What line of multis has the best sound quality and colors the tone least?

[BIGD]

I'm not worried about bypass mode, I have a true bypass looper. The question is, of the Digitechs, Zooms, Boss, Korg, line 6 etc, which has the highest quality effects while coloring tone the least?

 

I own a Boss GT-6 and a little Zoom g2, and I can tell you that honestly, the g2 just sounds better...all the modulations just seem to have better "feel", possibly the higher sampling rate. My experience with digitech (I haven't owned one in over 10 years) is that they just sounded bad, cold, uninspiring.

 

Right now, my board is 2 keeley modded dirt boxes, Boss DD-20, Ibanez DE7 with the G2 in a true-bypass looper which I use for chorus, tremelo, vibe, pitch shifting...it's on maybe 50% of the time.

 

I want to ditch the DD-20 (uninspiring), one of the dirt boxes and the G2 for a maybe a zoom g7.1ut or boss me 50 or..dare I say ..digitech...just because it removes some of the cable mess and gives me a little more flexibility and less knob twiddling during a gig.

 

Anyone here have a preference, or is it all just digital crap?

[joeyowen]

g system or axe effects...

if your gonna do it, go mental and do it expensively

[peridot1]

I really like the effects of the boss GT-10. I thought was more transparent than the GT-8. Just turn off the dirt and throw your favorite gain pedal in the loop. Don't care for COSM dirt.

[Agreed]

Laptop-based with a high-end interface or AxeFX. For reasonable money, I understand the Boss GT-10 has pretty good converters; the Zoom G9.2tt always had a very transparent sound on bypass (significant because it is digitally bypassed, e.g. if it's transparent on bypass, it's transparent when using effects - apart from the desired coloration of the effects, obviously) and samples at 24-bit/96khz with processing bit-depth above that of competing floor units (if you desire an esoteric technical explanation of the significance of that, I will oblige).

 

I imagine the Line6 X3 shouldn't screw with your tone too much, either, and I like Line6's effects. And you don't need to worry about the Digitech units, the RP-1000 is actually quite bad-ass. I figured it would suck, but when I tried it, I was impressed.

 

None of them compare to the AxeFX or high-end software based setups, but they get the job done.

 

Really any of them apart from the lower end cheapies should be fine. What do you need out of a multi-effects unit? Just effects, or effects+amps? If just effects, reconsider your selections. Check out Eventide and Damage Control.

[BIGD]

 

Laptop-based with a high-end interface or AxeFX. For reasonable money, I understand the Boss GT-10 has pretty good converters; the Zoom G9.2tt always had a very transparent sound on bypass (significant because it is digitally bypassed, e.g. if it's transparent on bypass, it's transparent when using effects - apart from the desired coloration of the effects, obviously) and samples at 24-bit/96khz with processing bit-depth above that of competing floor units (if you desire an esoteric technical explanation of the significance of that, I will oblige). I imagine the Line6 X3 shouldn't screw with your tone too much, either, and I like Line6's effects. And you don't need to worry about the Digitech units, the RP-1000 is actually quite bad-ass. I figured it would suck, but when I tried it, I was impressed. None of them compare to the AxeFX or high-end software based setups, but they get the job done. Really any of them apart from the lower end cheapies should be fine. What do you need out of a multi-effects unit? Just effects, or effects+amps? If just effects, reconsider your selections. Check out Eventide and Damage Control.

 

 

Just effects. I use a mesa lonestar special, so that gives me my clean and grit..the Keeley DS-1 gives me high gain. So, the multi is for vibes, trems, chorus, a second delay (to the DE-7), a pitch shifter on one tune for a pseudo maiden solo, etc. I'd also like to put the multi in the effects loop...it's currently in front of the amp.

 

What you noticed about the g9 I noticed about the g2 (I think it's basically the same software)...that it just sounded better than any other multi I'd played through, which is what is pushing me towards the g7

[bowlingshirt]

 

Right now, my board is 2 keeley modded dirt boxes, Boss DD-20, Ibanez DE7 with the G2 in a true-bypass looper which I use for chorus, tremelo, vibe, pitch shifting...it's on maybe 50% of the time. I want to ditch the DD-20 (uninspiring), one of the dirt boxes and the G2 for a maybe a zoom g7.1ut or boss me 50 or..dare I say ..digitech...just because it removes some of the cable mess and gives me a little more flexibility and less knob twiddling during a gig.

 

 

I'm under the impression that you are looking for effects only and not amp modelling. That being said, Boss has the new ME-70 (to replace the ME-50 you metioned), and you may also want to consider the Line6 M13.

[Agreed]

Multieffects heaven for $399 from Damage Control, the Glass Nexus; or Eventide, the ModFactor

 

+

 

Digitech Harmonyman for $299

 

=

 

Money well spent on effects that won't let you down. These are the tools to do exactly what you need and they will do it better than the limited and lower-quality processing you'll find bundled with one of the jack-of-all-trades MFX units you've been looking at. Yes, you will spend more this way. However, you will also get much, much, much more for your money in lasting value and sound quality.

 

If you don't want to spend that much, do consider the aforementioned M13 from Line6 or (what I prefer) the ME-70 from Boss. But if you want AxeFX quality in the effects department without AxeFX money, I've shown you what to go for.

[peridot1]

It doesn't have pitch shifting but the damage control glass nexus is the best sounding floor multi I've heard yet. Modulations, delay and reverb.

[BIGD]

Multieffects heaven for $399 from Damage Control, the Glass Nexus ; or Eventide, the ModFactor + Digitech Harmonyman for $299 = Money well spent on effects that won't let you down. These are the tools to do exactly what you need and they will do it better than the limited and lower-quality processing you'll find bundled with one of the jack-of-all-trades MFX units you've been looking at. Yes, you will spend more this way. However, you will also get much, much, much more for your money in lasting value and sound quality. If you don't want to spend that much, do consider the aforementioned M13 from Line6 or (what I prefer) the ME-70 from Boss. But if you want AxeFX quality in the effects department without AxeFX money, I've shown you what to go for.

 

You guys are spending a lot of my money!!!!

 

I appreciate your help. I guess what I was really asking was, are any of the other cheap processors actually better sounding than my cheap G2, because I want to upscale it's features into the G7, but if the competitors models are actually any better tone-wise, I'll consider them.

[Agreed]

The G7/G9 are pretty much as transparent as a floor modeler gets, and the G9.2tt in particular has some really, really cool effects, including some that take advantage of the neat stereo processing it can do with the two-axis expression pedal. But you're also paying for a bunch of amp models you apparently aren't going to use.

 

It has selectable instrument or line level for both the main input/outputs and also for its own loop (that's right, you can put it in your amp's loop, and put ANOTHER AMP IN ITS LOOP! well, that would be stupid).

 

Go to a store and try the ME-70 though. You might like it.

 

Edit: Oh, and if you decide you can live without a harmonizer (you can live without a harmonizer probably) then we're not asking you to spend more than you would on a competitor's product or an upgrade anyway. Well, maybe by $50. But you'll have MUCH higher quality effects processing from the Damage Control or Eventide unit, unquestionably. They just don't do the amp thing. But you don't need that.

[BIGD]

 

The G7/G9 are pretty much as transparent as a floor modeler gets, and the G9.2tt in particular has some really, really cool effects, including some that take advantage of the neat stereo processing it can do with the two-axis expression pedal. But you're also paying for a bunch of amp models you apparently aren't going to use. It has selectable instrument or line level for both the main input/outputs and also for its own loop (that's right, you can put it in your amp's loop, and put ANOTHER AMP IN ITS LOOP! well, that would be stupid). Go to a store and try the ME-70 though. You might like it. Edit: Oh, and if you decide you can live without a harmonizer (you can live without a harmonizer probably) then we're not asking you to spend more than you would on a competitor's product or an upgrade anyway. Well, maybe by $50. But you'll have MUCH higher quality effects processing from the Damage Control or Eventide unit, unquestionably. They just don't do the amp thing. But you don't need that.

 

 

 

See, that's the thing. How do we quantify "much higher" quality? Like, for instance, I can tell that my G2 is higher quality than my old G6 from boss..and then I look at the specs and see a higher sampling rate and can at least quantify, yes, that's part of why it sounds better.

 

Is there anything in these other units that actually makes them sound better...or do we all just assume that Eventide HAS to sound better than friggin ZOOM?

Oh, and as for the Harmonizer, unless I can really improve on guitar or add another guitar player to my band, I'm not going to be able to replicate the harmonized solo on my bands record without the harmonizer...come to think of it, I use it on 2 different songs, so..I'm kinda stuck with it.

 

What you said about the transparency of the G series is really one of my main concerns, and since you obviously know what you are talking about, I'm pretty content with the G7 as the next step, I guess

[Agreed]

In this case "much higher quality" just means that the programmers at Damage Control and Eventide kick the programmers at Zoom's asses all over the place and still have time to grab lunch and play some Madden. And the Zoom guys don't suck, or anything, but there just isn't any competition. Which do you think you see more of in pro studios, Eventide effects units or Zoom modelers?

 

Well, that, and the components are much higher quality all around (quantified by the absence of artifacts and the smaller component list, supported by the switching issues that the Zoom units developed in the first 8000 serial number units - skimp on a switch, skimp on what else?) and, in the case of the Damage Control unit, instead of a single preamp tube acting as a clipping diode (read: G7/G9), the circuit is actually buffered by tubes biased hot enough to be considered a real tube preamp. Keeps the sound quite lovely throughout.

 

But there are folks using the G9.2tt as their main unit and gigging it. I used to be one of them. I've moved on to an entirely superior technology, in my opinion, but that doesn't mean in retrospect that the G9.2tt is junk. It's just good for what it is.

[bluehuricane]

nova system does everything you want and i got mine used for 325