Help?!?!

[VoiceX3]

I recently found out my brother-in-law to be plays guitar.....apparrantly very well. He posed a question to me about effects and such, but me, being a more of a guitar+amp+cab with my own tone and very minimal to no effects (Wanna sound like me, not someone else) I really don't know what to tell him. I KNOW YOU GUYS CAN HELP!!!!!!!!

Here's what he's got and is trying to go for.
He plays thru a Line 6 Flextone III XL with the FBV Shortboard. EVH Wolfgang, Ibanez Steve Vai Jem, Fender Stratocaster, Alvarez acoustic-electric guitars.

What he wants is a good MIDI-capable multi-effects (POD X3 Live, BOSS GT-8, DigiTech GNX4, etc. etc.) and some way to upload/download presets for various songs (covers like Led Zed, Satriani, Metallica, Pantera, Yngwie, Beatles, Rush, etc. etc.) either through a computer MIDI interface using software or via a MIDI controller. He just has too many varied song interests for setting all of the banks to get them set up and arranged for various songs and styles. Currently he has a crappy DigiTech RP200 - no MIDI and up/down pedals to traverse the presets. It worked but the time consumed in finding and setting presets is discouraging his desire to practice and play more often (time being already at a premium). Definitely wants an expression pedal on the multi-effects unit for wah or similar (Hendrix, Cream, et al).

Ok guys, what do you all think??

[Drake S.]

GNX4 that what I'm currently using It's Great.

[emperor_black]

if I'm not wrong, pretty much all the modern multi-fx units with some sort of computer connectivity (USB or Midi/USB) open the door to patch exchange/sharing. The POD's have a website where users post their patches which they painstakingly created that you can download to your PC and can upload to your POD device. Boss GT-8 has the gt-8 forum where users post and exchange patches.

however, the majority of the patches dont do the job well. A user's perception of what his metallica tone is, often times does not match up with what you have in mind. So basically, you are back to square one. I downloaded many so called "master of puppets" tone patches when I had my PODXT. but none of them sounded anywhere close to what I felt the real tone was. And we cant blame the patch creators. We have no idea what guitars, amps, etc. they were using to create those patches.

In the end, yes there is a way to download other's work and sometimes its a good starting point. But for the purist, they are just a big waste of time. There is no short-cut. He has to try/buy 'em and dial the sounds he wants himself. But persistence helps. trust me. Over time, the effort and time taken to "dial in" the desired sound gets shorter and shorter. hope that helps.

[VoiceX3]

if I'm not wrong, pretty much all the modern multi-fx units with some sort of computer connectivity (USB or Midi/USB) open the door to patch exchange/sharing. The POD's have a website where users post their patches which they painstakingly created that you can download to your PC and can upload to your POD device. Boss GT-8 has the gt-8 forum where users post and exchange patches.

however, the majority of the patches dont do the job well. A user's perception of what his metallica tone is, often times does not match up with what you have in mind. So basically, you are back to square one. I downloaded many so called "master of puppets" tone patches when I had my PODXT. but none of them sounded anywhere close to what I felt the real tone was. And we cant blame the patch creators. We have no idea what guitars, amps, etc. they were using to create those patches.

In the end, yes there is a way to download other's work and sometimes its a good starting point. But for the purist, they are just a big waste of time. There is no short-cut. He has to try/buy 'em and dial the sounds he wants himself. But persistence helps. trust me. Over time, the effort and time taken to "dial in" the desired sound gets shorter and shorter. hope that helps.

I agree with you, as I don't use any effects aside from amp distortion and "maybe" a little verb here and there.... I've always tried to have a tone of my own so I never bought into any of those things.....in essence why I was lookin for some good info on what's out there.

[jgcable]

Digitech GNX4 would cover what he is looking for.