in an analogue setup there's a limit to the amount of live reconfiguration you can do, even with a bunch of splt/mix/loop pedals. But If I'm going to go multi, it is important that I can have my whole rig (or nearly all) in that one box.... I suppose the dream would be a box that had a couple of loops where you could plug in some other effects and use them in place of the onboard blocks, though once you start having to add too many extra pedals around the edges, you've lost the compact size that should be one of the big advantages of going multi in the first place. If you're lucky enough that all you actually want is a few effects in series (and for cheaper units, maybe in the order that your effects box wants you to put them in) you are laughing - sounds like that might be the OP's situation! Edited September 23, 2012 by topo morto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 I'm in full agreement. I've no idea why none of the multi fx companies don't allow for splitting & summing within the box & the addition of a couple of patchable loops would be a brilliant idea. Maybe worth contacting someone from Zoom or Line 6 (Source Audio are a digital fx co who'd listen, but they don't make multi fx). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 yeh more options for parallel blending etc would be very useful. I don't know of any multis that actually do this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Maybe a good laptop with some good software & VST fx connected to a midi/usb foot controller? Would probably be dearer than most fx boards when you include the cost of a reliable solid lappy, the daw & VSTis, the interface & the controller, but latency shouldn't be an issue with today's technology & you could make patches, link it to the band for syncing & even make fully evolving soundscapes. But, would it sound as good as stompboxes??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 well it deffinitely wouldn't look as cool :-p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topo morto Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 There are some absolutely cracking VST effects available. The computer route gets round the 'You're stuck with what there is' problem I mentioned a few posts earlier - you're totally not! What's more, you can easily download demos to try before you buy. All potentially way better than the world of stompboxes! The problem is that you're in the lap of the gods when it comes to getting it all working reliably at low latency. The latency has to be really low - a few ms. There are so many experiences where people find that a given combination of computer, interface, and software just doesn't get on,and you get glitches and dropouts. Even if you buy the same machine your mate uses with no problems, you can find that yours has a different chipset / wireless card / whatever that screws everything up (And unless you're an uber-expert it's very difficult to tell what the problem is...). This is all PC experience... maybe macs are better? The world is not absolutely awash with decent MIDI foot contollers either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashwood1985 Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 But..... but...... but....... ummmm....... All the little metal boxes are just so darn FUN And making your rig is like Woolworths pick and mix - you dunno your bag is gonna be different from the boy's one next to you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Lawson Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Like Kiwi, I've got 2 Lexicon MPX-G2s. Though my other one's a back up (I used to use it for post processing loops but have a Kaoss Pad for that now. To do what I do with the G2 with stomp boxes would require about 60 pedals and a really tricked out wiring system I do own a few pedals (mainly loop/delay units) and currently have two AMAZING boutique overdrive pedals on loan from a friend, that are in the FX loop on the G2. Am having a lot of fun with those Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.