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The drives were decent but only into the G3's own amp sims. Into a normal amps I didn't like the sounds at all.
I've still got the G3 and have no intention of moving it on. I have it as a backup in case my amp or pedalboard go down. I really think they're amazing little units and an absolute steal for the price you can pick them up for used.
For me there are two issues with multi effect units:
1. You can spend half your life fiddling and programming sounds instead of getting your hands on the fretboard.
2. What you program in your bedroom might sound great there but sound rubbish in a live setting.
Live I use a pedal board with no programmable units or switching and that suits me, though it's pretty heavy and sometimes I look at things like fly rig and think yeah that's pretty cute maybe....
For bedroom players some of the multi effect units or amps with effects are fantastic and great value for money.
There's no doubt that with the Kemper and Helix etc that digital/modelling gear is getting better.
Those systems have converted some already and no doubt more will follow but it won't convert everyone. Some people like pedals and pedalboards and there's nowt wrong with that either.
There's an irony that I was more than happy using multi effect pedals for years (Boss and Digitech) and now that multi effects and digital gear in general have improved loads, I've switched to individual pedals!
That said, I'm sure I'll end up with a Helix at some point in the future.
It really does comes down to what you're happy with. For me its always been about the sound that comes out of the speaker and never the look of the gear or the brand being used or doing what people on a guitar forum tell you is the best gear to use.
Just do whatever makes you happy and you can't go wrong!
In my last band, I used a mix of single pedals and a line 6 M9 for “signature” sounds - mostly swirlies and delays.
Now I have all singles because, having tried a Helix last year, I realised I really enjoy the “tangible object” aspect of each single pedal, and found myself both a little overwhelmed by the options the Helix provided, while also being rather underwhelmed by some of the fx (particularly the pitch shifting and reverb).
Helix is what I use most but still use some external drives. Sound wise, I'm very happy. Obviously lots of this is also down to cost and how much expendable cash you have. When you look at your board and you have 5 modulations that total £850, a multi effector that gives you loads more than that and sounds great suddenly makes sense.
I play guitar and take photos of stuff. I also like beans on toast.
Also, and I can't speak for the Helix and Kempers as I've not tried them and my brief flirtation with a Fractal FX-8 wasn't a good one, but I've found that it's rare for the fx in such units to ALL be good e.g. my Zoom B3 is excellent at a lot of things but the Octaver is pants! With pedals, you can at least pick the best ones/the ones suited to you and if you don't like it, you take it off and replace it.
Of course, if these newer multi-fx units deliver on the above from the get-go, plus they're offering a lot of choice and updates that are spot on or close to the real pedal, then happy days.
I had a brief go with multi fx live but there was a lot of memorising and problems changing things on the fly. I mean I can change the settings on my smart phone but I wouldn't like to have to do so with band mates and an audience waiting for me to do it ASAP.
But it still has the enormous disadvantage that if you want a specific effect that isn't on it, tough. It removes the ability to mix and match brands and types, and for some people that is a complete deal-breaker. On the other hand, it's very basic as multi-FX go - there are many much more powerful ones that have almost every type of effect - but they're still limited to those particular ones. If you happen to prefer a specific fuzz for example... still tough.
I think the real breakthrough for multi-FX will be when someone makes a universal software-based system which you can download different effects for, and allows independent developers to access - kind of like Android or iOS for pedals. Or maybe I'm out of touch and this exists already...
"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
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Anything digital improves at Moore's law rates and multi effects are very impressive IMO.
I agree with the tamper time. The zoom G5 has some presets that are close to the 'artist' but some seem miles out (obviously the pickups play a big part in who it tries to mimic). I try not to get bogged down too much fiddling, I find the ones that work and move those to the easily accessible banks via the channel switch.
For years I used a Nova System with my band. One thing I use A LOT in the kind of music my band plays is harmonizers in different keys so, I need presets and multi-fx are the simple and cheapeast way.
Right now I'm using the Boss MS-3 and an expression pedal in one band and for my other band I add a KoT clone, a fuzz and a Flashback delay.
The drives in the MS-3 are surprisingly good and I could live with it for almost everything I need but sometimes I'm all about my KoT's tone and the MS-3 is kind of limited for some things so I need an external drive at least.
I was never a big effct guy, although I love overdrives so, I could easily live with a fuzz, a drive and a delay if I didn't had no bands.
1. If a single pedal breaks, you can easily replace it and in the meantime you still have other effects to call on. If a multi fx unit breaks - they're generally more expensive and all your effects break together.
2. I like to buy and sell and swap pedals. I know multi fx units give a great range and variety of pedals, but I like to try different things, try new pedals, add as many as I like to my board. With a multi fx you are (as I understand it) more limited to how many effects can be used at once.
Ultimately though there's no right or wrong option. Whatever suits you best
"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
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
One thing I have noticed also is that digital effects don't react in the same way to other pedals as analogue effects. I was using the Zoom's RC Booster patch to boost into my Snouse Blackbox; sounded shit; flat. But when I used an analogue booster, it sounded great.
It all depends on your use case. I personally feel that certain pedals like drives, boosts and comps work better as analogue pedals; they 'feel' better to me. For everything else; there's digital.
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I don't have the technical knowledge to do it, but I'd guess there may be someone here who does.
"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
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
There were some good sounds but there's a lot of foot taping with pedal boards. On Pink Floyds Time I'm on mild dirt for the verse then turn that off for clean and turn on chorus for the chorus, then when it comes to solo turn off chorus, turn on full on dirt pedal, turn on delay and turn on boost at the same time as singing BV
With my normal setup which is GT10 midi'ed to a JMP-1 that is one press of a pedal so I missed that.
I'm actually in the process of making a pedal board now and a bunch of pedals and I've started to think about ways of grouping pedals .... if the fuzz, delay and boost pedal is assigned to group 3 for instance than hitting group 3's footswitch will turn all these on. But if group 2 only has the fuzz and boost etc then it's a way of making patches...... I haven't thought about it a great deal but I can see there's a way to have less tap dancing with pedals without getting in to the who Bob Bradshaw switching systems.
The Amp 11 clone I just built also switches my HRD when the small switch is flipped because that's my dirty sound in another band and now it's one press of a pedal not 2
I quite like pedals like the MXR Micro Chorus or MXR Phase 90 where the basic sounds are so good that they don’t need lots of knobs to be able to dial in a half-decent sound.
And don’t get me started on amps where you need a programming degree to make best use of all the options. I know it’s horses for courses but I’d far rather manufacturers spend time, money, and effort on a handful of decent tones instead of a huge number of options and parameters most of which I will never use.