Stompboxes or multieffects?

[Kyuzo]

I realize that the trend now is that people are going back to stompboxes when they are purchasing effects and I'm curious why is that so.. And here u go with this post stating what do u prefer. Please do state the pros and cons sober we can have a comparison between the both.

Cheers softies!

 

[loldude333]

Shouldn't this be in the gear-guitar section? Unless you're referring to both guitar and bass.

Well for me, i guess it was because people liked the idea of an all in one a few years back, as it gave them the luxury of having seemingly unlimited tones at their feet. However, after a while, the fad began to fade as the quality of digital effects wasn't quite good enough. Hence, they went back to analogs. For me, i still like the tonefactory idea that a multiefx provides, and given the quality of multiefx today, tonal satisfaction isn't a problem. Hell, even artistes like Lincoln Brewster use them for recording. I feel that the quality of multiefx is very close to that of analog pedals today, but also that it won't get much closer. Hence, analog pedals will remain a niche market for the tone purists.

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

heh, theres not much of a trend to begin with, only how much we can spend and know.

I have been buying single stompboxes since early 90s and along the way, have known some who do that as well. The trend we see, is not so much of a trend but as mentioned above, what we know. Outside of that, theres a big group who do things differently.

Anyway, lotsa misconception that single stompbox are analog circuit, which is not entirely true. I really wonder why most of the newer folks into effect have this idea round here. Its really strange...

analog and digital is not about being single stompbox of multi efx type, but more on the signal processing part and type of components for the circuit. In term of multi efx, theres analog multi efx being produced back in the 80s from ibanez and roland as well

 

[lordie]

i choose both and use both on my board.

 

[EugeneSmasher]

I use multi-effects almost exclusively. I like the tones, though I can get better tones from buying expensive pedals, but multi-effects sound good enough for me. Also, the convenience. In fact, the convenience just settles it for me. Pedals are a pain in the arse, I know, because I used pedals before.

So multi-effects for me. Though I might throw in some drive pedals to have a hybrid rig.

 

[loldude333]

^^^Have to agree with you there man. Both of us use the Line 6 PodXT Live no? I'd get a Wampler Plextortion and maybe a Sahasrara OD to complement my setup and that's all i will ever use for the rest of my life. Or at least until new GAS hits (which might be a year after i actually complete my setup).

 

[EugeneSmasher]

Actually I'm using a simple and basic Floor POD.

 

[dillon333]

I mean normally nowadays after trying on multi effects, people usually come to realise that they do not actually use all the effects in the multi effects, also the tone that you want is pretty hard to get out of a multi effects. So people rather opt for stompboxes which are easier to adjust the tone that they want and also its sort of more value for money because u know you will only get effects that you more frequently use such as delays, distortions or overdrives. Also by starting on individual stompboxes it allows you to have time to experiment and make the most out of ur stompboxes like tweaking it to get your tone. Very often of not multi effects have to much effects and it makes u pretty giddy sometimes just trying to find the right tone that you want and good ones dont come cheap too, probably have to pay close to 600 or more just for an above average one. With this money you can probably get the basic set of stompboxes that you need alr. And also in live gigs, when u see these lights coming out from the stompboxes in the dark u just feel damn shiok as compared to multieffects.

 

[theliverevolution]

Ha, Cleve, expierienced based on working life?

I guess it depends on what sort of tone and what sort of music people are playing that determines whether they want a Multi-Efx or Stompboxes. Multi-Efxs, in my opinion, are good if you're running on a budget and need to get a whole set of tones. Still, many Multi-Efxs are incredibly hard to change on the go, which means either you have to preset all the settings at home for each individual song that you're performing.
Couple in the fact that your whole effects chain relies on that Multi-Efx. If you're not to fond of the distortions on the Efx, its impossible to change just the distortions alone, yet keep the rest of the Efx (presuming you love them to bits) unless you buy a seperate Stompbox just for the distortion.
And if the unit blows, ouch. You've got to replace everything

I still favour Stompboxes though - yes, they're more pricey and building my pedalboard is going to take lots of time to save/work and to purchase, but I get the specific tones I want.

Hey, when you're free, give me a call dood.
(may pop by your place tomorrow if I'm around in town as well )

 

[Jumpin'Jellybean]

I use a hybrid.
Mfx for modulations, since i don't heavily rely on it. moderate usage, thus i don't find the need to painstakingly go through heaps of stompboxes.
I use drives a lot, and i have a couple drives with a noise gate as the only stompboxes.

 

[lordie]

the m9 has really really good effects and some of the effects model after pay for itself eg) octave is base on EBS octave and by god its better than the EBS ones coz it can track a low B perfectly. it also easier to adjust on the fly, extremely easy.

I mean normally nowadays after trying on multi effects, people usually come to realise that they do not actually use all the effects in the multi effects, also the tone that you want is pretty hard to get out of a multi effects. So people rather opt for stompboxes which are easier to adjust the tone that they want and also its sort of more value for money because u know you will only get effects that you more frequently use such as delays, distortions or overdrives. Also by starting on individual stompboxes it allows you to have time to experiment and make the most out of ur stompboxes like tweaking it to get your tone. Very often of not multi effects have to much effects and it makes u pretty giddy sometimes just trying to find the right tone that you want and good ones dont come cheap too, probably have to pay close to 600 or more just for an above average one. With this money you can probably get the basic set of stompboxes that you need alr. And also in live gigs, when u see these lights coming out from the stompboxes in the dark u just feel damn shiok as compared to multieffects.

 

[jabberwocky]

I used to have multi-efx in the past as means to experiment as you would definitely not use all the tones available through it. There will be things you like and things you find severely lacking, giving you a better picture of what single (quality) stompboxes to go for.

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

for me, the best distortion tones comes from a combination of the amp head, cab size and way of mic'ing it all up. at gigs, i rarely get a chance to use my prefered amp, 4×12" cabs comes once in a while and the way sound tech mikes the stuff all up differs.

how do overcome this problem of mine? i just turn to my pod x3 live for the superb amp / cab / mike simulation. all can be specifically controlled in their own respective parameters. all i need to do now is pray that the venue has a good pa system with high headroom loudspeakers and maybe 1 or 2 subwoofers. then i just needa request XLR direct input into the mixer, hard panned left and right and tada! my super zhnged stereo sound. imo i think i sound good enough doing this, for live situations. nobody moshing and jumping to the music would be able to tell i am DI'ing my guitar if i had a mesa boogie head + cab behind me. 99% guarantee (unless they notice the lights of the amp is not on.. that is..) =D

stompboxes? yes they are good stuff, provided i could control what amp/cab/mike style to use every gig, maybe when i'm rich and famous touring with an international band.. haha somewhere in my dreams la

 

[Kaye]

I like arranging my stompboxes, having them in blue, red, purple and seeing the pretty led lights lighting up. hmmm yeah. Don't flame me okay? *throws confetti*

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

hey guys, i had a gig recently with 2 guitarist sharing a pod x3 live into house rig, no guitar amps on stage. quite a decent result i think. there was no soundman and the sound was balanced by us 10 minutes before the set.

if you guys have fb you can check the videos out here:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150092789725120
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150092779415120

one of the reasons why i still stick to my pod. gonna try the new pods when i can, letting go my pod x3 live first before that though.. shameless sale here.. interested, pm me! =P

a lil programming for the pedal was necessary but the process was simplified by the computer patch editing software. pod x3's have 2 individual effects chain, each capable of handling 2 amp simulators, so what people usually do is to make use of this with one guitar in. the result would be one guitar with two tones coming out, say a mesa rec and a bogner ubershall, together. what i did was to assign these two chains to two separate individual inputs, guitar in and aux in. each of these dual tones was saved into a patch and so they were both changed when i changed to a different bank.

i knew the pod x3 live could do this from the start but never thought i would actually find any use of it until circumstances forced me to. haha, we were given a stage, house pa, and 5 mikes and a few cables. and since budget was tight and equipment was not provided, we had to bring our own beg-steal-borrowed stuff. since my band was our own tech crew and soundmen, we did a fairly complex setup so that we had more overall control of our sound balance on stage.

the power of a S$700 piece of plastic! >.<

 

[Kyuzo]

Yea, the POD X3 live is one awesome multieffects itself.. Comes with mic preamps and stuff.. Really cool!! The POD HDs are actually charming me to oblivion already. Haha.. If you can, i guess you can make a trip to CityMusic to see whats up with the HDs.

 

[dillon333]

Haha multi effects are always cool and rly value for money because of all the functions and large range of effects they can give you. But then since i dont rly use much effects other than the normal ones like dist, overdrives and delays and probably a chorus, i think its like rather wasted if i use a multi effects. But the m9 rly does have v good effects

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

hey i used to have the "wasted-if-i-don't-use-everything" mentality, but actually it's not a good gauge.

true that the money you spend = multi effects fullest potential, but it is so value for money that, even if you don't use all the effects, you may have already surpassed the equivalent value of single stomp boxes.

there are a lot of very good models of legendary boutique stomp boxes in the m13 / m9 / pods, that costs around $300 to $500 each? so you just needa really use 2 of them to justify the cost of the unit, though the full potential is running 8 of them at once.

i justify my use most with the amp modeling though.. one mesa dual recitifier + 4×12 cab is gonna cost much more than my $700 piece of plastic.

 

[theliverevolution]

The POD HDs are actually charming me to oblivion already. Haha.. If you can, i guess you can make a trip to CityMusic to see whats up with the HDs.

*drools*
Will pop by on Saturday after my paper then~

 

[bf0502tr]

hey guys, i had a gig recently with 2 guitarist sharing a pod x3 live into house rig, no guitar amps on stage. quite a decent result i think. there was no soundman and the sound was balanced by us 10 minutes before the set.

if you guys have fb you can check the videos out here:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150092789725120
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150092779415120

one of the reasons why i still stick to my pod. gonna try the new pods when i can, letting go my pod x3 live first before that though.. shameless sale here.. interested, pm me! =P

a lil programming for the pedal was necessary but the process was simplified by the computer patch editing software. pod x3's have 2 individual effects chain, each capable of handling 2 amp simulators, so what people usually do is to make use of this with one guitar in. the result would be one guitar with two tones coming out, say a mesa rec and a bogner ubershall, together. what i did was to assign these two chains to two separate individual inputs, guitar in and aux in. each of these dual tones was saved into a patch and so they were both changed when i changed to a different bank.

i knew the pod x3 live could do this from the start but never thought i would actually find any use of it until circumstances forced me to. haha, we were given a stage, house pa, and 5 mikes and a few cables. and since budget was tight and equipment was not provided, we had to bring our own beg-steal-borrowed stuff. since my band was our own tech crew and soundmen, we did a fairly complex setup so that we had more overall control of our sound balance on stage.

the power of a S$700 piece of plastic! >.<

hmmm i thought it was only able to process 2 instruments?? how'd u end up having 3??