Pros/cons of multi-fx pedals vs. Separate pedals

drofluf

Thinking of something like a Zoom ms70 compared with separate pedals. 

Obvious pro is fewer pedals/more space on the board with the con of a fiddly user interface. 

But can I have, for example different “flavours” of chorus, reverb etc. That I can scroll through?

Roland

MultiFX, plus a decent set of pedals, give you multiple FX change from one touch. This can be as simple as turning different FX on and off, or as complex as changing settings on a range of pedals, plus switching amp channels. So in one press you can go 

from rhythm: Chorus, Compressor, 90ms Delay, medium room Reverb, Cry-baby wah, clean amp;

to lead: Hall Reverb, 600ms Delay, Vox wah, overdriven amp.

Not all multiFX allow multiple settings per pedal and/or amp switching.

MultiFX also give a smaller stage footprint, fewer leads/connections to fail, and less to carry. 

drofluf

Thanks 

Roland

Not everyone agrees. There are always pedal sounds which MultiFX can’t emulate. Someone people find it difficult to configure MultiFX. Some just like buying and trying.

545454

Regarding the MS70, the interface definitely takes a bit of geting used to. The last guy I played with sold his for that reason, but I've got the MS50 and wouldn't be without it now.

I mainly used it like you suggest, ie scrolling through a few different effects. I have a basic patch of just Noise Reduction - > Reverb, copy that to a few different presets, then add one effect to each preset.:
1.NR - tremolo - reverb
2.NR - phaser - reverb
3.NR - tape delay - reverb
Etc
Then use the footswitch to go between the various presets, using some empty presets to act as bypass mode. It is also a lot of fun to stack various effects but it's quite a bit easier doing that when connected to a pc interface. 

Roland is spot on that the sounds won't quite replicate some individual pedals, but the variety of stuff in them for the price / footprint is amazing. And some of the modulations and delays in the Zooms are VERY good. 

slacker

Multi fx units are easier to set up, less connections/leads and can switch from one complex patch to another. However, you might need to adjust drive volumes for a different room/amp volume, or change the reverb level when playing in a cathedral. 

I just dont have the patience for all that. 

Pedals give you the ability to change everything at any time for different rooms/volume but unless you grow a third leg complex changes are out. 

There are a number of halfway houses, like loopers manual or programed that give complex patches for a number of pedals. Some pedals have patches which allows for storage of settings but easily overidden, 

Some multi effects have loops to allow connection of pedals. TC have done some and the Helix allows for connection of pedals to use with FX and amp sims. 

What do you want to do? I use pedals and sometimes a simple looper and or an AB box or pedals in jumped channels. I'm currently running two boards, one with a synth 3 overdrives, trem and a reveb. THe other has one synt a drive and a delay with modulation. For grab and go I'll use a drive and delay or just a drive. 

Pedals give you that versatility the multis versatility is that it can do anything and fit in a rucksack as long as you dont mind programming it. 

thecolourbox

Roland said:

Not everyone agrees. There are always pedal sounds which MultiFX can’t emulate. Someone people find it difficult to configure MultiFX. Some just like buying and trying.

On the other hand, I've found some great sounds in digital modelling units that I couldn't re create when I then bought the pedals the models were based on

phil_b

cost is a big one for me.

a multi fx unit can cost a lot less than a collection of separate pedals

Wazmeister

Analog pedals v digital def makes a difference imho, especially with drives

Roland

slacker said:

..., you might need to adjust drive volumes for a different room/amp volume, or change the reverb level when playing in a cathedral. 

I just dont have the patience for all that. 

This is where it depends on which MultiFX. AxeFX allows you to back off Reverb at global level, across all patches, to deal with cathedral rooms.

maltingsaudio

If it’s a first foray into effects t may I suggest a halfway house and buy a boss ME50. It can be used as 4 separate pedals or fully programmable. OD’s are COSM modelling so your either gonna love them or hate them rest of the modulation and delay effects pretty pleasing as well as bonus wah vol and tuner. I tended to use mine for just turbo overdrive stereo chorus and 120ms delay as individual pedals not programs. Have now switched to a pedal set up and that’s just because bought a Bluguitar amp so don’t need distortion effects

ICBM

Beaten to the ME-50 .

It really is a great halfway house - most of the standard effects you’re likely to want, all controlled with knobs not push-button editing, and you can configure it as individual pedals or programmed patches. It does have some limitations, but for a typical second hand price of around £100 it’s unbeatable in my opinion.

Most remarkably of all, some of the digital drive settings are genuinely as good as their analogue equivalents - that’s not an exaggeration, and I am very fussy.

I prefer it to the more up-to-date ME-70, although that does have the advantage of amp modelling which the 50 doesn’t - although it does have a very basic speaker-emulated output which would get you by if your amp went down.

After many years with an analogue pedalboard I am now a confirmed multi-FX user...

richman6100

I went for a digital multi-fx modulation pedal (BOSS MD-500) for a few reasons:

1. I wasn't sure which modulation effects I'd end up gravitating towards and I didn't want to buy loads of individual pedals to help me decide.
2. I wanted the ability to have several flavours of each effect type.
3. I wanted stereo ins and outs.
4. I wanted the ability to have two different effects engaged simultaneously with foot switches.
5. The reduced footprint of a single pedal (even one as big as the MD-500) is helpful on a packed pedalboard.
6. The cost is lower than getting high quality individual pedals to cover the same range of effects.

Obviously, some of the points above can be covered by individual pedals, but not all of them. Also, several, but certainly not all, analogue modulation pedals that I tried were rather noisy.

Digital vs analogue with modulation is somewhat subjective, unlike with drive pedals in my experience. I *suspect* that really high quality analogue modulation pedals would be fractionally more pleasing to me, but I've managed to get some excellent sounds from the MD-500. Certainly, more than good enough. The default patches weren't great to be honest, rather sterile sounding. However, with a little work, I've got some much more analogue-sounding ones simply by tweaking the out-of-the-box ones. I've heard that comparable multi-fx pedals from other manufacturers have better default patches, but I can't confirm that and each of these alternatives had its own drawbacks.

I followed the same approach when choosing a delay and reverb (Source Audio Nemesis and Ventris) because I like the flexibility to have a range of delay/reverb types available at the touch of a button. Both of these digital pedals sound analogue enough to me after a bit of tweaking.

My drive pedals (mainly ThorpyFX) are all analogue. Their sound and touch sensitivity are wonderful. Can't see digital replacing them any time soon. If ever.

shaunm

I think this question can be answered by what you want to do with them. 

If I was in a function band where I need a stable sound night in night out and patches for each track. Multi FX are just perfect for this. It’s all just there.

However I play in multiple bands some where I need to manipulate weird sounds on the go and that’s where I struggle with multi fx. I prefer to be able to turn a knob rather than access a menu on a stage in real time. 

Sound wise, I’m in the camp that individual pedals do sound better but there are many players that disagree and can prove me wrong with their incredible tone.

TeleMaster

shaunm said:

I think this question can be answered by what you want to do with them. 

If I was in a function band where I need a stable sound night in night out and patches for each track. Multi FX are just perfect for this. It’s all just there.

However I play in multiple bands some where I need to manipulate weird sounds on the go and that’s where I struggle with multi fx. I prefer to be able to turn a knob rather than access a menu on a stage in real time. 

Sound wise, I’m in the camp that individual pedals do sound better but there are many players that disagree and can prove me wrong with their incredible tone.

Something like the HX FX is perfectly easy in this scenario though. It's foolproof. Very, very easy. 

PolarityMan

For me stomps have always been easier to dial in what I want and multi-fx have been more fiddly *but* it gets rid of troubleshooting noise / cable failure etc and tap dancing so well worth the trade off. 

ICBM

PolarityMan said:

For me stomps have always been easier to dial in what I want and multi-fx have been more fiddly *but* it gets rid of troubleshooting noise / cable failure etc and tap dancing so well worth the trade off. 

The Boss ME-50/70/80 are just as easy to dial in as individual pedals, that’s why I like them so much .

That said, I really want to try a GT-1, which is very much more a traditional multi-FX with programmed patches... I don’t really know why, other than it’s tiny and looks cool .

Funkfingers

I dug out my ME-50B today. Somebody local had enquired about buying it. I needed to check that it still works. (It did, natch.) 

All very immediate to use in Manual mode. Most of the effects a bassist could wish for - just not all at the same time.

A worthwhile alternative to a bass amp for guitarists who want a handy box for home recording purposes.

thomasw88

I have 2 boards.  One has the Line 6 HX effects, a few drive pedals, a boss tuner and a wah on it.  The other has a wah few drives, boss tuner, boss dd500, and strymon mobius.

Both boards are perfectly giggable for the bands I play in.  I could probably do ok without the pedals on the HX board, but I just prefer the ease of use/sounds of the stomps.

I've owned quite a lot of multi effects over the years ranging from the Korg A4 to the Fractal FX8,    and the HX has been the best sounding/easiest to use by far.   

drofluf

Thanks all! Having missed two ms70's on eBay over the weekend I found one in the classifieds here that's en-route. I'll see how it goes.

Kebabkid

The MS-70s are really good and the navigation between the 3 presets can set up to scroll but it does take some getting used to. Because of that, I prefer to use 2 on my board because the fx are great and I paid less than a £100 for both of them.

Multi-fx:
Pros -  make things easy around your feet, presets and if they have a decent speak simulator, serve as a back up to your amp or can be used straight to FOH and you have a good range of sounds.
Less cables, too and so hopefully, less risk of cables not working

Cons - If you don't like an effect, you can't really change it. You're stuck with what you've got
Digital (the majority of units) Vs Analogue

Pedals:
Pros - can change and swap out things easily which many of us like to do.
Analogue the majority of units) Vs Digital - individual pedal effects might sound better than the unit ones
Easier to identify and track down an issue in your chain
Cons - Interconnecting cables - these can be costly and these can go wrong, and I'm thinking of the issues I've had with solderless ones).
Unless you use a switcher (Gigrig Quartermaster, G2, Carl Martin, Line Selector etc) there can be a bit of tap-dancing involved to switch pedals or groups of pedals on and off

I have enjoyed using the ME-50 and 70 in the past
On bass, I really like the Zoom B3 and B1xON as apart from decent fx, they offer great direct to FOH solutions and sounds and can be used as a back-up