what is the best multi effects board?

[data187]

hello,
i was looking to get a multi fx board to go with my amp. I have a toneworks distortion pedal going into a randall rh100 head. i was looking to add some effects (chorus, flanger, not distortion) and saw that fx pedals were very expensive. so what is the best multi fx board out there for under $300? i've heard digitech gnx series, some told me toneworks...any opinions are welcome. thanks!

[Soloist1]

Re: what is the best multi effects board?

Take a look at the Rocktron Replifex on eBay or in some classifieds. They generally sell for under 300 and have all the digital effects and hush in one unit. It sounds pretty damn good for a unit it's price. ART effects processors also sell fairly cheap but I would recommend Rocktron before I recommended ART.

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: what is the best multi effects board?

I tried the AG1500 and the new Boss GE-6 or 5 and the older GE-3? and wasn't really impressed. Seems that they try to cram too much stuff into a small board and they all seem to fall short in overall ability and programability.

If you have a good basic sound with your Korg, I'd look into what Chris/soloist is talking about. Rack mounted Replifex, Intellifex, TC G-major etc...

Definitely better tone and fidelity than the pedal board oriented effects... You just have to control it with a MIDI pedal.

[myorangecat]

Re: what is the best multi effects board?

maybe i should look into one of those someday. I just run a boss flanger (60ish used), a wah (45$ New old stock Crybaby, from like 91), eq (about 50ish used, boss ge7), a noise supressor(about 60 used), a chorus, and a delay from boss.

Then again, my FX sounds like ass, i just dig stomp boxes and making noise.

[Ric1983]

Re: what is the best multi effects board?

I've been using a Adrenalinn multi-effects and it
is an amazing pedal. $299 from MF. Its like synths,grooves and effects all in one. You can
literally be a one man band with this thing.

Ric

[lerxstcat]

Re: what is the best multi effects board?

Rather than recommend anything specific
(the other posts have been good for that)
I'd say hit all your local music stores and check out everything you can, new AND
used.

When you find something you really like
within your range, snag it if the price seems outstanding. If you have patience
you might want to go home and search Ebay
for the one you want (or the top 3 you liked) and find a great price.

I have a Digitech RP7, which is a low-line floor multi. Compared to what
most guys use here it's laughable, but I
am not dissatisfied with it at this point
as far as bang for buck ($140 used). You
can always sell it for about what you paid, or keep it for an emergency backup. You can spend more than $140
taking your gf to a concert and buying the t-shirt!

[ February 27, 2003, 05:20 PM: Message edited by: lerxstcat ]

[StuTDavis]

Re: what is the best multi effects board?

Well, a budget is a budget is a budget...and, sometimes, when you've got a budget that you absolutely have to stick with, expecting to pay very little $ and get absolute primo gear is expecting too much. It's great if you CAN get a TC G-Major or other rack effects unit AND a MIDI controller for $300, but I think that's expecting a little much, in general. Exceptions may be if you went for, say, an Alesis Quadraverb, maybe if you got a great deal on an old Rocktron Intellifex. But, when you've got to throw the MIDI controller in there, too, the price and complexity of "just adding some effects" can go way up.

For what they are, I think the Korg AX1000G and AX1500G are pretty good units. Unlike most floor based preamp/effects units these days, these are NOT amp-modelers. The distortions in the Korg units are "distortion/overdrive pedal modelers", just as most of the rest of the unit is models of different effects pedals. Again, taken for what they are, and their price range, these can be good units I think.

If you want more of amp modeling units, plenty of people do like the Boss GT-3/5/6 series (though I personally didn't get along with my GT-3 for very long). The Zoom GFX-8 was one I had for a while and did like. Maybe even might want to try a POD or other similar unit into your clean channel, who knows? What will work well depends very much on the specific amp you're using it with, and what you want/expect to hear out of it all. The problem with a lot of these amp modeling ones is they really can disagree with an amp and sound horrible unless you plan on running the amp totally clean. Even then, they can be picky...and I think the Korg units overall, pushing a distorted channel, can work relatively very well.

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: what is the best multi effects board?

I just saw a Rocktron Intelifex go for 200 and a MidMate go for 90 bucks a bit ago on the bay...

It can be done, and that would be infinitely upgradeable...

[data187]

Re: what is the best multi effects board?

thanks for the advice guys...
i just went out to guitar center to check out some of the stuff...
the sales guys keep trying to push the gnx on me and i didn't really like the sound.
they had a bunch of used rack stuff, but they all seem overpriced compared to harmony central.
anyone use a rack setup here?
i heard it was very complicated to run a rack with a midi board...can anyone elaborate on how thats done?
thanks again!

Re: what is the best multi effects board?

I was VERY intimidated when building mine, but with a little help and guidance, it was a piece of cake! ( Thanx John )

I use all rack gear and a TC G-Major, I've a lot of different processors and this one is the best so far. I think I paid $250 for it? hmmm, maybe it was $350, dunno but just keep an eye on eBay, something will come up...

Good luck!
Pat

[StuTDavis]

Re: what is the best multi effects board?

My whole setup is rack-based...preamp, power amp, effects. Depending on what you want to get, a rack setup can be relatively inexpensive all the way up to ridiculously expensive. Very simple to incredibly elaborate and complex.

MIDI control can be very easy--some combinations of rack units and controllers will work just fine pretty much instantly when you plug em up together. Or it can be fairly complex--if you have to completely redefine the MIDI channels on both units, remap MIDI channels etc. I would hazard a guess that MOST MIDI controller units will pretty much work immediately to at least control patch changes on rack units. That is, to say, when you push bank 1 patch 1 on the MIDI controller, it will pull up patch 1 on the unit you're trying to control. Or units, that is, because you can generally chain most any MIDI controllable units together, one sending the same signals to the next. So, say you have a MIDI controllable preamp, a MIDI controllable effects unit and MIDI controllable EQ. Set up patch 1 on each one of them to correspond to the sound you want from each, to get a specific overall sound, and the MIDI controller will most likely out of the box be able to call up patch 1 on all 3 units with the push of a button. Then, you can look at other MIDI options that make it kind of nice: some units can be programmed via MIDI with a computer, and some allow upload, download and installation of patches to and from the computer, where sometimes you can find lots of patches other people have made on the web to try out in your own unit. Lots of possibilities. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]