Making the switch from analog pedals to multifx. Opinions?

[sleepykitty]

I'm getting real tired of my board, which consists of a TS7, modded MT-2, mjm blues devil, crunchbox, byoc chorus and dd-7. Whenever I plug into it, everything I play just seems so 'blergh' and repetitive. Nothing on it inspires me anymore, well, except for the dd-7 that is. I know my board lacks modulations and filters, but I don't feel like it's worth spending that much money on stuff that I think I would use sparingly.

I'm thinking of selling all my pedals and get a multifx. I've been doing some youtubing and am currently eyeing either a POD X3 Live, Boss GT10 or ToneLab LE. So hopefully people with experiences in these sets can flood me with inforomation.

And for people who made the switch, are you happy with it?

 

[gsonique]

Just get a boost/preamp after your multi effects...best with at least a bass and treble control.


Btw...all the best infidel!


:mrgreen:

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

imho

with single stompboxes, what we have will always be all we have, thus after a while, it starts to get boring.

with multifx, what we have is like having many many single stompboxes in one, assembled into one package. Within this multifx, there will be lotsa parameters to tweak, fine tune, adjust and combined patches to form the end product in sound that we can hear. While it seem like a really great deal, utimately, at the end of adjusting/tweaking, we might still end up in similar situation as per using single stompboxes(after the familiarisation and the music dont come, that is)

The biggest different would be taking a longer road to reach that stage. But eventually it will come, when we are bored with the amount of combinations, our mind will start to wander off again(with no music done).

imho, its more of our mind than the physical gear itself.

and of course, theres no harm trying(multiefx) as long any piece of gear can inspire sweet music, its all worth it, after all, nothing is better or worse, just different, according to our needs and thoughts.

heh, its like iron maiden, ater so long still sounds like themselves through out the years since they started or can be like U2, going thru different phases with different sound, style and direction. End of the day, when theres music done, it will justify what ever changes for the gear we use

 

[ShredCow]

sleepykitty.

I don't think you will be solving the problem.

Pathein has a point.

Try this: Go straight to amp. Skip your board.

Now if you can't come up with something better than 'blergh'... or you know... you find yourself coming up with heart-less music... then...

Dude, I have to say.

Its you.

Not the gear.

The gear is only as good as the player.

 

[sleepykitty]

I did go the straight to amp route before and ended up with Preston Reed, Kaki King and Tommy Emmanuel coming out of my amp!

I guess we're all driven to try something new once the old gets repetitive. Maybe I'm not into the whole guitar playing thing? I guess I just love to twist knobs and play the same old blues tunes over and over again to hear what it's like over the whole range of the tone knob of the pedal.

And shredcow, it's always easier to blame the gear

 

[Lifehouse]

I'll take quality over quantity. I used to use all the modeling stuff and my experience is that multi effects are really unintuitive.

That being said, at the end of the day, its what that floats your boat that truly matters.

 

[ShredCow]

hahaha... sleepkitty, you remind me of the thoughts that ran in my mind before. Blame the gear alright! Good one!

Its totally fine to be a tone freak actually. Really. Its okay. Don't let us stop you from getting the multifx if that is what you really need.

But... man... maybe you just need a GOOD acoustic guitar. I tell ya, good acoustic playing is not as easy as it seems - methinks its tougher than stunt electric guitar!

 

[naviros]

I agree with shred on the acoustic. You never know what you're gonna get with a change of pace. Then again you can always do something else for a little while and come back...

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

ok, i know it will be kinda off, but theres a book which thot i mentioned.

http://www.amazon.com/Effortless-Mastery-Liberating-Master-Musician/dp/156224003X

recommmended by someone in another local music forum bout 5/6 years back. It has some good stuff in it, talking bout the psychological side of playing, away from gear, change of gear etc. It focus more on the idea of why we play music, how we view it and how to get over certain mental block etc.

it can be quite refreshing to read something like that, away from gear and seeing the psychological side of playing. I found the book in borders bout 4 years back. Not sure if they still bring in.

anyone insterested enough, might wanna look for it. Theres a cd for meditation in it as well if anyone into that(i didnt bother with that, reading is enough, stoning out been what i have been doing on daily basis, so dont have to listen cd and doing it

)

 

[lester_music]

focus on playing..not gear...then you will not get bored...

my band's guitarist using the same effects for years......he is awesome guitarist..never get tired of his gear...cause he is focusing on the song and music..

eric johnson also said in one of his interviews that he have spend lotsa time chasing gears in the past......he realised that he should be spending all this "gear time" making music, writing songs etc instead...

 

[EugeneSmasher]

I never get bored with my gear :mrgreen: although I've been considering getting a chorus to suppliment my two drive pedals. But I get bored with my own playing very often.

I personally don't quite like MFX processors because the tone they produce somehow do not catch my fancy. When I give my POD a chance, I always end up going back to my analog board.

In the end, its what rocks your boat that matters, we all have different tastes. A friend of mine made the switch from analog to a Tonelab LE (or was it SE?) and from what I know, he's very, very satisfied.

 

[gsonique]

I guess I just love to twist knobs and play the same old blues tunes over and over again to hear what it's like over the whole range of the tone knob of the pedal.

Ha there is the problem right there ... i do that all the time(minus the frekin blues)...but i have good excuse tho :mrgreen:

 

[dric]

the one solution to all our problems...........buy all the gear in the world!!!!!

but yea, to really get out of boredom, try focusing more on your playing. think of more creative ways of playing. try stuff that totally disagrees with books and theory.

if you really really really can't come up with anything.....try playing left handed......lol.

get a double neck.......triple neck.......quadruple neck.

play thru a keyboard amp..bass amp.....amp with torn speaker.....

place your amp at the window and turn it up to 11.........

get a fretless guitar..............

try weird tunings.......

anyway.......i'd recommend the gt10. or tonelab SE, not the LE. but the SE you gotta find 2nd hand.

 

[snuffleupagus]

get a boss me 50, use your own drive pedals though. Boss Me 50 has tons of effects to play with, in stompbox style format, very easy to use, no hassle, no amp modelling, very back to basics.And it only costs like 300 second hand now.

 

[ShredCow]

,...talking bout the psychological side of playing, away from gear, change of gear etc. It focus more on the idea of why we play music, how we view it and how to get over certain mental block etc....

I agree with you Pathein - conceptually.

Guitaring is more than... just gear.

Its the whole driving purpose behind it. What do ya do it for?! Who do you do it for?!

In my case, its my religion that supplements my drive to play guitar. That's it.


What's your case sleepykitty?

 

[sleepykitty]

Pathein
-Sounds like an interesting read, albeit a little on the chim side. The part about overcoming the mental block could be just what I need

dric
-Yea Preston Reed and Kaki King opened to door for me to a new style of guitar playing. Open tunings, percussive playing, fingerstyle. Well that was a couple of months back. I've recently dug them up again and discovered that this is the kind of music that I wanna play. But I don't know if the feeling is going to be temporary or permanent.

Shredcow
-Music and guitars are more than just time-fillers for me. It's the whole joy of creation, watching and listening something being created by you, seeing it evolve from just a mediocre acoustic-guitar-and-vocal track into a 4 piece band backed by a 49 man orchestra track.

 

[Santa]

you know what u shld do, instead of getting more pedals, get a new soundcard plus recorder. then, play with yourself. (haha). try dl-ing audacity for a really good and free sound recording software, hydrogen for drum loops. u can even do a pseudo bassline with the octave down fn= post mix on audacity.

be your own one man band, and soon u'll find ways to express ur msuic than ever before. something magical about playing with harmonies. or just pick up the bass! different instrument = diffreent role = different approach to music.

 

[kernelspy]

focus on playing..not gear...then you will not get bored...

my band's guitarist using the same effects for years......he is awesome guitarist..never get tired of his gear...cause he is focusing on the song and music..

eric johnson also said in one of his interviews that he have spend lotsa time chasing gears in the past......he realised that he should be spending all this "gear time" making music, writing songs etc instead...

This guys speaks guitar wisdom.

I always hear/ read guys switching from MultiFX to Analog to rack but this is a first time for me. I think you already have a good gear there that can cover a lot of grounds... just focus with music bro.

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

heh, gotta be careful, those people who said those, have already spent years and years trying, thus saying that.

for some of us, its just the lack of chance/money which made us say that

haha, the difference is damned big...i know what i want(after trying over years and years) and i have no choice but to settle for what i have kinda

 

[Ized]

i recalled that there was actually one period of time i was sick of constantly GAS-ing for gear and stuff. so i just sort of quit checking out gear websites, SOFT included. I simply focused on my guitar playing. That was when the level of my playing made huge leaps and bounds. I couldnt believe that i could actually get a decent tone from my crappy ibanez smashbox boosted by a ts9dx and an mxr 6 band eq for my lead tones, and have people coming up to me commenting about my "skills" and how the heck i managed to get my tone.

Now that i've ventured into boutique, sadly there's no turning back....and up to today i still couldnt believe that my crappy tone, wad sounded damn crappy to my ears actually sounded good to other people. I guess skills and playing does play a part rather than gear..... Although good gear can make a good player sound even better.

I did consider going the multiefx route, but i gave up halfway bought a old skool digitech multiefx (the built in distortion was impressive cos it was analog) and gave up after a week. Turned out im quite the lazy fella who would rather tweak a couple of knobs rather than spend hours saving patches and changing parameters. Sold my multi-efx. Went back to analog and I guess its gonna be that way until i get enough cash or become world famous(yeah rite)enough to get my own rackmount unit and a sound engineer to tweak it for me