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Pedalboard overhaul: Boss GT-10 vs. Vox Tonelab LE


Big Pimpin' T

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I'm tired of hauling around my pedals to jams and having to hook them all up and take them down. I'm tired of the added noise, and having to write down settings and changing them between songs and guitars. So I've decided to clear out my pedal board and go for an all-in-one unit, just as long as it sounds good.

 

I'm replacing these:

- Dunlop Crybaby

- Boss TU-2 Tuner

- Boss CS-3 Compressor/Sustainer

- Dano Fish & Chips EQ

- Dano Pastrami OD

- Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde OD/Distortion

- Ibanez DE-7 Delay

- EHX Russian Big Muff Pi

- EHX The Worm Phaser/Wah/Tremolo/Vibrato

- EHX Small Clone Chorus

 

With either the Tonelab LE or the GT-10. I usually play with a moderate overdrive set on my amp (Nomad 45 or VTM-60), and then push it with a pedal for distortion and back off the volume for cleans. The heaviest distortion I usually go for is like the Foo Fighters tone. Heavy but still punchy and cleans up well.

 

I want something that will adequately replace my existing board without me missing anything from it. I want to be able to switch individual effects on or off, if possible. I want to be able to bypass amp/cab modeling when using my amp, and also use it for direct recording to Pro Tools. I like my tone nice and dynamic, because I play around with my picking and the guitar volume knob a lot.

 

Tomorrow I'll be hauling my amp to the store to try them both out, but I wanted to know what your experiences with these units is/was like.

 

:thu:

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An all-in-one will never sound as good as all of your pedals individually with a gate :-/

 

 

This is true, the processors do lose something in the translation, however, unless you're a professional musician (and making your living off of music, you should be fine with an all-in-one).

 

I use a Tonelab SE and have for the last 4 yrs (gigging regularly) so I would say go with the Vox. My buddy has the GT-10 and they're cool and have features the Vox doesn't, but I don't think it sounds as good; must be the tube that makes the difference. I've run the Vox just as a recording tool while in the studio and I've also gigged with it plugged into my JCM900 as well as just run it through the PA; it's been great in all scenarios. Just keep in mind that if you gig with it straight to the PA, bring a real amp as a back up (I've seen too many people end up hosed at a gig when their all-in-one crapped out and they didn't have an amp to plug into).

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This is true, the processors do lose something in the translation, however, unless you're a professional musician (and making your living off of music, you should be fine with an all-in-one).


I use a Tonelab SE and have for the last 4 yrs (gigging regularly) so I would say go with the Vox. My buddy has the GT-10 and they're cool and have features the Vox doesn't, but I don't think it sounds as good; must be the tube that makes the difference. I've run the Vox just as a recording tool while in the studio and I've also gigged with it plugged into my JCM900 as well as just run it through the PA; it's been great in all scenarios. Just keep in mind that if you gig with it straight to the PA, bring a real amp as a back up (I've seen too many people end up hosed at a gig when their all-in-one crapped out and they didn't have an amp to plug into).

 

 

I play for fun in a couple bands, nothing serious. I've only ever gigged once with the PodXT without bringing my amp, but it was for an acoustic gig with only one song on the electric and I didn't feel like hauling the amp. I usually have the Nomad and my pedal board, and the XT as a backup in case a tube decides to die, even though I carry spares.

 

Thanks for your insight!

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I've used a number of different floor processors over the years, but settled on the Vox units. I started with a Tonelab SE, but sold it to get the LE, which is more compact due to having only one expression pedal (I use it exclusively for wah), and more models/effects. I love my LE. It's a little fussy to get used to (requires some tweaking to get the sounds you want, organized the way you want), but is very useful once you master it.

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I've gigged for 6/7 years with a gt6, and it stands everything, hot/cold/moist/beer never went down. My nokia cell phone has dropped to the floor hundreds of times, when it landed on my gt6 in broke it's visor.

 

Tho I never tried this

 

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

 

sound wise, try both and see what you like

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I have a GT-8 that i use for times when i cba dragging everything around

(its sometimes nice to do a gig with just a backpack and a guitar case)

 

and yes, while it may never sound 100% like having a full rig with you,

for ease you can't beat it, and give it some time to tweak, and you can make it sound decent

 

i definatly reccoment a GT

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I have a GT-6, which I've used live for years - straight into the PA. It's effects are excellent and the OD/distortion tones are pretty good as well

 

It's as tough as hell. It's had a full pint of beer poured all over it, it's been dropped from a 6 foot stage and worse.

 

I also have a Tonelab LE, which I bought to try and get a more authentic OD/distortion tone. I basically bought it to replace my GT-6.

 

I've been working with it for months and I can't get it to sound as good my GT-6. It does produce an excellent AC30TB type crunch tone and vintage wah effect but I can't quite get it to be as .... professional sounding as the GT-6 does, in overall terms.

 

That's an odd thing to say but it's the only way I can describe it.

 

I have been looking at another replacement for my GT-6, which is the TC Electronic Nova System Guitar Multi Effects Pedal.

 

I'd need to have a good look at it but from what I've read about it, it may be the way to go.

 

 

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Don't sell your pedals until you try an all in one. I don't think you'll like it as much as you think you will...I've gone that route (sold pedals, bought GNX3) and hated it.

 

 

same here ive bought a gnx3 a rp500 in hopes that it would simplify my rig but returned them both. nothing wrong with owning a multi fx unit as an alternative to your board but it shouldnt replace it. they sound great at times but i just love the simplicity of being able to bend over and turn knobs without going through menus etc to tweak an effect.

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I bought a GT8 from a friend earlier this year. I took several months before I grew accustomed to it and figured it out, but now I tend to play through it more than my pedals. I don't like the tone as much as my pedals, but the convenience is great, you can get good sounds out of it with a little work, and the variety sure is fun to have. I also like being able to practice at low volumes or with headphones, which I can't do w/ my amps. I have not gigged with it, but I definitely would if I needed a wide range of tone.

 

I picked up a "How to use your GT8" 2 DVD set from ebay for about $25 and it was really helpful. It definitely helped me get a better sound out of it. If you go the pedalboard route, you might want to check out the equivalent for the Vox or GT10. I didn't like the GT8 nearly as much until the DVD walked me through a few of the things I didn't understand from the manual. Actually, you might want to save some cash by getting a GT8 from ebay instead of a new GT10.

 

Personally, I wouldn't get rid of your pedals. As something extra that's fun to play with and convenient, it's great; but the variety of tone (imho) doesn't replace the quality of a good amp and quality pedals.

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I've had the gt 10 for a couple of weeks and i love it. I don't use amps i use the gt 10 for all my sounds. If you want to try and replicate the sounds of your pedals you will be dissapointed however if you treat it as a pedal in it's own right you will find some wonderfull sounds. I will never go back to using amps and pedalboards my sound is a multi effects unit and i love it.

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I currently working on a review of the GT10 for the December www.FrugalGuitarist.com and as a preview I'm pretty impressed. As it has a programable loop, you can use the 4 cable method to place all the dirt boxes before your amps preamp and all the modulation and time based effects post. The amount of control you have over effects is just sick. Well it sound the same as your pedals? Probably not exactly, but it will sound good.

 

Looking at your pedals, only the EHX modulation pedals might be tough to exactly emulate. On the flip side, it can do so much more than your current board.

 

EDIT - The GT10 is one of the only FX processors currently available which provides a fully configuarable FX chain and the ability to use multiple modulation effects at one time.

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I have been looking at another replacement for my GT-6, which is the TC Electronic Nova System Guitar Multi Effects Pedal.

 

 

I think the Nova System is a total failure, because TC omitted an important feature: the ability to run effects both in the loop and in the front. This is why you have to make a choice and it'll render some of the effects useless.

 

I highly recommend the Line6 M13 instead. It has tons of fx (i'd say too much actually), it's as easy to use as a bunch of stomp boxes, you can set which of the 4 possible simultaneous effects are used in the loop and which into the amp input and it doesn't suck tone. Granted, I'm not a huge fan of the distortions or compressors in it but they are certainly highly usable, just feel that you could get better tones out of .

 

I used to have a GT-6 and found it was a tweaker hell. I've always hated user interfaces that require you to browse thru menus.

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GT-10 all the way, i was in the exact same boat as you, i had a pedalboard that had about 3 grand worth of stuff on it, so it was a big deal for me to move from that to a mfx unit (which i swore i would never go to).

 

The GT-10 has really blown me away play live, whethere its going direct into a nice p.a. at church or playing out live with two tube amps running stereo. i think it sounds light years above my pedalboard simply for the fact you can match levels all at once and set a master bpm. I chose the boss because of their reputation, i've never known of a piece of Boss gear to fail, ever.

 

i am however getting a seperate drive/s again, to my ears nothing can match an analog drive, same as a tube amp.

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Never tried the boss, but never been a real fan of any boss effects. I do have a boss br-8, which I love, but always hated the built-in emulation and effects - I'm sure they've improved since then, but...

 

I use my tonelab le extensively. The only other pedal I gig with is a tubescreamer, not because the one emulated in the tonelab isn't good (it's actually great), but because VOX put the dirt pedals and the wah on the same bank (dumb, dumb, dumb), so to get dirt and a wah, you need either a separate ts or wah. There is an effects insert on the tonelab though, so you can add additional effects to the chain (like the tubescreamer).

 

Anyway, I really like the tonelab, the effects sound great, not overdone at all, lots of delays and modulation effects to choose from - it's an awesome pedal (and simple to use).

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I used a Tonelab SE for a year or so. While it sounded really good, I found its severe restrictions on what effects you can have on at the same time to be really limiting. I'd avoid it just for that reason.

 

If all you want is effects and not amp modeling, the Line 6 M-13 is the one to beat. Nothing else really comes close for power, ease of use and flexibility. Sounds good too.

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I think the Nova System is a total failure, because TC omitted an important feature: the ability to run effects both in the loop and in the front. This is why you have to make a choice and it'll render some of the effects useless.


I highly recommend the Line6 M13 instead. It has tons of fx (i'd say too much actually), it's as easy to use as a bunch of stomp boxes, you can set which of the 4 possible simultaneous effects are used in the loop and which into the amp input and it doesn't suck tone. Granted, I'm not a huge fan of the distortions or compressors in it but they are certainly highly usable, just feel that you could get better tones out of .


I used to have a GT-6 and found it was a tweaker hell. I've always hated user interfaces that require you to browse thru menus.

 

 

 

I sort of agree, but I understand why they did it the way they did. Their distortion and overdrive channels are killer analog and are separate and before the digital effects section. When you plug into the drive channel you are basically using this unit as a pre-amp with the effects following. Or you can plug into the other input and use only the digital effects bypassing the pre-amp distoriton section. It can be set to arrange effects in serial, parallel, or semi-parallel which gives one many tone options. IMO the serial/parallel option pretty much addresses performance advanatages of using some effects in front and others through the loop. When in parallel mode the use one effect has no effect on the others, which I think is cool.

 

I've used this unit in every configuration and it sounds great regardless. Just put it in front and use the serial/parallel option to arrange the pedals and everything works just fine IMO. It works great in a clean or distortion channel. If you have an effects loop plug your guitar into the drive input of this processor and the output to the return input of your amp bypassing the pre-amp section of your amp for a totally different sound. You might be surprised at just how good the preamp section of this processor is.

 

Every effect on this unit is excellent. Nothing cheezy. The analog distortion is as good as the best pedals I've heard or used rivaling some really good amplifiers distortion. Turn the distortion off for a nice articulate and warm clean tone. Nothing harsh from this unit. Outstanding compressor, EQ, delay, reverb, chorus, etc. with a mulitude of adjustment capabilites for each.

 

I've owned the Boss ME-50, my friend owns GT-10. We compared them side by side and it wasn't close. The boss has the modeling and the Nova doesn't so if that's important the Nova won't work for you. I also wouldn't use it to feed a PA like you can do with the modeling types as this was not intended for that puprose. This is a multi-effects unit; period!

 

IMO if you goal is to replace numerous effects with a single multi-effects unit the Nova System is the best available. Unfortunately, my son likes mine so much that he's been puppy dogging me to death so I'm letting him have it for Christmas.

 

In closing I'll add that my favorite effects pedals are almost always analog and the effects of the Nova are digital. I don't consider them better then the best analog pedals (some of them might be, the chorus and delays are pretty darned good), but I think they will fair well when compared to the best digital has to offer. T.C. Electronics seems to do it as well as anyone.

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