U2 & Guitar Gear: Q & A

Originally posted by RattleandHum1988[..]

It depends on what you're using them for, and how many you plan to use at the same time (not all active at the same time, but just in the same current).

Once you start getting into a handful of pedals you have to think about powering options, pedal-board options, cabling options, buffers, loops, and you're also bound to one setting per-pedal for any given song (say, if you're performing).

One of the main reasons that pedal boards are a pain is the amount of tap-dancing that many do, unless you plan on using one or two tones throughout an entire song. Seeing as how many of us come from the Edge-side of things, you probably won't be (at least I don't). A loop can sometimes help, and a loop is essentially this: (my little animation didn't work).

You basically have your guitar, going into a tuner or whatever (or nothing) and into a loop pedal. The loop pedal splits your signal into two, allowing you to have two different signal paths for different pedals. So one path can have all of your distortion pedals or whatever, and the other can have your cleaner pedals (chorus, delay, compressor, etc.). The loop pedal allows you to switch between the two really quickly, allowing you to have two different tones with individual pedals. The loop pedal then goes out into the amp.

It's almost like having two different tones, you have your dirty tone and your clean tone, and you can pick between the two by just clicking a button on the loop pedal. This is the solution that many use, so they can switch between two huge tonal changes quickly without tapping a ton of pedals in the span of a few seconds (say for a verse to chorus transition). Even with this though, you're still (pretty much) bound to two different tones for a song, unless you start tapping the pedals within each loop. And if you DO start getting into this sort of setup, you have to worry about the cost of loop pedals (they arent' cheap) and also a huge board to fit it all on (don't forget being able to transport that if you need to).

You can avoid ALL of these things with a multi-fx. If I didn't have a band I would probably be using pedals for at home, just to fiddle around with and discover sounds, because they're more fun and I've always felt more creative with actual pedals. But in terms of what's the easiest/cost effective/still sounds great option, a great multi-fx pedal can go a long way. I used to have a pedal-board with a bunch of pedals, but I started fussing over my tone too much and I started getting tired of having to turn knobs between songs to get a different tone. With a multi-fx it's just a few clicks with your foot and BAM, whole new tone. Sure it's not going to sound 100% like the original pedal, but multi-fx are pretty much just as good, especially to the untrained ear (which is 95% of the audiences at any given gig). All I bring to band practise is my guitar and amp, 2 cables and my Line 6 M9 (I use the M13 for performances), which can fit in my guitar case. It's super simple, and it still sounds good. You can dial in effects and tones you like, save them, and switch back to them any time you want. With pedals there's always a sweet spot, and you may have a difficult time getting back to it (especially with distortion pedals and delay pedals (especially ones without a screen to tell you the delay time))

Point is, both have their ups and downs. Individual pedals almost always sound better, and they're usually a lot more fun to play around with. I'd say if you're into just having fun looking for tones, and buying and selling pedals to discover new sounds, go for it, but it's an expensive journey, and your tone is never "saved" or anything. Multi-Fx are a lot more convienient and easy to use. The one thing you may run into at first is spending too much time on your tone with a multi-fx, mainly because there are so many different tone options within one. If you have 2 individual pedals, your tone is somewhat limited, but you can find out what they do best in a short amount of time and stick to that. With a multi-fx you can spend hours and hours on differnet sounds, and while that may be fun, it can also make you spend more time on your sound and less on your playing, which is never good. Eventually you find a balance though.

Wow, wrote a lot. Hope that helped if you read it.

EDIT: There are small pictures at the bottom that SORT of explain what I'm talking about with the loopers: http://www.lehle.com/products/D_Loop/index.php?country=&lang=en

Originally posted by Mr_Trek[..]

Thanks! Okay, I think you have me convinced that I could start with a multi-fx. Don't think I deserve one as nice as yours though.

Originally posted by RattleandHum1988[..]

There are definitely cheaper ones out there, at least for a starter one just to dip your feet, but at the same time I wouldn't start out with a piece of junk, otherwise you'll be turned off it and won't get a real sense of what you're getting into.

Alex

Originally posted by joficeThere is a bypass setting in the ME-25 if I remember right.

Originally posted by RattleandHum1988What Sergio said. Some multi-effect pedals have a specific "out" for individual effect pedals if you want to use them. Almost like one of those loops I was talking about within a multi-fx pedal. A good example is a lot of guys prefer to use their own wah pedal, or a lot of U2 guys who use a multi-fx need to use the Line 6 Verbzilla for shimmer. It can be done!