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Best Cheap Multi Effects pedal?


nin8185

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Hi all! i am looking into getting a space for my band so we can play late and do not want to bring my precious gear down their as i have a decent set up at home. I am looking for a good cheap pedal that has the basics, Delay, Chorus, Verb etc. This will be a spare so i don't have to lug around my full board around with me when i want to play late after the bars/venues. I used to own a Line 6 M13, this was a good pedal, layout was amazing but sucked my tone and was not $cheap$, and ended up {censored}ting the bed after 2-3 years (power cycling on and off.) I am looking for nothing fancy but want it reliable for a cheap cost (used). I am going to try to stay away from Line 6.

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I have a BOSS ME80, and I love it. It allows me to be in "manual" mode, and I can treat it like 8 effects with one being controlled by an expression pedal. The BOSS ME 25 has many of the same models, but like all of the other effects pedals in this price range, you will have to scroll through your settings, so you have to be familiar with your banks. The Zoom G3X has an easy interface and is around $200. These days, this is really the place where you'll find equipment that you can gig with. A lot of these pedals can be found a lot cheaper at places like Reverb, but you should play through one at your local store before you decide. I've never been a fan of the Line 6 stuff either, at least not under the HD500X or Helix. Stay away from Digitech too. The controls are clunky, learning curve is steep, and they sound like poop (IMHO).

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I like the simplicity of the ME-25 but what I like most about it is the fact that it sounds realy good.

 

I did play through an ME-80 one time when I sat in with a band. I thought it sounded good too but I wasn't really in a position to experiment with it at the time.

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i love my Boss ME50 i've had it for 13 years it's never let me down,and it sounds amazing you can store patches or use it manual as stand alone pedals,i love the wah easy to engage on the fly.this pedal is easy to program its like having pedals, just twist knobs no button to scroll ,main reason why i got this ,i always hated having to push stupid buttons to program shit on other devices, that's why i love it!!

you can get them cheap now $120-$150 or so ,thinking of getting a backup for home use.and practice.

the extra gray boss footswitchs are for scrolling up and down banks,or in manual are to turn on or off the tone modifier and compression

the pedal is a volume pedal when not engage as wah or other ?

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All great suggestions!! I'd like to add the Zoom G2.1nu

 

I was able to pick one up on eBay for $60 shipped!!! Best $60 I ever spent!! :)

 

Super user friendly. Great sounding effects. Onboard expression pedal which is so easy to assign you can do it on the fly during a song! Nice attractive display!

 

Not in production anymore... but can be found used for less than $100 usually... and they do the work of $1000 with of pedals.

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I use the zoom g3n, and it's awesome for the money (150 I think). Not only does it have all the effects that you listed (and more), it also has several amp and cabinet simulations that are actually pretty decent for the cost of the unit. Add in a fully customizable signal chain and 150 preset slots, and it's a jack of all trades for pretty much any style of music you play. I love mine.

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I think 'best' is quite subjective in terms of what you're actually after. Looping capabilities? Loads of effects? Something geared more towards a certain type of playing?

 

 

A lot of buyers guides tend to recommend the larger pedals when it comes to multi effects tbh I'm not sold on that though. For instance guides like this : https://guitaarr.com/pedals/best-mul...-buyers-guide/ go straight for the Boss ME-80, which is great if you're a gigging guitarist but not ideal for the bedroom player...

 

Personally I'd recommend either the digitech element XP or the Line 6 POD, two nice pedals that are at a good price and won't be too big to clog up your pedal board.....

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I have maybe a half dozen different units. I been trying out some of the smaller ones in order to get an idea of what the rest of their product like can do.

I've found I like using different units for different purposes. I have three Digitec units including one older Rack style unit and they seem to do a good job for heavy rock and metal stuff, but they also do a decent job on cleans too. Their amp/cab modeling doesn't sound very much like the models they copy but they aren't bad sounding either. The time based effects aren't bad and noise reduction is excellent. If anything the type of drive is kind of a one trick pony. They use the same drive at different saturation levels and simply EQed differently for the various types of saturation. Still it is a good unit for live or recording,

 

I like the Vox stomplab stuff allot. Guess I got used to them as a kid when I bought my first decent electric which was a Vox Apollo guitar which had on board electronics including overdrive. They are owned by Korg now and they've really done a decent job on most of their newer gear. The amp/cab modeling in their multi effect pedals are excellent and you have a really decent variety of different types of drive tones from vintage all the way up to the heavy modern stuff. I especially like the fact it can nail so many classic rock tones and the modern stuff too. Verb, Echo, are very good and its got a full arsenal of LFO effects from Chorus, Rotary, Phaser, Flanger, Tremolo and Vibrato. Noise reduction works flawlessly too so even with high gain settings which would amplify a fly's brainwaves winds up being silenced nicely.

 

I have others made by Korg, Boss, Delta lab, M Audio, as well as Rack style units made by Art, Rockton, Boss, Yamaha and several others. each one can do some cool things other units cant. I'm not a huge fan of multi effect units for playing live. Adaptability isn't in the nature of a programable multi effect pedal and I prefer individual pedals playing live so I can simply reach down and tweak anything that's needed.

 

I don't mind the multi effect stuff recording where I have time to tweak things to perfection. They can also provide a certain amount of compatibility between effects too. Individually the effects of a multi effect unit tend to be weaker or at least more basic then what you can get buying individual pedals. They excel in how well they work together in that multi effect chain however whereas individual pedals may not be as compatible with each other. You typically have to do allot more trial and error with individual pedals getting them to work together well.

 

The latest multi effect I bought was a Korg AX3G which I just got in this weekend. I's a discontinued unit I got used for $30 in mint shape. I see them selling for as much as $100 even though the original pedals sold for around $55.

 

This one is what I'd call Older at this point. Think it was manufactured in the mid 2000's. Its amp modeling is basic and its cab modeling uses EQ tricks instead of actual cab impulses, but even there its not bad. Its mainly the preamp quality that makes a difference. The Vox AC 15 and a few others have what I call the "Magic String Touch" You'd get from an amp. This pedal sounds excellent through a guitar amp but recording direct its a bit too dry. Might be fine for Rhythm guitar but its leads are too sterile used direct. Luckily I do have other ways of making it sound really good, I simply have to add some additional hardware on the back end to add some better cab emulation and echo/verbs

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