Help me pick a Multi Effects unit

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sarge117

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I am having a hard time weeding through all the different multi-effects units out there. I figure there is probably a lot more knowledge on this board then I posses.

Here is my criteria.

1. 400-600$ (or less)

2. Must have midi to support Channel switching on my amp. Both my amps allow for channel switching via midi.

3. Must have a way to route effects in front of the amp as well as through the amps effects loop. I expect to have to plug a chord into the unit. Have a chord come out and go into the input of my amp. Take the effects send of my amp and run it back into another input on the pedal. And then take the final output of the pedal and run it into the amps effects return. This is an ABSOLUTE MUST as I want stuff like compressors to be run in front of the amp with stuff like delays in the loop.

4. Must allow me to set up patches that control all effects and amp channel switching with a single pedal push.

5. This is not a must but I would like it if I could add external pedals to the loop.

6. Must switch fast and have no prolonged delays between switching.


I would actually be more happy with a switching system that required me to plug in my own pedals but did the rest of the switching and routed in front of the amp and in the loop, but the ones I found either did not have midi, or did not have the ability to route in front of the amp and in the loop, or they were just ungadly expensive. But if I could find one of those for 500$, I would be even happier as multi-effects seem to do a ton of things well, but nothing great.

I have found two pedals that look like they might fit the bill. One was the Boss GT-10, the other was the Line 6 Pod X3 Live.

Let me know what you think.
 
sarge117 said:
I am having a hard time weeding through all the different multi-effects units out there. I figure there is probably a lot more knowledge on this board then I posses.

Here is my criteria.

1. 400-600$ (or less)

2. Must have midi to support Channel switching on my amp. Both my amps allow for channel switching via midi.

3. Must have a way to route effects in front of the amp as well as through the amps effects loop. I expect to have to plug a chord into the unit. Have a chord come out and go into the input of my amp. Take the effects send of my amp and run it back into another input on the pedal. And then take the final output of the pedal and run it into the amps effects return. This is an ABSOLUTE MUST as I want stuff like compressors to be run in front of the amp with stuff like delays in the loop.

4. Must allow me to set up patches that control all effects and amp channel switching with a single pedal push.

5. This is not a must but I would like it if I could add external pedals to the loop.

6. Must switch fast and have no prolonged delays between switching.


I would actually be more happy with a switching system that required me to plug in my own pedals but did the rest of the switching and routed in front of the amp and in the loop, but the ones I found either did not have midi, or did not have the ability to route in front of the amp and in the loop, or they were just ungadly expensive. But if I could find one of those for 500$, I would be even happier as multi-effects seem to do a ton of things well, but nothing great.

I have found two pedals that look like they might fit the bill. One was the Boss GT-10, the other was the Line 6 Pod X3 Live.

Let me know what you think.
Click to expand...

I was seriously considering the Line 6 Podx3 a while back, largely based on alot of recommendations I had heard on this board. Eventually I decided to just upgrade some pedals and by a bigger board, lol. Your needs do sound a bit more extensive than mine, but as far as offering the most features and sounding legit the X3 was the best I could find. Rocktron just came out with a new unit called Utopia or something that looks pretty badass but I have no idea what it's actually like. I'm sure someone will chime in here in a few that have owned the X3.
 
No suggestions, but thanks for starting this thread because I'm researching them too. I've actually been looking at the digitech rp500, below your range at $300, anyone have experience with it?
 
kuhniget said:
No suggestions, but thanks for starting this thread because I'm researching them too. I've actually been looking at the digitech rp500, below your range at $300, anyone have experience with it?
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I looked up the 500 but unfortunately it looked like all effects would go through the loop of your amp or in front.

Also, I don't think it allowed for amp channel switching.
 
didgijimmy said:
I was seriously considering the Line 6 Podx3 a while back, largely based on alot of recommendations I had heard on this board. Eventually I decided to just upgrade some pedals and by a bigger board, lol. Your needs do sound a bit more extensive than mine, but as far as offering the most features and sounding legit the X3 was the best I could find. Rocktron just came out with a new unit called Utopia or something that looks pretty badass but I have no idea what it's actually like. I'm sure someone will chime in here in a few that have owned the X3.
Click to expand...

So far that seems like the one I am looking at. I know it's not going to be Perfect, but I think it could be good enough. It seems to have all the features I want.

My only hesitation with this is I am currently borrowing a buddies Line 6 DL4.

I hate it! I would only use it in a parrallel loop cause it sucks the tone out of my amps like no other delay I have. And if this is the case with the X3, I will just skip it all together.

And it is a very popular delay. Myles Kennedy has it on his Pedal Board. To each his tone I guess. It doesn't work for me. I actually prefer the delay on my Digitech RP250.

I have actually started searching around for programmable midi footswitches that can connect to switching systems. This would probably be the best because I can pick and choose my individual effects.
 
I was in the exact same boat a few weeks ago. I wanted sort of what you want, and that was to be able to feed distortion, compression, EQ and wah into the front of my amp but send modulation, reverb and time-based effects through my effects loop.

What I ended up doing was buying a TC Electronic G-Sharp for its reverbs, delays and stuff like that. It doesn't have any type of effect that would go in front of an amp. Then I figure I'll deal with other pre-amp effects as I need them. I have a TS9 that I love, but I figure at some point I can buy a wah, fuzz box, maybe an EQ to go with the compressor I already have. The down side to that is the tapdancing you have to do when you want to turn on/off more than one effect. I don't gig so its no problem for me. But if I was on stage, I'd get applause for my tap dance routine instead of my playing!

The TC Electronic G-System does what you want it to, but its more than twice your budget.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GSystem/
 
I have a Floor Pod Plus, and it's OK for what I do (occasionally use the wah, ditto the tremolo) and it has lots of features, but it's impossible to tweak anything (as opposed to selecting something you have previously tweaked) on the gig.

That said, it sounds fine, has low noise and seems built like a tank. Not being much of an effects guy, I'm pretty happy with it. As an adjunct to a good-sounding amp, it works.
 
I have no personal experience with anything that fits your criteria, but I have a Line 6 Pod XT Live and it's the best $375 I've ever spent on guitars. Except for guitars and amps.

I've posted elsewhere that I run this into an all-tube low wattage head for practice/recording. It sounds great, and no matter what crazy digital stuff I do with the board, it ends up with tube gain and tube power stages. (It sounds like you already have a nice amp.)

I -think- the XT3 is 2x the XT Live in one pedal with a few more bells and whistles, but it should sound almost exactly the same as the XTL. If the XT3 meets your other criteria, be sure to spend some time trying it out. (As an aside, the two signal paths on the XT3 is something I didn't value when I was picking out the XTL, and in retrospect I wish I coughed up the coin for the XT3.)

DO NOT STOP AT THE PRESETS.

You gotta get on a blank user preset, pick out the effects you want, and dial them in. You'll never catch me saying "It sounds exactly like a Plexi with a fuzz face and a phase 90!" but for $350-500, it sounds really damn close, and really damn close to 1000+ other setups.

Also I'm 99% certain that the XTL will meet your crazy requirement #3 without any sweat. Just run one signal path as the "input" and the second signal path as the "loop", patch up the cables, and pick your effects accordingly.
 
RejectionNinja said:
I have no personal experience with anything that fits your criteria, but I have a Line 6 Pod XT Live and it's the best $375 I've ever spent on guitars. Except for guitars and amps.

I've posted elsewhere that I run this into an all-tube low wattage head for practice/recording. It sounds great, and no matter what crazy digital stuff I do with the board, it ends up with tube gain and tube power stages. (It sounds like you already have a nice amp.)

I -think- the XT3 is 2x the XT Live in one pedal with a few more bells and whistles, but it should sound almost exactly the same as the XTL. If the XT3 meets your other criteria, be sure to spend some time trying it out. (As an aside, the two signal paths on the XT3 is something I didn't value when I was picking out the XTL, and in retrospect I wish I coughed up the coin for the XT3.)

DO NOT STOP AT THE PRESETS.

You gotta get on a blank user preset, pick out the effects you want, and dial them in. You'll never catch me saying "It sounds exactly like a Plexi with a fuzz face and a phase 90!" but for $350-500, it sounds really damn close, and really damn close to 1000+ other setups.

Also I'm 99% certain that the XTL will meet your crazy requirement #3 without any sweat. Just run one signal path as the "input" and the second signal path as the "loop", patch up the cables, and pick your effects accordingly.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have been browsing the web continually since I posted this and I keep coming back to that one.

You really think 3 is a crazy requirement?

I intend on using the gain from my amps preamp section. So if I have it strictly in the loop, that kind of negates effects like the compressor that alteast in my experience need to come before.

Interestingly enough i thought more people would have complained about this.

Maybe it is a crazy requiremnet ;)
 
Hard to go wrong wtih the XT Live or X3 Live. Consider using them and skip all the other pedals.

Ed
 
i just got the new tc electronic g major 2. its pretty fucking awesome. changes the amp channels and such. i havent had time to totally get into what it can do yet, but it sounds incredible through the fx loop.
 
I can't really offer a suggestion, so instead will say this:

My experiences with multi pedals has been basically good, but with limits. I've owned a Digitech RP-7 for about ten years. It's served me well, no reliability problems (even when I dropped a Galline-Krueger 250ML- metal cab- on it.) Never found the switching delay to be a problem, altho I've hear lots of complaints about that happening in lots of multi's of all brands. Things like the phase trainer came in handy, and it was nice to have lots of options available, so I could see what effects would work for me. Currently, I am rarely using it, but the experience was good and worthwhile.

I feel no need to replace it with a new pedal, altho the new ones are impressive- things like loopers, extended phase trainers, multi-track recording, yada yada yads are attractive- but I think I have progressed to the point where I am paring down, not ramping up...

or maybe that's just a momentary thing.
 
If you are still looking I just came across an add for one of the new digitech models. Supposedly it is extremely compatable with other pedals and should do all the other things you need it to do. Worth checkin out and it's prolly loads cheaper. Although Ive heard some bad things about their past models, something about the wah being absolutely terrible.
 
Eventide offers two floor units - the Time Factor and Mod Factor - that go for about $400 each. They are both midi-controllable, programmable, with the option for true bypass or buffered output. They are switchable so that they can either run as standard guitar FX between your guitar and amp, or in your amp's FX loop.

The price of these two combined is a bit over your target price but they are supposed to be really fine units.
 
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