Advice on Multi-effects unit please...

rikus · 2011-06-20T15:52:52+00:00

I need some advice from the folks in the know please. At the moment I’m playing acoustic rhythm in our church band, but the lead guitarist is keen on me moving over to electric and giving two electrics a go… Up to know I’ve not yet braved the world of effects and I’ve been satisfied plugging straight into my little valve amp (this has just been playing at home though). I’m not yet sure what I like and don’t like effects-wise, so I thought it would be good going the multi-effect route. I’ve done lots of reading, but I’m not really sure where I really need to start looking. There is so much out there and I’m being blinded by all the shiny lights and buttons. Should I look for a second hand gt-8 or maybe a 10? Or should I rather look at something newer, like the digitech rp1000 or one of the Line6 Pod HD’s (either the 400 or the 500, as I’ve read that the 300 will not work well when playing live)… I know the above is very vague, but any advice would be great! Thanks. R.

guitarboy2828

Chad Adam Browne wrote
rikus wrote I have no idea what to do...
Educate yourself, figure out what you want the gear to do then figure out what can do it the best at the most reasonable price. It's what works for you that matters, as a consumer you are completely within your right to go to a shop and ask to try out each of these units if they have them in stock. Tweak them a little, see if you find their parameters easy to work with and let your ears make the final judgement call. Listening to other people's advice will often get you good gear, adding their knowledge to yours and coming to your own well informed conclusion gets you the best gear.

The big screw up with amps and multi effects and even guitars is that people are often in too much of a rush to get the gratification of a new item and don't spend enough time assessing it and really thinking about their purchase. Don't just jump to purchasing until you're completely sure that it's a piece of gear that delivers what you want and that won't be too much in terms of power and customisation. Not everyone needs or wants to be able to launch rocket ships with their feet ?

+1 to this! I will say though, do some online research first. To walk into a music shop and try 15 different pedals can be time consuming. And, most stores only carry one or two brands, so that means you have to travel a lot. But definitely worth doing some research.

BluJu

Chad Adam Browne wrote
BluJu wrote Wouldn't go for a GT10, they are really complicated and a bit unnecessary in my opinion.
Having owned and put a hell of alot of mileage on both I couldn't agree with you less. It takes me minutes to make good patches on the GT-10 that don't sound overprocessed and synthetic, it used to take me days fiddling with the GT-8s various resonators and settings to get results that were even close. Also the GT-10 responds alot better than the 8 and has more of a lively feel IMO, I owned the 8 for about 3 years and have had my GT-10 for almost 2 so far and there is no chance in hell I'd ever switch back...

They put an EZ Tone feature on it to make it faster to setup, the whole unit was designed to be more user friendly because so many people complained about what a pain the 8 was.

Touche. I'm not very well versed in these pedals. I like the simplicity of the ME50/70.

Tokai-SA

Here's a demo of the Pod HD500.

http://www.guitarforum.co.za/guitar-gear/pod-hd500-video-demo-by-pjh/

rikus

Tokai SA wrote Here's a demo of the Pod HD500.

http://www.guitarforum.co.za/guitar-gear/pod-hd500-video-demo-by-pjh/

Nice video, saw it earlier in the week. As much as I would love a HD500 it's outside my pricerange... ☹ ☹

Does anyone have any experience with both the gt-8 and the me 70? The Me 70 looks great in terms of ease of use... I understand that the me 70 was released after the gt-8... if you can get them for sort of comparable amounts what would be the better choice? Do their effects sound the same quality wise?

Tokai-SA

rikus wrote
Tokai SA wrote Here's a demo of the Pod HD500.

http://www.guitarforum.co.za/guitar-gear/pod-hd500-video-demo-by-pjh/
Nice video, saw it earlier in the week. As much as I would love a HD500 it's outside my pricerange... ☹ ☹

Does anyone have any experience with both the gt-8 and the me 70? The Me 70 looks great in terms of ease of use... I understand that the me 70 was released after the gt-8... if you can get them for sort of comparable amounts what would be the better choice? Do their effects sound the same quality wise?

The GT-8 is an excellent unit.
The effects on the GT-8 are more than likely as good as the effects on the HD500...maybe even better in some cases.

AlanRatcliffe

Same sound except for the GT-8 having speaker/mic sims for DI.

GT-8 has more and far more tweakable effects and can be plugged straight into the desk or used with headphones as a practice/writing tool. It can do everything the ME-70 can do and more.

ME-70 is made to plug into a guitar amp (it has no speaker sims) but is far easier to use as you tweak front panel knobs for every parameter (exactly as you would with stomps), but unlike stomps it allows you to save the parameters in patches.

Tokai SA wrote The effects on the GT-8 are more than likely as good as the effects on the HD500...maybe even better in some cases.

They each have their pros and cons. Usually (but not always) the HD500 effects sound a little better and are easier to program (sometimes too easy, IMO). The GT-8 has a few effects that sound better than the HD and, once again, are far more tweakable. The amp sims in the HD blow away the Boss ones completely for authenticity.

Norman86

I would also look into the vox tonelab EX if i were you...

rikus

While the deal has not officially been done yet serendipity has made my decision for me, as I have been offered a GT-8 at a very good price! The deal will be done next week, so I have a bit of time to try and study the manual so long!

Thanks for all the advice everyone!

DonovanB

There are enough GT8 owners here to answer any questions as well.

Renesongs

I've been using the GT series for about six years. The GT-10 can be a complex or simple beast depending on how involved you want to get.

rikus

Thanks to Alan I am now the proud owner of a very good looking GT-8 (complete with original packing and manual)!

Preliminary impressions: ??? too many buttons...

First thing I realised when I plugged it into my amp last night is that I need to turn of the preamps on the GT-8. My 5 watt doesn't have a effects loop, so no way to bypass the amps preamp. If I keep both on it is pretty noisy. With the preamp on the GT-8 off it cleans up nicely.

I just goofed around in manual mode with some effects and I am loving it... Now I need to get a grasp of those patches...

This morning I plugged in my headphones and switched on the preamps... sooo coool!! Rocking out virtually silently!!

Super chuffed so far!

Renesongs

Well done Rikus - if you need any help / software / patches for your GT drop me a line.

racman

Alan Ratcliffe wrote Oh... and the HD400 is only a small step up from the HD300. They are both hobbled versions of the HD500 IMO. They all sound good, but the compromises made on the lower models make them unusable as stand-alone units.

Why would this be Alan?

I thought that the HD300 and 400 had the same modelling etc but were limited in the amount of effects only. I am looking at an HD300 for a simple direct to PA use as I have worked out that the equivalent pedals (only looking at 3 and Volume pedal) would cost more than the HD300.

It seems from Line6 website comparisoon between the three, that the HD300 is a great buy.

AlanRatcliffe

The HD300 has the effects arranged into four blocks and you can only use one effect from each block at a time. Wouldn't be the end of the world if they had done it intelligently, but where it all falls down is that they have grouped a lot of effects you often want to use together into one block, so you often end up choosing between "must have" effects. For instance, the first block has all the compression, overdrives and filter effects, so you cant have wah and overdrive together or compressor and overdrive together (let alone all three). So you end up adding in real pedals to do half of what you want to do anyway. Also the only spring reverb is in the first block too, instead of as part of the dedicated reverb block or as part of the amp simulation with amps like a Twin.

Furthermore, specific to the HD300 - there is no effects loop, so any effects you add on must be in front of the unit. The HD400 is better in only a few respects - It has a loop, dedicated bank up/down buttons and 20 more effects variations (although crammed into the same four blocks). The HD500 allows you to put any effect into any of its eight blocks and has four assignable switches you can use to turn effects on or off within a patch, so it's a lot more flexible.

IMO, these things make the HD300 little more than a great sounding headphone practice amp or a dedicated amp modeller for use with your own pedals. And if like me, you're only likely to use one or two amp models, you might as well get a Tech 21 Character series pedal (or two) for when you want to DI.

racman

Alan Ratcliffe wrote The HD300 has the effects arranged into four blocks and you can only use one effect from each block at a time. Wouldn't be the end of the world if they had done it intelligently, but where it all falls down is that they have grouped a lot of effects you often want to use together into one block, so you often end up choosing between "must have" effects. For instance, the first block has all the compression, overdrives and filter effects, so you cant have wah and overdrive together or compressor and overdrive together (let alone all three). So you end up adding in real pedals to do half of what you want to do anyway. Also the only spring reverb is in the first block too, instead of as part of the dedicated reverb block or as part of the amp simulation with amps like a Twin.

Furthermore, specific to the HD300 - there is no effects loop, so any effects you add on must be in front of the unit. The HD400 is better in only a few respects - It has a loop, dedicated bank up/down buttons and 20 more effects variations (although crammed into the same four blocks). The HD500 allows you to put any effect into any of its eight blocks and has four assignable switches you can use to turn effects on or off within a patch, so it's a lot more flexible.

IMO, these things make the HD300 little more than a great sounding headphone practice amp or a dedicated amp modeller for use with your own pedals. And if like me, you're only likely to use one or two amp models, you might as well get a Tech 21 Character series pedal (or two) for when you want to DI.

Damn!!! ? ?

Thx Alan - saved me wasting a bit of money ... I think I am going the pedal route.

Jacquesg4j

Must say, the HDs sound AWESOME! Warm crist bite in the tone! I might just be buying one in the week to come!

George-Engelbrecht

One thing I would just like to mention is that I play a Boss GT8 through my Crate half stack and really the Crate and its built in effects sound way better than when I run my pedal through my amp.

When I run the Boss through a Marshall Valve then the pedal comes alive and it sounds very cool.

IO would also suggest to invest in a good amp with a nice foots witch and built in effects. This way the sound and your whole rig will just be easier at church ?

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