Help me choose a multi FX unit?

Mkjackary

PM'd!

meltedbuzzbox

monquixote said:

The TC can't the Boss can. 

I don't think the Zoom can, I don't know about the Line6, but my suspicion would be no.

my zoom has a 2 octave sweep. Never tried a chord with it. I am guessing thats what you mean by polyphonic?

Mkjackary

meltedbuzzbox said:

monquixote said:

The TC can't the Boss can. 

I don't think the Zoom can, I don't know about the Line6, but my suspicion would be no.

my zoom has a 2 octave sweep. Never tried a chord with it. I am guessing thats what you mean by polyphonic?

Yes as in POG style, so you could play chords an octave higher, not just single notes

monquixote

meltedbuzzbox said:

monquixote said:

The TC can't the Boss can. 

I don't think the Zoom can, I don't know about the Line6, but my suspicion would be no.

my zoom has a 2 octave sweep. Never tried a chord with it. I am guessing thats what you mean by polyphonic?

I have a G3 and I don't remember it having a polyphonic pitch shifter or I'd use it.

As far as I'm aware it's just EHX and Boss that offer them.

As a slight curve ball if you want something one button per feature that has poly octave, modulation and verb then this will do the trick.

http://www.ehx.com/products/epitome

DesVegas

I have the boss me-50 and its very usable. lovely modulations in there and the resonance expression pedal is sweepy goodness. 30 or so saveable presets too.
I also have the zoom ms50 and that too is very flexible. I traded it for the cdr70 but will be buying one of those as soon as i can.

Cacofonix

The guitarist from 10cc uses a TC Nova, a Squier strat and a Fender twin reissue.

He still sounded phenomenal.

Gru

Anderton have just put down prices on the line 6 HD 300 & 400.

Mkjackary

Gru said:

Anderton have just put down prices on the line 6 HD 300 & 400.

Just saw that! And on a slightly unrelated note tc electronics are doing there 3 for the price of two offer again (check their website)

John_P

I really like the nova and thought it was easy enough to program.   I've just bought another to use in a small board when I don't want to lug the moby dick to gigs.  

The switching is odd though so for a first multi I would definitely say try one before buying.

The zoom g3 people have suggested would be a good cheap box but right now I would be very tempted by the line6 hd300 on offer at andertons.   My singer is selling one and wants that price for a used one. £149 is a great price.

The other option is to see what they bring out next - something must be on the way following the yamaha takeover.

digitalscream

monquixote said:

The TC can't the Boss can. 

I don't think the Zoom can, I don't know about the Line6, but my suspicion would be no.

Line6 can - one of my mates uses it quite a lot on his X3 Live.

One thing to consider is whether you want your delays/reverbs in the loop of your amp but other effects in front - if you do, then the Zoom G3 and Nova System go straight to Room 101, because they don't have an effects loop and thus can't be used with the 4 cable method.

Personally, I still have a soft spot in my heart for the Zoom G9.2tt. Switch off the amp modelling, and it'll do everything you want. It also has obscenely fast switching, so no gaps of silence between patches.

hubobulous

I've been using the Rocktron Utopia live for the last 6 years. I think its brilliant, but so poorly marketed that no-one's really heard of them. Its a shame, since the sound out of them is killer. If you don't mind looking into something less 'mainstream', its worth your while.

Mkjackary

digitalscream said:

monquixote said:

[Regarding polyphonic octaving] The TC can't the Boss can. 

I don't think the Zoom can, I don't know about the Line6, but my suspicion would be no.

Line6 can - one of my mates uses it quite a lot on his X3 Live.

I have come across several people who have said yes it can and several who have said it can't - or that it can but it is pretty unusable. If anybody has an M9, M5, or M13 (or pod) would they mind trying it out and seeing what can and cannot be achieved from the line 6?

EdGrip

The G3 sounds ace, and is in a 3 x stompbox format. It's just a really good Swiss army knife of guitary stuff. 

Voxman

I've tried loads of mfx units. Used to have a Boss gt3 and gt6, a yamaha gw33 and a boss be5. I've tried the line 6 hd500 and hated it...but I quite liked the hd400 as it was easier to use (but still too complicated). But I found both hd units to be noisy.

The best sounding new pedal to my ears is the Zoom G5 which is much more dynamic and natural sounding than the Boss GT100 although the GT100 is way better than the GT6 I had. The G5 has great amp models abd fx but it has a major problem with its switching between patches and stomp mode. It is so convoluted its useless for my gigging needs - takes about 10-20 secs to tap dance!

I tried the TC Nova system and found it awkward to use with clumsy switching process and I was less than impressed with its tones. Its distortions were dreadful.

The Vox TLEX sounds quite good but has no patch naming, a clumsy two button switch between stomp and preset mode, and inadequate effect and connectivity options and parameters and with its awful tuner lighting and built in speakers is more of a toy than a serious bit of gigging kit.

So although its an older unfashionable unit I've stuck with my Vox Tonelab LE which still stands up really well against modern units with good amp and cab modelling, a good range of nice sounding effects, and its easy to use on stage. It also has some nice touches such as an fx insert loop, MIDI, an excellent tuner thats easy to access, and a clear lit lcd display thats easy to see on stage.

If the Zoom G5 designers fix the poor switching process I'd seriously consider it. But so far I've not found anything that's a better mix of tone, versatility and functionality for my needs than the TLLE.

Mkjackary

I see there is loads of love for zoom here, I had a G1-N for ages, was fun to play with but so much tone suck! Mind you it was 40 squids to that probably explains it

monquixote

Mkjackary said:

I see there is loads of love for zoom here, I had a G1-N for ages, was fun to play with but so much tone suck! Mind you it was 40 squids to that probably explains it

I think a lot of people are wary of Zoom because they have had one of the shitty units they made a few years ago. 

I'd happily use my G3 on my gig board if it had MIDI or patch switching and I'm using Strymons on my board at the moment so I'm used to decent kit.