What brand of stompbox...

M

ManDooM

New member
...do you recommend? Seems that DigiTech makes the only ones that I can afford. Boss makes some that are just out of my price range. I'd like something with plenty of effects, and it doesn't have to have a wah pedal, I'll just use my crybaby. Maybe something under $200?

Also, would it be wise to go used with one of these?

EDIT: this is for electric guitar
 
I have a Digitech RP200. Love it. Quality effects, tons of control, tons of simultanious effects, great distortion, and a fully customizable expression pedal. I wouldn't go with anything without an expression pedal (I know a lotta people suggest the RP50); the expression pedal is just too useful to pass up. I have yet to find another multi-effects unit in the price range that even remotely compares to the Digitech.

I bought mine used off of ebay. Was in great condition when I got it, and I got it for about 50 less than retail (including shipping). After years of road wear, however, I've some how managed to screw up the electronics so much that the tuner doesn't work properly anymore. I don't know if this is a common flaw in the unit, a result of something I did, or a result of the previous owners actions. Still, I put my gear through hell, so I'd say it's held up quite nicely. I wouldn't really worry about buying a virtually new one used, and I'd do it again if I had to replace it.

Oh, and if you take any of my advice from this, DON'T get a Zoom. The effects are crappy, they'll break on you, they're hard to use, and just crappy all around.
 
Overrated

The whole all in one deal is overrated. 99% of the time the pre amps are terrible, and while the effects might be fun at first, its much better if you just slowly start buying seperate effect pedals from well liked companies such as full tone.
 
Frequency said:
The whole all in one deal is overrated. 99% of the time the pre amps are terrible, and while the effects might be fun at first, its much better if you just slowly start buying seperate effect pedals from well liked companies such as full tone.
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I agree 100%. I can take my Fulltone Fulldrive2 and my really old Jim Dunlop Crybaby and plug into any amp I happen to be using at the time and the sound is top notch.

H2H
 
Absolutely! Just keep your eyes open for deals and your ears tuned. Find the ones you like; not an all-in-one unit that you can afford.

In recent years I've found

a Dunlop Rotovibe for $35

a Univibe for $75

a good Mesa combo for $300

PLEASE!!! Do go out and try the Fulltone effects. They are top notch!

And for the record, if it's a matter of either/or, I'll never be a believer in Digitech's RP series. Digitech has better housing for their multi-effect units and are easier to use but, I think Zoom effects sound a bit better; the housing is just cheap.
 
I'll agree that you can't beat a full pedal board, but most of us don't have the cash to buy all that. If I had to buy a pedal for every effect I use on that pedal, it'd probably cost me at least a good $500, if not more, not to mention I'd have to haul all the pedals around everywhere and deal with power supplies and those breaking etc etc etc.
 
thats why i got a gt5..really not that much and you have tons of boss units that one by one would cost probably in excess of 1000usd.Boss units are excellent. And its built like a tank.

just checked...they go for 200usd on ebay...theres one up there now.
 
I have played the ME-50 from Boss and it sounds pretty good. It doesn't sound as digital. I think it's $299 new.
 
Imaduck said:
I'll agree that you can't beat a full pedal board, but most of us don't have the cash to buy all that.
Click to expand...

I think the point Frequency was trying to make is that you don't need all that. The all-in-one deals are fun for a while because they have lots of neat sound-makers inside. Once the novelty wears off, however, there only a few things you use on a regular basis.
Start with those, and get the best you can afford. That way the core of your sound is solid. Then you can add all the little doo-dads later if you find that you just can't live without them. Having seperate pedals is much, much more flexable in the long run.

I'd rather have 3 great sounding pedals as the core of my tone than 500 wanky sounding novelty effects any day.

A
 
the guy wants something on the cheap...

a young guitarist friend of mine didnt know WHAT pedal he wanted, he just knew he wanted SOUNDS, dammit. I hear you. He was asking around a lot, and was hearing alot of that "a real man just plays on...(insert only cool effect in the world here)" and that "i hate digital" too. Which is great for the seasoned pro, but for a guy who wants bang for the buck and sounds? I got my young friend a zoom 505 II? for like 110 or so new from musicians friend for xmas 2 or 3 years ago, and he has a ball with it.

if you had a few more bux, you could get a bigger rack mount deal that does the same thing, but has oodles more sounds out of it, but the 505 II will do ya for now. Youll have fun with it. Just read the instructions (2 or 3 times...lol), as it has several pedals in one so you dont just fiddle with a knob or two and go.

PS - you can even buy an external wah pedal that plugs in, and is GREAT for applying varying amounts of the effect its modulating.
 
i loved using danelectro and boss products with the cry baby...but later on i ended up going for nothing but boss pedals and then my car was destroyed by a redlight runner and that was the only way i could afford the GT-6...as for pedal boards in general being overrated, i might have to agree on that but the GT-6 has the stuff i need and as for cute little sounds and stuff, I dont use them anyway but if I'm trying to record a trippy, weed smoking, acid track or something..i have them at my disposal. i mainly bought the pedal board because setting up and taking down my pedals for practice and shows and recording 4-6 nights a week got tiring....my favorite function on the pedal board is the tuner lol. its not that everything else sucks...its just having a full chromatic tuner at the tap of pedal was something i didnt have before. detuning came a hell of alot quicker. plus the tuner bypasses all effects so you get another kind of clean sound that works good on some songs.
 
I had an RP200 but sold it a year or so ago. I bought it because I wanted all of those effects. They were cool, but I did get tired of it because I had a hard time trying to program the thing to get what I wanted. Also the pedal wasn't that great, it wasn't smooth at all. I had trouble trying to program certain effects and trying to get the wah. So after selling it I bought the Cry Baby 535Q which I really like. Recently I bought a Tascam 4 track and needed a way to record without using the amp so I bought a RP50 new, because I figured it would be the same by the time I paid for shipping on ebay. I haven't had much time to use it, but it will probably be strictly for recording. I have also ordered a DOD chorus effects pedal to play live. Anyways to stop my rambling, the RP200 probably takes time to get used to (even the RP50 will I guess), but for live I think the single effects will give me what I want without extras. I have seen the BOSS multi-effects in action and think it would probably be the better buy, although more $$$.
 
Line 6! replaced my various pedals with a a MM4 modulation modeller and DL4 delay modeller. Easy to set up and sounds fantastic. (for those not familiar with these pedals, they basically contain about 15-20 patches of popular vintage stomp boxes)
 
i think the main thing for me wth the gt5 (especially for those starting off with just 200usd) is that it has them all...i wont use them all but it lets me experiment and decide for myself in my own time ...no pressure...no need to commit . The only thing i did not totally get off on was the distortions and overdrives....they tend to happen elsewhere if im really going for it but even they are ok for jamming around.
 
Everything distortedrumble said. The GT-6 is amazing. It's higher than the price range you mentioned by about 150 bucks, but if you can scrounge up the extra cash for it, you'll be WAAAYYYY happy you did.

For cheaper stuff, I used to have one of those little Zoom boxes and I gotta say it was fun to play around with and had some decent sounds, but in the end it just isn't that great.

I also used to have an old Digitech RP3 (you can find these used for about 80 or 90 bucks now), and this thing had 3 big negatives:

1. Programming it sucked. Big time.
2. There was a huge delay when you wanted to switch effects. Not good for live use.
3. The thing was so insanely YELLOW it was unbelievable. It was like..."how much more yellow could it be?" And the answer was "none...more yellow..." It is great, however, if you are in a Stryper cover band.

Haven't used any of the Digitech stuff after that. I know they fixed problem #3, but I don't know about the others. You guys with the new Digitechs--is that delay still there?
 
I went as far as getting the top of the line lexicon guitar processor. Had a boss, and an art all in one. Finally got rid of them all, went back to individual pedals.
For live performance those all in ones really suck.
 
Stomp boxes really aint my thing (I'm a crank up the amp sort of guy,) but for the occasional song where effects are needed I use a DOD FX7. I find it easy to program (30 memory banks) with the sounds I need. Although it is a little noisy for recording it works well enough for live gigs where a little hiss blends in with the rest of the hum and rattle from everyone else's gear.
 
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