Pedal board or Multi effects unit?

[saturn]

I've gone back and forth over the years. I've never had a huge pedal collection and use effects sparingly anyway. Years ago I had a distortion, chorus and  maybe wah wah and that was it. My old buddy Ed was always trying to get me to use his multi digital contraption thingy. Can't remember the brand but it had too many menus, parameters and it even sounded digital. I never cared for it.  Then at some point I got a BOSS ME50.  I liked that. It had knobs instead of menus and the effects sounded pretty authentic, not computerized. I can't remember why, but I got rid of that about 10 years ago.

So at this point I have an Octopus Tuner, MXR Dyna Comp, one of two Overdrive/Distortion,  Cry Baby 535Q Wah, and a Chorus. I power them either through a powered pedal board, a One Spot or the Octopus pedal that can power the other pedals. No matter which way I do there's a tangle of cords and jumper cables. This is only my latest rig. Over the years I've gone through various overdrives, chorus, wahs, compressors, tuners....etc. But lately I've been eyeing the BOSS ME-70 and it's looking more and more attractive. One cord in and one cord out sounds pretty convenient.  And as I said about ME50,  it's knobs and pedals rather than menus and  amp modeling. But even so I know I'll only use about 10% of all the options this unit is capable of. What to do?

Any thoughts? 

[rct]

I've done several iterations of both and always go back to a pedal board.

rct

[Rabs]

I think it depends on what you do..  If you are a gigging musician the effects are to get certain sounds to play certain songs.. Its a practical thing. pedals are always better for that.  For me I only noodle at home, having a load of pedals just to play around on is a bit much. So I have a Boss micro BR which i  a mini digital four track recorder.. It has built in drums (that are actually pretty good) and like 100 effects which just for playing around with is good enough for me.  Its the same with modelling amps. However good they get, its just too much choice  and fiddling so Id rather keep things simple. I find with those sorts of things you end up spending almost as much time finding the "right" sound as you do playing  🙂 

[Larsongs]

I go back & forth too.. I have lots of Pedals I’ve accumulated over the years but only use a few now on a powered Boss BCB-60 Pedalboard..  A Janglebox Compressor, Boss TU-2 Tuner, TS-808 Tube Screamer, Boss DD5 Digital Delay, 63 Fender Reverb & a Keeley 30ms Double Tracker..

That said, recently I’ve gone back to no Pedals.. A Guitar of choice, depending on what genre we’re playing & an Amp of choice..  I’m using mostly small Amps.. Either a Fender 65 PRRI Which has Reverb & Tremelo & can Break up early, or a modded Vox -AC10 with Reverb & Gain.. Either or both Amps are pretty ideal for whatever…

In the Studio I use a Vox AC-15 with Alnico Blue & a Stock 65 DRRI. Individually or both Double Tracked..

In my Studio I’ve tried using Amp & FX Plugins in Logic Pro X which are pretty good but I still prefer real Tube Amp sound..

Edited November 23, 2022 by Larsongs

[Murph]

All acoustic. No effects. Usually mic'd.

I haven't sold the old Tube Screamer from the old days.

No.

[saturn]

The other thing. Many stomp box pedals on the market cost over $100. Some over $200. I can get a brand new ME80 for under $300.  Yeah. Its an 80 not 70 

[Pinch]

I don't use a lot of pedals these days. I have enough trouble focusing on my hands. All depends on what you need, I guess. 

[Twang Gang]

I was never really a pedal guy.  I played through a Fender Twin from around '73 or so that had a master volume so you could get some distortion at not a huge volume - that worked for about 25 years.  (no pedals or effects) Then I went to a smaller amp with a Yamaha GW10 processor that had 20 available settings that you could program yourself for distortion, reverb, delay, chorus, compression, pitch shift and EQ.  It took a long time to program and get the sounds I wanted, but once I did it served me well and I ended up only using about 4 of the pre-sets.  After that I got playing with a digital drummer/sound man and I got an Eleven rack.  They were about $1K when they came out, but I got in on the tail end when they were about to stop making them and picked up a new one for $300.  It has many amp simulators and every effect you could want.  Again, it took a while to program the way I wanted, but once dialed in was able to do away with the amplifier altogether and just run that rack into the PA.  It is gathering dust as I have pretty much devolved into just playing acoustic guitar now.

So, to answer your question - multi effects over pedals.  You have to invest more time on the front end getting them set up the way you want, but after that it's gravy.

[Tman]

I've always only used a talk box which isn't really a pedal until this year when I played a gig this summer. Multi effects pedal all the way from now on. Even subtle things like reverb which is mostly what I do except difficult solos where I kick in echo that makes me sound like Steve Vai (kinda)

[Sparquelito2]

On 11/22/2022 at 10:21 PM, rct said:

I've done several iterations of both and always go back to a pedal board.

rct

That's my story.

I'm using a pedal board right now, and this is probably going to be it for the long haul.

I must confess one thing though;
There were a few gigs where the multi-effects unit was a lightweight convenience.

One in particular, where we played an outdoor event in Big Spring Park.
We had to pack efficiently, and load in and out in a timely manner, since there were multiple bands on the bill that day.
I didn't load in any amps, pedals, or SM57's.
Just used a Digitech multi-effects pedal, cabled directly into the PA head.

That was a quick set up and tear-down, for sure!
(For me anyway. My brother and the bass player mic'ed their amps, and drummer Bob's Gretsch kit as well.)
🙂

Edited November 25, 2022 by Sparquelito2

[jdgm]

Back in 2004 I bought a Boss GT-5 for my 50th birthday. The big gold one.  I was determined to master and use it but....it was un-tameable.  Too many gain/vol stages and the distortion and od wimped out at stage volume.  I treid and tried with that thing but eventually sold it for far less than what I paid, and went back to pedals.  And I'm staying with pedals now. 

I have 2 boards, one for jazz and one for rock.  Common to both are modded Boss GE-7 and Ibanez DCF-10.

My latest rock project met for 1st rehearsal on Monday.  I thought it went well but have heard today that it's a non-starter as the singer has pulled out and (I think) the drummer too.

Edited November 25, 2022 by jdgm

[saturn]

I was out running around today and figured I'd stop in Guitar Center and test the ME80 and maybe see what Black Friday deals they had going on.  Well, GC was out of stock of the ME80 and really didn't have any great sales going on. There are two other places I could check for the BOSS, Ryan Fowler and Bill's Music.  Might try to get to one or both of those places this weekend. 

I definitely want to try it in person before making a decision.  

 

[Mutha]

Nine pedals on my board. I`m in the process of putting together a new one which will have effects and pedals,

Why? Because I seem to revel in hardship, it`ll probably be a two man lift.

Although I did buy a Gec9 for less Fred Astaire.

[Tman]

I bought a Mooer GE 250 for around $350. It amazing and fits in a back pack.  Technology is advancing so quickly. Great stuff.

[Rabs]

Are there any cheaper decent multi effects pedals?  I am thinking of getting one for my brother in law for xmas.  But only want to spend more like 150.... I am trying to find a decent one of those that have an expression/wha built in... Even though I know obviously at that price its not gonna be quite as good..  Either that or just a good  old Cry Baby which I can get for that sort of price.....

[jdgm]

12 hours ago, Rabs said:

Are there any cheaper decent multi effects pedals?  I am thinking of getting one for my brother in law for xmas.  But only want to spend more like 150.... I am trying to find a decent one of those that have an expression/wha built in... Even though I know obviously at that price its not gonna be quite as good..  Either that or just a good  old Cry Baby which I can get for that sort of price.....

Well there's plenty on the market but I think you will be looking at Zoom rather than Boss.

https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/guitar-pedals/multi-fx-units?orderBy=3&pageNumber=1

Best wishes - hope you are doing ok!

[Rabs]

30 minutes ago, jdgm said:

Well there's plenty on the market but I think you will be looking at Zoom rather than Boss.

https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/guitar-pedals/multi-fx-units?orderBy=3&pageNumber=1

Best wishes - hope you are doing ok!

Yeah, I thought as much...  Theres that Mooer one too GE 100 but I saw a review that said it sounds terrible.

And yes, all good cheers...  Just want to hibernate since the clocks went back.... 🙂

Edited November 28, 2022 by Rabs

[merciful-evans]

In 52 years of guitar playing I've only owned 2 pedals. I never gigged either.

When I started at age 16 I got a Carlbro Fuzz/Wah thing (my amp wouldn't do gain). It was rubbish. I got rid of it PDQ.

42 years later I bought another pedal. It was a Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor. It was a foolish attempt to get closer to Jimmy Herrings sound (he used one). It had a 12AX7 tube in it. It was rubbish. I got rid of it PDQ.

I got a Boss GT5 when it 1st came out (25 years or more ago). A friend of mine got to review one for a magazine and was in love with it. I only used it for pre-amp & amp sims and some reverb. It sounded better than anything I ever used before. Years later it died at a New Years Eve gig. The bassist poured water on it and it went fzztp.

Another friend of mine had one, and I offered him a wedge of money for it but he wouldn't part with it. So I got a Line 6 POD HD400. But it was better than the old Boss and I was happy. When the Helix arrived I tried one out. I couldn't hear any difference so didn't upgrade. Still only use amp & speaker sims though.

Since stopping gigging its been gathering dust in my little studio upstairs. In the house I now use a Yamaha THR30ii home amp. Its much simpler than the signal processors but sounds just as good. 

 

 

[bigtim]

I have had both.  Still have a couple of pedals.  

 

I use about 5 pedals when I gig. 

 

But I also have a few multi effect things. 

 

 

One in particular I really like is the Headrush MX5. 

 

Yeah it has a touch screen but in reality it kicks some butt and sounds fantastic. 

 

 

If you can use a modern smartphone you can figure it out. 

[swampash]

Since 2014 I've been using a Boss GT100 through a Fender Blues Junior. Back then I was gigging. I must admit it took a while to setup the Boss and get all the banks and patches dialed in as I wanted them. Once they were done, they were done. For convenience sake, there's nothing easier than having everything you need for a song with the click of a switch. The only separate pedal I used with the Boss was a Dunlop Cry Baby as the built in wah was terrible. I'd always pick the Boss GT100 over pedals and still have it now.

Now that it's been a few years since I've been in a band or even played live, I got a Spark amp last year that I keep in the living room. It's an amp, a Bluetooth speaker, a drum machine and many more things in one amazing package. You can dial all of the effects in on an iPad or directly with the knobs on the amp. The app on the iPad opens up a lot more possibilities for effects and amps. You can tailor jam tracks to solo over or you can connect your iPhone to it and jam over any track in your music catalogue, all through one speaker. You can also plug your bass or acoustic guitar into it as it has settings for all. And it sounds incredible. Real cheap too. They also brought out a smaller one than you can charge up and take with you anywhere.

[kidblast]

I don't really like the Multi-all-things-in-one-box

I Also use my amps sounds as much as possible.

give me a good compressor and a good delay with a few "presets" to switch to, and I'm a happy boy.

[duane v]

Multi effects for this player 

[saturn]

I think I found what I want. I just have to save up some gig money or something before I spend a other $500 on a new toy. But this has everything I need and nothing I don't. Plus it's analog, no menus or parameters. 

 

[saturn]

5 hours ago, ghost_of_fl said:

That looks fun.  No reverb though?   

My amp has spring reverb. I rarely even use Delay, but it's nice to have the option for a little echo.

[mihcmac]

My multi-pedal is mounted on a pedalboard with my other pedals. I use multiple reverbs, delays, 4 OD's a chorus a wah and a hum killer.

Edited April 3, 2023 by mihcmac