I hate stomp boxes (well huge collections)

[Rhys Llewellyn]

I guess I've been around a bit.

I've gone from multi-fx units to single stomp boxes to rack gear.

A tube screamer in front of an amp for solo boosts, or a wah, yes. But...

I owned half the Boss back catalogue on a huge pedal board, which although looked impressive, was, in retrospect, a huge waste of money. At £60 plus per pedal, the time and effort I could've saved buying a decent programmable mulit-FX rack unit soon made itself evident when I ditched the whole thing and bought a Line 6 Vetta.

What's the point in having a load of pedals which are stuck at those particular presets for an entire gig? Seems like a huge waste of potential to me.

I've also always hated having to Riverdance between pedals. Having to turn a delay and a flanger off at the same time before a verse will never sound clean live.

To me there is no benefit whatsoever to owning separate stomp boxes.

What's the point of owning a Boss delay pedal and having to bend down and switch after each song and roughly dial in the next song's tempo delay. They're so bloody expensive, you're already half way towards a half decent multi fx rack unit anyways.

Agreed?

 

[amarshism]

You live and you learn buddy. If you still have some stomps and want to incorporate them I recommend getting the tc electronics g system. Has programmable delays and discrete loops to insert your pedals. Realistically if you're using that many pedals it makes sense to incorporate a switching system of some kind.

As for delay, a momentary latch system can be hooked up to a boss delay for tap tempo.

 

[narcossintese]

Stompbox have been around for ages, high quality multi-fx racks are somewhat new. My guess from what I´ve seen is that people like the vintage vibe of stompbox more than the sound. It "feels rock and roll" to have all that stuff to kick around and call it your own. I´m tired of bassists with whammy pedals.

 

[Rhys Llewellyn]

You live and you learn buddy. If you still have some stomps and want to incorporate them I recommend getting the tc electronics g system. Has programmable delays and discrete loops to insert your pedals. Realistically if you're using that many pedals it makes sense to incorporate a switching system of some kind.

As for delay, a momentary latch system can be hooked up to a boss delay for tap tempo.

Yeah I had a tap tempo also for my DD-6, but without bending down to switch between rhythmic variations, it's not of much use, and you still have to program the feedback with guesswork as well.

 

[Harry Hughes]

No, I don't agree.
And I say this as a person who only owns one stomp box currently (a boost).
Rest of the effects are my POD X3 Live.

For some people, a multi effects unit just isn't going to give them the sound and feel they need.
Sonic Youth for example. A band I've been a fan of for a while because my older sister turned me onto them, and they did the soundrack for the film Demon Lover.
They sound they got was not going to happen with a bunch of digital rackmount effects, or the original POD playing quietly.
They got there with cranked to fuck tube amps and various stomp boxes that would produce those sounds.
Other sonic experimentalists, like Tom Morello and Omar Rodriguez Lopez, again, you're not going to replicate those sounds without stomp boxes.
It's the way the effects interacted with each other in a chain, in that real world that got those sounds.
I once got an opportunity to play around with this dude's rig, a friend of my sister. Post punk/noise guitarist.
Again, just the way the overdrive pedals interacted with the delays and all these other crazy effects, there were sounds in there you're not going to get with a rackmount unit.

Then onto the DAW world, sounds you can only get with the DAW.
These things are all just tools in the box and to discredit them just because they weren't for you is ridiculous, because in the hands of someone else, they can work wonders.

 

[Rhys Llewellyn]

Stompbox have been around for ages, high quality multi-fx racks are somewhat new. My guess from what I´ve seen is that people like the vintage vibe of stompbox more than the sound. It "feels rock and roll" to have all that stuff to kick around and call it your own. I´m tired of bassists with whammy pedals.

Actually that's another thing... Ok, I've drank a fair amount of vodka tonight, but whammy pedals...!

I hate them too. I hate that dissonance, to me it just sounds awful. I also really don't like "innovative" guitarists that just switch on a load of pedals and make a load of noise.

I used to be a huge Rage Against The Machine fan, and then saw them live on TV and Morello unplugged his guitar jack and tapped it against the bridge on his guitar with a wah on for a "guitar solo". It, quite simply, sounded shit.

 

[Rhys Llewellyn]

No, I don't agree.
And I say this as a person who only owns one stomp box currently (a boost).
Rest of the effects are my POD X3 Live.

For some people, a multi effects unit just isn't going to give them the sound and feel they need.
Sonic Youth for example. A band I've been a fan of for a while because my older sister turned me onto them, and they did the soundrack for the film Demon Lover.
They sound they got was not going to happen with a bunch of digital rackmount effects, or the original POD playing quietly.
They got there with cranked to fuck tube amps and various stomp boxes that would produce those sounds.
Other sonic experimentalists, like Tom Morello and Omar Rodriguez Lopez, again, you're not going to replicate those sounds without stomp boxes.
It's the way the effects interacted with each other in a chain, in that real world that got those sounds.
I once got an opportunity to play around with this dude's rig, a friend of my sister. Post punk/noise guitarist.
Again, just the way the overdrive pedals interacted with the delays and all these other crazy effects, there were sounds in there you're not going to get with a rackmount unit.

Then onto the DAW world, sounds you can only get with the DAW.
These things are all just tools in the box and to discredit them just because they weren't for you is ridiculous, because in the hands of someone else, they can work wonders.

I was typing my last reply before I saw this.

I totally agree, if you're in to that kind of thing, then of course it is necessary.

But yeah, as I said in my last post, for me personally, I seem to have a real thing against cacophonous noise for the sake of it, so it's not a selling point for me.

But each to their own

* Oh and I purely meant for live use. Of course they have a place in the studio. That was pretty much my point. You need a good 5 minutes to set everything up in the first place, but that said, even then, if you want your chorus in sync to your DAW, good luck.

 

[greyskull]

i have loads. less than i used to... then again i have a Glab gsc2 so i don't tap dance.
I might have used some sort of rack thingamy but my amp doesnt have an fx loop. Besides, I can't be arsed with programming that shit.

 

[xFkx]

I love stompboxes, but I try to keep a minimal setup (whammy, wah, tuner, phaser, boost, noise gate, delay) and it's packed tightly onto a pedaltrain and setup takes like 10 seconds.

 

[robfromthedeep]

Its all about guitar > tuner > OD808 > isp decimator > amp.

 

[xFkx]

Its all about guitar > tuner > OD808 > isp decimator > amp.

Has your musical curiosity ever challenged you to see that there are other types of music than metal ?

 

[DanLights]

Actually that's another thing... Ok, I've drank a fair amount of vodka tonight, but whammy pedals...!

I hate them too. I hate that dissonance, to me it just sounds awful. I also really don't like "innovative" guitarists that just switch on a load of pedals and make a load of noise.

I used to be a huge Rage Against The Machine fan, and then saw them live on TV and Morello unplugged his guitar jack and tapped it against the bridge on his guitar with a wah on for a "guitar solo". It, quite simply, sounded shit.

Oh yeah I hate Tom morello, some people seem to think if I record my farts through a guitar amp and feedbacking while plugging and unplugging the jack will sell a lot cause it's "original". RATM's music is pretty good, but I hate when the guy does his """"solos""""

On the other hand, I absolutely love Omar Rodriguez Lopez's style, and as far as I know he's endorsed by Line6, he uses that pedalboard that "emulates" analog stompboxes, don't remember the name

 

[Jind]

The primary thing with individual stomp box units over multi-effects is the routing possibilities. In most multi-effects systems you are limited in placing modulation or delay effects after dirt boxes, and things like that. While that may be the common placement, extremely experimental guitarists like to play around with their toys and find creative new sounds that make them happy. While some of the newer multi-effect units now allow a bit more routing flexibility, it's still not quite the same as the versatility that boxes bring. Shit can you imagine Hendrix with a POD unit? Hell you see some guys with multiple delay units going at one time generating polyrhythms or as in a recent Premier Guitar article on sonic layering the author suggested up to three delay units and a volume pedal being used to generate orchestral type swells.

While I like my VOX Tonelab for what it is, it's still nice to have individual pedals of the types I like handy.

As for Wah pedals - when used in extremely creative ways, they are ok, used occasionally they are ok, but when used almost as a crutch like Kirk Hammet does, then it's getting a bit excessive.

Just my 2 cents - as always your mileage may vary.

 

[Notuern]

I guess I've been around a bit.

I've gone from multi-fx units to single stomp boxes to rack gear.

A tube screamer in front of an amp for solo boosts, or a wah, yes. But...

I owned half the Boss back catalogue on a huge pedal board, which although looked impressive, was, in retrospect, a huge waste of money. At £60 plus per pedal, the time and effort I could've saved buying a decent programmable mulit-FX rack unit soon made itself evident when I ditched the whole thing and bought a Line 6 Vetta.

What's the point in having a load of pedals which are stuck at those particular presets for an entire gig? Seems like a huge waste of potential to me.

I've also always hated having to Riverdance between pedals. Having to turn a delay and a flanger off at the same time before a verse will never sound clean live.

To me there is no benefit whatsoever to owning separate stomp boxes.

What's the point of owning a Boss delay pedal and having to bend down and switch after each song and roughly dial in the next song's tempo delay. They're so bloody expensive, you're already half way towards a half decent multi fx rack unit anyways.

Agreed?

Well, if you use Boss pedals theres probably not much difference against a rack or multi-fx unit(Personally i only think that the SD-1 and CE-2 is worth using.).. but the pedals i use sound _MUCH_ better then any digital representation.
(MXR Phase 90 -74 model, old ProCo Rat, George Lynch Dragon 2 Wah etc.)

The problem is that i hate the whole tapdancing thing, so im probably going to end up spending loads of cash on a midi programmable looper.. but thats what you get for being a tonefreak i guess.

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

I totally agree, if you're in to that kind of thing, then of course it is necessary.

But yeah, as I said in my last post, for me personally, I seem to have a real thing against cacophonous noise for the sake of it, so it's not a selling point for me.

But each to their own

Hey man, welcome to the forum, can we be best friends?

 

[Flat Fifth Fury]

The upside of using pedals is that there is a vast variety of them that nobody bothers to simulate in a digital multifx unit. They can give you a distinct sound all their own. However in a live rig the only way to easily use more than about 3 stomp boxes is to use a midi programmable loop switcher like the GCX so that you can turn them on or off with a single button. Personally I like stomp boxes but not live. For live a most good multifx will get close enough. My live rig uses two stomp boxes, a Tube Screamer for front end boost and a Boss DC-2 Digital Dimension which is a very cool no warble-y multi voice chorus for clean sounds and they are in loops of my GCX along with my 3 multifx processors and are all controlled by my Ground Control pedal. I have a crate of stomp boxes with their own odd character that I pull out for recording only.

 

[drew_drummer]

Oh you bunch of whiny faggots.

 

[Jind]

I just got done reading this months Premier Guitar - it's their 2010 guide to pedals and they have some really cool shit out there for those looking to experiment a little (or a whole lot for that matter) with their tone. I guess being a bit of an analog synth freak helps open my mind to the creative possibilities of instruments, but if all you want or desire from a guitar is heavy chuggah chug riffing then you don't need many pedals, but a man could seriously go broke expanding their sonic palette with the variety of pedals that are out today. There are simply things that a multi-FX unit cannot give you.

Variety is the spice of life they say.

 

[drew_drummer]

I love pedals! LOVE THEM! LOVE THEM! I'd have sex with my pedals if they were women.

 

[Force666]

The thing I think is better about pedals (although i'm no longer using them, using a gsp1101 now) is that if you fall out of love with one effect, you can swap that one out without losing all your other sounds that you still like.