OLD STOMP BOXES vs.....

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getuhgrip

getuhgrip

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What are the differences between "vintage" individual stomp boxes (phasers, delay, ect.) and the "Multi Effects" units we're seeing today? I'm lookin' at Digitech's RP2000 because it's being super-ceded by the GNX line and is cheaper now, but I'm also having second thoughts due to some hype I've been hearing about singles "...doing one thing and doing it very well". If the newer boxes have the same circuitry, what's the difference?
 
alot of the newer stuff is digital, which brings up the digital vs. analog argument that I dont wanna get into...also everything is in one box instead of all these different little boxes.....but its also been my opinion that whatever sounds good , is good.....maybe one box does one thing and does it well...but why cant one box do several things and do them well....
 
I don't wanna get going on digital/analog either..by virtue of space and flexibility, my reel to reel sits watching me record music on my computer! I guess that was my point anyway; anything I play in analog fashion is being converted to a digital signal anyway. Is that a valid point?
 
the only valid point is whatever works for you is the best way and whatever sounds good is good.....
 
my valid point is that I have a couple of Tascam reel to reels...an 8 track and a 1/2 track...and a closet full of tapes is the only reason I am not selling the machines at this point in time...and the validity that I am too freekin' lazy to convert all my tapes to CD or sumpin else.... Otherwise, the machines would be out the door. (aka Ebay)
 
I have never heard a digital chorus, phaser, flanger, vibrato, or autowah that sounds as good as analog ones do. For these types of effects, analog wins hands down in a hurry!

With delays, I am torn. GOOD digital delays have an adjustment on the Feedback control that allows you to have the high end of the delay decrease a bit with each repeat, something that happens naturally in the analog realm. I love this effect! But, I do on occasion also love how I can have a part repeat almost infinately with no sound degagretion like you can with a digital delay.

Of course, digital reverbs are a must! They just sound live a reverb should.

Hey, a Lexicon PCM 80 does a lot of effects! It does them ALL very well, but the box is also over $2000 new!!! So, price of course in this case means higher quality.

In the realm of guitar processors, I hate what digital effect processors do to the sound. About the only way to insert one in a live rig is if your amp has the ability to blend the effect signal with the dry/unprossesed signal, rather than relying upon the effect unit to do the mix. If the effect unit does the mix, your guitar signal, which is analog to start, get's converted to digital, processed usually with very low internal bit processing, and ban algorythems in the cheap units, dithered, then converted back to analog to feed back into the amp. IF you have the gain structures on the unit set right, it will sound better, but all in all, you can still hear the guitar tone get sort of edgy in a way that eq does not help with!

The old stomp boxes, the analog ones that is, enjoy being analog! :)

I HAVE heard players get pretty decent tones with digital effect processors. But this is the exception rather than the rule. A lot of guitar players come into the club I mix at with both digital and analog processors, and I have much better luck with good guitar tones with the guys that use the stomp box pedals.

Ed
 
I agree with Ed on this, if you know what you are doing and are willing to put a lot of effort into programming a processor you can get some pretty good tones, however 95 percent of the guitarists I know who have processors sound like crap, too much gain, too much reverb, too much eq, too much chorus, patch changes that are all over the place volume wise, tones that jump from being too bassy on one patch to being shrill and thin on the next.
The bottom line is that digital processors have options that are just too extreme to be practical and a lot of guitarists overdo it, resulting in a horrible unusable tone. In this way the limitations of the old analog pedals were actually a blessing in disguise, even though some of the newer ones were actually too extreme as well.
 
I agree too...

The most experienced/equiped players I know use both. They have a seperate rack unit for reverb and delay, and some analog boxes for other stuff.

Or a digital box with alot of eff, and some analog boxes (wahwah, fuzz) for what digital has the worst problems with.

We were at the shop saturday, and starring at the display with boss and ibanez stompboxes said: 'These stompboxes are SO over... If you want a good sound, you just need a good amp.' And he's very right. If you need eff to get a good sound, you need a decent amp first... Don't get me wrong, eff can add to the sound, but you first ned a good sound to start with.
 
I had gotten into the habit of spending a lot of time "processing" my guitar sound prior to recording. Looking back, I think I was overemphasizing my belief that you should strive to get a sound which required little or no tweaking once it got to memory/tape (accepting of course that some very minor tinkering would be req'd in the mix). I still follow this principle generally, but not to such an extreme. Now I attempt to achieve as good a sound as possible via guitar-amp-mic-PC/recorder. No processing. This is my core guitar sound - no delay, no reverb, no chorus - just the amp's EQ. This is the sound I record. Once recorded, I will "color" this sound as applicable with digital effects. This seems to work best (at least for me) because the "core" guitar sound is recorded "pure" and the application of the effects doesn't seem to erode that core sound since they aren't part of the original signal.

Make any sense?
 
I would always say buy seperate stomp boxes and not multi effects. It's not so much the fact that I like analouge better than digital it's the fact that not anyone company (boss/electro harmonix/marshall etc) has the best pedals for each individual effect.

Boss pedals are good generally (get the GT3/5 if you are going to get a multi effect pedal) but there are some I would not go near.

I had this dilema a year or so ago before I knew much about effects myself. (question for yourself-how many proffesionals use 'em-though if it's a money thing then maybe it's for you). For example a good wah wah pedal (cry baby/vox) will set you back maybe 200 whereas a multi effects unit will cost you around 400 with a built in wah/auto wah-you aint gonna get the same quality and sooner or later if you want to take your playing to a more advanced level you will have to fork out more money.

What i did is buy a POD pro (not effect based unit, more amp simulation) in conjunction with my fouvourite stomp boxes.

I bought the POD pro and also the floorboard as this is then quite adequate for playing live. This gives me a diverse selection of sounds/tone.
 
Man, about 20 years ago I use to own a Electro-Harmonix Phase Shifter and a Electro-Harmonix Bass Synth! Those pieces were awesome. Wish I still had 'em!
 
I love my new(ish) line 6 distortion modeler. It kicks the ass off of any of the digitech RPpickanumbers that I've used. But, of course, it only does distortion. There are other models that deal with delay and chorus/flange/phase etc. separately. I'll be grabbing those next :cool: . They are ALMOST like haveing a hundred individual stomp boxes without all the clutter!!!
 
The problem I have with "multi fx" boxes like the Digischmucks and Zooms I've seen is that there is a delay between when you kick the pedal and when the program changes. That, and banking up and down sucks. Imagine you're on stage and at a critical point in a song you go to change fx and there is a slight delay...to the wrong program. ARRGHHH!!
Yeah, the line 6 stuff is digital trying to emulate analog, but it does it DAMN well.

Ron
 
MISTERQCUE said:
Man, about 20 years ago I use to own a Electro-Harmonix Phase Shifter and a Electro-Harmonix Bass Synth! Those pieces were awesome. Wish I still had 'em!
Click to expand...

I had one of those EH phase shifters as well! Man I loved that swirling sound. Damn thing got stolen.
 
I can't say that stomp boxes as a group are better/worse than the digital realm. I haven't used a lot of them. I hated the BOSS Super Overdrive (but that's probably a matter of personal preference anyway - I think it's an "anti-tube" type of sound), but like and still use (sometimes) the BOSS Chorus. Can't say that I'm overly impressed with the quality/flexibility of the effects on the POD - but effects do not really represent what the POD is all about anyway.
 
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