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Is there a perfect multi fx unit for me?

#22
Taustin Powers said:
The more I think about it - I would like good amp modeling at least for guitar, as I don't own a guitar amp.
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HX Stomp is a great one for bass and guitar. I tried to commit to it as a do it all thing and it can definitely do it all. Also the HX Stomp continues to get updates that make it even better and better. It's also very easy to configure it however you see fit, it just takes a bit to learn how to navigate it, you can easily add a small 2 button footswitch that sticks to the front face to give you even more control without making the foot print any bigger. You can also set the footswitches up to control whatever you want, with the extra switches I had them set up for bank up and down, then the footswitches on the Stomp were to turn individual pedals in the chain on/off. Then you can set 2 button commands to do other stuff like to get into the tuner or looper functions. It takes a little working out since the routing options are pretty much limitless, but it can be done!
I recently bought a Boss IR200 and it has some downright amazing guitar rigs in it, it has fewer bass specific presets but they also sound excellent. So maybe look further in the Boss GT1000, because the guitar stuff on the IR200 is incredible, it's got me thinking real hard about letting my Roland JC120 go, it nails it that well.
EDIT: PS: The coolest part of the HX Stomp is you can put the FX Loop wherever you want in the chain, so you can use it to route an external pedal or pedals into your chain wherever you want. So you can add a dirt pedal after the Stomps compressor in your patch and before the Stomps Chorus
 
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#23
For some reason, I think compressors should be their own unit. I have no data to support this though even though I believe DSPs are already up there in speed, I would prefer a stand alone compressor. Maybe if the multi fix is FPGA architecture. Too much too explain.

OP get the Ultrawave from SA, it has a built-in compressor plus drive. Now you probably are wondering if I negated myself. The SA guys were formerly from Analog Devices. They seem to know the brains of their product inside and out and can milk those chips better than other DSP engineers who are not as intimate with the hardware they are using and that is my guess with most of the multi FX companies. I am too much of a Source Audio fan I guess. @rsmith601 :D

Good luck.
 
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#25
Taustin Powers said:
The smaller, the better, the HX Stomp format is fine. Budget is flexible.
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I'm one of the few people using fractal products here (I have the axe FX 3, mainly for bass) and the fm3 may be worth considering for your use case. I also have owned a helix floor and stomp in the past. The main reason I went with the fractal is I think it has better amp sims, but that's probably not relevant for your case, so here's some other random thoughts.

The big advantage that fractal has for bassists IMO is the much more flexible routing grid. It's very easy to setup whatever path you may need, where specifically with the stomp, having only two signal paths means you're very limited on options. As an example, if you wanted to use a guitar OD on the helix stomp but have a clean signal blend, you'd have to run the guitar drive on the second path since it doesn't have a blend. But now that you've done that, you've locked the second path into being your drive channel and you wouldn't be able to run anything else in parallel separately from the drive loop. I don't think this is a contrived example, as I currently use the horizon precision drive with a clean blend into an SVT as my main gigging preset for my Metallica cover band on my fractal. For my main gig preset on the 3, I have out 1 as my SVT through a cab sim for FOH, out 2 as a compressor only DI signal for FOH,out 3 as a post SVT pre-cab sim signal to a stage cab and out 4 as the SVT sent to a second cab block so that I can tune the sound differently for IEMs (we're still figuring out our live setup so having the option to do IEM, stage cab or both is great)

I also think that fractal has better compressors. For envelop filters, helix will have a much more friendly experience out of the box, as I believe it takes a bit of effort to setup an envelope filter on a fractal unit. I've never done it myself though.

If you have the budget and are willing to learn, I think the fm3 is an extremely solid choice. It definitely has more of a learning curve though. I've seen them going for as low as $700-800 used, so they definitely can be had for a good price.

If you're looking for more of a plug and play experience, the hx stomp is probably the way to go. Also, if you prefer to edit on unit, the hx stomp is the better choice. Fractals PC editor is amazing, but on unit editing can be a bit contrived sometimes.
 
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#26
The HX Stomp rules and the price point is impossible to beat. Line-6 has excellent customer and product support.

The learning curve is approachable, new power cables are easy to find (mines never had an issue but still), it's built like a tank, and they are easy to come by used.

I would suggest checking out the HX Stomp XL, the stomp itself is great but you do lose a foot switch as a tuner.

The FM3 is totally overkill and has a significantly more complex learning curve. The Quad Cortex is easy to use but super expensive, still doesn't work with all Nueral DSP plugins, and it's also so overkill haha. There's a few other notable options out there but line-6 destroys them with product support, the Helix line up gets constantly updated with cool stuff and it's always free.
 
#27
IMG_0144.jpeg

A Swiss Army knife for practice. About $125 used.
I'm using it mostly for guitar. It lives at the end of the couch.
Bassman model is great for guitar, FX, beats, a very friendly looper.
There are newer versions, but this and the older B3 are solid.
 
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#28
I'd buy I individual pedals. I'd add a tuner too. That way you can get exactly what you want. If you asked me I'd have these pedals, probably in this order:

Korg Pitchblack Mini Tuner
Fairfield Barbershop Overdrive
MXR Bass Envelope Filter
Keeley Compressor
TC Elec. Looper
Sansamp BDDI
 
#33
Taustin Powers said:
The Quad Cortex was mentioned a few times. Price tag is significantly higher than the HX Stomp or GT1000Core. Is it really that much more capable or better sounding? Does it capture amps only, or could I also have it capture my favorite envelope filter?
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If you're at that price point and unit size I think your two best choices are the helix floor or the fractal FM9. Profiling can only be done for distortion/drive and amp models. I looked at getting a kemper or quad cortex when I was getting my unit. The big issue they have is not with the units themselves, it's that basically all of the people using them are guitarists, so there is a very small amount of people making bass profiles for them.
 
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#34
Taustin Powers said:
The Quad Cortex was mentioned a few times. Price tag is significantly higher than the HX Stomp or GT1000Core. Is it really that much more capable or better sounding? Does it capture amps only, or could I also have it capture my favorite envelope filter?
Click to expand...

Yes and no, it is well made and I found the sounds to be genuinely good without doing much on my end. The capture is a killer feature though. That being said it's not perfect, I had a pretty sweet dub tone dialed in on my Mesa DI that it couldn't replicate (I'm sure that day will come though).

The interface is awesome, being able to drag and drop is a breeze.

It really comes down to what you plan on using/doing. I basically wanted fuzz, delay, octave, reverb, and a tuner.

Isolated you may be able to tell a difference but all of these fx units are highly tweakable and that's where the differences really occur.

I've seen and been in bands that use Kemper, Helix, Boss, QC, and Axe and in a live setting I couldn't even begin to separate them.
 
#36
Challanger2 said:
I'm one of the few people using fractal products here (I have the axe FX 3, mainly for bass) and the fm3 may be worth considering for your use case. I also have owned a helix floor and stomp in the past. The main reason I went with the fractal is I think it has better amp sims, but that's probably not relevant for your case, so here's some other random thoughts.
Click to expand...

As much as I like Fractal products (using an FM9 Turbo now) and agree with your points, I'd think it to be a heavy lift for someone who may be new to the multi-fx game and seems to have limited needs, and even the FM3 could be a little overkill. Zoom products allow you to dip your big toe in the water with really simplified options and interfaces, with Line 6 HX series being a good next-level progression....been there, done that. Fractal is great when you may need complex routing and control options, and the sonic quality is top notch. They're big boy toys for big boy needs.
 
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#37
Taustin Powers said:
I play mostly without effects, save for the occasional envelope filter. But I am considering adding some hardware to have the following elements in my signal chain:

- Compressor to even out the volume a little when slapping.
- Overdrive to add some subtle warmth to my tone (always-on)
- Envelope Filter for some juicy funky boing-boing
- Looper to have some fun (entirely optional)
Click to expand...
I think it's very hard to go wrong with any of the midrange options. They'll also be more convenient and more affordable than getting separate pedals and a pedalboard.

I've used a few different MFX units, and currently have the Boss GT-1000 Core and Zoom B6.

In your case, I'd go for the Zoom B2 Four.
• Several compression options
• Numerous drive, preamp, amp sim options
• Several envelope filters, auto wahs, synths
• It has DI / XLR out
• It's very easy to program
• It should have enough CPU power and effect slots for what you need
• It's reasonably easy to activate the looper
• It costs $250

The Zoom B6 has a little more CPU power, foot switches, inputs etc but may be overkill for what you want.
 
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#38
jimfist said:
As much as I like Fractal products (using an FM9 Turbo now) and agree with your points, I'd think it to be a heavy lift for someone who may be new to the multi-fx game and seems to have limited needs, and even the FM3 could be a little overkill. Zoom products allow you to dip your big toe in the water with really simplified options and interfaces, with Line 6 HX series being a good next-level progression....been there, done that. Fractal is great when you may need complex routing and control options, and the sonic quality is top notch. They're big boy toys for big boy needs.
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ClusterFlux said:
I think it's very hard to go wrong with any of the midrange options. They'll also be more convenient and more affordable than getting separate pedals and a pedalboard.

I've used a few different MFX units, and currently have the Boss GT-1000 Core and Zoom B6.

In your case, I'd go for the Zoom B2 Four.
• Several compression options
• Numerous drive, preamp, amp sim options
• Several envelope filters, auto wahs, synths
• It has DI / XLR out
• It's very easy to program
• It should have enough CPU power and effect slots for what you need
• It's reasonably easy to activate the looper
• It costs $250

The Zoom B6 has a little more CPU power, foot switches, inputs etc but may be overkill for what you want.
Click to expand...

How much control they are looking for I think will ask be a factor. IE most zoom compressor models only have 4 adjustments, where the HX stomp compressors have a lot more options in terms of parameters. Same thing with distortion pedals, hx stomp b7k has selections for each mid frequency and attack/grunt where the zoom doesn't. Also to my knowledge the zooms don't support parallel paths where the stomp does. I know OP said they weren't interested in amp sims, but one of the nice features of the helix family is they have separate preamp models of every amp. So you could use a SVT or B-15 preamp as a "drive" pedal.

I'm a huge fan of the fractal products, but it definitely is a step up in complexity and not for everyone.

Zoom is a great choice for simple plug and play, but if someone is willing to put in a bit more effort into the unit I think they'll get a lot more out of the stomp.
 

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