Multi FX or Stomp Boxes?

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hixmix

hixmix

Halibut, North Dakota
Would you rather have a good multi-FX unit or a collection of your favorite individual stomp boxes? Pros and cons. Why?
 
depends on the function and fx type.
I like overdrives/distortions as stomps. As well as compressors.
chorus/flange/delay/reverb I like in a multi-fx unit.
 
Neither.... a guitar and a dual-channel amp with some spring verb....
 
depends on your tastes and needs
i prefer separate fx tailored to your sound, but actually only use a tubeworks real tube and a dunlop 535

look into a minimalist approach before you drop money on uneeded gear
 
if you are just looking for basics such as distortion, overdrive, compression, and maybe a delay or flange, I'd stick with pedals........otherwise, if you're very experimental, then look into a multi-effects..........a guy i used to play w/ went out and bought a boss multi-effects unit, and basically used it as a distortion pedal.........kind of a waste...........
 
Personally,I prefer stomp boxes to multiFX units.I am into the vintage sound and usually prefer overdrive/distortion straight from a tube amp,although,I do use a Boss Heavy Metal box as my lead distortion.(not a metal player either)As far as chorus,delay,flanger,ect. go you do have more control with multiFX unit,but,to me it sounds plastic and less natural,if you will,than stomp boxes.I would suggest that you try a prossesor that uses valve technology.I have used a couple of these units and was blown away by how natural and warm they sounded.Warning,they tend to be expensive but comparable to buying a floor full of stomp boxes.You just have to try a bunch of this stuff out and decide what sound you want and whats best for your pocket.Good Luck!
 
i prefer multiFX units mainly because they're cheaper. you get a lot of effects for the price of 2 or 3 pedals. the main problem i have with FX units though is the transition "hiccup." for example, switching from clean to distortion will cause the guitar signal to just abruptly stop for a split second. some creative palm-muting helps mask it though.
 
I favor the all in one multieffects. There it is all set in front of you in one box. A handy LED readout that clues you in. Any multieffect worth a bean is programmable so you can create a gob of patches to call up with the snap of a toe. Not to mention a multieffects unit eliminates either a dozen power cords, patch cables and conections... or a jumbo pack of energizer batteries.
 
Me personally, I love the sound of pedals, going from clean to hard, using wah power, and filter's, allows you to have or at least feel you have more control. However, I purchased a Roland Multi effects processor, which is mainly used for recording and in a fit of rage for something out of the norm hooked it up to my amp and even though it was mono sound quality, it still rocked. I have even been as far as to make phaser effects, or streamlines, and throw them in with my pedals. I have no idea what type of music this is or even if you could set it to a set style of music, but it is awesome. And have found myself many times using my pedals as a backup for my effects box. Something to think about. But in all reality you should use what makes you--you. And what you like your music to sound like.
 
I generally prefer stompboxes. Except when you need to switch from like a clean setting with univibe to a distorted setting with wah in a blink of an eye. That's when they make your life hell, unless you have a dedicated switching setup.

On a side note, any electrical engineers out there wanna take a crack at my old Maestro Stage Phaser? The durn thing sounds godlike, but practically halves my volume when it's switched on. For some reason it's designed to do this, on the back it says the input and output levels, and the output level is much lower than the input level. It's gotta be something simple like adding a capacitor or changing a value, but I'm blissfully ignorant.
 
I used stomp boxes for a long time, then went to all-in-one gear, then rack gear, and now I am back to stomp boxes. I have them mounted on a Furman board. In the long run they are just easier to use and since I ended up spending more time playing with the all-in-one stuff and less time actually playing guitar, I feel that it suits me better.

CHARGER - I know the problem you are having. Electroharmonix used to make an LPB1 (Line Power Booster) that would raise the levels back up after going through some of the old vibrato and phaser effects. I don't know if you can still get your hands on one these days, but it did fix the problem.
 
charger said:
On a side note, any electrical engineers out there wanna take a crack at my old Maestro Stage Phaser? The durn thing sounds godlike, but practically halves my volume when it's switched on. For some reason it's designed to do this, on the back it says the input and output levels, and the output level is much lower than the input level. It's gotta be something simple like adding a capacitor or changing a value, but I'm blissfully ignorant.
Click to expand...

You could stick a compression pedal after it to boost the gain. Might be too noisy though.
 
I WAAAY prefer stompboxes. I like each effect to have its own character. Multi-effects can never give you the best of every effect, and end up sounding "all BOSS" or "all Digitech" or whatever. I would rather pick and choose each effect based on my likes and dislikes.

That said, you could have 1 zillion stompboxes, rack units, multi-FX, etc... and it would never sound as good as one good amp and one good guitar. I would rather play through that set-up any day.

And for that reason I would never add any pedal to my live rig unless it had true bypass. My pedals? Dunlop 535Q and Voodoo Lab SparkleDrive.

I love lots of weird pedals for recording and fun, but if it screws with my directs sound it will never find a permanent place in my chain.

Aaron
http://www.voodoovibe.com
 
Both have benefits.

Multi-effects:
The Multi-effects unit is programmable. Thus, you can hit one button and get an entirely different sound. For example, you might want a certain chorus or delay rate for one song and a different rate for another. Or, you may want different rates for distortion vs. clean. Or, you may want ceratin eq for one song/part and different eq for another. Toss in the fact that you often may want many effects to change at the same time when switching songs or song parts. Hit one button and *poof*.

Pedals:
Some have tonal characteristics that are desirable. More importantly, they are waay easier to use. Especially in being able to glance at a knob to quickly know the settinig and reach out and grab it to quickly change it. As opposed to searching through menus and trying to figure out relative values.


All that said, all I usually want is a good raw tone. Live, I use zero effects. Just some reverb or delay added at the board. When recording, I add the effects after laying down the tracks.
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
Neither.... a guitar and a dual-channel amp with some spring verb....
Click to expand...

I could not agree more.... Spend that money on a killer guitar:) And then work on a killer amp.

I can see a delay for live use but other than that, no thanks.
Except on rare occasion I don't even use reverb on distorted guitar (and never while recording on anything).


F.S.
 
I have tried it all. Had three channel switching amps and no pedals. Simple and elegant. I got rid of those and bought a single channel amp that has a marvelous clean sound, so I went back to pedals. Tried it with an all in one box. It was not as good as the individual pedals.

So, I ended up with this for my live chain:

MXR Dynacomp> Tubescreamer>Fulldrive II>Proco Rat>DanEcho>MXR Microamp> Allen Old Flame/ w spring reverb.

I don't use all the pedals at once, of course, but mix and match for different flavors. I have three overdrive colors, a great distortion and a big fat clean tone, so I am very happy.
 
Stomp Box or Multi EFX

Do you need to turn 5 EFX on or off at once? Get the multi...

Others wise get individual boxes that each suit your taste.
 
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