Digitech Vocal 300/Vx400 vs Boss VE-20

[tehJESSEH]

Hey guys,

 

I'm looking into getting a stompbox style vocal effects unit. I play in an indie-rock band and having cool delays and distortions and other colorations for vocals would be a very cool addition to our already textured sound.

 

I love the idea of self-contained effects units that function as stompboxes. I have the Digitech RP500 for my guitar and love it. I am a heavy customizer and love to save presets and scroll through them using my feet rather than turning single effects on and off. Therefore, that's an important feature - the ability to jump from one preset to another via pedal. I understand that the VE-20 does not have that capability, however I imagine it wouldn't be too huge of a problem since there is that function that allows the second pedal to toggle on and off multiple effects at once? It's not quite how I would prefer it but it's close enough.

 

Harmonies? I would like to have them... our band uses our fair share of vocal harmonies but they aren't too distinct or important. It's definitely a plus to have them.

 

The VE-20 seems more appealing since the video demo was very concise about what the unit had to offer - but I would like a second opinion. In terms of overall sound quality, usability, sturdiness, and ease of use, which of these comes out on top? Is there some other pedal on the market that I am missing? I am definitely not in the market for a strict harmony pedal - I want the delays, reverbs, radio, distortions, and other effects to color my vocals.

 

There's a used Vocal 300 for $190 on my local Kijiji right now... and the VE-20 is $291.40 for the cheapest new in my city. I live in Canada so the VE-20 is harder to come by.

 

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[DukeOfBoom]

they both look cool.

 

as long as the stores have a 30 day return policy, why don't you buy both, play around with them, and return the one you like least.

 

just put it on your credit card. put it on the card!!!!

[MikeyParent]

 

The VE-20 seems more appealing since the video demo was very concise about what the unit had to offer - but I would like a second opinion. In terms of overall sound quality, usability, sturdiness, and ease of use, which of these comes out on top? Is there some other pedal on the market that I am missing? I am definitely not in the market for a strict harmony pedal - I want the delays, reverbs, radio, distortions, and other effects to color my vocals. There's a used Vocal 300 for $190 on my local Kijiji right now... and the VE-20 is $291.40 for the cheapest new in my city. I live in Canada so the VE-20 is harder to come by. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

Well the easy stuff first... unless it is pretty new, $190 for a used 300 is WAY too much IMO. You can buy a brand new one for $199 online. I just looked, I am actually surprised Digitech still makes them, esp since it looks like they discontinued the VX400 which was its successor (stupid product that went in the wrong direction IMO but that is another discussion).

 

The rest is trickier. The Vocal 300 served me well, I found it to be well-built for the most part and easy to scroll through the patches. But I did have it apart on several occasions as it started to age, so the prospect of a used one would be a bit dicey methinks. A lot of my problems were around the underpinnings of the plastic footswitches - which are the weak link on the 300: too bad because otherwise the thing is built like a friggin tank: the body and the expression pedal are solid aluminum.

 

You will read a lot of crap on the web about the Vocal 300 unit producing a lot of feedback. This stems from stupid people who know nothing about mixing sound. It *is* noisy though, producing noticeable hiss when all is quiet, though no big when things are rolling at full steam. I don't notice this issue on the Boss as much.

 

I have had the VE20 much less time but it feels pretty solid and given Boss's history I have no reason to believe it will not stand the test of time. Boss pretty much invented the stomp box so there is probably no reason to worry about quality, and so far - I am closing in on about 9 months? - my experience bears that out. The Boss feels sturdy and is quite compact. The pedal-switches in particular seem much sturdier than those on the Vocal 300. Another factor is if they are vying for floor real estate next to a guitar effects unit, the 300 has a noticeably larger footprint than the VE20.

 

I miss the slightly faster patch switching and expression pedal of my 300 but the VE20 has a cleaner sound to my ear and some other nice features (looping, harmony, autotune). I don't use any of these in my current band but they are kind of nifty and it's nice to know they are there. If such things matter to you, the VE20 has stereo XLRs which the Vocal 300 does not.

 

As far as the effects, this is a bit of a wash for me. The Vocal 300 has more but many are pretty stupid frankly. As far as usable effects it's about even IMO. The 300 has digital AND analog delay which is cool, but the VE20 has an effect called "Dynamics" which sweetens the sound and sounds awesome.

 

I honestly think you would be happy with either unit. Ultimately though I think the VE20 is probably the more versatile and future-proof unit of the two.

 

I would also not be surprised if it ended up being the sturdier of the two in the long haul.

 

PS: I am in Halifax and bought all my pedals at Long and McQuade (formerly MusicStop locally). Where are you at?

[tehJESSEH]

Thanks alot for the reply Mike!

 

To start off... I lied. It's actually a Vx400 that's for sale in my local classifieds... I was under the impression that the Vocal 300 and Vx400 were the same pedal. Who can blame me? I thought it might be some regional thing with the names but further research has shown me that the Vx400 has some very noticeable "upgrades". You mentioned Digitech went wrong with the Vx400 - how so (yeah, I just started that "other discussion")?

 

I'm in Calgary. I have a Long and McQuade in town; I love buying from there because of their 30 day return policy. Neither the Vocal 300, Vx400, or VE-20 are listed on their website so I have no clue as to what the prices are, but $291.40 for the Boss seems about right (at Mothers Music Calgary).

 

I was under the impression that the VE-20 would be better in the long haul, as well. From my understanding it's a newer pedal and it does look more sturdy. My guitarist has the Digitech RP90 for his guitar and the plastic pedals do feel really cheap at times.

 

Oh, and as for the VE-20 switching patches via the pedals - I figured out the holding down the pedal for two seconds, then scrolling method. But I was talking about switching patches mid-song (from verse to chorus, for instance). Once you hold down the pedal to go into the scrolling mode, will the patches actually change while you are scrolling through or does the mic become muted/do the effects become bypassed?

 

How are the harmonies in the VE-20? Will I be using them at all or will I just completely ignore the feature? I could use some weight under my vocals during choruses or breakdowns or whatnot... having the harmonies would be pretty good but again, they aren't the hugest factor. They wouldn't be very upfront so I would imagine I could just dial down the harmony volumes?

 

How customizable and how complex do the reverbs and delays get in either of these pedals?

 

Here are some examples so you can see what I'm trying to achieve:

 

- 2:10 and 2:58

 

- 1:58

 

Thanks for the help!

[cela]

Hey there, I'm new here ( and from Italy ).

I'd have to ask about 2 things:

 

- what about the control on "real time" of this VE-20? I supposed to use it mainly as 'delay', live, and I would need to change time\repeat of the delay - on real time - during a part of a song. Is it able to do it?

 

- since I'm playing with this band, I was singing on a guitar-delay ( ibanez ), and often I got some problems with "feedback" ( guitar pedal, output just with jack cable, etc ). Is this VE-20 pedal ok with it?

 

And really, what about Tc voiceTone create XT? I mean about these 2 points...

 

THANKS a lot!

[MikeyParent]

 

How customizable and how complex do the reverbs and delays get in either of these pedals? Here are some examples so you can see what I'm trying to achieve: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pusFnx7fAwg - 2:10 and 2:58 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rdMjovLEwc - 1:58

 

The VE-20 has the standard: Time, Level, Feedback parameters

In theory, the Vocal 300 has a small edge here in that it has 3 types - digital, analog and ping pong - but in practice I am not sure how much this gains you really.

 

Those effects should both be doable, though I am not sure about the first one... sounds like short delay high feedback and level, and then stomp the effect off very quickly to cut it off?

[MikeyParent]

 

And really, what about Tc voiceTone create XT? I mean about these 2 points...

 

The Helicons do have tap tempo IIRC. Same answer for feedback.

[tehJESSEH]

Thanks again for the reply!

 

Yeah, I figured the patch changing thing won't be thaaaat big of a deal. Here's an extremely specific question, though: let's say I program a patch and assign the second pedal to toggle delay on and off. I toggle it on to sing a line where I want heavy delay (like the examples I showed), then I toggle it off. The instant I hit the pedal to turn off delay, does the already affected wet mix of the delay continue, or does the effect completely stop right then and there?

 

Oh pfft, a perfect example is in the links I sent. In the first one, the delay ends immediately. In the second, it's more traditional and the feedback dies out naturally. If I hit the pedal, will it end immediately or die out naturally?

 

Yeah, a really specific question, but it's just a little cool thing that made me want to get a vocal pedal in the first place. The expression pedal of the Digitech seems really cool... how often did you use it? And how often did you use the looper of the VE-20?

 

I'm considering the VE-20 because it seems more durable, more future-proof, and has seems like it has higher quality in both sound and build. I'm considering the Digitech because it's cheaper and has the potential to have more of those "colorations" I'm after (although it really does look like alot of those effects are of no practical use). Decisions decisions...

[DukeOfBoom]

seems like the only thing you're looking for is delay? You don't even need one of these units for that.

 

also check out the tc electronics http://www.tc-helicon.com/products/voicetone-create-xt/

[MikeyParent]

Based on his needs, the TC stuff wont cut it.

[MikeyParent]

 

If I hit the pedal, will it end immediately or die out naturally? The expression pedal of the Digitech seems really cool... how often did you use it? And how often did you use the looper of the VE-20?

 

 

1. It will die out naturally... so you could say that it toggles routing the input, not the output

2. I really liked the expression pedal and used ona number of patches - keep in mind though there was no effects toggle like on the VE20 so in many cases it was used similarly.

3. I have not yet found a way to use the looper in my current band. It strikes me as more the kind of thing beatboxers or one man bands would use... but I have not seen many examples of how it could be used in a live performance.

 

Go with the VE-20, I think you will be happier in the long run... as much as I loved my Vocal 300, after having the VE20 I am not sure I would want to go back...

[bzrkrage]

 

Thanks for the review. Informative & exactly what I needed to hear. I was checking out vocal stompboxes to muck around with.

Thanks for this.

[MikeyParent]

Heh wow, bump!

 

FWIW I am still rocking the VE-20 and liking it.