They should be using the same guitars. When Pete says that he prefers the Overdrive on the pedal, how can he/you tell? The Humbuckers sound dramatically different than the single coils. I like my ME90 a lot, and would really have loved to see this one with the only difference being the pedals themselves, same guitars, same amps.
Exactly, what were they playing at using two completely different styles of guitar and pickup to compare anything with? I was assuming at the start that they'd be swapping guitars to hear both rigs through the different kinds of pup, but they just didn't. Very odd.
What I’ve found in my early days as a pedal guy and now a Helix guy is the biggest difference is in the way we approach them. Having everything at once can cause us to not appreciate and spend the necessary time on an individual pedal. With pedals, we get them as we need them. And when we’re spending money on them we tend to really investigate and appreciate them. With a multi Fx you get it all at once. Every effect feels less important because there’s always a new one to try. With this in mind, I force myself to take time on the helix. I focus on a pedal at a time, research its real life counterpart and experiment with the chain which makes all the difference.
How many guitarists base this decision on budget? Therefore, the first premis is false?! Regarding programming time and effort, it depends how much time you have on your hands, I guess! Bottom line, is are your are playing multiple genres? I have bought and binned 5 or 6 MFX over the last 20 years, always go back to Wah, tuner, 3 x OD, Boost, delay/reverb … works for me, jazz, Blues, rock whatever.
@@TeleTonemonkey it’s not a false premise since it’s based on my own experience. Plus I’d venture a guess that most guitarists do base purchases on their budget. Otherwise, budget gear wouldn’t be a thing. Anyway, I actually do record multiple genres so I need variety. The music under my name is ambient so I need a nice clean sound with plenty of fx to choose from and just as importantly to mess with their order. That’s why I loved stomp boxes. However, these days many multi fx units do this. Hence, my helix purchase. I actually made money by selling my pedals and buying the helix. I had some old and rare EHX pedals that apparently people really wanted on Reverb. I have two other projects where I do Metal and Rock so my amp and cab needs are quite different. To each his own though. My point is just that if you use multi fx units you need to have the same mindset as if you had a more traditional set up when coming up with unique tones and sounds.
thats the exact reason why for me personally i could never buy a multi fx. Ive already have the boss katana software and its cool to have so many pedals to try but on the other hand i need pedals that i can touch and which have actual knobs instead of looking at my pc . Thats just for me tho, mulit fx itself are a really bang for the buck if you dont care about "real" analog pedals
It's really not as big a deal as you're all making it out to be. It's a tele and a LP style guitar. There's a reason why no one's sold more LP's than Jimmy Pages telecaster. We as guitarists must stop listening with our eyes
Has nothing to do with eyes. A tele single coil and a humbucker sound so different. Putting the same signal through both options seems like a more fair and objective way to judge the sound.
@@jar5173 Doing so would help eliminate an obvious and expected difference rather than leaving it to people to try and excuse or dismiss the difference.
Because of the myriad of pedals out there, as a beginner the choice is daunting. My thought is the ME 90 funnily enough, and using that to identify sounds I like to perhaps develop a separate pedal board in the future.
In exactly the same place. Great way to access hundreds of effects in one place before then moving on to the real deal with grown up pedals as part of the learning and exportation pedal journey.
Pedals are fun, sound amazing. It's cool to start building pedals as well because you start to understand and appreciate how they work and which pedals work better together, and where in the chain sounds best for yourself. That being said, I received a Fender Mustange GTX 100 for my birthday and have been so surprised at how closely I can match the pedals in the amp to the pedals I have. In the end, the only thing that matters is that you're making music that you're happy with.
As a hobbyist guitar player my favorite part of the hobby is the pedals. The hunting on reverb and various websites for what’s on sale, the tearing apart a board and building a new one just to nail a tone for a song, stacking different gains, etc. I think a multi-fx is great if bang for buck is what you’re after but man I love buying a new stomp box just so I can reconfigure my pedal board.
@@ilmisxx2it works the other way sometimes as well. Haven't you ever gotten a new pedal or piece of equipment and being inspired to play more because of it? I know that I sure have.
that opinion will change quickly once you get gigs.. lugging around gear is not fun.. for most players now multi effects and plugins are more practical and not exhausting..
Multi effects unit for me. Pedals settings are great for some songs and aren't on others. Then I went to a minimalist set-up. Pitch-dark tuner, Boss Equalizer, a FullTone overdrive with two settings of distortions and a boost direct to the amp.
I love these guys, watch all of their stuff, and admire them tremendously. Having said that, they had no clue how to use the ME-90. They used about 1% of it's features. Did not know how the chain was setup. Like when Pete said "this is all the gain I can get", are we kidding, just flip the dial to the next Distortion pedal, there are like 12 of them. They did not even use the built in Wah/Volume pedal, and could not afford one for their rig. I would like to see someone who actually knows how to use the ME-90 vs. those pedals. I absolutely am convinced it would blow them out of the water.
Yes, you can also get much more gain by changing the amp mod to a beefier amp like the rectifier. I have ME-70 and the gain available is more than anyone would ever use if you use the right settings.
maybe you are right but i think i get them too, multieffect with all its feature can be too overwhelming for some, i prefer tinkering individual pedals than the multi
@@leokrissandy5579 That why the boss me range trumps most other mfx units. You have the knobs on each section as if they were individual pedals. So you can treat it as as a five or six pedal pedalboard when you start. Then later you can create your own sounds and store them to patches for songs if you wish like most other mfx units. So if you are used to using pedals the ME-90 is the most intuitive mfx unit to move to.
They should have also tested the situation where they needed to change the settings for a new song. With a multifx that is a tap of a foot. With standard pedals, you have to adjust them manually, if you can remember the settings.
The moral of the story is Pete can sound fantastic playing anything! Whether he's using fantastically expensive gear, or bottom dollar budget stuff, he always sounds incredible.
I def think it’s more personal preference than anything. But I do think everyone would benefit from having a comprehensive multi effects pedal early in their playing as it can really help them discover all the cool things the electric guitar can do. Once you find what you like you can dig into more unique effects that “play” to your style and liking. For me I’m a Helix guy through and through. I’ve got a really nice tube amp and I tried fancy pedals and I just didn’t like twisting the knobs all the time. I play everything from country to metal so to be able to just push a single button and get a whole different genre really works for me.
Pedals for me. Nice having many things instead of one thing. Don't get me wrong, I've used so many multi effects when I was younger, but now I can afford to have individual gear. Very nice
To be a truly accurate test both guitars should be the same ,either humbuckers or single coils there is too much tonal difference between the LP and Tele
I went all in on pedals over the last few years. I liked the sounds I was getting. But recently sold them all and bought the new Fender Tone Master Pro. The ease of use and full suite of pedals makes it such a versatile solution.
20:30 On the "me90", if you select a boost on the "fx2", it will automatically be placed at the beginning of the chain, and you can select whether it is a clean, mid or treble boost. You give it a lot of gain and it can be used before an "OD"
I bought a tc electronics thunderstorm flanger after watching a video on how to use a flanger as a multi effects pedal. By adjusting the settings, you can get chorus and emulate phaser, univibe, vibrato etc. Not gonna exactly replicate, but works well. Saves money and keeps things simple.
I've owned Roland/Boss multi-effects since they introduced them (I still own the original) and after playing and gigging with many people who had the misfortune of trying to track down which pedal or cable was either faulty or had a dead battery (power supplies saved that) sometimes right in the middle of a gig, I've never regretted my choice. I have mine set up with literally a hundred different pedalboards for every style and option, with groups set up for each and every different guitar I choose to play at any given moment. The sound is always balanced from one to the other, and the effects are always spot on for the guitars and musical situation, even using different amps. Pedals seem to be a never ending chase for the next latest and greatest, and I don't have the time or funds to join the race.
I have been the sound guy for several local bands. On a number of occasions I have had to deal with a faulty pedal board or a pedal that is noisy (power supply issues are usually the culprit here). On one gig I did, we had to rewire one of the guitar players boards to remove a modulation pedal that he just bought. It worked at home in his garage but, in the noisy environment of a village hall gig with all the amps, keyboard, pedalboards, PA, and lighting connected to 3 or 4 outlets on the same electrical circuit, plus all the additional RF noise, it wouldn't stop buzzing. I've never seen that issue with a multifx unit.
As much as i love my ‘real’ pedal board going into my Princeton Reverb, for the the last year I have been using a HX Stomp with two choice modulation pedals (mercury 7 & Starlight) in the fx loop. Not only are there many options available (too many? maybe), the board they are on is small, super portable and my bands two regular sound engineers both regularly mention that they don’t have to tweek my guitar sound as much as the other guitarist who’s going through a mic’d amp, such is the quality of my sound output from the Stomp. Plus if there was a patch lead/power supply issue with either of the modulation pedals, there are perfectly good backup options in the Helix world.
@@riklionheart23 out of interest, how are you monitoring? In one of the bands I used to frequently do the sound for, they used a miced 100W Marshall which the guitarist also used for monitoring. Dealing with that in small hall and pub gigs was a nightmare: the amp needed to be turned up reasonably loud to get a good signal on the mic and the guitar player would occasionally adjust it for his monitoring preferences during the gig, which then needed adjustments in the mix. Also, the front row.of the audience often complained the amp was too loud. And, of course, feedback was always a problem. He has recently moved over to a Helix setup and sold his amps. Not only is it a lot less to transport, carry, and set up, but the sound mix is easier to get right and generally sounds better. The audience aren't blasted by the amp, and feedback issues are drastically reduced. He started with the Helix monitoring through wedges, but now has IEMs, and his band now has a silent stage setup.
I agree. For most of us watching this the convenience, instant adaptability and lack of clutter of a multi FX unit beat the last nth in tone but hassle and expense of pedals. If we want to sound better we should practise more.
For me the multi-FX unit wins hands down. I’ve used pedals before-in the early ‘70s I had a few-but since I started back in the days when the only effects you had were the tremolo and reverb in your amp, assuming you could afford one that had those, I’ve always needed very specific tones. Once I get stuff programmed in, my settings stay the same. Since I’m going through an amp, I keep the amp clean and use its tone controls as a master EQ to set it up for the room. I don’t need different settings for each song, as most of the bands I’ve played with don’t play songs in the same order every time. When the bandleader calls a song, I have to be ready with the right sound instantly. So I don’t use a wide variety of patches-I have my clean sound, my edge-of-breakup sound, and my heavier overdrive sound if I need that. The effects I use are tremolo, sometimes chorus, compression and reverb are on all the time, as is the volume pedal. I do a lot of pickup switching on the fly, and I may be the only player around who actually uses the tone control(s) on the guitar! I certainly can’t use a single-pickup guitar-there’s not enough tonal variation. Unless I’m doing a jazz gig!
I don’t have an amp, I just have an ME-90 into some studio monitors and interface. Sounds awesome, easy to use and has all the sounds I’ll ever need! To get close down the pedal route like the andertons vid I would also need to budget in the amp and cab which I assume is a little bit pricey!!! No contest for me, ME-90 all day. 🎉
Sorry for my ignorance but your set up sounds interesting. How does the interface figure into the chain? I am just a bedroom player and like the idea of the ME-90 just directly through studio monitors. If that works. Thank you.
I started off with pedals years ago, I find a multi fx pedal board so more versatile. I think once you find 'your sound' you pretty much dial it in no matter what you get used too. I am all for modelling gear these days. Use what you find fit.👍
When I started playing, my dad lent me an old Line 6 pod to experiment with so I could discover what I wanted out of an amp and effects. Multi FX units are great to experiment with when you're a relative beginner, but I found I didn't use half the functions it was capable of so I then discovered what I actually wanted. For example, the first pedal I ever bought was a Digitech Hardwire Delay, which had loads of different delay settings and bells and whistles at £150. It was a good pedal to try the different functions, but I only ended up using one delay type. Now I've got a TC Electronic Prophet, which is amazing and does exactly what I want for only £40. Simply put, if you know exactly what you want, invest more in decent pedals that you will actually use that would perform the specific functions better.
always pedals for me I working on my budget friendly pedal board hopeful will be done soon and this and many other budget pedal videos you guys have done is really helpful thank you guys for your hard work
Thx guys. My fx journey began with a (loop) pedal- it left me more money in the first-electric-guitar kitty. Lacking foresight and patience, further pedals followed when funds permitted: the notion of saving and waiting for multi-fx device never crossed my mind! No regrets!!
There are a couple of astonishing multi-FX on the market right now for about £100. You could start with one of those & never feel the need to move on. On the other hand, my small board has 2 units, combined value about £300: MXR Micro Flanger and Strymon Cloudburst plus expression pedal, and I wouldn't swap that for any multi. Developing a substantial board over a long period is an absorbing hobby in itself, especially now that there are videos like this one around.
Pedals for me. Started 40 years ago with Boss pedals, then went through the multi fx phase ( had the ME-50, ME 70 and the nova system from TC), but have fully come back to Boss pedals. It depends on what you really need. For me I don't a preamp (got a good Marshall amp for that). A Super Overdrive, the CE-2 and a delay pedal got me covered for 95% of the song we play in our coverband. Another important factor for me; I buy most pedals 2nd hand and Boss pedals will keep their value. Different drive flavour? I swap the Super Overdrive for a Blues Driver or a Dyna Drive.
I have been on a virtually identical journey through pedals, multi effects and now back to using 4 good sounding pedals - 2 of which I bought 40 years ago. Zero latency, no A to D conversion in the signal path. So much more inspiring to play with.
I have both a 12 spot pedalboard and an ME-90. The ME-90 is just so versatile, not to mention much lighter that the discrete pedalboard that it has become my first grab for a jam or gig.
I'm a big fan of the show and use both pedals and multi-FX myself, but I don't think the multi-FX has been done justice here. As others have said, it is better to compare if you play the same guitar and amp. It also helps if the person doing it has first studied such a multi-effect. It would be nice to see this comparison again, but one with Pete demonstrating the stompboxes and "Digital"John demonstrating the Boss ME-90. Furthermore, the entertainment was good as always. Cool jam at the end!
I’m buying for my daughter who is just starting out, but I know she won’t want to be reading manuals, so the pedals is the way to go. Plus you get to tailor your own board with the effects you like, and you can get them one by one which gives you the time to learn to use each pedal more thoroughly. I’ve starting out with a freeze pedal as that gives you something to experiment with, and a trio pedal because it’s fun to jam with when you’re practicing. So this is the perspective of someone buying for a child who’s just starting to learn.
Love it! Was going to point out that they are using different guitars but everyone seems to have spotted that already. However, it isn't about the sound they make, but the setup and ease of use.
I really want a multifx but everytine i try one i either just use the first half decent sound i find. Or i spend ages trying to dial in the perfect sound, only to hate the sound next time i plug in.
To me it all just comes down to convenience and bang for your buck. MultiFX are always going to be more convenient and more for your money. Pedals will (generally) be a bit more expensive, and less convenient, but you have more options and customization. You're not stuck with any single pedal, you can always pick whatever reverb you want, whatever drive you want, etc. What sounds better is always going to be subjective. Hell, you might get lucky and the effects on a multifx unit happen to be what you like most and you're all set!
I like being able to stack drive pedals and experiment messing around with the signal chain. In the end I went for a hybrid option of the two. I have my gain and wah as stand alone pedals feeding into a zoom G5n in stomp box mode. This allows me to alter the signal chain of modulation/delay/reverb etc and I can also run it through the fx loop separately if I choose. The zoom has it's limitations but it's working for me at the moment.
I have an ME-70. Eventually I got greedy, but what I used to do is run a bunch of analog dirt pedals into the ME-70, and all modulation, delay, etc. was the ME-70. It worked great for me. I like to run wah and phaser and stuff after the dirt. If you like to run some of that stuff before dirt, it could be more complicated.
Depends on your needs, if you have a sound and that stays pretty constant and you just augment it with a delay or a mod here and there for certain songs then a core group of analog pedals will do you fine and probably give you a more authentic tone. However if you’re a cover band guitarist and require a wide range of effects and tones which change for every song, multi fx pedals are king because the advantages outweigh any tonal compromise (if there is any🤷♂️) I also find as a singer, a single switch press it so convenient
My old BOSS ME-50 is like the old family van. Loaded with good and bad memories. It’s full of features but less than half function the way you want. Sounds great on specific effects, but you wouldn’t wanna take it too far. It’s so big you can’t find a decent spot for it.
As you guys said, if a new effect pedal is launched in the market, it can still be added to the chain with the ME90 as well. This makes any multi effects processor an ideal place to start with. Also, it is sometimes all that is required by your average Joe, saving them from the chaos of 1000+ od pedals to select from😂😂. One's budget can really overshoot while selecting individual pedals as everyone is not that aware of which pedal to go for and they usually go for the pricey ones.
Individual pedals are great if you have all the time in the world or don't have too many variations in the sound you want but if you're playing live and require a lot of different sounds a multi FX unit with memories is invaluable. I love my individual pedals but not many get a live outing.......the HX Stomp is so much easier for that.
I want to see a tuner pedal shootout. No joke. Would be interesting to see. Please compare with clip ones as well. Thanks, guys! Also, you guys are hilarious. You’re playing different guitars, so the pedals will of course sound different. You should have played the same guitar to serve as a control.
I have some pedals, a spark mini and a boss katana 50 so lots of options. Still might get the ME-90 just because of all the options available and can easily tweak with the knobs and I just play and record at home so this would perfect to use and not wake the neighbours.
I love both pedals and multi-effects. I have a pedalboard that I have been fine tuning for several years, so that what was once Joyo, Danelectro, Biyang etc has slowly morphed into Analogman, Ceriatone, Strymon etc. Alongside those I've had the Boss ME70, ME80 plus others...and now have a Headrush Pedalboard. Like someone pointed out on here, all the time spent researching and buying gear would probably have been better spent on practising. I think my playing is actually getting worse! 😂
Reminds me of a meme I saw yesterday, it was a sign from a band teacher. #1, I'm sorry I was impatient with you; 2, You're very talented; 3. 1 & 2 are lies. 4, Practice.
Re-tooling can be every bit as critically important as instrumental study. e.g. speakers.... to record yourself and then actually *hear* what the heck you are playing as well as you can, good studio monitors matter more than just about any of your other gear. There's little better time spent than understanding how to get results you want, what ever that entails.
I disagree. Researching and buying gear is a part of the fun. Pleasure of trying iconic pedals instead using some pre-sets or simulation is something you need to experience. This is also way to discover different aspects of your guitar or amp, rolling of the volume or tone , play with an amp eq, it is all learning curve. Then when you know all palette of tones , you can immerse in music. And money spent, well it is your hobby. Better to spent on this than on fags or buzz. Have some passions, YOLO.
I researched all videos etc and bought the Valleton 200. Playing my Sire 335 which sounds great straight into my little Roland AC33 amp. Setting up the unit was easy and playing the presets were overkill and sounded as what they are, imitation! The real issue was that I lost the quality of my guitar which sounded great on its own. I have now for the same price bought 2 Boss pedals, Boss Blues Driver BD2 & Boss Digital Delay DD8. I now have my beautiful guitar sound with all the effects I need - my amp also has reverb and chorus. I think it depends on your playing ability and your musical ear. Andertons are great, prices are a bit higher but the service is second to none and the videos really help.
Been buying pedals for past 2-3 years. And spent quite a bit on them. But I was looking at the convenience of the Headrush Core that Mic input and connectivity options. Age is catching up and setting up all the mic and other speakers for my weekend jamming at home with my loved ones is taking much time and effort. Most probably I will stop the pedals buying and venture into multi effects. But for now, definitely getting the Headrush core. That thing looks useful to me. 😊
As a guitar player I use both I have several pedal board set ups as well as several multi effects systems. Currently I am using the Boss GT-1000 which has turned out to be my all in one go too set up. BUt I still love finding cool pedals to try out and create new pedalboards with. IF you are going for the bang for buck then a multi effects board is the way to go for sure. But some thimes there is mothing better then a good ol stomp box pedal board set up as well. Personally I thing you should try and have both.
I got a Helix LT a couple of years ago, it takes up less room in my cramped "studio" than my previous board and has been updated at least 3 times since I got it, with additional amps, cabs & FX. Plus I've got a much larger selection of pedals (and amps) to choose from than I had before. The down side is that I tend to set up song presets rather than just using the multi FX as "banks" of individual pedals, but that's individual choice. There is an argument that multi FX modeling is not totally accurate compared to the original pedals and not as quick to adjust "on the fly" but they do the job for me as I'm not gigging.
Lot's of cheap pedals don't sound that good to me because they have a sort of lofi sound quality, but my Boss ME-25 multi effects pedal which you could find for a cheap price price for an effects pedal now still sounds good enough for me. I do like some lofi reverbs and delays though. I like to put either a spare instrument/pedal cable or a headphone adapter into the headphone jack which takes the tones from sounding too digital to sounding more realistic. I did have to add a Chorus pedal and Reverb plus Delay pedal to my board to get the specific tones I wanted, but that is not that many pedals. The Boss ME-25 itself isn't that big for a multi effects pedal which is one of the reasons I like it so I have more room on my pedal board. I also attached a power bar with velcro to the side of my pedal board and I can still get it in the bag I have for it. There are so many higher quality cheap options for good tones now like some plugins and some multi effects pedals which sound better to me than many cheaper single guitar pedals. I do like some volume pedals plus the boss eq pedal are both on the cheaper side for pedals. Also, I don't care what an instrument pedal looks like, more how it sounds since most people will not be able to see your pedal board when you play live anyways. I love my small guitar gear setup and I don't think I will be a player with a million pedals like some players. I could still combine some of my pedals and set them up for good Shoegaze tones even. Heck, my Boss ME-25 has a freeze effect setting even.
If you're in a band playing originals and you want to create a unique sound and have some consistency in output, individual pedals is the way to go. If you're playing live in a band playing covers, or with a hefty back catalogue with tons of different tones, I definitely think multi-effects is the way. If you're a hobbyist, you need ALL OF THEM.
This is exactly what I was looking for. I have a ME-90 now, which I like ok. I next plan to put together an ampless pedal board with a UA Ruby as the core.
At 22 minutes... there's a boost in EQ/FX2 with the gain being the left hand knob. Up at full into the OD sounds great, I also stacked a TC Honey pot Fuzz in the loop, sounds massive! Also the preamp into a normal amp is definitely not plug and play, needs to be setup in tone studio. Great to see the comparison of both though as my ME90 was my first pedal, good for learners too wanting to try lots of different settings/sounds
Still very happy with my old GT-8 and It still can do loads of stuff that would cost me a lot more if I where to try to do that with loose pedals. And with the editor on my computer it's like tweaking a set of pedals. Best part is I can change the order between pedals from one patch to the next.
I'm just on my way home from a Blues-Session, where I drove my Guitar (G&L Asat Deluxe Tribute) straight into my Fender Blues Junior... Gain on 12 o'clock, a little springreverb from the amp and I fell in love with my amp again - no Pedals at all 😄
My board is pretty big, but i only have two drive pedals, boss delay, tc chorus and vibrato and a sty on delay. So not much going but I have a boss switcher to control it all. My sound comes from my drives stacked and the boss delay in front of the drives and the strymon delay at the end with midi so the choices of delay are endless and the two modulations for some extra hints of stuff. I have a vocal pedal as well which is midi so it’s all just so good. Can’t forget my wah as well
I bought an ME90 and gave it a go hoping it could replace my pedals, but no… it just doesn’t quite sound the same to me… plus it’s kinda fun getting out there and hunting down that perfect pedal set up.
16:12 - Pete says "I can't do any more with pedals than you can." Technically true for any given scene, but you have the 36 presets and 36 user saves plus 97 effects to create a mind-boggling arrangement of scenes available with a few dabs at the footswitches. Now that my POD 2.0 has finally died, I sincerely want an ME-90. The collection of pedals under the desk here will continue to be used, though. 🥰
Thanks for the demonstration of the pedals vs the multi FX. The biggest question in my mind is, which is the best for gigging. I am in the middle of making that decision right now. I joined a band and they want to come up with a set list of 40+ songs. Of course many songs means many tones. When I recently saw the Fender tone master pro I thought it was a gift from god because you can set up different tones for each song in the night’s setlist. But it is very pricey. I’d like to know, for gigging, which of the 2 options you tested would be your choice?? Thanks
Multi-Fx and modeling amps are great when it comes to value and dipping your toe in. For some, you can't deny the streamlined equipment, and I think think they certainly have a utility that's hard to argue against. BUT there is something about putting your own board together. Learning all the intricacies of one pedal and incorporating that into your suite of tools. Not trying to put down multi-fx, but I don't think it can beat the user experience of messing with a pedal you really connect with when it comes to the fun factor. Again, this is all highly subjective. You could get a ton of fun out of a multi-fx unit too. But for me, I get more mojo out of individual pedals.
i prefer the individual pedals for adjusting and moving them around in the chain. you could probably buy enough second hand pedals and feel like you have enough to battle the boss me-90 at retail price. playing at a low level gig the digital stuff is preferred, but if i'm outdoors and can let it rip, i'll go all analog and cranked tube amps. hope this helps someone out there.
ii am more on the pedals side, because you can freely choose your combinations. however i learned over the years that i prefer pedals that can do more than one thing, so i save myself some space, cables and dont have to extend my power supply.
My single pedals approach is definitely the end of the journey. I've been stuck in the multichannel amps / bank and preset world forever. Now i've got a small 1 channel tube amp i barely even touch and my board. My band context ended a couple years ago and i'm glad i don't need the specific sounds on the spot anymore.
Changing some boards around, when grabbing a tuner I switched a first generation of a well respected tuner to a Boss TU-3, it completely brought the whole board to life. The buffer in the Boss tuner is great, I was shocked at how much it changed the character of the board. - also, when you are daisy chaining, you might want to do some math. Digital pedals will suck many times more power than analogue, easily overwhelming most cheap wall wart type transformers.
Digital pedals can also leak noise onto the power line which will show up when you start cranking up the gain on your overdrive pedals. Square waves are loaded with harmonics.
Funny enough I have kind of done a hybrid setup. Even though I have a spark amp (thus access to tons digitally) I prefer actual physical pedals. However one of my pedals is a multi (DigiTech iStomp) which is amazing for trying out new pedal types that I havent explored yet, and to fill in the gap with niche effects (eg tape delay) I might only need occasionally for playing a specific song. Really the biggest difference between the spark and the istomp is the latter has more physical tangibility. Yet I really prefer it.
pedals for me I bought a modelling amp until I found my tone (ha ha ha yeah you never find it really do ya) then got a niceish amp and started getting pedals to throw in with it the research and selection is half the fun then of course like buying a guitar half of it is or maybe a quarter is hows it look do you love it? and my board looks fantastic and sounds as good as it looks
the what is a pro towards the end of the video is a good idea for a video! Lee said it right - if you're getting paid. A lot out there doing pubs n clubs are getting paid, but gig only at weekends and so its more a semi pro thing as they're still making the main part of their income from a regular day job. I gig, but my main income comes from teaching guitar...so am I a pro ? I guess so as I make my entire living off of playing/teaching guitar....but gig's are the smaller part of my income to my teaching work. Think there's a lot out there like me in this regard!
Understanding how the signal chain works, what makes a certain sound and tone is half the fun. Like legos but for adults. I'd go with pedals, cheap ones first and grow into the more exotic ones and put something like a gigmaster in front if I'd playing for money. What i'd like to maybe see a shootout between something like a cortex and a 'amp in a box' and pedals. something like the Dutches with some pedals vs Cortex. The argument I'd have is you most likely don't need 562793476 sound combinations. You like a handful
I don’t think most people would be too unhappy either way. I chose pedals over a MultiFX and now I’m glad I did, as It means I can upgrade relatively inexpensively over time - my budget reverb turned out to be really disappointing so has to go. The option to stack drives is also something I wouldn’t want to do without. Interesting video though.
For me, it's whichever set up has me bending down to adjust things less often. If I'm going to use a multi-effects, I create a patch or two to use it in stomp box mode, and make sure I know the pedal really well so there is minimal downtime for adjusting settings. No one wants to wait around while the guitar player twiddles his knobs.
Plethora X5, a fuzz, an overdrive and an expression pedal. Sorted. Generally not been satisfied with the multi-fx units I've had. But the X5 is just like having a box of pedals...
Legit for a beginning guitarist a multi effect unit is the way to go imo, you get a bit of everything so you can start discovering what you want and do not like. Like, even if it's something you'd never consider (like in my chase, chorus, but I'm just lucky I inherited one). Also, flyrigs are a thing and that boss and even more the valeton are rigs in and of themselves.
Well I always found a volume pedal essential for gigging and a wahwah fun sometimes and as I don't use locking trems because they are a hassle a pitchshifter or whammy pedal is great for crazy solos your pedalboard has no expression pedals at all severely limiting it to a narrow range and not a fraction as versatile as the mfx unit. I still use a ME-70 its a solid unit although not quite as versatile as the ME-90. I do own lots of old pedals but for reliability and simplicity and a great sound its the mfx every time in public. Single pedals OK for playing around with at home. Also adding lots of pedals in a chain can not only be a pain when one plays up or a cable gets dodgy but it can add lots of unwanted noise into the amp where the ME series is pretty quiet.
i think there are no better or worse between them, multieffects are handy for those who starts the journey of guitar playing, once you grow as a player and wants to broaden your knowledge or find "your sound" individual effect definitely your best choice
I have a huge pedal collection and a boss gt-1000, i use both with valve amps and the 7 cable method to rig the modulation, reverbs and delays on the fx loop. It's super practical to use the multifx processor, no doubt about it. But, sometimes i tend to use a valve combo with no fx loop and for that, i bring out the pedalboard. Since my current pedalboard is quite easy to transport, i really have no problems with gigs. Combo in one hand, pedalboard on the other and guitar on the back. The multifx stays on my studio most of the time, it's an amazing piece of gear and is very good for experiments and testing out sounds. But i rather travel with the pedalboard since i really don't trust that kind of digital gear out of the house. I have a suspicion that it would be as road resistant as a pedalboard. Both sound amazing, can't pick a favourite tbh
Or use both me90 + pedals. Me90 is the price of 1 premium pedal, and has an effects loops. So you so you can wet effects like Strymon Deco after and other effects in the middle via effects loop. Or disable preamp and IRs and have pedals or amp handle that part. Think of me90 as a programmable pedal bundle and just augment as needed.
I'm not an electric guitar player, so my question is this. When you're playing a set of music and just going from song to song, with a regular paddle board other than stopping on the on and off buttons, what do you do about changing the settings on the different pedal. I can't imagine and actually never see people on their hands and knees twigling all these different knobs back and forth to change the settings for their different pedals for each song they just go from song to song. On the other hand, it seems to me that with a digital multi-effects unit, that you can actually preset all the settings for each individual song and then actually build a set list of the different settings tailored to your performance so that you can just Bank up or Bank down to each song. With this in mind, it seems to me that it would be much more flexible and practical to use a digital multi-effects Union in live settings rather than a regular pedalboard where you can't really take the time to adjust the different parameters that each song might require. Or I could be wrong, I have no idea. Thoughts?
Interesting comparison. I was messing around today with my Spark 40. Ok, slightly different, but principles similar. I was listening to one of my fav songs to learn/play along to and discovered that there is a temelo on the guitarists tone, never really noticed it before. I dont own a tremelo pedal so, my only option was the app with the Spark. Nailed the tone in about 90 seconds! There is a lot to be said about multi fx whether as a pedal format or app to an amp. Gigging I use two pedals into the effects loop of my 2x12 tube amp and thats it!
I'm switching from a Kemper to a pedalboard with UAFX amp pedals. Would love to see this with a Kemper profiler or Helix and full-on pedal board build. Make the budget $2K. Do a real comparison between the two. IMO the versatility of having pedals that you can swap in and out is what made the choice for me.
Would like you guys to shoot three videos. Gain pedal vs amp. Low gain,mid gain then high gain. In other words, for tone, is it better to buy multiple amps or a clean platform with multiple pedals?
Your UA-cam channel is my favorite. Love you guys! Wish I lived in England so I could visit your store. I have the ME-90. I want to add a good reverb pedal because the ME-90 reverb is so basic, like an after-thought. With the FX loop, you could do both -- pedals and Multi FX. Could be fun and creative. I realize you're spending more, but if you can afford, go for both.
If all you have is $300, the boss is a great buy. You get something like 50 pedals in one unit. They are all pretty good sounding too. Once you figure out your tastes, go and buy the better version of that pedal as a standalone pedal. But there are some sounds I just never would buy myself but damn are they fun to play with like the +- octave pedal effects or the terra echo. All these options can really break you out of a creative rut.
They should be using the same guitars. When Pete says that he prefers the Overdrive on the pedal, how can he/you tell? The Humbuckers sound dramatically different than the single coils. I like my ME90 a lot, and would really have loved to see this one with the only difference being the pedals themselves, same guitars, same amps.
agree
Agree, I just got the me90 and I love it
Was my thoughts as well
Agree
Exactly, what were they playing at using two completely different styles of guitar and pickup to compare anything with? I was assuming at the start that they'd be swapping guitars to hear both rigs through the different kinds of pup, but they just didn't. Very odd.
What I’ve found in my early days as a pedal guy and now a Helix guy is the biggest difference is in the way we approach them. Having everything at once can cause us to not appreciate and spend the necessary time on an individual pedal. With pedals, we get them as we need them. And when we’re spending money on them we tend to really investigate and appreciate them. With a multi Fx you get it all at once. Every effect feels less important because there’s always a new one to try. With this in mind, I force myself to take time on the helix. I focus on a pedal at a time, research its real life counterpart and experiment with the chain which makes all the difference.
I really like this explanation, this is exactly how i feel.
@@racerx3065 thanks!
How many guitarists base this decision on budget? Therefore, the first premis is false?!
Regarding programming time and effort, it depends how much time you have on your hands, I guess!
Bottom line, is are your are playing multiple genres? I have bought and binned 5 or 6 MFX over the last 20 years, always go back to Wah, tuner, 3 x OD, Boost, delay/reverb … works for me, jazz, Blues, rock whatever.
@@TeleTonemonkey it’s not a false premise since it’s based on my own experience. Plus I’d venture a guess that most guitarists do base purchases on their budget. Otherwise, budget gear wouldn’t be a thing. Anyway, I actually do record multiple genres so I need variety. The music under my name is ambient so I need a nice clean sound with plenty of fx to choose from and just as importantly to mess with their order. That’s why I loved stomp boxes. However, these days many multi fx units do this. Hence, my helix purchase. I actually made money by selling my pedals and buying the helix. I had some old and rare EHX pedals that apparently people really wanted on Reverb. I have two other projects where I do Metal and Rock so my amp and cab needs are quite different. To each his own though. My point is just that if you use multi fx units you need to have the same mindset as if you had a more traditional set up when coming up with unique tones and sounds.
thats the exact reason why for me personally i could never buy a multi fx. Ive already have the boss katana software and its cool to have so many pedals to try but on the other hand i need pedals that i can touch and which have actual knobs instead of looking at my pc . Thats just for me tho, mulit fx itself are a really bang for the buck if you dont care about "real" analog pedals
You guys should do this using the same guitar when you're making a sound comparison.
It's really not as big a deal as you're all making it out to be. It's a tele and a LP style guitar. There's a reason why no one's sold more LP's than Jimmy Pages telecaster. We as guitarists must stop listening with our eyes
Has nothing to do with eyes. A tele single coil and a humbucker sound so different. Putting the same signal through both options seems like a more fair and objective way to judge the sound.
@@jar5173 Doing so would help eliminate an obvious and expected difference rather than leaving it to people to try and excuse or dismiss the difference.
It’s OK, they’re both going through the same well worn tonedesk.
What are you on about? They have two different pickup configs @@SlyRyFry
Because of the myriad of pedals out there, as a beginner the choice is daunting. My thought is the ME 90 funnily enough, and using that to identify sounds I like to perhaps develop a separate pedal board in the future.
In exactly the same place. Great way to access hundreds of effects in one place before then moving on to the real deal with grown up pedals as part of the learning and exportation pedal journey.
Pedals are fun, sound amazing. It's cool to start building pedals as well because you start to understand and appreciate how they work and which pedals work better together, and where in the chain sounds best for yourself. That being said, I received a Fender Mustange GTX 100 for my birthday and have been so surprised at how closely I can match the pedals in the amp to the pedals I have. In the end, the only thing that matters is that you're making music that you're happy with.
As a hobbyist guitar player my favorite part of the hobby is the pedals. The hunting on reverb and various websites for what’s on sale, the tearing apart a board and building a new one just to nail a tone for a song, stacking different gains, etc. I think a multi-fx is great if bang for buck is what you’re after but man I love buying a new stomp box just so I can reconfigure my pedal board.
Now imagine if you spent all that time practicing instead of pedal hunting, alternate you probably could play circles around yourself now
Spot on. Could not agree with the OP more.
@@ilmisxx2it works the other way sometimes as well. Haven't you ever gotten a new pedal or piece of equipment and being inspired to play more because of it? I know that I sure have.
that opinion will change quickly once you get gigs.. lugging around gear is not fun.. for most players now multi effects and plugins are more practical and not exhausting..
Can't agree more, great guitarists like Kevin Shields and Billy Corgan never use any pedals. They sound great!@@ilmisxx2
Multi effects unit for me.
Pedals settings are great for some songs and aren't on others. Then I went to a minimalist set-up. Pitch-dark tuner, Boss Equalizer, a FullTone overdrive with two settings of distortions and a boost direct to the amp.
I love these guys, watch all of their stuff, and admire them tremendously. Having said that, they had no clue how to use the ME-90. They used about 1% of it's features. Did not know how the chain was setup. Like when Pete said "this is all the gain I can get", are we kidding, just flip the dial to the next Distortion pedal, there are like 12 of them. They did not even use the built in Wah/Volume pedal, and could not afford one for their rig. I would like to see someone who actually knows how to use the ME-90 vs. those pedals. I absolutely am convinced it would blow them out of the water.
I agree - they are not using the board to the full potential
Yes, you can also get much more gain by changing the amp mod to a beefier amp like the rectifier. I have ME-70 and the gain available is more than anyone would ever use if you use the right settings.
maybe you are right but i think i get them too, multieffect with all its feature can be too overwhelming for some, i prefer tinkering individual pedals than the multi
@@leokrissandy5579 That why the boss me range trumps most other mfx units. You have the knobs on each section as if they were individual pedals. So you can treat it as as a five or six pedal pedalboard when you start. Then later you can create your own sounds and store them to patches for songs if you wish like most other mfx units. So if you are used to using pedals the ME-90 is the most intuitive mfx unit to move to.
They should have also tested the situation where they needed to change the settings for a new song. With a multifx that is a tap of a foot. With standard pedals, you have to adjust them manually, if you can remember the settings.
The moral of the story is Pete can sound fantastic playing anything! Whether he's using fantastically expensive gear, or bottom dollar budget stuff, he always sounds incredible.
I def think it’s more personal preference than anything. But I do think everyone would benefit from having a comprehensive multi effects pedal early in their playing as it can really help them discover all the cool things the electric guitar can do. Once you find what you like you can dig into more unique effects that “play” to your style and liking. For me I’m a Helix guy through and through. I’ve got a really nice tube amp and I tried fancy pedals and I just didn’t like twisting the knobs all the time. I play everything from country to metal so to be able to just push a single button and get a whole different genre really works for me.
Pedals for me. Nice having many things instead of one thing. Don't get me wrong, I've used so many multi effects when I was younger, but now I can afford to have individual gear. Very nice
To be a truly accurate test both guitars should be the same ,either humbuckers or single coils there is too much tonal difference between the LP and Tele
Can you do another video comparing expensive multi-fx vs expensive pedals?
Also dial in each setup nicely and do a blind test.
Please 🙏
Thank you. I have asked for this for a long time, and you're finally coming through. We all appreciate that.
I went all in on pedals over the last few years. I liked the sounds I was getting. But recently sold them all and bought the new Fender Tone Master Pro. The ease of use and full suite of pedals makes it such a versatile solution.
Me too ..I agree....TMP seems to have everything.
20:30 On the "me90", if you select a boost on the "fx2", it will automatically be placed at the beginning of the chain, and you can select whether it is a clean, mid or treble boost. You give it a lot of gain and it can be used before an "OD"
I bought a tc electronics thunderstorm flanger after watching a video on how to use a flanger as a multi effects pedal. By adjusting the settings, you can get chorus and emulate phaser, univibe, vibrato etc. Not gonna exactly replicate, but works well. Saves money and keeps things simple.
I ❤️ Pedals
I've owned Roland/Boss multi-effects since they introduced them (I still own the original) and after playing and gigging with many people who had the misfortune of trying to track down which pedal or cable was either faulty or had a dead battery (power supplies saved that) sometimes right in the middle of a gig, I've never regretted my choice. I have mine set up with literally a hundred different pedalboards for every style and option, with groups set up for each and every different guitar I choose to play at any given moment. The sound is always balanced from one to the other, and the effects are always spot on for the guitars and musical situation, even using different amps.
Pedals seem to be a never ending chase for the next latest and greatest, and I don't have the time or funds to join the race.
I have been the sound guy for several local bands. On a number of occasions I have had to deal with a faulty pedal board or a pedal that is noisy (power supply issues are usually the culprit here).
On one gig I did, we had to rewire one of the guitar players boards to remove a modulation pedal that he just bought. It worked at home in his garage but, in the noisy environment of a village hall gig with all the amps, keyboard, pedalboards, PA, and lighting connected to 3 or 4 outlets on the same electrical circuit, plus all the additional RF noise, it wouldn't stop buzzing.
I've never seen that issue with a multifx unit.
As much as i love my ‘real’ pedal board going into my Princeton Reverb, for the the last year I have been using a HX Stomp with two choice modulation pedals (mercury 7 & Starlight) in the fx loop. Not only are there many options available (too many? maybe), the board they are on is small, super portable and my bands two regular sound engineers both regularly mention that they don’t have to tweek my guitar sound as much as the other guitarist who’s going through a mic’d amp, such is the quality of my sound output from the Stomp. Plus if there was a patch lead/power supply issue with either of the modulation pedals, there are perfectly good backup options in the Helix world.
@@riklionheart23 out of interest, how are you monitoring?
In one of the bands I used to frequently do the sound for, they used a miced 100W Marshall which the guitarist also used for monitoring. Dealing with that in small hall and pub gigs was a nightmare: the amp needed to be turned up reasonably loud to get a good signal on the mic and the guitar player would occasionally adjust it for his monitoring preferences during the gig, which then needed adjustments in the mix. Also, the front row.of the audience often complained the amp was too loud. And, of course, feedback was always a problem.
He has recently moved over to a Helix setup and sold his amps. Not only is it a lot less to transport, carry, and set up, but the sound mix is easier to get right and generally sounds better. The audience aren't blasted by the amp, and feedback issues are drastically reduced.
He started with the Helix monitoring through wedges, but now has IEMs, and his band now has a silent stage setup.
I agree. For most of us watching this the convenience, instant adaptability and lack of clutter of a multi FX unit beat the last nth in tone but hassle and expense of pedals. If we want to sound better we should practise more.
For me the multi-FX unit wins hands down. I’ve used pedals before-in the early ‘70s I had a few-but since I started back in the days when the only effects you had were the tremolo and reverb in your amp, assuming you could afford one that had those, I’ve always needed very specific tones. Once I get stuff programmed in, my settings stay the same. Since I’m going through an amp, I keep the amp clean and use its tone controls as a master EQ to set it up for the room. I don’t need different settings for each song, as most of the bands I’ve played with don’t play songs in the same order every time. When the bandleader calls a song, I have to be ready with the right sound instantly. So I don’t use a wide variety of patches-I have my clean sound, my edge-of-breakup sound, and my heavier overdrive sound if I need that. The effects I use are tremolo, sometimes chorus, compression and reverb are on all the time, as is the volume pedal. I do a lot of pickup switching on the fly, and I may be the only player around who actually uses the tone control(s) on the guitar! I certainly can’t use a single-pickup guitar-there’s not enough tonal variation. Unless I’m doing a jazz gig!
Don't forget the send/return feature of the ME-90 where you can bring other pedals in when you need them.....
I don’t have an amp, I just have an ME-90 into some studio monitors and interface. Sounds awesome, easy to use and has all the sounds I’ll ever need! To get close down the pedal route like the andertons vid I would also need to budget in the amp and cab which I assume is a little bit pricey!!! No contest for me, ME-90 all day. 🎉
Sorry for my ignorance but your set up sounds interesting. How does the interface figure into the chain? I am just a bedroom player and like the idea of the ME-90 just directly through studio monitors. If that works. Thank you.
To my ears, Boss have some of the best original instrument effects pedals.
I started off with pedals years ago, I find a multi fx pedal board so more versatile. I think once you find 'your sound' you pretty much dial it in no matter what you get used too. I am all for modelling gear these days. Use what you find fit.👍
When I started playing, my dad lent me an old Line 6 pod to experiment with so I could discover what I wanted out of an amp and effects.
Multi FX units are great to experiment with when you're a relative beginner, but I found I didn't use half the functions it was capable of so I then discovered what I actually wanted. For example, the first pedal I ever bought was a Digitech Hardwire Delay, which had loads of different delay settings and bells and whistles at £150. It was a good pedal to try the different functions, but I only ended up using one delay type. Now I've got a TC Electronic Prophet, which is amazing and does exactly what I want for only £40.
Simply put, if you know exactly what you want, invest more in decent pedals that you will actually use that would perform the specific functions better.
Man, I’ve been waiting on content like this for years! Thank you guys!
always pedals for me
I working on my budget friendly pedal board hopeful will be done soon and this and many other budget pedal videos you guys have done is really helpful thank you guys for your hard work
Thx guys. My fx journey began with a (loop) pedal- it left me more money in the first-electric-guitar kitty. Lacking foresight and patience, further pedals followed when funds permitted: the notion of saving and waiting for multi-fx device never crossed my mind! No regrets!!
There are a couple of astonishing multi-FX on the market right now for about £100. You could start with one of those & never feel the need to move on.
On the other hand, my small board has 2 units, combined value about £300: MXR Micro Flanger and Strymon Cloudburst plus expression pedal, and I wouldn't swap that for any multi.
Developing a substantial board over a long period is an absorbing hobby in itself, especially now that there are videos like this one around.
Pedals for me. Started 40 years ago with Boss pedals, then went through the multi fx phase ( had the ME-50, ME 70 and the nova system from TC), but have fully come back to Boss pedals. It depends on what you really need. For me I don't a preamp (got a good Marshall amp for that). A Super Overdrive, the CE-2 and a delay pedal got me covered for 95% of the song we play in our coverband. Another important factor for me; I buy most pedals 2nd hand and Boss pedals will keep their value. Different drive flavour? I swap the Super Overdrive for a Blues Driver or a Dyna Drive.
I have been on a virtually identical journey through pedals, multi effects and now back to using 4 good sounding pedals - 2 of which I bought 40 years ago.
Zero latency, no A to D conversion in the signal path. So much more inspiring to play with.
I have both a 12 spot pedalboard and an ME-90. The ME-90 is just so versatile, not to mention much lighter that the discrete pedalboard that it has become my first grab for a jam or gig.
I'm a big fan of the show and use both pedals and multi-FX myself, but I don't think the multi-FX has been done justice here. As others have said, it is better to compare if you play the same guitar and amp. It also helps if the person doing it has first studied such a multi-effect. It would be nice to see this comparison again, but one with Pete demonstrating the stompboxes and "Digital"John demonstrating the Boss ME-90. Furthermore, the entertainment was good as always. Cool jam at the end!
I’m buying for my daughter who is just starting out, but I know she won’t want to be reading manuals, so the pedals is the way to go. Plus you get to tailor your own board with the effects you like, and you can get them one by one which gives you the time to learn to use each pedal more thoroughly. I’ve starting out with a freeze pedal as that gives you something to experiment with, and a trio pedal because it’s fun to jam with when you’re practicing. So this is the perspective of someone buying for a child who’s just starting to learn.
To check presets you could connect me90 with a PC an use the app
Love it! Was going to point out that they are using different guitars but everyone seems to have spotted that already. However, it isn't about the sound they make, but the setup and ease of use.
I really want a multifx but everytine i try one i either just use the first half decent sound i find. Or i spend ages trying to dial in the perfect sound, only to hate the sound next time i plug in.
To me it all just comes down to convenience and bang for your buck. MultiFX are always going to be more convenient and more for your money. Pedals will (generally) be a bit more expensive, and less convenient, but you have more options and customization. You're not stuck with any single pedal, you can always pick whatever reverb you want, whatever drive you want, etc. What sounds better is always going to be subjective. Hell, you might get lucky and the effects on a multifx unit happen to be what you like most and you're all set!
I like being able to stack drive pedals and experiment messing around with the signal chain. In the end I went for a hybrid option of the two. I have my gain and wah as stand alone pedals feeding into a zoom G5n in stomp box mode. This allows me to alter the signal chain of modulation/delay/reverb etc and I can also run it through the fx loop separately if I choose. The zoom has it's limitations but it's working for me at the moment.
I have an ME-70. Eventually I got greedy, but what I used to do is run a bunch of analog dirt pedals into the ME-70, and all modulation, delay, etc. was the ME-70. It worked great for me. I like to run wah and phaser and stuff after the dirt. If you like to run some of that stuff before dirt, it could be more complicated.
Depends on your needs, if you have a sound and that stays pretty constant and you just augment it with a delay or a mod here and there for certain songs then a core group of analog pedals will do you fine and probably give you a more authentic tone.
However if you’re a cover band guitarist and require a wide range of effects and tones which change for every song, multi fx pedals are king because the advantages outweigh any tonal compromise (if there is any🤷♂️) I also find as a singer, a single switch press it so convenient
My old BOSS ME-50 is like the old family van. Loaded with good and bad memories. It’s full of features but less than half function the way you want. Sounds great on specific effects, but you wouldn’t wanna take it too far. It’s so big you can’t find a decent spot for it.
Whenever I am watching this channel, I feel like Alan Alda is reviewing guitar gear and that's amazing! Thank you, guys. Great job.
With the me-90 you could also add a overdrive, or what ever.pedal to the chain.
As you guys said, if a new effect pedal is launched in the market, it can still be added to the chain with the ME90 as well. This makes any multi effects processor an ideal place to start with. Also, it is sometimes all that is required by your average Joe, saving them from the chaos of 1000+ od pedals to select from😂😂. One's budget can really overshoot while selecting individual pedals as everyone is not that aware of which pedal to go for and they usually go for the pricey ones.
For a home studio maybe a digital black box unit, but nothing beats a colourful pedalboard for fun and easy to use foot stomping.
really enjoyed the jam session. need more of this in your videos. great stuff.
Individual pedals are great if you have all the time in the world or don't have too many variations in the sound you want but if you're playing live and require a lot of different sounds a multi FX unit with memories is invaluable. I love my individual pedals but not many get a live outing.......the HX Stomp is so much easier for that.
I want to see a tuner pedal shootout. No joke. Would be interesting to see. Please compare with clip ones as well. Thanks, guys! Also, you guys are hilarious. You’re playing different guitars, so the pedals will of course sound different. You should have played the same guitar to serve as a control.
If i am not mistaken they already made one but i can 't remember when.
My beringher tuner sucks
Yes Andertons did a tuner pedal shootout 4 years ago. Just search tuner pedal shootout and you should find it👍
I have some pedals, a spark mini and a boss katana 50 so lots of options. Still might get the ME-90 just because of all the options available and can easily tweak with the knobs and I just play and record at home so this would perfect to use and not wake the neighbours.
I love both pedals and multi-effects. I have a pedalboard that I have been fine tuning for several years, so that what was once Joyo, Danelectro, Biyang etc has slowly morphed into Analogman, Ceriatone, Strymon etc. Alongside those I've had the Boss ME70, ME80 plus others...and now have a Headrush Pedalboard.
Like someone pointed out on here, all the time spent researching and buying gear would probably have been better spent on practising.
I think my playing is actually getting worse! 😂
Reminds me of a meme I saw yesterday, it was a sign from a band teacher. #1, I'm sorry I was impatient with you; 2, You're very talented; 3. 1 & 2 are lies. 4, Practice.
Re-tooling can be every bit as critically important as instrumental study.
e.g. speakers.... to record yourself and then actually *hear* what the heck you are playing as well as you can, good studio monitors matter more than just about any of your other gear.
There's little better time spent than understanding how to get results you want, what ever that entails.
I disagree. Researching and buying gear is a part of the fun. Pleasure of trying iconic pedals instead using some pre-sets or simulation is something you need to experience. This is also way to discover different aspects of your guitar or amp, rolling of the volume or tone , play with an amp eq, it is all learning curve. Then when you know all palette of tones , you can immerse in music. And money spent, well it is your hobby. Better to spent on this than on fags or buzz. Have some passions, YOLO.
I researched all videos etc and bought the Valleton 200. Playing my Sire 335 which sounds great straight into my little Roland AC33 amp. Setting up the unit was easy and playing the presets were overkill and sounded as what they are, imitation! The real issue was that I lost the quality of my guitar which sounded great on its own. I have now for the same price bought 2 Boss pedals, Boss Blues Driver BD2 & Boss Digital Delay DD8. I now have my beautiful guitar sound with all the effects I need - my amp also has reverb and chorus. I think it depends on your playing ability and your musical ear. Andertons are great, prices are a bit higher but the service is second to none and the videos really help.
Been buying pedals for past 2-3 years. And spent quite a bit on them. But I was looking at the convenience of the Headrush Core that Mic input and connectivity options. Age is catching up and setting up all the mic and other speakers for my weekend jamming at home with my loved ones is taking much time and effort. Most probably I will stop the pedals buying and venture into multi effects. But for now, definitely getting the Headrush core. That thing looks useful to me. 😊
As a guitar player I use both I have several pedal board set ups as well as several multi effects systems. Currently I am using the Boss GT-1000 which has turned out to be my all in one go too set up. BUt I still love finding cool pedals to try out and create new pedalboards with.
IF you are going for the bang for buck then a multi effects board is the way to go for sure.
But some thimes there is mothing better then a good ol stomp box pedal board set up as well.
Personally I thing you should try and have both.
I got a Helix LT a couple of years ago, it takes up less room in my cramped "studio" than my previous board and has been updated at least 3 times since I got it, with additional amps, cabs & FX. Plus I've got a much larger selection of pedals (and amps) to choose from than I had before. The down side is that I tend to set up song presets rather than just using the multi FX as "banks" of individual pedals, but that's individual choice. There is an argument that multi FX modeling is not totally accurate compared to the original pedals and not as quick to adjust "on the fly" but they do the job for me as I'm not gigging.
You can always buy a pedal or two if you think the model falls short.
8:49 I saw Afterbirth & Anglegrinder at a pub gig in Camden a few years back. 🧐🤘🤘
Keep up the editing. The close up slaps, falling pedals, sudden "woos" from Lee, etc. Makes me laugh, rewind and laugh again. 😂
Lot's of cheap pedals don't sound that good to me because they have a sort of lofi sound quality, but my Boss ME-25 multi effects pedal which you could find for a cheap price price for an effects pedal now still sounds good enough for me. I do like some lofi reverbs and delays though. I like to put either a spare instrument/pedal cable or a headphone adapter into the headphone jack which takes the tones from sounding too digital to sounding more realistic. I did have to add a Chorus pedal and Reverb plus Delay pedal to my board to get the specific tones I wanted, but that is not that many pedals. The Boss ME-25 itself isn't that big for a multi effects pedal which is one of the reasons I like it so I have more room on my pedal board. I also attached a power bar with velcro to the side of my pedal board and I can still get it in the bag I have for it. There are so many higher quality cheap options for good tones now like some plugins and some multi effects pedals which sound better to me than many cheaper single guitar pedals. I do like some volume pedals plus the boss eq pedal are both on the cheaper side for pedals. Also, I don't care what an instrument pedal looks like, more how it sounds since most people will not be able to see your pedal board when you play live anyways. I love my small guitar gear setup and I don't think I will be a player with a million pedals like some players. I could still combine some of my pedals and set them up for good Shoegaze tones even. Heck, my Boss ME-25 has a freeze effect setting even.
If you're in a band playing originals and you want to create a unique sound and have some consistency in output, individual pedals is the way to go.
If you're playing live in a band playing covers, or with a hefty back catalogue with tons of different tones, I definitely think multi-effects is the way.
If you're a hobbyist, you need ALL OF THEM.
just get a pedalboard and then a helix to recreate that pedalboard on for live shows. problem solved.
This is exactly what I was looking for. I have a ME-90 now, which I like ok. I next plan to put together an ampless pedal board with a UA Ruby as the core.
Why not the Hybrid format? I use Ampero 2 stomp together with my 3 best sounding drive pedals 😉
At 22 minutes... there's a boost in EQ/FX2 with the gain being the left hand knob. Up at full into the OD sounds great, I also stacked a TC Honey pot Fuzz in the loop, sounds massive! Also the preamp into a normal amp is definitely not plug and play, needs to be setup in tone studio. Great to see the comparison of both though as my ME90 was my first pedal, good for learners too wanting to try lots of different settings/sounds
Still very happy with my old GT-8 and It still can do loads of stuff that would cost me a lot more if I where to try to do that with loose pedals. And with the editor on my computer it's like tweaking a set of pedals.
Best part is I can change the order between pedals from one patch to the next.
I'm just on my way home from a Blues-Session, where I drove my Guitar (G&L Asat Deluxe Tribute) straight into my Fender Blues Junior... Gain on 12 o'clock, a little springreverb from the amp and I fell in love with my amp again - no Pedals at all 😄
I use Zoom processor and tweak all patches on laptop. Then just select patch I like at the moment and play.
My board is pretty big, but i only have two drive pedals, boss delay, tc chorus and vibrato and a sty on delay. So not much going but I have a boss switcher to control it all. My sound comes from my drives stacked and the boss delay in front of the drives and the strymon delay at the end with midi so the choices of delay are endless and the two modulations for some extra hints of stuff. I have a vocal pedal as well which is midi so it’s all just so good. Can’t forget my wah as well
I bought an ME90 and gave it a go hoping it could replace my pedals, but no… it just doesn’t quite sound the same to me… plus it’s kinda fun getting out there and hunting down that perfect pedal set up.
Both. I want both so I can put them on display in the studio and just look at them pretty things. 😆
This. I've thought before I wish I had more arms to use all the pretty things I have around me and such little time to use it all. lol. You get it
This is a part of it. I feel better just by looking at my gear.
I'm very familiar with sorting "low to high" on the Andertons website 😆
An eq should be the first purchase on every pedal board, most versatile things you can buy
16:12 - Pete says "I can't do any more with pedals than you can." Technically true for any given scene, but you have the 36 presets and 36 user saves plus 97 effects to create a mind-boggling arrangement of scenes available with a few dabs at the footswitches. Now that my POD 2.0 has finally died, I sincerely want an ME-90. The collection of pedals under the desk here will continue to be used, though. 🥰
Thanks for the demonstration of the pedals vs the multi FX. The biggest question in my mind is, which is the best for gigging. I am in the middle of making that decision right now. I joined a band and they want to come up with a set list of 40+ songs. Of course many songs means many tones. When I recently saw the Fender tone master pro I thought it was a gift from god because you can set up different tones for each song in the night’s setlist. But it is very pricey. I’d like to know, for gigging, which of the 2 options you tested would be your choice?? Thanks
Multi-Fx and modeling amps are great when it comes to value and dipping your toe in. For some, you can't deny the streamlined equipment, and I think think they certainly have a utility that's hard to argue against. BUT there is something about putting your own board together. Learning all the intricacies of one pedal and incorporating that into your suite of tools. Not trying to put down multi-fx, but I don't think it can beat the user experience of messing with a pedal you really connect with when it comes to the fun factor. Again, this is all highly subjective. You could get a ton of fun out of a multi-fx unit too. But for me, I get more mojo out of individual pedals.
Aha! Got 2 robust matt black steel pedalboards (just last week coincidentally). Got double racks. The Velcro tip is really useful hack. Thx guys
i prefer the individual pedals for adjusting and moving them around in the chain. you could probably buy enough second hand pedals and feel like you have enough to battle the boss me-90 at retail price. playing at a low level gig the digital stuff is preferred, but if i'm outdoors and can let it rip, i'll go all analog and cranked tube amps. hope this helps someone out there.
ii am more on the pedals side, because you can freely choose your combinations. however i learned over the years that i prefer pedals that can do more than one thing, so i save myself some space, cables and dont have to extend my power supply.
My single pedals approach is definitely the end of the journey. I've been stuck in the multichannel amps / bank and preset world forever. Now i've got a small 1 channel tube amp i barely even touch and my board. My band context ended a couple years ago and i'm glad i don't need the specific sounds on the spot anymore.
Changing some boards around, when grabbing a tuner I switched a first generation of a well respected tuner to a Boss TU-3, it completely brought the whole board to life. The buffer in the Boss tuner is great, I was shocked at how much it changed the character of the board.
- also, when you are daisy chaining, you might want to do some math. Digital pedals will suck many times more power than analogue, easily overwhelming most cheap wall wart type transformers.
Digital pedals can also leak noise onto the power line which will show up when you start cranking up the gain on your overdrive pedals. Square waves are loaded with harmonics.
The benefit of individual stomp boxes is that one can expand the pedalboard gradually as budget allows
I have an old ME-25 that has the harmonist effect👌. I live it in my effects chain. I like it and don't plan on changing it out.
Funny enough I have kind of done a hybrid setup. Even though I have a spark amp (thus access to tons digitally) I prefer actual physical pedals. However one of my pedals is a multi (DigiTech iStomp) which is amazing for trying out new pedal types that I havent explored yet, and to fill in the gap with niche effects (eg tape delay) I might only need occasionally for playing a specific song. Really the biggest difference between the spark and the istomp is the latter has more physical tangibility. Yet I really prefer it.
pedals for me I bought a modelling amp until I found my tone (ha ha ha yeah you never find it really do ya) then got a niceish amp and started getting pedals to throw in with it the research and selection is half the fun then of course like buying a guitar half of it is or maybe a quarter is hows it look do you love it? and my board looks fantastic and sounds as good as it looks
the what is a pro towards the end of the video is a good idea for a video! Lee said it right - if you're getting paid. A lot out there doing pubs n clubs are getting paid, but gig only at weekends and so its more a semi pro thing as they're still making the main part of their income from a regular day job. I gig, but my main income comes from teaching guitar...so am I a pro ? I guess so as I make my entire living off of playing/teaching guitar....but gig's are the smaller part of my income to my teaching work. Think there's a lot out there like me in this regard!
Understanding how the signal chain works, what makes a certain sound and tone is half the fun. Like legos but for adults. I'd go with pedals, cheap ones first and grow into the more exotic ones and put something like a gigmaster in front if I'd playing for money.
What i'd like to maybe see a shootout between something like a cortex and a 'amp in a box' and pedals. something like the Dutches with some pedals vs Cortex.
The argument I'd have is you most likely don't need 562793476 sound combinations. You like a handful
I don’t think most people would be too unhappy either way. I chose pedals over a MultiFX and now I’m glad I did, as It means I can upgrade relatively inexpensively over time - my budget reverb turned out to be really disappointing so has to go.
The option to stack drives is also something I wouldn’t want to do without. Interesting video though.
For me, it's whichever set up has me bending down to adjust things less often. If I'm going to use a multi-effects, I create a patch or two to use it in stomp box mode, and make sure I know the pedal really well so there is minimal downtime for adjusting settings. No one wants to wait around while the guitar player twiddles his knobs.
Plethora X5, a fuzz, an overdrive and an expression pedal. Sorted. Generally not been satisfied with the multi-fx units I've had. But the X5 is just like having a box of pedals...
What Epiphone model Les Paul is that and what Color. Looks like gold top.
Thanks
Legit for a beginning guitarist a multi effect unit is the way to go imo, you get a bit of everything so you can start discovering what you want and do not like. Like, even if it's something you'd never consider (like in my chase, chorus, but I'm just lucky I inherited one). Also, flyrigs are a thing and that boss and even more the valeton are rigs in and of themselves.
I stopped with pedals and multieffects 20 years ago, but this was a fun video to watch
It`s a very nice idea to show us something like that. To use the same guitar would have been also interisting for me. Thanks a lot 🙂
Well I always found a volume pedal essential for gigging and a wahwah fun sometimes and as I don't use locking trems because they are a hassle a pitchshifter or whammy pedal is great for crazy solos your pedalboard has no expression pedals at all severely limiting it to a narrow range and not a fraction as versatile as the mfx unit. I still use a ME-70 its a solid unit although not quite as versatile as the ME-90. I do own lots of old pedals but for reliability and simplicity and a great sound its the mfx every time in public. Single pedals OK for playing around with at home. Also adding lots of pedals in a chain can not only be a pain when one plays up or a cable gets dodgy but it can add lots of unwanted noise into the amp where the ME series is pretty quiet.
i think there are no better or worse between them, multieffects are handy for those who starts the journey of guitar playing, once you grow as a player and wants to broaden your knowledge or find "your sound" individual effect definitely your best choice
I have a huge pedal collection and a boss gt-1000, i use both with valve amps and the 7 cable method to rig the modulation, reverbs and delays on the fx loop. It's super practical to use the multifx processor, no doubt about it. But, sometimes i tend to use a valve combo with no fx loop and for that, i bring out the pedalboard. Since my current pedalboard is quite easy to transport, i really have no problems with gigs. Combo in one hand, pedalboard on the other and guitar on the back. The multifx stays on my studio most of the time, it's an amazing piece of gear and is very good for experiments and testing out sounds. But i rather travel with the pedalboard since i really don't trust that kind of digital gear out of the house. I have a suspicion that it would be as road resistant as a pedalboard. Both sound amazing, can't pick a favourite tbh
Or use both me90 + pedals. Me90 is the price of 1 premium pedal, and has an effects loops. So you so you can wet effects like Strymon Deco after and other effects in the middle via effects loop. Or disable preamp and IRs and have pedals or amp handle that part. Think of me90 as a programmable pedal bundle and just augment as needed.
You can stack two overdrives. Use the amp/preamp as one and the OD as the second
I'm not an electric guitar player, so my question is this. When you're playing a set of music and just going from song to song, with a regular paddle board other than stopping on the on and off buttons, what do you do about changing the settings on the different pedal. I can't imagine and actually never see people on their hands and knees twigling all these different knobs back and forth to change the settings for their different pedals for each song they just go from song to song. On the other hand, it seems to me that with a digital multi-effects unit, that you can actually preset all the settings for each individual song and then actually build a set list of the different settings tailored to your performance so that you can just Bank up or Bank down to each song. With this in mind, it seems to me that it would be much more flexible and practical to use a digital multi-effects Union in live settings rather than a regular pedalboard where you can't really take the time to adjust the different parameters that each song might require. Or I could be wrong, I have no idea. Thoughts?
Interesting comparison. I was messing around today with my Spark 40. Ok, slightly different, but principles similar. I was listening to one of my fav songs to learn/play along to and discovered that there is a temelo on the guitarists tone, never really noticed it before. I dont own a tremelo pedal so, my only option was the app with the Spark. Nailed the tone in about 90 seconds! There is a lot to be said about multi fx whether as a pedal format or app to an amp. Gigging I use two pedals into the effects loop of my 2x12 tube amp and thats it!
I'm switching from a Kemper to a pedalboard with UAFX amp pedals. Would love to see this with a Kemper profiler or Helix and full-on pedal board build. Make the budget $2K. Do a real comparison between the two. IMO the versatility of having pedals that you can swap in and out is what made the choice for me.
Would like you guys to shoot three videos. Gain pedal vs amp. Low gain,mid gain then high gain. In other words, for tone, is it better to buy multiple amps or a clean platform with multiple pedals?
Your UA-cam channel is my favorite. Love you guys! Wish I lived in England so I could visit your store. I have the ME-90. I want to add a good reverb pedal because the ME-90 reverb is so basic, like an after-thought. With the FX loop, you could do both -- pedals and Multi FX. Could be fun and creative. I realize you're spending more, but if you can afford, go for both.
The dynamic plate, room and hall reverbs on the Helix line are amazing. You should audition it before making your decision.
If all you have is $300, the boss is a great buy. You get something like 50 pedals in one unit. They are all pretty good sounding too. Once you figure out your tastes, go and buy the better version of that pedal as a standalone pedal. But there are some sounds I just never would buy myself but damn are they fun to play with like the +- octave pedal effects or the terra echo. All these options can really break you out of a creative rut.
I was a pedal guy. Have a Boss Katana or use Headrush now. So much easier and less fussing about pedals