Multi effects pedal recommendation

bingefeller

Boss GT-1 is great.  I had one for sale and decided to take it out yesterday and I'm no longer selling it.  There are loads of patches online for it and you can tweak them yourself to your liking.  

Zoom G1-XON is another good one, and is only £62 on Amazon.  You can't edit patches via your computer, but it does sound very natural, as does the Boss.  

I prefer the Boss as it's a little more flexible and I'm also a fan of Boss stuff.  

flying_pie

You could sell your interface and get something with interface built in. That could help your budget. 

I recently picked up a Boss GT 001 second hand for £100. With a bit of tweaking (esp using EQ to subtract harsh frequencies) you can get some decent enough sounds. It also can record vocals which is why I chose it over the other small units like Zoom even though they sound great. You can also easily record a dry signal (by itself or along with a wet signal) and reamp through the unit.

I have to keep all my gigging stuff in the hall cupboard and having something tiny I can leave out for headphones practice and recording is ideal.

drwiddly

You might need to stretch your budget a touch but I'd have a look for a Digitech GSP1101. Very good amp modelling and fx, has its own Impulse Responses (cabinet emulations) and allows 10 user IR's to be loaded and it acts as a USB sound card for direct recording.

The amp modelling is far superior to the Boss COSM stuff and it's streets ahead of Pods, etc. for sound quality.

Amazingly good unit and might just fall in the upper range of your budget used on eBay.

meltedbuzzbox

I'd go for a zoom g9.2tt
It's good for recording and does everything the g3 does and more. Used prices will be 50 - 100

barryd

Thanks again.  More to look at!  I like the look of the Zoom G3 as to be honest I wont ever be gigging anytime soon so something that easily fits on a desk is fine.  I Dont use foot pedals either.  I have really bad Arthritis so I spend most of my time sat down playing.  No stage dives for me! 

Im watching a Zoom G3 on Ebay right now but some of them seem to be going for almost as much as they are or were new.  They were only £110 new on Amazon.

barryd

I got the G3 last night on Ebay, paid £72 for it so will see how that goes.  If its not up to scratch or I dont like it I guess I can just pass it back on.  Will report back.  I wonder if there is any point in selling the broken GT5.  If there isnt much wrong with it perhaps someone techy might be able to get it going.  

meltedbuzzbox

A replacement PSU would only be 15 quid? It's a small cost to see if that fixes it.
You could even return it if it doesn't work

vasselmeyer

The G3 really is a decent little unit. I have one as a backup to my main ES-8 board hooked up to a midi controller and a Tech 21 Midi Moose. The Midi Moose has 5 patches per bank and that's also how I have configured by ES-8. I have duplicated the patches on both boards but with an amp and cab sim on the G3, so that if my main board goes down I can just hook the G3 board straight into the PA and carry on with the gig.

barryd

Wow! I hope you never have to carry that lot through customs,  Looks like it might go off!    I have so much to learn, I have no idea what all of that meant but I am encouraged that the G3 seems to be recognised as a good unit.

It is a shame about the old Boss GT5, perhaps I should have had it looked at but to be honest I live in the middle of nowhere and have no idea where to take it, certainly nowhere within 30 miles of here and Im not sure I am capable of fitting a new power supply myself as meddling with electronics is not something I have much of a clue about.   

Marktigere1

I used a BOSS ME-70 into a valve BH15H in my band back in the day. (Band long gone)

I always thought it sounded great.  Didn't use the COSM stuff but the modulations and delays are superb.  Drives need careful setup but you can get great fat leads out of it and the Wah is very useable.

Still use it for practise and cannot see me parting with it any time soon. 

Nikko

Im thinking of selling my Zoom G3XN which id sell for £100 posted. Comes with box, power supply, manual. In excellent condition. Only selling as im trying to simplify and spend too much time tweeking presets Fantastic unit, and can also be used as an audio interface. Let me know if you want to see some pictures.

barryd

Thanks Nikko but I already got one, £72 off Ebay.

However. The power supply doesnt work (Ive contacted the seller).  Luckily Ive found one the same spec of my old Zoom and it works.  Sounds pretty good but I have absolutely no idea how it all works so a bit of a learning curve to go through tonight I think.

Connected it into my Audio interface and PC and played through the PC monitors but I am still getting this clicking noise.  Tick Tick Tick like a clock.  Going to have to get to the bottom of that.  Its most prominent in high presence or high treble tones.  Quiet patches with mellow tones not so much.  Dammed technology. Drives me nuts! 

Thanks again for all the help so far.

Voxman

This (around £130 on EBay). 



Built like a tank, proper heavy duty power supply, great tone in front of an amp, head-phones or through PA (5 global EQ's inc programmable EQ), dead easy to use, control switch to kick in effect or tonal variation, fully programmable, great tuner, expression pedal, easy switch between stomp mode and pre-set mode, MIDI, insert loop, patch-naming, well-lit LCD display and pedal LED's, real 12AX7 valve (not a gimmick, not for 'show' or 'warming' but essentially used as a power-valve for a real valve tone and feel). 

The 'Dad's Army' tracks were with my Tonelab SE (same amp models), Undercover Duo with Tonelab LE. 

https://soundcloud.com/richard-birch-1

barryd

Did someone on here say the Zoom G3 was dead easy to use?  Not for a dinosaur like me it isnt!   Im getting there but my eyes are worn out trying to figure out how it all works.  Ive been working my way through some of the presets.  They are ok but I have to say I am not as impressed as I hoped to be.  A lot of effects I Would like to try say they are not available because the DSP Thru is Full.  I tried to follow a few guides on youtube but what they were showing was different to what I had and some of the effects were showing the DPS Thru Full message.

Its also a bit quiet.  I have the global master on 100 which is how it came but some of the effects are really quiet.  Sounds daft I know but my old Boss GT5 seemed louder with the same settings on the PC, Interface and speakers.

There are some good sounds and tones but not many.  I guess I am going to have to figure out how to get the best out of it.

I have however figured out what the clicking is.  Its my phone line.  I tried unplugging the phones power supply and even the router before but it made no difference. Today I literally pulled the ADSL filter and everything connected to it out of the socket and the clicking stopped.  Even with just one normal phone or just the router in it clicks.  Phoned BT but they didnt want to know.

So if I need help with this G3 am I best starting a new thread?  Any good guides for novices?

ICBM

Forgive the pun , but the Zoom never clicked with me... I had one briefly when I was frustrated with some of the ME-50’s flaws.

I wanted to like it, because it was very compact and I liked the idea of being able to alter the pedal order, which you can’t with the Boss ones. But I found the editing frustrating, didn’t really think it sounded all that good and hated the footswitches, among other things (not least that switching on the tuner briefly engages the middle effect). So I quickly sold it and got another ME-50.

If I needed the amp modelling I’d take an ME-70 over the Zoom every time, even though I didn’t like it as much as the 50.

midlifecrisis

i like mine but i started off very slowly with it. i set up the tube screamer, a guvnor and a delay. literally all i used fo six months. then gradually experimented and created patches, saved them on the software on my laptop.  i like the looper for solo jamming, and i play along with you tube and mp3 by connecting the usb.  i only use about 6 effects out of the hundreds and i dont bother with the amp sims.  it depends what you want it for i guess.

barryd

I think its just a bigger learning curve than I expected.  It feels like I need to lock myself away in the studio (its really an office) for a couple of days and learn how it works.  Trouble is I go in there, have a few beers and just want to play stuff.  Learning new things for me is not fun, just a PIA! 

I did record something with it last night and it came out ok ish.  Seemed less muddy than my old Boss GT5.  I figured out why it was quiet.  I had the output on the M Audio interface turned right down.  FFS!  Worra Tit!  There is no hope! 

What I have realised though is that my old Boss GT5 had a good Bass guitar simulator and it doesnt look like the Zoom G3 has one.  I guess I should have always had a proper Bass Guitar really anyway.  Lets try getting that one past the Mrs. 

Voxman

I had a Zoom G5 but sold it. At home it was good fun with its looper etx but I struggled to get a good enough tone from it to cut through the mix in a live band rehearsal environment through the front end of an amp and it just lacked warmth.

Arguably just too many options 're pedal order and too many long menu's to scroll through.  The switching options were virtually useless from a gigging perspective with an awkward two buttons at once needed for preset/stomp switching although I liked it's global boost option.  On paper it should have been great, and it does have a ton of effects, but I couldn't get anything like the tones with it that were just so easily 'there' from my Tonelab LE/SE units. And tweaking live was just a nightmare. 

Which is why I've stuck with my Tonelabs as so far I haven't found anything comparable at a reasonable price up to £3-400.

barryd

Im cooking on gas now.  I started a new thread to see if there were any real G3 users out there with all the answers but as soon as I realised you can use software to control it, Im away.  http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/130826/zoom-g3-help-needed?new=1

Once I upgraded the firmware it seems a lot better, some nicer tones but still not much clean stuff.  I know how to download patches though so I am getting somewhere with it.   Ill stick with it I think.  Its been a good afternoon of tinkering which took my mind off a stinking hangover.

monquixote

The trick with the G3 and most multi FX is to strip it back to just the amp sim and work on that first.

Another top tip is that all the reverbs have a stupid amount of predelay they sound better if you dial it out.