Multi-fx / Modellers Switching "Gap"

Beexter

Talk about first world problems!
Did people bleat on about this with channel switching amps?
If anything,  I notice more of a gap on my old-school analogue channel switching valve amp than I do with my latest generation whizz-bang digital modeller. 
How on earth has it become such an issue? 

Jonathanthomas83

You make a good point, mate. Do you use XY on the AX8? You don't get much of an issue?

Beexter

Jonathanthomas83 said:

You make a good point, mate. Do you use XY on the AX8? You don't get much of an issue?

Hi bud 
I rarely use XY as I only ever use one "amp" at a time,  just as I would with a traditional rig.
I guess it is what I'm used to. 
I assume that the old school way of switching amps in a dual amp rig was an A/B or A/B/Y switcher to give you instant, gapless changes.
If it's that much of an issue to people, why not duplicate your modeller and stick an A/B switch in between them - problem solved. 

Voxman

I've had a Boss GT3, GT6, Zoom G5, Yamaha GW33, Boss BE5, and currently have 3 Vox Tonelabs ST/LE/SE....Maybe some people have faster hearing than I do, but I have never ever noticed any 'switching lag' with any of them.   

Jota

Gigged a nova System for 7 years! Never had problems with the tiny gap between presets!
Now I have the Boss MS-3 and I don't have to change presets so often because of the great capabilities on each preset but even when I do, I don't have any problem with the gap.

Drew_TNBD

It's a fair point. But when you're trying to create the illusion of professionalism, every little helps!!

Jota

Drew_TNBD said:

It's a fair point. But when you're trying to create the illusion of professionalism, every little helps!!

For me, professionalism is doing your best within the limitations of the gear.
No one ever came to me after the show saying they thought the band was good but those gaps on the guitar ruined the performance.

Drew_TNBD

Jota said:

Drew_TNBD said:

It's a fair point. But when you're trying to create the illusion of professionalism, every little helps!!

For me, professionalism is doing your best within the limitations of the gear.
No one ever came to me after the show saying they thought the band was good but those gaps on the guitar ruined the performance.

Professionalism is getting head after the show. Never gonna happen if you've got huge doorsteps between yer transitioons!!!

stratman3142

Voxman said:

I've had a Boss GT3, GT6, Zoom G5, Yamaha GW33, Boss BE5, and currently have 3 Vox Tonelabs ST/LE/SE....Maybe some people have faster hearing than I do, but I have never ever noticed any 'switching lag' with any of them.   

I'm not sure about the others but the Boss GT6 doesn't have a noticeable gap between switching, at least not when it's in manual (stompbox) mode which is the way I used it.

I recently replaced the GT6 with a Helix LT, which does have a noticeable gap when switching between presets that would bother me, except it's possible to get around it using snapshots so it's not a problem.

John_A

I sit 95% of the time on a single preset you can do a lot in one preset on the Helix

Jota

Drew_TNBD said:

Jota said:

Drew_TNBD said:

It's a fair point. But when you're trying to create the illusion of professionalism, every little helps!!

For me, professionalism is doing your best within the limitations of the gear.
No one ever came to me after the show saying they thought the band was good but those gaps on the guitar ruined the performance.

Professionalism is getting head after the show. Never gonna happen if you've got huge doorsteps between yer transitioons!!!

Sorry but if you can't deal with a few miliseconds of pause between presets, it's not the gears fault!

ICBM

Beexter said:

Did people bleat on about this with channel switching amps?

Yes, they still do.

Beexter said:

How on earth has it become such an issue? 

Because it is, if the gap is big enough - it's maybe not quite so bad if you're in a two-guitar band, but if you're the sole guitarist and you're playing a continuous part which has to change sound right on the beat, the noticeable gap can be a real pig to work around… you can usually do it by learning to make the change exactly the right amount early, so the sound comes back in on the beat, but it's not a very 'natural' thing to do and it really takes concentration. Even then, sometimes it's impossible to avoid a noticeable drop-out.

That's why I have always set my multi-FX up so I never change patch on the fly - the only things that change within a song are individual effects on/off, which don't usually have this problem. With most units you can still get a good range of sounds that way, so it isn't an issue.

For what it's worth the worst piece of gear for this I've ever found is not a multi-FX or digital at all, it's the Mesa V-Twin valve preamp pedal. Switching from bypass to either of the 'on' sounds has a lag that's got to be in the tens of milliseconds - very noticeable and interrupts the sound to the point that it's unusable for some changes.

If you've never noticed any of these things I can only assume you've never used a piece of gear with a bad lag or played in a context where you need precise on-the-beat changes.