Multi Effect Question

[Skip Ellis]

I may be getting into a new duo situation with a guy I found on Craig's List (a local attorney!) - he sings and plays rhythm (a little of everything) and needs a lead player. He, apparently, already has some restaurant gigs and wants to add to the sound. After looking at one of his set lists, it appears that I will have to start using some (ugghh!) effects. I normally only use an Earthquake Systems Dispatch Master for reverb and delay but may have to add overdrive and chorus. What's the story on things like the Zoom G1X Four multi effects or Zoom MS-50G (I think I had one of these once for about a minute and a half)? The question, mainly, is, once I have a series of effects programmed and saved, how difficult is it to go from one saved program to another? I don't want to be bending over and fooling with pedals between songs. It'll be in the effects loop of either my Evans RE200 or Quilter 101R. The MS-50G is about the top of my budget, maybe a tad more. I've just never been a pedal user beyond reverb and I'm kind of in the dark about the best way to go, but want to keep it simple. Any suggestions appreciated.

[rpjazzguitar]

I use the Boss ME80 and ME70 regularly. Easy to use and more effects than you'll ever need. More money than you want to spend.

But, I noticed that GC has a used Boss ME50 in your price range. They're built like tanks. I used the ME50 happily for years before upgrading. No menus. There are knobs for everything. Buttons for the noise reduction. You twist the knobs until you're happy and save the result. There might be some subtle difference in the sounds between the older and newer versions, but not that much to my ear.

The smaller multi FX units with expression pedals are menu based and the expression pedal may be too small to use effectively, if that matters. If you don't need the expression pedal and are willing to put in some programming time, the Zoom or Boss units might be right. The size and weight are great. The user interface, not so much.

The programming is to avoid unexpected things happening if your foot slips. And, if you need more than two or maybe three sounds, you have to scroll to the one you want. I found it too hard to use on stage and returned it.

[hotpepper01]

Those Boss pedals are easy to use once you dialed in your desired effect. I use a GT8 model, but the basics are all the same. What I do is giving names to setting for a song that requires effects. And the name consists of the guitar and the song. Right next to it are the clean version (utmost LH side channel) and the overdrive/solo version (RH side). And I write the bank number that I want to use in my sheet music. Dialing it in can be quite time consuming. Switching guitars, say from 335 to LP may require volume settings, the one is probably louder than the other.
Once you are dialed in and have some tunes under your belt, you will be happy with it.

[jorgemg1984]

I've had the MS50G and it's great pedal - just the tuner and the eq more than justify the price. The reverbs are fine, and more than OK for a moderate use, although not on pair with a top reverb pedal.

The MS50G works great if you only want to turn on and off ONE effect - you'll always use the same preset and turn on and off ONE effect. More than that, you'll need more than your foot - so maybe look into a multi fx with several footswitches.

As a side note, if you're using overdrive, it's not a good idea to use pedal in the fx loop - put it in front.

[st.bede]

I am not a huge fan of BOSS digital pedals overall. (It is much more nuanced then “overall” suggests… for example I could also write, I am a huge fan of Boss/Roland’s digital pedals).

If you just want a sound that will make people happy, no problem. If you want a sound that will make you happy, that can get tricky. With some work, you could find something that also makes you happy.

If you think like, “this is a holiday away from what I typical do”, you might enjoy the journey. When you get back from your “holiday”, you could have a few insights into different “cultures”, that might have some benefits for you, or at least have been fun. Like all holidays, things can get expensive, and there are plenty of scams out there trying to separate you from your money.

[starjasmine]

The more complex the equipment, the longer the period of "new gear hell". Be prepared to spend a good six months tweaking the presets on any multi-fx unit. Typically, the built-in presets are dialed in for showroom demos at low volumes, and they are way over-effected for use on a louder gig (like a pop or rock gig).

Find a few that do something close to what you like, and then start dialing. You will probably find that you need to adjust some more once you start using them to gig. If the user interface makes it easy to make minor adjustments and save, you might dare to do this on a gig. But at home and in rehearsals are the safer bet for this kind of thing. Accept the fact that you won't have an ideal, inspiring sound for a while.

At least, that has been my experience... YMMV

That said, I am a fan of multi-fx over pedal chains for gigs that require fx. Programmability and resettability are a godsend, unless you really just need the occasional distortion and chorus.

SJ

[rpjazzguitar]

The Boss GT-1 (the little one) was hard to program and hard to use. Programming was best done on the computer, not the device. Too many parameters and too few buttons for programming on the device comfortably (although it can be done). The device allows adjustment of a lot of different things. I was able to deal with that, but, then, on the bandstand, I found myself accidentally turning things on that sounded horrible. I can't recall the details now, but it happened repeatedly. And, I only use four sounds and I don't use two of those very often.

The ME80 is the opposite. The word programming doesn't even apply. It's like a bunch of stomp boxes. You turn them on and off and adjust the parameters individually. Fewer adjustments are available than the GT-1 but that hasn't troubled me at all. The advantage over individual pedals is that it will save a patch. Twirl the knobs, get a sound you like, and click Write twice and it's saved.

But, the ME80 is around $300 and it's pretty big. The ME70 is a little smaller with most of the same capability. The GT1 is cheaper, smaller and more powerful, but harder to use.

The sounds in all of them were more than good enough for my purposes.

[Skip Ellis]

, ..........unless you really just need the occasional distortion and chorus.

SJ

That's really about all I need - maybe a cheap overdrive and chorus would do it for me.

[tbeltrans]

For me, it was simple. I got the Boss GT-1000Core and the RC-500 looper. They have identical cabinets, just different colors and do everything I could ever want. Some people go crazy buying pedals, I just wanted to get in and get out. Most of the time, I don't use either pedal anyway. I prefer acoustic sound over anything amplified.

Tony

[garybaldy]

I still use an old Boss ME8. It has analogue ODs and distortions and it has a loop to add your own favorite OD pedal so it can be added to your patches. Very sophisticated in 1996!

[Cunamara]

When I look at "rig rundown" videos, one of the things have I noticed is that few well-known professionals seem to be using multi effects units; most of them seem to have individual stop boxes for each thing they want. In some cases that means having 15 or 20 pedals on the stage, which I wouldn't be able to tolerate.

I have the Zoom MS-100BT and the Yamaha Magicstomp; there are good sounds in both of them, but trying to program that thing with three knobs in a postage stamp sized screen was just difficult. And I don't have the patience to sit in twiddle knobs like that. The Zoom does not have a computer driven interface to program it; the Yamaha does, but it is horribly outdated (the Mac version was outdated before they even released it, as they missed the boat going from OS 9 to OS X. The Windows version was released under XP and never updated from there).

I did find that the Zoom pedal had enough output to function as a DI; I could go straight to the PA or a powered speaker with surprisingly good results. I generally set up a simple chain of effects- reverb, amp sim, maybe a bit of compression- and left it alone; changing between patches can be done with the foot by creating an order of patched that you can cycle through. With some attention to the order you have those in, it can be pretty seamless. The portability is outstanding, having a standard sized stop box with all of the effects I would ever want built in. If you have the time and patience, which I lack, it could be the only stomp box between your guitar and the amp.

Otherwise, a small pedalboard would be convenient enough with reverb, delay, overdrive, chorus, tuner, power supply. Then you only need to plug in the input and output cables and find an outlet for the power supply. You could probably find something suitable on your local Craigslist for relatively little money.

Of course, Pete Bernstein's pedalboard is a cable. My kinda guy!

[rpjazzguitar]

I've seen a couple of local pros using the ME series. I saw a country band with a guitarist using one of the synth type pedal boards GT100?. He got incredible sounds that worked perfectly with the band. Very impressive. I'd guess that he put in quite some time to get to that point.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

I’ve never played through a 101R, but my Superblock puts out a decent OD tone with the right balance of gain, volume, and limiter. And the 101 has the same controls. If you can get the right sound that way, all you’ll need is a simple chorus pedal.