guitarboy2828 wrote:
Alan, what would one really use 4 effects loops for? I understand one of them, but 4? Maybe i'm just to much of an effects novice.. ?
Five if you count the insert as a loop (it is, it's just it's always on and not switchable like the other four). The more the better for some of us - the amp's preamp (so you can get the modulation, time and pitch FX all after the preamp, filter compression and EQ before), at least one drive pedal (probably two), a rotary speaker sim, etc., etc., etc.. We all have very specific tastes as far as drive and some other effects go, and it soon adds up...
Would be interesting to do a good test between the two and determine if it's worth the R18 000 MORE than my nova system!
That depends on you - if you need something between your guitar on one side and the amp on the other, then it's more than a little overkill and not worth the money. Where the G-System comes in handy and earns it's keep over the Nova system is as a "control centre" - a digital switching system for complex rigs, letting you not only use the onboard effects and interface with other pro-level rack gear, but also apply digital switching to your favourite analog effects. Think of it as something like a small Bradshaw switching rig with a near full-house of high quality bread-and-butter effects (bar drive effects or amp/speaker modelling) built in. If you have no idea who Bob Bradshaw is, you probably don't need a G-system. ?
A question, after jamming on my nova system for a lil while now, where can i read up about EQ stuff. The EQ on this nova system is very confusing to my small brain, to many buttons to change, can't quite seem to get it the way I want it..
When in doubt, RTM. The best way to approach any EQ is use as little as possible. Switch it off, and get as good a sound as possible without it first. Then
if you need it, turn it on and tweak, using only as much as you need to. An excellent primer is Paul White's article on SOS:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul01/articles/equalisers1.asp
and
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Aug01/articles/usingeq.asp
Also, what is the "digital out" for on the back of the nova system? The S/PDIF? What would one use that for?
It's a way to bypass some circuitry that is not needed in some applications. Digital gear uses analog to digital converters to get the sound to digital for processing, then uses digital to analog converters to change it back again for the output. The thing is, if you are using two digital devices (like a digital multieffect and a digital recorder), there is no need to convert to analog at the output only to convert it back to digital again at the input of the next device - it just degrades the sound. So digital in and outputs are a way of hooking up two digital devices. bypassing the extra conversion processes.
