Need a REALLY good multi-effects and/or Reverb rack unit for live guitar...

[pisces7378]

I am buying a Marshall TSL122 amp. It is a beautiful three channel amplifier. It has two effects loop that can be controlled by a foot switch. I hate stomp boxes and the inherant signal degredation. But I am a pretty "effects oriented" guitar player. I am looking for a good effects unit that can be patched into one of these effects loops. I will need chorus, reverb, tremelo, delay etc...

Any not too expensive tips would be great. Remember... versitility is much more important than pristine sound quality. It will only be used for live shows. I mean, I do not want some $50 piece of shit. But a $3,000 T.C. Electronics unit is too much.

 

[LocusLarsen]

Acually a good stompbox won't degrade you signal. If you want "quality" check out Fulltone. I want a couple of their pedals. I haven't used them yet, so I am just dreaming right now. But what I hear, they are superb.

as for rack units........

Ya wanna talk about sound degradation..........

Most of those rackmounted units are Digital. That means the sound has to be converted from analog to digital. Then back again. Most of them don't come with quality A/D and D/A converters. Not that you will hear a difference

I think a couple good stompboxes will do you justice. They get a bad rap somethimes, but they are much better that an all-in-one unit. With rackmounted you cannot pick which chorus you like, along with which delay you want.

I haven't found even BOSS delay pedals to degrade my signal.


You said "versitility is much more important than pristine sound quality"

Then get stompboxes. You drop a rack unit and its toast. And their sound quality isn't THAT much better. Especially in shitty clubs.... The only thing a rackmount has against a pedal, is that most of them are full stereo. But you need 2 amps for that.

Also checkout MXR's SuperComp. I have it. I love it. My signal is intact.

 

[acidrock]

Also checkout MXR's SuperComp. I have it. I love it.

DITTO,I love it for clean stuff too....

I have rack,software and a multieffect pedal but I find myself using a couple of pedals more than anything else these days.

 

[Dani Pace]

I've been using a DOD FX7 for live stuff for a couple of years without any real complaints. It works in line with guitar fine but makes less noise through the effects loop on the amp. It's a little too noisy for recording but does a great job on stage. Good luck whatever you decide on.

 

[pisces7378]

Dani Pace...

I used to spend my summers in North Carolina near Flat Rock when I was a kid. I have been to Carl Sandberg's house at least 300 times as a kid.

I just wanted to ask you if you know of any clubs that have stages in your area that support live music and let bands play live there. We play alternative/rock n roll/southern/sometimes loud/sometimes soft music.

Any places like that around? We are based in Athens GA but are trying to book a tour of the Southeast.

Thanks!

 

[coplinger]

I recently bought a TC Electronics M300 primarily for recording, but I love it in my guitar rig. No foot pedal control, though.

 

[pisces7378]

coplinger...

Thanks for the post. I am definitely looking into t.c.electronic for this effects unit.

Could you please take a quick look at the above post about clubs in the SC area... and also check out this post that I posted in the Dragon Cave...

Booking a "tour" of the Southeast U.S... Know any clubs w/ stages where we can play??

Cheers for the help!

Mike

 

[Tonekat]

not programmible, but nice...the M300

My bass player bought a TC M300 for our studio, and the other night I brought it home to check it out and connected it to the effects loop in my Marshall Jubilee amp. Now, I usually can't stand using the effects loop, nor do I care for any digital effects between my guitar and amp, except for my two Line 6 boxes, an MM4 and a DL4. I was quite surprised with the flexibility and quality of the T.C. M300, and....it has a spring reverb that is not bad, reminds me very much of my blackface Fender combos!! It's worth checking out! But, as someone said, while you can pedal it on and off, I don't think it's midi programmible. But then, neither are floor units, although I love the Fulltone stuff too.

 

[pisces7378]

Tonekat...

Thanks for the post. I am definitely looking into t.c.electronic for this effects unit.

Could you please take a quick look at the above post about clubs in the SC area... and also check out this post that I posted in the Dragon Cave...

Booking a "tour" of the Southeast U.S... Know any clubs w/ stages where we can play??

Cheers for the help!

Mike

 

[Speeddemon]

I mean, I do not want some $50 piece of shit. But a $3,000 T.C. Electronics unit is too much.

T.C. Electronics G-Force $1500.
Lexicon MPX1 G2. $1400
Digitech 2120 2nd handed $500-700.

Those are the three top-contenders. Above it, you're looking at Eventide.

 

[Tom Hicks]

Alesis Quadraverb rack unit,used.
Before i quit playing live in clubs, my guitar rig was an ADA MP1 (midi tube preamp), into an Alesis Quadraverb II (for reverb,delay and a dozen other digital effects), into a 100 watt tube amp, playing covers. An Art X12 midi pedal switched patches on the MP1.That's where my rock tones came from,the two 12ax7 tubes in the ADA as a front end for more 12ax7 preamp tubes in my amp.A quartet of el34s in the power section.
I didn't have an extra midi pedal to control the Alesis, although the Quadraverb is midi controllable.I mention it because an additional feature of that unit is that a simple momentary switch will advance the patches sequencially, and you can program the range of the footswitch to limit it to a few favored patches.
Sometimes used in studios years ago, they make a great live processor.I had mine in a rack case and it never gave any problems.Many older Alesis Quadraverb units are still available on the used market inexpensively.Check ebay for prices.Only 16 bit, but the converters are decent. I agree that such a rig would sound dry and sterile if run through your hi fi. But a tube amp warms up the digital gear, while the digital gear gives you on-the-fly adjustability to alter your tones from phrase to phrase,if needed.

 

[plexi]

I haven`t tried the Quadraverb II, but the first edition is the worst tonesucking piece of crap I`ve ever heard......


Amund

 

[Faiber]

I use the Roland/Boss GX-700 through a Marshall 1/2 stack with a ADA amp. I have done so for the past 7 years or more and have never had a sound that I didn't truly enjoy. Excellent rack effects at a reasonable price (it's $650 here in Canada).

 

[mkeene]

The TC Electronic G-major isnt that bad...and it has all of the effects that you want. It's around $500 and then you have to pay a bit more for the foot controller *i think*. They have a demo cd you can send for...it sounds pretty good.
-Mike

 

[pisces7378]

Could you guys tell me what the difference in sound quality is from when I would use the t.c.electronic G-Major "in line" as in running my guitar through the unit, and when I would use it in an FX loop on the back of my Marshall TSL122? amp that has a foot controlable FX loop. That means that I could set the unit to have the effect I want and then control it with the Marshall foot switch through the fx loops.

Where are these rackunits happiest? In an fx loop scenerio or inline?