Re-entering the multi-effects phase of my insanity

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gearaddictgearaddict Frets: 894
Thought my last dabble with the Helix would have cured me but I find myself browsing multi-fx options again and going "hmm..."

Just kill me now.
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  • duotoneduotone Frets: 971
    Axe fx?  Kemper?
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  • Save yourself future heartache by buying my Axe FX.
    Read my guitar/gear blog at medium.com/redchairriffs

    View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    duotone said:
    Axe fx?  Kemper?
    FX8 & Kemper?  :)
    If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.
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  • Get a vintage zoom 505 
    The Bigsby was the first successful design of what is now called a whammy bar or tremolo arm, although vibrato is the technically correct term for the musical effect it produces. In standard usage, tremolo is a rapid fluctuation of the volume of a note, while vibrato is a fluctuation in pitch. The origin of this nonstandard usage of the term by electric guitarists is attributed to Leo Fender, who also used the term “vibrato” to refer to what is really a tremolo effect.
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  • If you added up all the money I have wasted on cheaper options I could probably have got an AX8, true enough.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71959
    Get a vintage zoom 505 
    To be completely serious, you can get decent sounds out if these if you try. The key (unsurprisingly) is to reduce the number of effects and turn the distortion down to the lowest gain settings, compared to the presets.

    They’re a bit fussy to edit quickly but once you’ve got them set up right they don’t usually need much, if you’re going into an amp with proper EQ you can make most of the adjustments from there. I can’t claim to have gigged with one but I don’t think it’s impossible.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • I used to like the sounds out of the Behringer pod-alike, the V-Amp. Sounded nice and warm to me, unlike a lot of the other modelling that was around at the time. I don't think they ever did a very serious floor unit though.
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  • Jimbro66Jimbro66 Frets: 2418

    Through the second half of the 90s I used a Digitech 2112 rack-mounted unit into a power amp. It was a twin processor multi-fx unit with tube pre-amp and comprehensive floor controller. It did everything.

    Revisiting recordings made with it, it lacks the warmth of the simple amp-and-pedals setup I've used since then. It was OK for that era but it's made me wary of do-all units no matter how much they are hyped. The simplicity of a good amp and analogue pedals, I even prefer analogue delay, is really all I need.

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  • I just went through the 3rd one...., in the past 3 years or so I've gotten a Fender Mustang series amp, a G1Xon  Zoom pedal and a volume pedal(a very versatile way to alter guitar sounds).  Once the dust settled I found myself going on stage with just the volume pedal, a distortion pedal and a clean boost pedal, along with a channel switch so I can control the chorus effect in my other current amp, the Boss Katana 50.  But when I'm at home creating new music all the gee-gaws come into play.  I also find it therapeutic to just plug in the Zoom and noodle around while scrolling through the effects randomly.  The Mustang amp connected to the computer program, Fuse, offers some great recording sounds. 

    “Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay


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  • DominicDominic Frets: 16012
    For the money you could do an awful lot worse than a Mooer Red Truck
    In a blindfold test I found it hard to distinguish from a Helix on 5 out of 10 setups and some sounded better 
    its straightforward to use too
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  • I'm teetering on the verge of getting a GT100. I have a suspicion (having listened to a few demos and also having owned a GT8 and a HD500X) that the Boss has  a generally darker, warmer sound than the Pod, which is more to my taste...plus I would mainly use it in 4CM for some basic effects and people seem to say it is more transparent than the pod. The pod sucked loads of tone in 4CM.

    I'd love to get an AX8 but just can't justify the outlay. I think of the sub-£400 bunch, the GT100 might suit me best.

    Or is it a false economy...I'm conscious that I could probably buy a AxeIII, foot controller and a pair of DXR10s with all the money I've wasted on various multifx and pedals in the last 10 years.
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  • My gut feeling is it's a false economy. Can you save for what you want? But I'm biased, I admit.
    Read my guitar/gear blog at medium.com/redchairriffs

    View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    edited February 2018
    A used FX8 with your current amp?

    You have lots of choices, but the Fractal effects are generally well regarded, and the FX8 does the 4CM thing with unity gain, true bypass and channel switching. The outputs are also buffered.

    Question 1: Are you satisfied with your existing amp?
    If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.
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  • BeexterBeexter Frets: 597
    The AX8 is very good. Once I played it, I forgot about the cost- especially as I funded it through selling gear I no longer used.
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  • If you've tried, and didn't like, the Helix ...I don't think anything sub £400 is going to do anything but remove <£400 from your bank account. 

    My Trading Feedback    |    You Bring The Band

    Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after you
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  • Yeah, that's probably true. 
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  • I'm teetering on the verge of getting a GT100. I have a suspicion (having listened to a few demos and also having owned a GT8 and a HD500X) that the Boss has  a generally darker, warmer sound than the Pod, which is more to my taste...plus I would mainly use it in 4CM for some basic effects and people seem to say it is more transparent than the pod. The pod sucked loads of tone in 4CM.

    I'd love to get an AX8 but just can't justify the outlay. I think of the sub-£400 bunch, the GT100 might suit me best.

    Or is it a false economy...I'm conscious that I could probably buy a AxeIII, foot controller and a pair of DXR10s with all the money I've wasted on various multifx and pedals in the last 10 years.
    @gearaddict  I'm a few weeks ahead of you on a similar trip. I recently bought a GT-100 as an experiment to see if I could replace my pedal board with an MFX for home and live use. I've previously owned several Line 6 units (but never a Helix) and a TC Nova System. The mod effects on the Nova were excellent, but programming it was a total pain. The Line 6 units promised much but never made me happy - programming was a chore and the sounds I could get weren't to my taste.

    So - the goal is to be able to use the GT-100 as a MFX unit, but not use the COSM preamps. So far it's going well...

    I'm not yet using 4CM or channel switching. My home amps are single channel and don't have effects loops. I just run the guitar into the GT-100 and run the output into the guitar in of my amp. In the main, I'm focusing on cleaner sounds and I'm pleased with the results - especially the reverb/delay/modulation effects. They sound better (to me) than similar effects on a Line 6 M5 I sold recently. 

    Programming this is easier than anything else I've used in the past. The 'two screen' approach works for me and I don't use the Tone Studio software to edit patches - I do it on the unit. It's easy to move effect blocks up and down the signal path and there's a feature to split the signal chain (in several interesting ways) and reunite it later. For 4CM you'd need to use the send/return effects block - which can also move up and down the signal path.

    There isn't any automatic gain staging or unity gain support. You have to do it yourself, starting with setting the input level for your guitar so it doesn't clip the AD converter. Then there are straightforward ways (using your ears) for A/Bing patches on and off so you can set (and store) the output gain level from each effect block and each patch. I like to add a new effect into the chain without (unless it's deliberate) increasing the overall volume. 

    I'm using a couple of the COSM preamps as effects - because I found some overdrive settings using those which I like. I didn't intend to, but it works for me. The preamps record well, too, which is an unexpected bonus. 

    Most of the time I'm using a patch as a convenient way of storing a virtual pedalboard configuration and using it in 'Manual Mode', which means I can turn individual pedals on and off. 

    Next step is to take some of the patches I like and see how they sound using an amp that has an effects loop. 

    I'm not saying I wouldn't prefer a Helix, or a Fractal unit or a Kemper - but compared to those, this is inexpensive, decent enough and easy to drive without a computer or tablet. 

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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    edited February 2018
    merlin said:
    That's a decent price with the Humbuster cables included. How long are they?

    The secret to mastering the FX8 is to put on a white lab coat, and pretend you are some kind of mad scientist    It's amazing what you can do with this thing when you dig a bit deeper into the lesser known parameters, you can actually discover entirely new sounds. It's certainly a knob twiddlers paradise.

    I don't blame you for going back to real pedals if you are only looking for some basic sounds. It's up to each individual to decide what tools they need for the job.
    If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.
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  • merlinmerlin Frets: 6597
    Freebird said:
    merlin said:
    That's a decent price with the Humbuster cables included. How long are they?


    I'll try and measure when I get home. I'm off on tour tomorrow at the cracking of dawn but back in a week. 
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