Which Guitar Effects Do You Have and How Do You Use Them?

**Little Jay** · 10-01-2014, 08:02 AM

That Zoom MS50G seems very interesting for small occasions where I don't want to bring my pedal-board. I considered a pocket-Pod for that, but this pedal looks up to the task too.

Jorge and Keoki, can you comment on the quality of the effects of the MS50G and also the ease of use? Thanks in advance!

**jorgemg1984** · 10-01-2014, 08:10 AM

Jay I have both... the ms50g is significantly smaller.

To use as a pedalboard: both sound very good but the price / size of the ms50g makes it much better. The HD Reverb is comparable to TC or Strymon's reverbs at least on subtle uses. The delays and modulations sound pretty fine to me too - parametric eq and tuner work just as expected. For the price is amazing. Even not considering the price on reharsals I could not tell much difference from my Strymon El Capistan honestly.

First four clips are my Zoom G3 trough a Roland Cube (the G3 is exactly the same as the ms50g, I traded mine for a ms50g recently because of size)

To use as a modeler: the line6 mics and cab emulations are vastly superior... no comparison. Using an Ampeg Bass amp flat (so no preamo coloration) and a Barb EQ sounds incredebly close to the blackface Vibrolux I play from time to time.

**jorgemg1984** · 10-01-2014, 08:11 AM

Forgot about eases of use - both easy to use if you're used to this stuff but the Zoom is simpler to me. In 30 minutes maximum you should be ready to go!

PS - The drives on the ms50g are not stellar but usable. You can select one of the effects to use with footswitch so you can change between cleans and drives.

**Little Jay** · 10-01-2014, 08:13 AM

Originally Posted by jorgemg1984

It's the best pedal ever. Everyone should have one - price and size of a tuner with an array of excellent effects. I am selling my board!!

gheh gheh.... I think I can conclude you are enthusiastic about it?

You don't use a Wah-wah?

**jorgemg1984** · 10-01-2014, 08:23 AM

No I don't... no help there!

**pkirk** · 10-01-2014, 08:30 AM

I use an MS50G also, for FX I want, but rarely use, so I don't want individual pedals cluttering up my pedalboard: autowah, vibrato, parallel fifths, octaves, etc, and it also works well as a tuner which kills the signal. BUT...I find it awkward to use "on the fly" in that you have to cycle through your presets to get to any one effect, and the writing is small and hard to read. In particular, what it lacks is a bypass switch. e.g. in a head/solo/head arrangement, if I want to use the autowah on the solo (e.g. St Thomas) I'll have to hunt at the beginning of my solo for the preset, and and hunt again at the end.

Maybe you other users have found a solution?

Also, its a shame they didn't put a USB on this, like the Zoom G3. That would have made it a perfect practice tool.

**Little Jay** · 10-01-2014, 08:33 AM

Thanx for your quick comments Jorge!

I think I know what my next purchase will be.....

**Little Jay** · 10-01-2014, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by pkirk

I use an MS50G also, for FX I want, but rarely use, so I don't want individual pedals cluttering up my pedalboard: autowah, vibrato, parallel fifths, octaves, etc, and it also works well as a tuner which kills the signal. BUT...I find it awkward to use "on the fly" in that you have to cycle through your presets to get to any one effect, and the writing is small and hard to read. In particular, what it lacks is a bypass switch. e.g. in a head/solo/head arrangement, if I want to use the autowah on the solo (e.g. St Thomas) I'll have to hunt at the beginning of my solo for the preset, and and hunt again at the end.

Maybe you other users have found a solution?.

That is a bit my concern, but I see on the Zoom-website you can create a custom chain of effect you can cycle thru, to switch more easily in a song. Of course, the longer your chain, the more you have to press to get to the desired effect. Actually, the abillity to switch individual effects on an off is why I prefer pedal boards, multi-effects are almost always some kind of compromise, even the bigger ones (of course, it would be undoable to acces all 199+ effects with seperate switches...)

Originally Posted by pkirk

Also, its a shame they didn't put a USB on this, like the Zoom G3. That would have made it a perfect practice tool.

According to their webisite it does have a USB! MS-50G | ZOOM
(But it's the small size connector type)

**jorgemg1984** · 10-01-2014, 08:54 AM

I am not at home but I do believe it has USB...

One important thing why this things work so well for me - I don't change my sound during gigs excepect with drives and the ms50g allows that quickly.

**mr. beaumont** · 10-01-2014, 09:21 AM

I've taken to using more effects lately...

I have a TC Hall of Fame Reverb and an old pink Ibanez analog delay in line. Last night, I plugged in my other old Ibanez pedal, a chorus, and got my Mike Stern on.

I played a really small bourbon tasting last week and used my lunchbox with one of those Boss Fender Deluxe reverb pedals in front of it. Borrowed it from a friend. He doesn't know it yet, but he's not getting it back.

I bought one of those EH B9's too...I figured even if I hated it, I could sell it and probably not lose any money, as they were getting sold out ina lot of places. But it's kinda cool. I use it to create backing tracks for myself...maybe I'll try gigging it someday, if the music calls for it...

**pkirk** · 10-01-2014, 09:42 AM

Originally Posted by Little Jay

According to their webisite it does have a USB! MS-50G | ZOOM
(But it's the small size connector type)

Right, Perhaps what I mean is that I don't think it can be used as an audio interface, the web site says it is for firmware updates, but now I don't remember if I tried it as an audio interface. The Zoom G1 and G7 (and I believe G3) work great as usb audio interfaces: my practice set up is a zoom g7 into the computer, so I can use a software metronome, play along with music/abersolds/BIAB etc, record to audio programs, via the zoom and its effects. Maybe what it's missing is a headphone out, but presumably if it works as an audio interface I can just plug the headphones into the output?

I think my solution will be to make every other preset a bypass. that way, I can cue up the preset before the tune starts, back up one, and then clicking will call up the effect, then go back to bypass.

**pingu** · 10-02-2014, 11:11 AM

Originally Posted by jorgemg1984

Forgot about eases of use - both easy to use if you're used to this stuff but the Zoom is simpler to me. In 30 minutes maximum you should be ready to go!

PS - The drives on the ms50g are not stellar but usable. You can select one of the effects to use with footswitch so you can change between cleans and drives.

is octave down any good on the ms50g
I wanna do basslines with guitar

plus all the other stuff would be a bonus !!

**jorgemg1984** · 10-02-2014, 11:30 AM

Nevrr tried it.. on the weekend I may have time!

**pingu** · 10-02-2014, 01:19 PM

Originally Posted by jorgemg1984

Nevrr tried it.. on the weekend I may have time!

appreciate it man ......
and any other views on the bass octave down thing

**KEOKI** · 10-02-2014, 02:10 PM

Well, it's there and it's usable. Although a dedicated pedal for that purpose would be better (tone and latency). But considering this is a cheap, portable pedal that covers lots of stuff (for gigs, not studio) it suits my purpose well. I have the octave down effect set up for bassman emergencies and not in the rotation que. Best you try it first for a dedicated application.

**Gilpy** · 10-02-2014, 02:56 PM

Originally Posted by pkirk

I use an MS50G also, for FX I want, but rarely use, so I don't want individual pedals cluttering up my pedalboard: autowah, vibrato, parallel fifths, octaves, etc, and it also works well as a tuner which kills the signal. BUT...I find it awkward to use "on the fly" in that you have to cycle through your presets to get to any one effect, and the writing is small and hard to read. In particular, what it lacks is a bypass switch. e.g. in a head/solo/head arrangement, if I want to use the autowah on the solo (e.g. St Thomas) I'll have to hunt at the beginning of my solo for the preset, and and hunt again at the end.

Maybe you other users have found a solution?

Also, its a shame they didn't put a USB on this, like the Zoom G3. That would have made it a perfect practice tool.

I have been using this Zoom pedal for the last year and it's worked very well for me. The first thing I did was rig up a small bypass pedal with an LED on/off indicator. Now I can go through my presets silently, while I'm playing. Or leave the Zoom in tuner mode and hit the bypass switch to tune. Without the bypass, this pedal would be useless (for me) on a gig, but with it I can replace a bunch of pedals I only used a few times a night.

Like any multi-effects pedal, the factory presets tend towards the gimmicky and extreme, so it's necessary to program your own sounds. I've found the tremolo, fuzz and vibe sounds to be really nice.

**Eddie Lang** · 10-02-2014, 06:48 PM

I keep things simple.

For playing: guitar > Hilton volume pedal > amp or PA

For practicing: guitar > volume pedal > Ditto looper (sometimes) > amp

I also have an EH Holy Grail that I almost never use, and when I do, it's very little and barely noticeable.

**henryrobinett** · 10-03-2014, 07:09 PM

I have an Axe Fx II so all my effects come from that. I use a Pedaltrain board with three expression pedals and a LF+12+ foot controller. I love the controller but am not happy with support from the company.

The tuner is set up on the controller. Everything interfaces with the Axe Fx. I normally use a delay or two, reverb, compressor sometimes. EQ, crunch distortion, wah wah, and various "amps". Sometimes I use strange effects like ring modulator and pitch change effects.

**Stevebol** · 10-09-2014, 11:50 PM

Lot's of cool pedals here! I'm trying get my thing together. I got an RC 300 recently but I want the smaller RC 30 which takes batteries. The EHX Epitome is VERY cool but no battery operation

I'm going to keep though.

I 'm just going to be singing/playing and want a few effects. Octave, reverb, delay, looper, and something else. Battery operation limits choices but I'll keep looking.
I was thinking of a multi-effects unit but maybe separate boxes is the way to go.

**Elamberth** · 10-10-2014, 07:57 PM

Used to use all manner of effects, pedals, rack mount, etc.

Now I use guitar - cord - amp with a hint of reverb 95+ % of the time.

Will still use a distortion on the amp or pedal for some rock stuff in the cover band (Stones songs, etc.)

More into jazz these days, and the more I learn, the more I practice, the less I am interested in effects.

Disclaimer - I do use a very nice, pro level guitar and amp with characteristics that appeal to me.

**AlainJazz** · 10-11-2014, 03:02 AM

Here's my Fusion pedal board. Usually though I just use guitar cable and amp when playing straight ahead jazz. However, I do love pedals when playing more modern stuff. The drummer in my band is a lamp designer and built it for me from scratch. I know it sounds cheesy but it looks awesome and it is the cleanest pedal board setup I've ever seen.

I usually also have a turbo tuner which is not shown in the picture. Great tuner. Highly recommend.

**ronjazz** · 10-11-2014, 08:10 AM

I like the Digitech line of multi-effects for electric guitar and the Zoom acoustic pedals for nylon-string with RMC pickup. However, I am now planning to purchase the Roland GR-55 synth, which includes the boss VG-99 guitar effects, and I hope that I can utilize that with a looper to simplify the rig while very much complicating the possibilities. With the 7-string guitar, I can create orchestrations behind a singer or other instrumentalist on the fly, using just 2 pedals into a Bose Compact or L1S. Having just added the new Godin Multiac nylon 7-string to my tools, I can now envision a very quick and easy setup for gigs with 1 guitar, 2 pedals and a Bose, taking no more than 15 minutes to get up and running, and having several hundred sonic possibilities.

**Stevebol** · 10-14-2014, 02:48 PM

Originally Posted by NSJ

I need to start thinking about seriously integrating a decent pedal board set up and using them with my instrument.

Right now, I have a Sustainer Pedal (don't use it, much); a Boss Loop pedal (not sure how to use it); and a Hendrix Cry Baby Wah (don't use it much).

I'm thinking of adding:

1. Volume pedal
2. Verb Pedal
3. Delay Pedal
4. Something special--like an Electro Harmonix HOG

Any rules/dos/don'ts/setkup advice on building and properly using a pedal chain?

You might like this;

Electro-Harmonix Epitome Multi-Effects Guitar Pedal | Musician's Friend

It doesn't have battery op that I need but it's just too good for me to sell. All 3 sections are top notch. The Hog is expensive so you might what to spend a little more and get a very good reverb and chorus/flanger too that also has the octave.

**acoustictones** · 10-14-2014, 03:44 PM

The older I get and longer I play the less I seem to use any effects. I love a guitar plugged directly into a nice Fender amp, and just use a very small amount of the built-in reverb, and set it up for two channels. One clean and another with just a little bit of break up.

I'm also a big fan of using a looper for practice, song writing and performance.

The other setup that I use is just a simple Roland AC33RW (just a nice option when I need something small and battery operated with a built-in looper). It has two separate input channels and I'll plug the ES-175 in to one and the J-35 into the other. This allows me to dial in the EQ I like for each and not have to mess with anything when I switch between the two. I will use just a small amount of the built in reverb and looper. That's about it.

Side note: The above is where I'm at TODAY... this can all change at a moments notice if a see a cool piece of gear at the right price and there's a few extra $$$'s in my pocket

**David B** · 10-14-2014, 04:09 PM

For more "electric settings", I have a Pedaltrain Jr board with TC Polytune > Rockett Allan Holdsworth OD/boost > Simble OD > EHX Superego > Strymon El Capistan > Strymon Flint

If I'm playing my archtop in an acoustic jazz setting, I use just an Earthquaker Devices Dispatch Master delay/reverb into my amp (Deluxe Reverb).

Lage Lund borrowed my Deluxe Reverb for a gig last week and asked to try the Dispatch Master. He ended up using it for the whole gig and bought his own the next morning, so now he'll just be taking one pedal on future tours.