Should I go for an eventide eclipse or a g-system?

[sach160]

Hey guys,

With the help of another post and hours armed with nothing but google and a headache, I think I've decided to go for one of these 2... either an eclipse and a foot controller or a g-system... (live and studio use).

Does anyone have an idea of what the benefits of one over the other are, or is there a clear winner here? I'd like a unit I can explore and find/make new sounds - particularly haunting sounds!

One thing I'm worried about is that I hear the eclipse is quite hard to use - is this true?....also i hear that neither have good distortion/fuzz which is a shame - are there any similar rack units also with great distortion or best to just stick to pedals for that?

Any comments would be really appreciated, cheers

sache (www.myspace.com/timespacerepeat)

[Superhuman]

I have an Eventide H300 D/SE and the sound is amazing but there is a big latency issue between changing patches and some of the presets are a bit dated. I used an Eclipse briefly in the studio and it was excellent BUT I never went byond the presets. The engineer at the studio said it was very difficult to tweak and I would have to agree with him having spent some time going over the manual (similar to the H3000).
I have no experience with the G-System but if you are looking for a rack unit for your guitar sounds, why not look at the Boss GT-Pro? I just got one and the sound in excellent - great distortions plus just about every other effects available in pedal form.

[sach160]

heya superhuman, i did think about the gt pro (briefly!) but i think the others are higher end and better sounding gear... and for distortion i could still use stomp pedals.... i have line6 stuff too and while it's quite good, it's not in the same league to tc rack effects (to my ears).

[Superhuman]

Yeah, I only recommeded the GT-Pro for pure guitar tone as opposed to adding the effects (like reverb which will be infinitely better on higher end gear). The problem with most rack units is that the distotions absolutely suck. The GT-Pro has the benefit of having it all in 2 rack spaces, great for getting a core tone and the tones are leagues ahead of anything similar on the market. But if you are looking for the best distortion rack money can buy then check out the Mesa Boogie Triaxis - you can pick them up for under $1000 on Ebay. This unit is pure distortion though, no effects at all. IMHO you won't get a better sound from any other unit but its pricey. The GT-Pro is a great addition to the above for variety of sounds. I find the GT-Pro leagues ahead of the PODxt for sound quality, basicaly its the rack version of the GT-8 with a few extras. If it's just effects you want then the Eclipse is a great option but be prepared to spend a lot of time 'learning' the manual!

[sach160]

i'll keep that distortion unit in mind, though i'm pretty happy with pedals for that...

i was leaning towards the eclipse because i've heard how good the quality is... but if you can only have 2 effects at the same time, then it's not much use for me as a guitarist...

between the fireworx and g-system, i hear that the fireworx has great potential in terms of new/interesting sounds... any idea what kinda sounds you could get out of it that a g-system cant do? ...if it's not a big difference, then i'd rather have the g-system for its all in 1 nicety and general shininess

(to give you an idea what i'm after i want something that will let me create new sounds / really interesting sounds (especially haunting sounds) as the music of the band is experimental but i also want it to all the common stuff (chorus, delay, flanger, pitch shift etc)- but maybe you can create new sounds just tweaking and combining common effects right...)

[turnitdown]

I just got a G-Major..... The sounds are pristine, and the amount of MIDI control is staggering....

I use it w/ a MESA Quad preamp, and it works wonders....It also has a built in tuner that I find handy!!

(And a ton of other features....)

[xstatic]

Go with the TC. For what you need as a guitarist, the TC will integrate betterwith your rig. The Eventide sounds great, but is very hard to navigate. The Eclipse does also havea considerable load timewhen changing effects, which the TC does not. Also, the TC will give you someusable tone shaping algorithms that the Eclipse will not.

[sach16]

hi guys, thanks for the advice. I weighed it up and decided to go for... both! I picked them up in the states on holiday at low prices (1225 for g-system and 1675 for eclipse from www.muzeekworld.com)

I'll give each a good go and decide whether I should give one to my band mate, sell it, or just be greedy and use both myself

So far I've only used the G-system - it's really impressive! The only thing I don't like yet is the chorus - compared to my Analogman clone chorus pedal, it sounds too digital... but maybe playing around with the parameters for a while will get a sound I like... the delays are awesome though - especially compared to what I've come from - a line6 dl4. It's a league apart. I find delay and reverb useed together sound a bit muddy so I tend to use just delay... though maybe this muddiness comes from having an AC15 and no effects loop (I just go direct in).

I'll let ya guys know what I make of the eclipse, once I gather up enough courage to open it...

Again, many thanks for the advice!

[Metalshop]

I also have an Eventide H3000 D/SE, it is an Amazing unit. however as Super has stated it does have a huge latency when shitching patches. It can be overcome by chaning patches via MIDI which is how the unit is intended to be used for live rigs. It is still one of the very best studio EFX procs you can get, especially for guitar. You really must use this unit in it's MIDI capabilities to get the full picture of what these can do. But that is a somewhat complicated affair. But once you've got that down, it still rules the roost!

Knowing that, for a live rig, i would go with the GT Pro as it is certainly an incredible box for it's great efx and distortion tones, and for half the cost of an Eventide it's everyday useable, and really gets the job done.