Tonedef I got told by a nice gentleman (who happened to sell a certain GT-6 me) that many guys dislike integrated effects units (like the GT-6/8 etc) and by far prefer discrete pedal setups. In which camp are you, and why? (I'll admit that simply looking at pedal setups confuses the hell out of me - I find the GT-6 very nice to work with, but of course I have no experience either way). Let rip!
Warren I think that both have their place, depending upon what you want to achieve and where you are in your playing career. I recently traded up a few discrete pedals and went for a GT-8 because 1) I play in a band where I have to change quickly from "Apache" to "La Grange" to "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" etc., and I found it tough to achieve the sounds I wanted with my limited pedal board. 2) The GT-8 is much cheaper than a collection of boutique pedals, not to mention the added cost of a decent pedal-board and a proper power supply. 3) I'm still at a point with my playing where I can get more value from becoming a better player than spending money on more pedals. 4) The GT-8 has enough effects for me to play around and figure out what sorts of sounds REALLY appeal to me. 5) The single unit is a pleasure to gig with. Some day, when I'm playing my own original music live, I will probably sell the GT-8 because 1) You're obviously not going to get the quality of a Nova Delay or a Strymon Blue Sky Reverb or a T-Rex Mud Honey pedal in a cheaper multi-effects pedal, so if you want the best or a very specific sound you need to swallow hard and buy the best. 2) I will have finally decided on exactly which effects I really want in my chain, and will be able to build a board that really suits my needs. At the moment I'm still unsure and it's an expensive hobby to buy pedals when I'm not sure if they'll play nice with my tone. 3) I will hopefully have progressed to a point with my playing where I get real value from fancy boutique pedals, being able to exploit them to add something extra to my sound. That said, I kept my TS808 because I just love it so it sits in the effects loop of my GT-8 permanently (even for my "clean" tones). I also kept my VOX Satchurator because I like using it for recording some of my own stuff.
kayDUB Warren wrote 3) I'm still at a point with my playing where I can get more value from becoming a better player than spending money on more pedals. I refuse to believe that this point exists in the universe... ? Other than that, +1 to what you said!
AlanRatcliffe Tonally and simplicity a few stomps win out plus you have the ability to easily tweak as you go to cope with the vagaries of live performance. Definitely the way to go if you only need a few effects. For processing power and programmability, the multieffects win at the expense of instant tweakability. They make complex FX chains simpler to program and recall, but can make the simple stuff more complex. If you don't want to get too fancy with your FX routing matrix, then the TC G-System with a few extra stomps in the loops rules the roost - rugged as all hell, high quality sound, high quality FX and flexible enough to integrate and control some pretty complex rigs. If you do need to go that bit further into sound sculpting you can throw a powerful rackmount effect or two into the loops. I'm both at the moment. GT-8 on piezos and a half dozen stomps into the guitar amp. Works as a nice compromise between the two. I get the quality on the electric sound and the processing power on the piezos (which are not perfectly natural anyway). Still a little limited for my needs though and if monitoring is not good, it can be difficult balancing the two. I'll probably end up going Guitar Rig (still the only thing that lets me do anything I need to) again later in the year when I can afford to build a capable road-ready rackmount PC - then I can process both guitar signals plus run some softsynths for MIDIguitar, all in one box. All that's needed is a good software host that can handle both audio and softsynths for live, but I've been investigating a few likely candidates.
singemonkey Just need to add as usual that although multi-fx are cheaper at first, for what you get, their value tends towards R0.00 over a few years. Whereas a mid-90's tube screamer is worth as much as one from 2 years ago. Multi-fx: Incredibly versatile, cheap to buy, efficient space-wise - but not all effects are great, lose value rapidly Pedals: Each pedal can be "hand-picked" to be just how you want it, they're fun (different colours shapes, knobs), mostly great resale value - but expensive to buy and clunky, take up lots of space, limit you to the specific sounds you've got.
FruitarGeek I sold my GT-8 to feed my klink doosie desire. Pretty much everything good about them has been said. Tonally they are there, much easier to tweak on the spot, you buy what you need as opposed to the GT6/8/10 where you get a sound of flanger with 4th harmonics panning left and right, haha, something you very rarely use. And it just looks really kick ass having all these little pedals on a board. The downside is there is a lot of tap dancing, unless you have a switcher. VERY VERY EXPENSIVE. Not only do you have to worry about pedals, but also about patch cables, and there quality is also an issue, use cheap cables get cheap sound. Power (my issue at the moment) and Pedal Board etc. However I am still finding my journey into the effect world with stomp boxes more exciting than simply buying one pedal that does it all. I get thrills researching on hours at end for the next pedal that will fit my board nicely ?
