Small footprint FX setup - should I go zoom or similar?

Megii

Thanks for that extra info monq - tbh this whole world is new to me, I have been existing as some sort of guitar technology luddite for far too long I think. It's a bit of a shame about the restricted patch shifting, but I think the g3 would still be adequate for me - highly unlikely I would need more than 2 patches for any music I was playing. The g5 would be overkill for me I reckon. But at the mo I am being sucked in by the g3 I must say - it does so much more than I need, but dammit, you get so much for your money, it's just too tempting...   I really have to decide if I would be happy with the sound quality from such a unit - from what's been said, the likely answer is yes at this point. This thread is not taking me in the direction I thought it might!

A couple of supplementary questions:

If I put a separate distortion/overdrive pedal in front of the g3, would it work fine?

What do people think of the g3x with built in expression pedal - is it worth the extra £20 or so? is the pedal good enough quality to stand up to gigging? Would I be better of just getting a g3, and then can add an external pedal if needed?  (OK that's 3 more questions there in fact...  )

mike_l

@megii what drive pedal are you thinking of? As the g3 does some fantastic drive sounds. Both amp and pedal sims

Megii

Cheers mike - I guess I am thinking of one of the Suhr Riot clones - either the Mooer Solo Distortion or the Joyo US Dream. That's not a firm plan though - if I can get all the drive sounds I like from the g3, that would be better really, just a simpler setup. Probably would buy the g3 as a first step anyhow, and then see if I wanted anything else after using it for a while.

monquixote

Megii said:

A couple of supplementary questions:

If I put a separate distortion/overdrive pedal in front of the g3, would it work fine?

What do people think of the g3x with built in expression pedal - is it worth the extra £20 or so? is the pedal good enough quality to stand up to gigging? Would I be better of just getting a g3, and then can add an external pedal if needed?  (OK that's 3 more questions there in fact...  )

The answer to the first question is "It depends" I run a board likey this:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b197/monquixote/IMAG0017_zpscdd8f2f9.jpg

With a couple of drives running into the G3 all in front of the amp and it sounds great. 

What I have discovered is that if you put conventional pedals in front of the amp sims in the G3 then they sound really fizzy so if you are going to use the amp sims (I don't) then you are better off using the digital drive pedals in the G3. 

As far as the second question goes, I have an instinctive distrust of FX with built in expression pedals so it didn't appeal to me, but I believe someone on here (Koneguitarist?) gigs one and is happy. 

As regards the sound quality. I believe P90Fool gigs with just a G3 and plays some fairly big stages. 

Megii

Thanks mq - you are doing well for wisdoms from me but have another one for that - that's bloody useful stuff to know about. Anyways, I'm still really liking the idea of the G3 - I think very probably it would be sans expression pedal in my case - can always add if desired, and then have the option of leaving it out and a smaller footprint. Is that the Mooer Chorus on there btw? - and does that mean you're not too keen on the G3's chorus sounds?  Your pedalboard looks great to me, but that is the sort of setup I just won't have the space for - my fault for choosing to play jazz, hence having to fit things into small venues... Or not being Pat Metheny possibly

Kebabkid

As you're leaning toward the Zoom Multistomp - good pedal, owned one for a few months and was sold as surplus to requirements -  I've just seen that Korg have a brought out a Pandora Stomp and it looks more or less the size as their Pitchblack tuners. It can do all sorts but I don't know what the quality of the sounds are like or if it's easy to use.

Megii

Kebabkid said:

As you're leaning toward the Zoom Multistomp - good pedal, owned one for a few months and was sold as surplus to requirements -  I've just seen that Korg have a brought out a Pandora Stomp and it looks more or less the size as their Pitchblack tuners. It can do all sorts but I don't know what the quality of the sounds are like or if it's easy to use.

Will look into that, cheers Kebabkid!

Megii

Just thought of another g3 question, sorreee... but:

The g3 can have up to 6 effects at a time, is it possible to have a couple of delays running in the same patch? Going further, could I have a patch with reverb, a couple of delays, and chorus say? (Eric Johnson...  )

monquixote

Megii said:

Is that the Mooer Chorus on there btw? - and does that mean you're not too keen on the G3's chorus sounds?  Your pedalboard looks great to me, but that is the sort of setup I just won't have the space for - my fault for choosing to play jazz, hence having to fit things into small venues... Or not being Pat Metheny possibly

It is indeed the Mooer chorus. I have it on there mostly because it fits and more pedals is obviously better

In all seriousness I think the Chorus is one of the Zooms strong points (I actually like it more than the chorus on the Nova Mod I used to have). The reason I've got it on there is because I really like to focus on performing/remembering the chords when I'm on stage so I don't like anything to be complicated like switching between banks meaning that I know exactly where an effect is without really having to look at anything (when playing festivals you can't rely on knowing what mode you are in because you often can't even see the LEDs).

As a result I have the three pedals on screen set to Trem, Analog Delay and a Wonky Modulated delay and use the Mooer for chorus. I could just as easily have a Mooer Trem, or Delay pedal and do the same thing.

As far as modulation goes. 

• The trem and slicer are very good 
• The chorus is good and there are several different types
• The flanger is decent (I don't really use it so I'm not a great judge)
• The vibrato is great 
• The Phaser is OK, but I can never quite get what I want out of it (probably just me)
• The filters & auto wahs are good. 
• The octaver and harmoniser type things are OK, but nowhere near as good as a POG.
• The Delays are brilliant and there are loads of them. I'd almost advocate people buying it as an alternative to the DL4 or Flashback X4

This demo is just a G3 straight into the desk via a Fender model which lets you hear some trem sounds and the amp sims and reverb. It's all live one take stuff so there isn't much production other than the Zoom. 

Megii

Liking those tracks! Really it's a big vote for the g3 that it works for real world gigging guitarists. A huge plus that the chorus is good for me too, I think that's a key effect for me. Similar re the delays - just asking but is it possible to have 2 delays simultaneously?

monquixote

You can have 6 delays simultaneously  

mike_l

monq, i prefer my phase 90s to the phasers on the g3, but, live wouldnt be concerned about using them. Same with the flanger. Having said that i havent really adjusted them properly yet.

monquixote

mike_l said:

monq, i prefer my phase 90s to the phasers on the g3, but, live wouldnt be concerned about using them. Same with the flanger. Having said that i havent really adjusted them properly yet.

I possibly have weird taste in phasers as I really like the phaser on the TC Nova which most people think of as one of the weak points. I'm always looking for that "Have a cigar" sound which I haven't been able to get with the Zoom (or a phase 90)

Megii

monquixote said:

You can have 6 delays simultaneously  

Thanks monq, that could be fun! I'm really wanting a g3 now... Bloody forums inducing GAS! But at least it's informed GAS...

John_P

Just a thought (maybe completely wide of what you're after but how about a Yamaha DG stomp.
I've just spent this evening practising with my rehearsal/tiny gig setup using one and I love it.

They stopped making them a while back but they still appear on ebay etc from time to time fairly cheap - espiically considering the quiality of sounds and construction.
I've had a lot of multieffects units and pedals over the years before ditching them and settling on a G system with some choice drive pedals for gigs - the only pedal that I have kept is the DG   it won't do the two delays at once but it has all the obvious effects, is very quick and simple to operate and sounds great and being smallish it has been very handy for the odd musical I've done where space is tight.

Megii

John_P said:

Just a thought (maybe completely wide of what you're after but how about a Yamaha DG stomp.
I've just spent this evening practising with my rehearsal/tiny gig setup using one and I love it.

They stopped making them a while back but they still appear on ebay etc from time to time fairly cheap - espiically considering the quiality of sounds and construction.
I've had a lot of multieffects units and pedals over the years before ditching them and settling on a G system with some choice drive pedals for gigs - the only pedal that I have kept is the DG   it won't do the two delays at once but it has all the obvious effects, is very quick and simple to operate and sounds great and being smallish it has been very handy for the odd musical I've done where space is tight.

Thanks a lot John - that is a good alternative thought, could be a very economic way to go I suppose, and the sound quality does matter to me. So will look into that!

G3 owners - I am really interested in this unit, it's not just the enormous capability, and the fact it could cover any effects combination I might ever want, but also the considerable "extras" such as being a USB interface and recording device. I hadn't been thinking about that, but I have to admit it would be really useful for me. But can I just ask your honest opinion on the sound quality, given that some folks say that modelling gear imparts a digital, or "fake" kind of quality to a guitar tone. So, talking specifically about using the G3 in front of a guitar amp, how do you really find things? - is it

a) absolutely fine, no different in quality to a string of FX pedals...

b) good - on a par with decent pedals, but different. Not quite the same, but just as nice if you see what I mean... OR

c) good, not quite up to decent pedals, but still worth it for the added capability and convenience.

d) not brilliant, but useable, still great for the capability/convenience - "not really as good as I'd like, but the audience would never notice" kind of thing.

Forgive my asking the question, and I know this is subjective, but would still like your views. Will stop with all the questions before long I promise!

Grumpyrocker

The G3 runs for hours and hours on a set of four rechargeable batteries. So there's no need to worry about the power supply. The batteries should easily get through a gig, and having a set of charged spares is hardly bank breaking. 

Grumpyrocker

Megii said:

Just thought of another g3 question, sorreee... but:

The g3 can have up to 6 effects at a time, is it possible to have a couple of delays running in the same patch? Going further, could I have a patch with reverb, a couple of delays, and chorus say? (Eric Johnson...  )

Yes you can put six different delays in a row if you really wanted to.

mike_l

i find it different to pedals, not a bad different, just different. But that might be down to what i'm used to. The only preset i couldnt use in some way was the robo thingy one...

Megii

Thanks for the info Grumpy and Mike, and cheers for answering yet another of my questions Mike! I'll stop going on about it now, promise. I do get the impression it's not quite like using pedals, but then pedals themselves can vary one to another. Also I have the impression if the G3 is used in front of a decent amp, then that helps to stop things being too "digital". My Polytone amp is very warm sounding - strongly colours the tone really, but from experience it takes effects well, and I think it's likely I could find good things using it with the G3. I also have an old Yamaha G50 112 amp which is great, and adds less colour, which might be a good alternative. As to using the G3 with headphones, or as a USB interface, I'm not too worried as long as the sound is reasonable - it's really a big bonus for me that it can do that at all. Well, will look around on the web at other things, but I'm really tempted - may even order one this weekend. Cheers again for your help and advice everyone!