Getting off the Pedal Bandwagon ... convince me otherwise ...

[RouseTheBoroughs]

This tone rat race is driving me insane ... and it's over for me ... I just can't do batteries and unreliable components dying on me ...

My pedalboard to my surprise got insured for a ridiculous ammount ( most of the stuff I'd have to wait years to replace ... )

Which got me thinking about putting the whole thing in mothballs

I need something quick and versatile and am very seriously considering getting a Fractal Audio Axe FX to put all the insanity to rest, or a GT-10
or heck even a Line 6 X3

If you guys out there ( pedal shnobs excluded ... ) who can help me make a good choice, I'D appreciate it

 

[yellowecho]

i've thought about doing the same thing, but ultimately come back to the idea of pedals after listening to multi/rack effect overdrives.
for delays and modulation... and 'effects', racks are great... but the overdrives and distortions still have a way to go, from my experience.

 

[justonwo]

The I-need-to-end-it-all feeling will be followed by extreme remorse in a few months if you follow through.

Enjoy the unique pedals you have.

 

[Lolaviola]

I found that when I got ahold of a really great fuzzface, I said, "Okay, all I really need to play a gig is this one pedal." I felt that way with my King of Tone pedal, too.
I don't think this is your question, though. I had a bandmate who loves his VOX thingy. It's the tonelab w/ the pedal and the tube.

 

[whoismarykelly]

Dont use batteries for one thing. What pedal components have died on you? Seems like you had a few wear and tear issues that you will have with any piece of equipment.

 

[pacomc79]

Is there a possibility of just going strait in for a while? Don't know how much modulation or delay you need. Absolutely nothing wrong with setting stuff aside for a while. You might remember after a while why you liked it so much in the first place. As far as all in one systems go, the G system I've heard a few people use sounded spectacular to me.

You might try just pulling a bunch of stuff off the board though first and going with a minimalist approach for a while.

sometimes just having so much stuff gets in the way.

Cheap and dirty isn't always a huge negative either. If you're a good clean player with a good sounding amp most people can't really tell much difference anyway you'll be able to tell, but you'll have far less value out there to steal and the setup will be less frustrating.

If you go with an X3 I would use it strait into a PA rather than in front of an amp. Modellers always sound better to me that way.

 

[Dog Boy]

I've got limited space on the pedal board. I REFUSE to get a larger one so whats on there better be good. Thats how I control the pedal affliction.

As for going with a Fractal Ax or whatever I think its a great idea. However I've heard the praises of modelers for a long time now and as far as I can tell pedals and amps are hanging in there. i don't doubt its just a matter of time until the modelers get it right. in the mean time they make great sounds and I'm sure I could get some killer, original sounds not based on the past out of em.

My advice...get the Fractal...and keep the pedals/amps.

 

[RouseTheBoroughs]

at this point anyone have experience with the X3 vs the GT-10

I need an objective opinion as they are not available locally,

 

[dewey decibel]

I have a POD XTL. I picked it over a GT-8 and Vox Tonelab. If you want quick, I'd say you don't want the GT-8 (don't know about the GT-10). It's a very deep and complicated unit, and takes a lot of time to learn how to program.

The POD XTL is pretty easy to tweak, and has decent amp sounds. FX are OK. The 2 main reasons I have one of these things is a) the band demands a lot of different sounds/effects, so it's much easier to do with patches, and b) we were doing a lot of fly out gigs, so this way I'd always have a consistent tone from venue to venue without having to worry about renting a specific amp each time.

Anyway, this worked well for awhile. But I just finished putting a pedal board together, and I can tell you that the difference is ASTOUNDING. Not just to me, but the guys in the band as well. I've even had a couple comments from non-musician friends at gigs saying how good this or that part sounded.

Now the truth is for some things I actually liked the POD, there's certain things it does well. Not tones necessarily, but the way it feels and the way it sits in the mix. But I have to say, I think I'm sticking with the pedalboard from here on out.

BTW- before the pedal board I tried removing the amp sims from the POD settings and just using the effects straight into an amp. This is when I realized how bad they actually sounded. They sound OK when coupled with the amp modeling, but when standing on their own through a good amp they really don't pull it off. I haven't much experience with the X3 but since you have a pedalboard full of hard to replace FX I'd say you're not going to be satisfied.

 

[PremiumPlus]

Put 'em all in mothballs, make me a fair offer on my GT-8 and have fun with it. Then you'll have your pedals to put in the effects loop of the GT-8 when you want to come back to them.

 

[esroberts]

If you can do without the amp modeling (a la the X3) I would go for the Line6 M13. Since it is only the stompboxes I think it would be a more direct replacement for your pedalboard. I have limited X3 experience but from what experience I do have I'd say the M13 kills the X3 on usability. And the "scenes" feature lets you set up literally 12 different pedalboards each with 12 pedals. I'd say the only limitation is being able to use only 4 effects simultaneously. But, it has some other features (e.g. latch scene) that let you switch between combinations of 4 pedals with one click. Other than that I absolutely love only having to carry the M13 and its power supply. For $500 US it's a steal considering it combines all of the Line6 4 button modelers plus their verbzilla reverbs.

This youtube channel has some good demonstrations of the M13

Hope that helps.

 

[peridot1]

I had a PODxt, gt-8 and gt-10. Reason i bought the gt-10 later cause I really like the send/return effects routing on these units. I put my own gain pedal in the loop. Couldn't do that on the pod. Eventually sold the GT-10 though for a trade on a good keyboard.

I just don't care for COSM or Vetta distortion. Digital modelers one day may 'get it' but I got a feeling that'll be in software. Unreliable components can exist in floor multis too.

As far as rat race I don't need the best. Just something really good. Also I buy assembly line products that I can return easy thru GC or MF. That's why I avoid boutiques. Sure there's some great pedals out there (would love to get a kingsley jester) but I don't buy/sell on ebay or craigslist.

So far I only had a H20 give out on me.

Heard nothing but good about the axeFX but I don't know.

 

[markw1980]

I only use a couple of stomp boxes as it is, but I would much rather use nothing on the floor when it comes down to it.

 

[nibus]

I would say instead of deciding to ditch pedals altogether, instead spend some time on making your pedalboard more reliable.

1) Get a GOOD power supply and never run on batteries.
2) Use ONLY soldered high quality cables.
3) Spend some time in setting up your board properly and get a padded flight case for traveling.
4) Keep your pedals as minimal as possible.

Rack equipment is cool, but even the largest racks with the most gear ALWAYS have a good dirt box in there... The Edge / Gilmour / Pumpkins... and plus racks are a lot harder to haul and configure than just a few pedals.

 

[buddaman71]

Ever since I replaced my pedalboard with the Digitech GSP1101 running 4CM with my tube amps (I now use it standalone with a stereo tube power amp into a stereo cab) I don't ever see myself going back to pedals.

The GSP 1101 has excellent sounding and feeling pedal models that can be inserted in front of the amp's input. No impedence loading, no accidentally kicking a patch cable loose, no DC jacks coming loose and losing your sound onstage...

You can pick up GSPs for around 350 NEW and around 275 used.

Stupidly great sounding unit for that kind of change whether one likes racks or not.

Pedal list:

Stompbox Models

Compressor/Sustainer Models based on:

Boss® CS-2 Compressor / Sustainer
DigiTech® Main Squeeze Compressor
MXR® Dynacomp™
Wah/Volume Pedal Models based on:

Dunlop® Cry Baby Wah™
DigiTech® Full Range Wah
Vox® Clyde McCoy Wah™ Volume Pedal
Distortion & Ovrdrives based on:

SCREAMER Based on an Ibanez® TS-9
808 Based on an Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer
SPARKDRIVE Based on a Voodoo® Lab Sparkle Drive®
OD OVERDRIVE Based on a Guyatone® Overdrive OD-2
DOD 250 Based on a DOD® 250 Overdrive/Preamp
RODENT Based on a Pro Co RAT™
MX DISTORTION Based on an MXR® Distortion +
DS Based on a Boss® DS-1TM Distortion
GRUNGE DigiTech® Grunge®
ZONE Based on a Boss MT-2 Metal Zone®
DEATH METAL DigiTech Death Metal™
GONKULATOR Based on a DOD® Gonkulator Ring Modulator
8TAVIA Based on a Roger Mayer OctaviaT™
FUZZLATOR Based on a Demeter Fuzzulator
CLASSIC FUZZ Based on a DOD Classic Fuzz
FUZZY FACE Based on an Arbiter® Fuzz FaceTM
BIG PI Based on an Electro-Harmonix® Big Muff Pi®

 

[semi-hollowbody]

go ahead...try it...


youll beee baaaaackkkkk!!!

 

[pacomc79]

Many people seem to be pleased with the virtual batteries made by The Gig Rig.

http://www.thegigrig.com/acatalog/TheGigRig_Virtual_Battery.html

That would seem to make some effects power supplies more reliable I'd think.

 

[Passenger84]

I would say instead of deciding to ditch pedals altogether, instead spend some time on making your pedalboard more reliable.

1) Get a GOOD power supply and never run on batteries.
2) Use ONLY soldered high quality cables.
3) Spend some time in setting up your board properly and get a padded flight case for traveling.
4) Keep your pedals as minimal as possible.

Rack equipment is cool, but even the largest racks with the most gear ALWAYS have a good dirt box in there... The Edge / Gilmour / Pumpkins... and plus racks are a lot harder to haul and configure than just a few pedals.

+a lot.

I was almost at this point a while back, and I ended up doing just what nibus said...selling a bunch of superfluous pedals and using the money to make my pedalboard as reliable, transportable, giggable, and easy to play as possible. Made a huge difference.

I have not played the GT10, but I have owned the GT6, and had experience with the X3, and I was very disappointed in both. That's just me, though...others love them and have great tone, so more power to them.

That being said, though...the main issue is your wanting to play. If your rig is at the point where you never play anymore because something is always going wrong or not working right, and it's just not fun to play anymore, then definitely scrap it. Playing and having fun doing it is the most important thing; and if you feel that you can no longer do that with pedals, then I'm sure there's a decent sounding multi-effects unit out there somewhere that'll work for you.

 

[Wheeler004]

Don't do it!!!!

 

[buddaman71]

go ahead...try it...youll beee baaaaackkkkk!!!

Actually, I have been using this rig 3-4 full gigs per week for almost 2 years. It's worked perfectly at everything from small 50 seat pub gigs to 10,000+ outdoor gigs, and even my most longterm, diehard vintage buddies and soundmen have repetedly told me it's the best sounding live rig around. (as much as they hate the fact that it's not a 66 super with an $800 TS-clone...)

I'm not going back to a big pedalboard as my main rig.

Ever.