Which Multi FX get out of jail unit and maybe more) - help me out please

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nickpnickp Frets: 182
edited October 2018 in FX
Longish post - sorry 

Currently I'm in a rock band.  2 x 12 cab, blackstar head, couple of drive pedals, reverb and delay, wah and volume.  job done.  Weighs a ton and fills up the car.

I'm concerned about the head possibly going pear in a gig- so I am thinking about an Multi FX unit direct into the PA as a get out of jail card should the blackstar head break.  

i'd also like to be able to do some drop in jams and gigs - varying styles - so at the moment i've got access to an old marshall 50w AVT which sounds crap and I'm thinking of running the unit in front of this to cover blues jams, jazzier gigs etc - get some variety in my life!!

there's also the promise of festivals where my gigging rig is far too huge

I'll probably replace the marshall to something more suited to running clean with the FX in front when funds allow.

then it's for use at home as the practice platform as it's much nicer doing lots of practice with a decent sound (rather than the crappy blackstar modelling 20w thing).  A headphone out and line in for audio might be nice, as would a little looper - but this isn't critical.

So what's essential?

1.  Easy stage use to drop in the band if I'm in a panic and the main gig rig goes tits up
2. line level out for the PA
3.  Good classic rock, blues tones from the drives and a volume boost method - both for band and blues jams etc
4.  some decent ambient and delays, compression etc - i'm not anal but it's nice to sound ok.  I listen to jazz, fusion, rock, blues, funk, latin and that's what i'll be trying to play
5.  Ease of use - don't want to get involved in days of deep editing to get a nice blues tone
6. no tone suck

If it is good enough to put pressure on my gigging pedalboard then I might be forced to sell it which would get cash back - but i'm not expecting this to be the case.  BTW pedalboard includes - Thorpy gunshot, boss sd-1, wah, volume pedal, KOT Klone, boost (for strat vs les paul changes), TC delay, TC reverb, Vox Wah.   Mostly it's reverb on, delay on - either normal ambient delay or a very long invasive one for a couple of songs, wah here and there, and SD-1 for sustaining/singing/hint of feedback ops

it'll be a second hand unit.  The ones I'm thinking as contenders are

TC Nova (the tuner is shite but the rest is good isn't it?)
Boss ME80 - (are there good giggable drive tones available?)
Line 6 - Pod 500x - or the firehawk or whatever it's called??
Vox Tonelab SE

They are all sub £200 s/h so are feasable

then there's the bonkers option of a s/h Helix on some form of loan - but that's kinda "out there" and would need to be compelling

I'd like to upgrade the combo to a sort of couple of hundred quid platform for the unit at some point for the drop in gigs/festivals etc 

Thanks for reading all this shite and help.  Given our finances a couple of hundred quid is difficult to justify so it'll involve some fiddling around (life's a bastard sometimes)




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Comments

  • GassageGassage Frets: 30826
    Try get a 2nd hand Carl Martin Quattro. They're in another league to the ones you've mentioned and fetch c. 250 used.

    *An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.

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  • You should also consider the Boss ME-50 and Tech 21 Fly Rig 
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  • LuttiSLuttiS Frets: 2243
    I've got an HD500 which i has always been good for me. The drives are ok but the delays, reverbs etc are truly excellent.
    It's a do it all too - amp sims are fine for gigging/jamming, can also turn them off and just use as a large set of stompboxes etc. 


    Used to have an ME-50, sold it to upgrade to HD500. ME-50 is fine - but it does need to go into an amp of some sort.. sounds pretty dire going straight into PA..
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  • GassageGassage Frets: 30826
    This is what you really want, but I think this is the only one in the world!

    A Steen Skrydtrup custom shop jobbie....it's utterly lovely.


    *An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.

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  • mudslide73mudslide73 Frets: 3049
    In my band we've got an old DSL50 and a Boogie V-Twin.
    "A city star won’t shine too far"


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  • Try a Tech 21 Flyrig with a Zoom MS50
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  • dindudedindude Frets: 8534
    I'd say the Tech21 Flyrig, sounds better than the lower end modelling at this price point and you don't have to re-learn it when you use it once in a blue moon.
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  • PS66PS66 Frets: 20
    edited October 2018

    I've used the Boss ME-80 for one piece gigs with backing tracks for the last few years..I don't use an amp as I want everything going through the PA and avoid an amp killing me with on stage volume..I spent a while setting the ME-80 for my clean and drive tones and I now rarely tweak it at all..a good unit for what you want to do. I used one in this -

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  • The Zoom G3Xn is probably worth looking into.
    <space for hire>
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  • NelsonPNelsonP Frets: 3347
    edited October 2018
    The only one I'd have second thoughts about out of those you mention is the TC Nova. As i understand it the patch / effects changes only happen when you release the button, rather than when you press it. This would take some getting used to.

    One of may mates has a tonelab ST, another an HD500x. They both get good tones out of them.
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  • PS66 said:

    I've used the Boss ME-80 for one piece gigs with backing tracks for the last few years..I don't use an amp as I want everything going through the PA and avoid an amp killing me with on stage volume..I spent a while setting the ME-80 for my clean and drive tones and I now rarely tweak it at all..a good unit for what you want to do. I used one in this -

    Love some floyd @PS66, but needs to be more depressing :)

    “Ken sent me.”
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  • PS66PS66 Frets: 20
    PS66 said:

    I've used the Boss ME-80 for one piece gigs with backing tracks for the last few years..I don't use an amp as I want everything going through the PA and avoid an amp killing me with on stage volume..I spent a while setting the ME-80 for my clean and drive tones and I now rarely tweak it at all..a good unit for what you want to do. I used one in this -

    Love some floyd @PS66, but needs to be more depressing :)


    My Wife hates them..always looking for a sharp edge to end it all when I put the Floyd on

     

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  • GrunfeldGrunfeld Frets: 4027
    nickp said:

    Currently I'm in a rock band.  2 x 12 cab, blackstar head, couple of drive pedals, reverb and delay, wah and volume.  job done.  Weighs a ton and fills up the car.

    I'm concerned about the head possibly going pear in a gig-

    How's about... a spare head?  
    Get the pedal board down to something like a Metro 24 and it will feel well tidy.
    And the spare head is, for me at any rate, the most straight-forward thing to do when an amp dies (and it will at some point).
    Off with the old head, on with the new. 
    My spare is a little Terror.  It is, as you say, a get out of jail card.

    [PS  I also have a Blackstar HT 20 head which I'll be selling inside your budget but I appreciate you might not want two!]
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  • nickpnickp Frets: 182
    thanks to everyone so far - @grundfield - I think if i go anywhere it'll be dump the big rig and get a combo as the rig weighs a ton - my cab weighs more than the usual combo.  but otherwise it's tempting :)
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  • Behringer GDI
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  • nickpnickp Frets: 182
    I've just bought a cheap TC nova and will couple with a little DI box/speaker emulation thingy - if it works the TC Nova will replace the similar pedals on my board which is a bonus.  I found myself being dragged towards a Helix and needed to do something to avoid buying something I really couldn't afford!
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  • welshboyowelshboyo Frets: 1808
    Not to help matters here but Helix....

    My Bogner died mid song at a gig once...as I was was already running the HElix in 4CM with a modelled cab to FOH to save micing up I actually just changed patches to a full on direct patch (to the Helix's modelled Shiva model) and carried on with the gig - the crowd (a few of which were guitar playing mates) and more importantly the band didn't realise until the end of the gig that my amp had gone down and I'd switched mid song to a "modeller".


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  • nickpnickp Frets: 182
    welshboyo said:
    Not to help matters here but Helix....

    My Bogner died mid song at a gig once...as I was was already running the HElix in 4CM with a modelled cab to FOH to save micing up I actually just changed patches to a full on direct patch (to the Helix's modelled Shiva model) and carried on with the gig - the crowd (a few of which were guitar playing mates) and more importantly the band didn't realise until the end of the gig that my amp had gone down and I'd switched mid song to a "modeller".


    flash git :)
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  • Surely the Helix stomp would be an option at the price it is now ? probably a little more than the options you're considering there but fantastically compact and capable for the purposes you're describing I would think . 
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  • nickpnickp Frets: 182
    Surely the Helix stomp would be an option at the price it is now ? probably a little more than the options you're considering there but fantastically compact and capable for the purposes you're describing I would think . 
    I'm quietly (ie haven't raised it at home) looking at them/helix....i know a couple of pro guys who use them and rate them highly.  
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